My Jeep Renegade Trailhawk in rural Rio Rancho, New Mexico offroad after a heavy thunderstorm passed by - Nikon D750 with Tamron 15-30mm f/2.8 SP lens tripod mounted 5-bracket HDR processed in Aurora HDR 2018
Not a shopping mall Jeep!
Those that know me, know that I love cars, well, special cars. Not all have to be as special as my beloved Aston Martin Vanquish (some day!), but even just the ability to go anywhere, do anything is enough. Getting serious speed in a car is not that affordable, especially for newer models. However, getting serious offroad ability is. When I traded in my faithful and much loved Mazda3 sedan in March for the Jeep Renegade Trailhawk you see here, I was giving up great, affordable on road driving dynamics for the ability to drive offroad anywhere a stock vehicle could.
Living in New Mexico, an offroad capable vehicle just fit both my personal and professional life much better. Much of my professional photography and drone work involves rural land real estate property. In New Mexico, rural land means access by dirt/gravel/unmaintained roads. I used to have to leave the Mazda3 at home and rent a 4x4 pickup truck from Enterprise. Now, I can drive right from my door to any rural land property, like this one in remote southwest Rio Rancho.
Flash mud puddle
Rain was all around as I arrived. It was not long until I had to store camera and tripod in the Jeep and hide out from the rain, thunder, and then hail! On the way in I had to cross a half-road mud puddle. After the flash rain, once I was done photographing the property, it was a whole road mud puddle! I put the terrain response into mud, got up some speed, and hit the mud puddle! There was some sideways slipping, but on the stock tires I made it through. Why I did not stop and get a photo of the puddle, I have no idea. I was feeling good having made it through and just wanted to keep rolling! It is good to be a part of the Jeep family and being able to live the "Jeep Life."