New Member: John Lewis

[Herrie]

Baie welkon John

[Willie]

Welcome John

[JG Shields]

Welcome John!!

[Bikechaser]

@ All - thanx for the warm welcome….
@Jules – A Mercury Mountaineer is a Ford product, a Ford Explorer with different trimmings, supposed to be the luxury model. The Explorer is `n tad smaller than a Patrol – between a Patrol and Pathfinder – available in 2x4; AWD with a truck chassis. I take mine into the Arabian Desert. Its a great teacher in the sand, as I have to work on my skills and not rely on the vehicle`s abilities…it has none exept for the AWD. Not serious offroader, but fun. See the picture.
@Mroka - I have switched sides this year - just because I can - I`m now a Lions supporter, they need all the support they can get, without having someone able to kick a ball through to the posts..............
@Kagiso II - My Patrollie doen diens as die " Lady of Leasure" se daaglikse wiele. Sy intimidate die arme Laevelders daarmee.....Ons doen so dan en wan `n kort ekskursie van die pad af net om seker te maak alles wat veronderstel is om te werk doen so en kry so bietjie smering. Ek verduidelik verder:

Background: My circumstances the past 15 years were of such that I am in the fortunate position of being able to do as much 4x4ing as my heart desires, and to top it, I could do so with a company vehicle on company expenses. These opportunities I`ve utilized to its fullest which sent me down a path of discovering my way through trial and error – such as submerging a vehicle in what seemed an innocent stream or got stuck in a mudhole in a fashion the vehicle doors or windows couldn’t be opened – exit was through the sunroof and recovery done by a large Komatsu crawler excavator – the swamp machine …….not knowing my limitations nor that of the vehicle was a journey of discoveries, some not so pleasant…..material for good campfire stories.

Owning a 4x4 vehicle as means to satisfy a need to take on the wilderness never came to mind for reasons described above. However, I have always admired the chunky looking Patrol as a piece of manly machinery one has to have in one’s stable – there is nothing remotely foo-foo about a Patrol. I thus didn’t have any real motivation to own one until “The Lady of Leasure” – my loving redhead spouse of close to 4 years (at the time) an avid horse lover with a horse stabled on a farm, made her needs known to have a 4x4 to enable her to travel dirt roads, pulling a horsebox on the odd occasion etc, and pitched for a Land Rover Discovery. “I will do anything for love….but I……wont do that” (Meatloaf) jumped into my mind.

The Patrollie Motor was bought on the sly without the wife`s input from Produkta Nissan Nelspruit in 2006 as factory demo (whatever the term indicates) with 40,000km on the clock. The only “illnesses” she suffered was the replacement of the battery – every two years on the dot – and a radiator replacement a year ago. The radiator issue can be dealt with in a separate post, as bad workmanship (not Produkta) nearly killed the gearbox which could have resulted in a R120,000 expense.

The lady of Leasure and the Patrollie Motor bonded instantly and was given the name Dorothy. When I`m home, the Patrollie Motor is MINE!