We Went Off Roading in a Jeep at the Washington Car Show

Nobody in my family is terribly into cars - or so I thought. It turns out, if let loose on the floor at the Washington Auto Show, Helen and Connor are quite into cars. I haven't seen them both this enthused for something they know almost nothing about in a long time.


After receiving an invitation from Jeep to go off-roading, I decided to take the little people downtown to check it out. We were all intrigued, and assumed it would be some sort of simulator game. NOT SO!


Jeep has turned a rather large part of the show-room into an obstacle course, and visitors get to ride with a professional driver to check it out. Not only would they not let me drive, there is no way I could've safely maneuvered through the course. The drive had my whole family howling in minutes.

I was super excited for the ride, Connor was a little nervous, and Helen thought perhaps this wasn't the safest choice she had made all day.

During the ride, Helen and Connor fell in love with the Jeep, wondered why their parents drive such lame cars, and immediately begged to purchase one on the spot, volunteering to help out with the cost by contributing their allowances. I told them that typically before we spend about $20K - $30K, we at least give it a night's worth of thought.

The course takes you over a bunch of logs (which don't hurt the Jeep because there's a steel plate underneath the car to protect all its parts, up a very steep hill (35 degree angle), down that same hill, and then you take a turn where it feels like only two wheels are on the ground. Finally, you drive up another hill which seems like it would just not be possible for a car to do, and yet - the Jeep had no trouble.

It was cool. It's going to hard to resist getting a better car if and when my old Altima bites the dust. I feel like my eyes have been opened to a whole new world. (The car even had seat heaters, which is rather impressive especially in light of the fact that the heater in my car broke this past week.)

We also scurried around the auto show checking out all sorts of fancy cars, sitting in many of them, and leaving one with its hazards blinking because Helen couldn't figure out how she turned them on. The car attendant was super nice when I told him what we'd done.

I wouldn't have guessed this would be a winning trip for both kids, but it absolutely was. Thank you, Jeep, for letting me know about it!

Elaine

Details for those in town:


What:             Camp Jeep_® Trail Rated Test Trac
Where:           Walter E. Washington Convention Center

801 Mount Vernon Place, Northwest

Washington D.C., DC 20001

               

When:             Camp Jeep Hours of Operation:                     

Thursday, January 22                                                  12:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Friday, January 23                                                      12:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.

Saturday, January 24                                                  10:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m.         

Sunday, January 25                                                     10:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Monday, January 26 – Thursday, January 29             12:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Friday, January 30                                                      12:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.         

Saturday, January 31                                                  10:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m.

Sunday, February 1                                                     10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.