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JEEP JAMBOREE
Jeep Jam borees
on off-road trails
c o n d u c te d
Aukofer
aro u n d
the
country.
“They came in on trailers,” he said, “and they
looked good. I said, ‘I need a real Jeep, not a fake
one.’ So Franckie and 1 went out and bought a Jeep.”
They picked out a new black 92 Wrangler and
customized it with 31-inch wheels, rock bumpers,
a lift kit for extra clearance underneath, off-road
lights, differential locks, a winch and a high-
lift jack for getting off big ob
jects.
Then they started seri
ous off-roading, partici
pating in Jeep Jamborees in
Arizona and Oregon before
tackling the Rubicon Trail,
near Lake Tahoe.
The mountainous 22-mile
trail is rep u ted to be the
toughest off-road course in the
country. Traversing it takes two
full days of driving--craw ling
w ould be a better w ord--over
steep inclines, boulders, crevices,
underbrush and streams.
“It’s challenge after challenge,”
Metellus said. “It’s a rush because
you go through obstacles that look
unconquerable, but you conquer
them, and afterwards you feel good about it.”
In all the years on the trails, Metellus says he and
his family have never encountered racism.
“Wh<
When you get into off-roading,” he
said, “there’s a common interest that
people tend to key into. 1 think
it’s a good bridge, person-
ally. If
fe
you can develop mul-
tiple com -
r
mon
m on interests,
you can begin to
b rea k
down the barriers.’
He encourages others to
take m otorhom e and off-road
vacations because they’re great family ac
tivities. “You can visit parts of the country that people
never visit, like Bryce Canyon,” he said. “Leslie and
I work a lot, too, and we need to have common fam
ily activities.”
For more information, contact Jeep Jamboree USA
at (530) 3 3 3 -4 7 7 7 or on the web at
www.4x4now.com/jeepjam.htm.
LOOKING FOR FAMILY FUN!
Springs, Calif.--
As off-road mo-
By Frank
tori
e n th u si
asts gear up for ;
new season of challenges, Franck Metellus and his fam
ily continue to be a rare sight on the backwoods trails.
Among hundreds of enthusiasts gathered
here last year for the Chrysler-
sponsored, first
an-
n u a 1
Jeep Jam boree on
the Rubicon Trail, t
were
only African-American participants.
But that’s not unusual. In almost nine years of visit
ing n atio n al parks aro u n d the co u n try in th eir
motorhome, and tackling off-road trails in their Jeep
Wrangler, the Metellus family has seen few other blacks.
T h a t’s a sham e, says
rs M etellus.
“Mostly, what we see are for
eigners who have come
here to enjoy the trea
sures America has
to offer, he
said.
A Chicago
Y
native, Metellus, 47, and
his fam ily
live in S cottsdale, A riz.,
w here he
installs business telephone ser-
vice for
kJS West. His wife, Leslie, 43, is
a clinical
psychologist with her own practice.
T h e ir *
two children are Franck III (called
“Franckie”),
10, and 3-year-old Stacie.
After buying their 25-foot Itasca motorhome in 1989,
the family set out to see America.
Back then, they towed a Mitsubishi Montero for side
trips when they camped, and did limited “wheeling”--
or driving off-road.
Around this time, they attended one of the many
. O f f - ro 4
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