JKOwners.com - The community for Jeep JK Owners

JKO Does Jeep Beach
Brought to you by Mid Florida Jeep Club and Jeep
Story by Lance Clifford
Photos by Bill Materson

Jeeps, Daytona International Speedway, and the Beach. Sounds like the perfect combination, doesn't it? Well it was at Mid Florida Jeep Club's 2nd annual "Jeep Beach" event at Daytona Beach, FL.

Renee, Marcy, and I flew out to the Sunshine State to check this event out firsthand. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but was excited at the prospect of hanging out in the infield of Daytona International Speedway regardless. We took the redeye to Orlando early Friday morning as we planned to hit Disneyworld after Jeep Beach. After a quick drive from Orlando to Daytona, it was time to relax at the hotel pool and enjoy a few poolside beverages. A few poolside beverages turned into a few more cocktails at the bar, and then migrating across the way to the sports bar where we met up with fellow JKO'ers, and eventually closing down said sports bar. So much for a good night's sleep before Saturday's activities at the speedway!

Saturday morning seemed to come way too early. Dennis, aka: HITMONEY drove all night from Miami to get to the speedway at 6:00AM. Poly Performance Dave and I were supposed to meet him at the speedway at 6:00AM to get setup, but somehow that didn't happen. I crawled out of bed around 7:30AM (4:30AM at home!) and called HITMONEY to see how things were going.

"I got your booths all setup, f$#%er" he grumbled.

Sweet! Now all we had to do was show up and do our thing! hahaha Poor HITMONEY...

Dave and I left the girls behind, and headed over to the speedway. It was already getting warm, and of course neither of us are used to that good 'ole humidity. When we arrived at the speedway, we were in awe at the sheer massiveness of the speedway. What a cool setting for a day of hanging out with fellow Jeepers. The event was not yet open to the public, so it was a good time to cruise around and check things out before the crowds would arrive. There were several man made obstacle courses setup with varying levels of difficulty ranging from "never have put it in 4wd before novice" to moderately difficult courses consisting of driving over k-rails and large concrete tubes.

I saw more than one Jeep have issues on the moderate courses, including a roll over!

I was blown away at how many Jeeps showed up for this event. The last number I heard was well over 500 Jeeps. That's a LOT of Jeeps! Not only were there plenty of Jeeps, there were plenty of vendors as well, I would guess there were about 30 different companies lined along vendor's row.

So after a fun day in the sun complete with a spectacular raffle, it was time to head back to the hotel to take a quick shower, and then head to the JKOwners meet and greet at "Fresh on Main" restaurant and bar for a "few" cocktails and some grub. With an estimated 75-100 JKO members in attendance, the "sweet tea vodka and lemonade" drinks were going down a little too easy, and before you knew it, HITMONEY and I had built a rather impressive tower of dead soldiers. Even the cocktail waitress was impressed with our artwork!

Once again, the next morning came far too quickly. With fuzzy heads, we piled into HITMONEY's awesome JK and headed for the beach for the 7 mile long parade along Daytona's world famous beach. There are not too many places left in the United States that allow you to actually drive along the beach, and right here in Daytona is one of them. Let's hope that tradition can continue for many years to come. As we staged for the parade, the Jeeps kept coming and coming. There were Jeeps down the beach as far as the eye could see. It truly was an amazing site!

After a nice ride down the beach, it was time for me to say goodbye. I would have to miss the Sunday pool party in exchange for family duties, and head down to Disneyworld for a couple of days of fun. Our entire family had a great time, and we look forward to attending next year. I hope to see you there!

Be sure to check out next month's edition of JKOwners TV as we will have video from Jeep Beach as well!

Links

Jeepbeach.com

MidFloridaJeepClub.com

Jeepbeachphotos.com

Jeep.com

Bill Materson's Photos:

Beach pics - http://www.flickr.com/photos/lurkzilla/sets/72157623955437299/

Speedway pics - http://www.flickr.com/photos/lurkzilla/sets/72157624097148184/