Me, Myself and I

The Faces of Jeep interview with Audrey Bryd

“I am Audrey Byrd. I am a single 57 yr old female, mother of 2 sons, Aaron age 35 and Dillon, age 30. Dillon is married to Stephanie and they have a son (my grandson) Gage who just turned 1 yr old. I own a 2010 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited. It is heavily modified and is able to handle obstacles even harder than I am willing to do. lol

My jeep’s current modifications list is long but here are some of the details…
All mechanical and installation is done by Adams Driveshaft & Offroad.
6″ long arm suspension system, big bore brakes, front axle, tire carrier by Teraflex Suspensions.
37″ Razor Tires by Maxxis Tires.
Beadlock Rims by Raceline Wheels.
Roof Rack, Rock Sliders, portable step, inside rear basket by Garvin Industries.
Train Horns by Horn Blasters.com.
Dual air-compressors w/ 3 gallon tank by Viair.
(To inflate & deflate tires) by 2 Way Air.
Front bumper by Genright Offroad. and more, more & more.

Everything on my jeep is either Black or Blue. On the side’s of my jeep is a wrap of a female skeleton with long wild hair holding a gun. It’s also on the topsides of my RV and my jeep and the RV are very close in colors.

I live in Henderson / Las Vegas, Nevada. I belong to 1/2 dozen jeep and off road clubs in Nevada and clubs in California, Arizona, Utah and Colorado. I travel alot to the above states to offroading events. This year alone I have already gone to 18 and have 6 more to attend before the end of the year.

I own and travel in an RV and tow my jeep on a trailer behind the RV. It is just me, myself and I to load and unload my RV & Jeep. It might take other couples 1/2 the time to do all of this, but being alone AND also handicapped, it takes me much longer, but at least I’m getting out there instead of staying home and crying the blues.”

FOJ-[Natasha]: “Why did you choose Jeep?”

Audrey: “I choose to buy a jeep because I had always wanted a jeep. I do alot of my research online and had been looking at older jeeps like the CJ7. I did look online at the Toyota FJ but it just didn’t compare for what I was looking for. I finally looked at the Jeep website and on the build your on online. I found a 4 door 2010 in the Surf Blue Pearl color and really liked it. I had only been looking at the 2 door jeeps and when I saw the blue one decided to buy a 4 door jeep, plus I was just going to replace my older SUV, meaning this was just going to be my everyday driver, run my mom to doctor appointments and take the dogs to the vet or to the park..(or so I thought, lol)”

FOJ-[Natasha]: “How did you get into Jeeping?”

Audrey: “After I bought my jeep, I took my dogs out to the desert to run.  While they played, I drove my jeep up on the dirt mount next to the dirt road to see if I could do it.  Well, I got a little braver and tried to drive over a rock the size of my jeep’s stock tire and it grew from there.”

FOJ-[Natasha]: “How long have you been off-roading or in the Jeeplife?”

Audrey: “I grew up spending my summers with my grandparents in New Mexico where my grandfather and his brother were the foreman and assistant foreman of a very big cattle ranch. I had always owned, rode, trained and showed horses growing up and at the ranch you either road horses or dirt-bikes or my grandfathers old 1970 F150, which I learned to drive by age 9. I also had a mini bike growing up. Then ATC’s (3 wheelers) came out and I had to have one, then the ATV’s (4 wheelers) and I had several of those too. So after getting married and having 2 boys, going to the sand-dunes and taking the boys to race their dirt bikes was an every weekend thing for many years. Then after 18 yrs of being married, I got a divorce and the last mean words that my ex told me was that I would never continue to go camping, dirt bike races or the sand-dunes as he did all the work loading, unloading and driving the different campers or RV’s that we had. So that is when I decided that I needed a complete change in my life, so I not only sold the house and all the furniture we had, but sold the small SUV and bought a small house, new furniture and bought my jeep.”

FOJ-[Natasha]: “How has owning a Jeep changed your life?”

Audrey: “I bought my jeep in Oct. 2010 and in Nov. 2010 I joined my 1st jeep club. It was started by the jeep dealership that I bought my jeep from. I became the clubs social media person, and daily trail leader. I have met hundreds if not thousands of people from all over the world that also love Jeeps. I have started traveling to other states in my RV with my jeep and going to Jeep Events in several different states. There I have met some totally awesome and super friendly people, some of which have become very good friends.”

FOJ-[Natasha]: “What is your favorite Jeep event?”

Audrey: “There are several that I really love. They are all different in how the event is run and what all they do. I will say that one of the events I consider a favorite would be Easter Jeep Safari in Moab, Utah. It is a week long event with people and their jeeps coming from all over the world. I have gone every year since 2012 and will continue to go every year that I can. Another event that is a favorite would be All-4-Fun that is held in different cities in Colorado. It is also a week long event. But at this event all the participants get to camp together in a large field in whichever city it is being held. They have a huge tent structure where every night they have activities, raffles and games for the kids going on.  They have nightly dinners for everyone and they a beer & alcohol tent. This way, instead of people going back to their RV Parks or Hotels, everyone gets to mingle and visit with the rest of the group. To me, it makes the event much more personable and a family like environment.”

FOJ-[Natasha]: “What is your best Jeep memory?”

Audrey: “This is a very hard question, because just about every time I go out jeeping, I find or do something that will stay in my memory forever.
In no particulate order:
#1: Driving my jeep or in my RV and towing the jeep, I have other vehicles ALL the time slowing down to take photo’s of my rig.  They give me thumbs up, smiles, waves, etc..I can stop for fuel or just be at some random store and someone will come up to me to tell me how nice my jeep is and can they take a picture, etc..
#2: Meeting and becoming good and close friends to a couple from Belgium in 2012.  They are like family now. They bought a 2013 Jeep and store it here at my home and then they come to the USA twice a year for approx 3 weeks.
I had a guy from Canada fly to Las Vegas to be my passenger for Easter Jeep Safari. In 2015, I then became friends with his whole family.
I also had 2 guys in their mid 20’s come over from New Zealand and camp near me for Easter Jeep Safari in Moab and they were my passengers for the week in 2016. They are now saving up to return here in 2020.
#3: In 2015 I got a call for a rescue. I traveled outside of town to a very large dry lakebed that had flooded from lots of rain over the week. I had a couple of other jeep friends meet me out there to help and 2 guys rode in my jeep with me with lots of extra tools, shovels, etc…Long story short, My jeep pulled all 3 of the stuck vehicles out of the flooded, muddy lake bed. Everyone was very impressed and so was I. I learned one thing from this rescue was that I HATE mud. It took like what seemed forever to get all the mud off.  Every time I would get it washed, I would find more mud…lol, it is a memory that will stay with me forever too.”

FOJ-[Natasha]: “Thank you Audrey for taking the time to share your Jeep journey with us.”

Photo & Story from Audrey Byrd, Questions asked by FOJ-Natasha Kokkinis and Answers from Audrey Byrd

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