It took a couple hours but the Teraflex big brake kit is installed and functioning well.  Installation was relatively simple but it took a couple brake bleeds to get all of the air out of the system.  The break in period was a hassle though as you had to go from 30mph-10mph ten times with 30 second cool downs in between followed by a 15 minute cool down period.  Then, you had to do 5 60mph-15mph stops followed by a 30 minute cool down.  Kind of a pain to do when you are 20 minutes from home and on highways.  Got it done though and all is well it appears.

I'm looking forward to a 4 day weekend ahead.  I have a lot of business related things to take care of as well as assemble everything for our taxes to be done next week.  Why I wait until the last minute I may never know.  Well, yes I do.  I hate it.  There.

Yesterday, I put together a long blog post detailing our weekend wheeling adventure.  Apparently it didn't post and I don;t have the desire to re-write it so I'm just going to post the pics and video that were a part of it.  Tuttle is a very fun park and I cannot wait to go back.  I actually enjoyed it more than Kansas Rocks.

This video is a climb in the area known as "The Ledges".  Unfortunately, video and pics never show how extreme the angles, grade or height is of the obstacles.  Our friend behind and below us thought we were going to flip over backward when I made the second part of the climb.  That made them go to an area that wasn't as steep. 

 
Here are some pics out on the trail.  Lots of places to get your flex on.

The end of the week has finally arrived and I could not be more happy about it.  It's been a busy and fun week though as we had two nights of Jeep meetups and then last night we BBQ'ed with Justin, Megan and Jayson and then has S'Mores around the fire pit afterward. 

Today I get to photograph four of our new models.  The weather again isn't going to be the best so we will have to make do with what we are given.  Afterward, I have to get the Jeep prepped and loaded as we head to Tuttle before the sun comes up tomorrow.  It's going to be a long but fun day as the park is about 2 1/2 hours from our house.  We will convoy down with our club and expect about 30 Jeeps. 

I took a day off work yesterday as I came down with a cold or something over the weekend.  In days past, I would have just went in to work and made it through the day.  Now, this close to retirement, nah.  I used the day to relax a bit and get a few things business related done.  

Tonight is our Jeep social group meet up.  Although some people who are attend are in our off road club, this monthly get together is strictly for social purposes.  The meeting location changes from month to month as we try new food and drink establishments in the Northland of KC. It's always fun to get together with friends and make new ones as well.  

We got a good amount of rain yesterday and we needed it.  It's been pretty dry all winter here but this will help start to green up the yard as fertilizer was just put down on it.  I'm looking forward to the Spring temperatures as I'm done with winter.

Yesterday was a bit crazy and hectic but we made it through our first model team shoot of the year.  Our 4 models all had their makeup done at the studio and then we went to a studio I rented in the River Market area due to the rain and high winds we were having.  The thing I enjoyed the most about the studio was the two story ceilings I had to work with.  At our studio, I limited to about 8 1/2 feet.  At this studio , I had 20+ feet to work with, which allowed me to raise my lights above the subject.  The studio owner gave us an extra hour of shoot time free, which was much appreciated.

Although I am working a second Saturday in a row today, I can look forward to the next as I will be off and able to go to Tuttle with our club for a wheeling event.  I'm hoping for great weather so we can get the top and doors off but that may be wishful thinking. 

Jodi got a new decal for her Jeep.

I had a fun photo shoot with our client yesterday evening.  Temps were in the low 60's with a little breeze so it was comfortable  for all of us.  She had hair down to her waist which was pretty unique these days.  Her pics are going to be pretty awesome.

Tonight, I'm suppose to go hang out with the dudes at a bar and grille over in Kansas.  It will be a mini-Jeep meetup of sorts and something to do on my last evening alone as Jodi comes home tomorrow.

Spent much of yesterday helping a friend install track lighting in our studio.  It has made a huge difference in how the products we have on the walls look.  These are some lousy pics with a messy area still but I am so glad we did this.  Should have done it a long time ago!

Afterward, I let him drive my Jeep as he is seriously thinking about dumping his Rubicon Express lift and going to a Metalcloak like mine.  He said mine rides so much better than his does.  

I spent the balance of the evening cleaning up the studio as I have a photo shoot with a client this evening.  

Track lights going up today, photo shoot tomorrow, abandoned spouses Jeep guys meetup Thursday, model photo shoot Friday and work on Saturday.  I guess that'll keep me busy enough.  The following week we have our Jeep group meetup on Tuesday, Jeep club meeting on Wednesday and a photo shoot on Friday.  I also have plans with a friend to install my big brake kit the following week.  Deciding if I should go ahead and do the driveshafts and ball joints to finish it off. 

I was at Waffle House the other night and my waitress said the only thing missing from my Jeep was a Zombie sticker.  Kids.

I had to keep myself entertained over the weekend with Jodi gone.  Work provided 8 hours of entertainment on Saturday and I followed that up by photographing 4 models in our studio.  On Sunday, I worked on some tax prep followed by cleaning out the garage (again) to make room for my hard top that will be removed soon.  While I was at it, I posted the seats I won for sale and they were sold and picked up within 30 minutes.  I'll probably wind up selling the exhaust system I won too. 

This week I have two photo shoots and tomorrow I have an electrician coming over to install some track lighting in the studio.  That should complete our studio projects for this year. 

Not the way I wanted to start my day.  I was making my way to my office at the plant when I came a cross a truck driver who was apparently having a heart attack.  I got on my cell phone and called plant security and notified them of the emergency.  While we waited for the ERT team to respond, me and another truck driver did our best to comfort him.  He has a history of heart issues saying he has had 4 heart attacks and has 7 stents.  He was having pain in his shoulder, jaw and was light headed.  Security personnel arrived on the scene first followed by our plant ambulance and a nurse.  I wished the guy well and left him to be attended by the professionals.  It was just reported to me that he was transported to the hospital.  Hope he winds up being OK.

Last night I took Jodi's grille off to install the mesh grille insert that arrived.  After taking it off, I installed an extra Gladiator grille I have on her Jeep and told her to go look.  She doesn't like it.  I told her she would like it better if it were painted white. 

It's not the hardest install but it requires a couple extra hands to hold the mesh insert where it needs to be to mark the holes as you have to fit the mesh and tabs on it to get it close to the mounting locations.  A little bending of the tabs was required.  After that, it was just a matter of drilling some holes and then bolting the mesh to the factory grille.  Once installed, it looked like this.

And I took a shot of both Jeeps in the garage.  Hers actually looks bigger than mine in this image since it is backed out a bit so I had room to work on the front of it.  Perspective.  

Today we are meeting JD and Megan at the casino for her birthday dinner.  It's all you can eat crab legs at the buffet so the three of them will be very happy.  Me, I'll have to find something else.

 

This week most of our free time is being spent on business related items but we did receive Jodi's mesh grille insert yesterday and I got it painted before bedtime.  I'm going to try to get it installed this evening which leave me tomorrow evening too just in case things don't go right, which is typical.  She leaves for St. Louis Saturday morning.  Her mom's knee replacement surgery was successful yesterday and hopefully she will be released in the next day or two. 

Things are heating up quickly for our business this Spring and we have our first session of the year next week.  The inquiries have been many of late and we have been booking sessions which is always a good thing.  We have 12 new girls on our model team for the next class and will be photographing them soon for their promotional images.  They will all get their senior sessions this summer.

Jodi's mesh grille insert is scheduled to arrive today.  I will have to get it painted and installed this week, hopefully before she goes to St. Louis.  I got her a decal for it that she was wanting too.  It says "This is not my husband's Jeep".  She is going to put it on the back glass.

Got a decent shot of my Jeep at the swap meet last weekend.  There was a nice sky that day.  Looking forward to getting the top off and the trail doors back on. 

Jeep is life.  Well, it seems that way these days as most everything we do revolves around them.  We spent last Wednesday evening at a new friend's place modifying the light bar wiring harness and getting it installed so that I can burn people's retinas.  The work didn't take very long and we wound up hanging out and socializing for a couple extra hours.  This guy has a full machine shop in his big, detached garage and all the tools you could probably need to wrench on vehicles.  We were going to do the big brake kit too but we talked too much and didn't get to it.  Some other evening we'll get it done.

I thought I had to work this weekend but had my schedule wrong so I had an unexpected Saturday off.  That allowed us to get up and go to breakfast with friends before we headed to a Jeep swap meet in Independence.  It wound up being pretty small with few vendors but we enjoyed hanging out with friends for a couple hours.  My Jeep and light bar got a lot of attention while we were there and I got a lot of questions from the curious.

While there, we threw together a Jeeple dinner run for BBQ that would be followed by ice cream at a roadside stand.  We all met near our house and then convoyed to the restaurant.  We wound up having 14 Jeeps and when we left, our waitress asked us to parade past the building so she could video us (she has a Jeep too).  It was dark by the time we left so we all had our rock lights and halos on as we drove by on our way to get ice cream. We hung out in the parking lot of the ice cream place until about 8:30 and then we had two couples come back to the house for a couple drinks before calling it a night.

Sunday morning, Jodi and I spent a few hours on business related things before heading out and doing some shopping.  She heads to St. Louis on Saturday to help her mom who is having her knee replaced later this week.  I'll be home alone for about a week alone.......