I Want A Jeep

Jeep held a contest in Texas involving a lot of mud. The winner received a 2007 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited.

More than 100 fairgoers kicked off the State Fair of Texas today by diving into and digging through a giant pool filled with more than 14,000 gallons of mud during the “Jeep®Stick in the Mud� challenge. After surviving three rounds of play and frantically uncovering hundreds of sticks in the knee-deep mud, Homero Perez of Garland, Texas, was awarded an all-new four-door 2007 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited for earning the highest score and simultaneously proving he wasn’t a stick-in-the-mud.

“It felt great to get out there and wade through all that mud,” said Perez. “I’m the type of person who’s always up for an adventure, and I can’t wait to hit the road and explore in my new Jeep Wrangler Unlimited.”

Perez was chosen at random to compete in the “Jeep Stick in the Mud” challenge from nearly 2,600 entries received from 48 states and the District of Columbia. Of those, 120 consumers were invited to the State Fair of Texas to prove they were not a “stick-in-the-mud” by participating in the challenge.

The event, which celebrated the launch of the newest Jeep vehicle not afraid of getting dirty, literally brought the phrase “stick-in-the-mud” to life by asking consumers to race through a giant pool filled with enough mud to cover nine regulation basketball courts to look for hidden sticks worth a variety of points.

In keeping with the theme of the first-ever four-door Jeep Wrangler (the 4x4x4 Wrangler Unlimited), the contest was based on multiples of four with three rounds of competition — qualifying, semi-final and final. The individuals who earned the most points in each round advanced until there were only four participants competing in the final round.

“The Jeep brand has been built on its ‘go anywhere, do anything’ capability,” said John Plecha, Director – Jeep Marketing & Global Communications. “As the all-new Jeep Wrangler Unlimited begins arriving in dealer showrooms across the country, we thought nothing would be more appropriate than to invite consumers to this year’s State Fair of Texas to do what Jeep vehicles love to do best — get muddy.”

The three runners-up, Robert Dombrowski, Shang Potter and Clinton Todd Frank, were each awarded a Jeep Adventure Prize Package.

The first three months of owning my new Jeep Wrangler are over, along with summer and I couldn’t be happier. My 2006 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon has treated me well. Now that I have driven the Jeep for a while it is time to start thinking about upgrades. Everyone’s first thought after buying a new Jeep is to lift it. Not me though. This Jeep is my daily driver and spending $3000 to raise it a couple inches won’t do me any good. Besides, it’s a Rubicon so it is pretty high up as stock.

I do know that I need to purchase a couple accessories. The first is a roof rack. The wife and I have become outdoors people over the past three months and we need a way to haul our Kayaks and bikes. Since I have a soft top, and only a soft top, I am going to need to get one of those crazy looking roof racks that look like an exterior roll cage. Does anyone have any experience with those? Any recommendations?

I am also going to need a trailer hitch. I figure with a hitch, I can get a decent Yakima rack for our bikes.

My wife wants me to get a fire extinguisher, but I think that she only really likes the look of them and not really the usefulness of them.

So, what accessories do you put on your Jeep?