I'm the Latest New Guy!

    Good morning all,


    My name is Matt. I'm 44 years old and I live in Dover with my beautiful girlfriend Nikki and three boys. I just bought my first Jeep a month ago and I'm enjoying every aspect of it. I have a 2010 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Sahara, stock, but that will all change as time goes on. I love adventuring off road to see where the trail will take me. I also enjoy surf fishing, freshwater bass fishing, hanging out with Nikki and our boys and golf on occasion. I look forward to meeting many of you at future DEJA events. My user name is also my license plate, so if you see me on the road, HONK!


    This is what my jeep looked like Saturday afternoon after a few hours at the canal. Nothing is more manly then power tools and covering your Jeep in mud! I talked with Officer Richard of DNR while I was up there. He mentioned I should write our state legislators to ask about having an off road park in Delaware. He said if no one tells them, they can't be aware of the general public's want for one. Has anyone tried writing to the state before?


    Thanks, Matt :driving:
    [img width=1200 height=900]http://imageshack.com/a/img826/8945/r7ni.jpg[/img]

    When a man lies, he murders some part of the world.  These are the pale deaths, which men miscall their lives.  All this I cannot bear to witness any longer.  Cannot the kingdom of salvation, take me home.

    Quote from flutterby


    I've heard the fines can get pretty steep.


    In the end I was fined $82.00. I guess he had mercy on me because of the $85 towing charge to get me out of the mud. Three lessons learned as a newbie to off roading:


    1) Don't drive through a seemingly small puddle no one else has ventured to drive through yet,
    2) Don't go off road by yourself 30 minutes before dark,
    3) Time to get a 3" lift, 35's and a good winch!


    Let's recap, $82 fine, $100 towing bill (with tip) and a $43 Jeep wash... $225 and it was worth every penny!

    When a man lies, he murders some part of the world.  These are the pale deaths, which men miscall their lives.  All this I cannot bear to witness any longer.  Cannot the kingdom of salvation, take me home.

    Quote from KnoxRents


    :bang: So you consider the fine sort of an entrance fee? The fine means it was illegal.


    X100


    And who pays $43 to have their Jeep washed? :hysterical:



    Sorry new guy, no offense but it's those that choose to illegally off-road and then boast about it that will prevent there ever being public places to wheel.

    Easy, maybe he didn't know it was illegal til he got caught. I don't know how well signs are posted out there, only been on the roads myself.


    We really are a friendly bunch, just the C word and Illegal wheeling go hand in hand and not something the Club wants a reputation for.

    I can certainly take critisism, jabs and jokes so feel free to let me have it. It was my first visit to the canal and my last. I had heard you were not supposed to go off the main trails and I originally went up there to scope out potential fishing areas along the banks. I'm sure I must have passed a sign like that but I never read. Frankly, I was only driving through muddy areas I could see from the main trail and I got stuck only 30 feet off the main trail in what had looked like a recently bulldozed area. It's funny how Jeep commercials never show the vehicle stuck but then again, it wasn't the vehicles fault, it was the stupid driver... ME. Haha.


    The only reason I had the Jeep washed was because of all the oils and clay in the mud, I didn't want all that crap on my paint for any length of time and if I didn't have time to do it myself.


    I'm going to write a letter to our legislators about an off-road park. It will probably get me nowhere but I doesn't hurt to try.

    When a man lies, he murders some part of the world.  These are the pale deaths, which men miscall their lives.  All this I cannot bear to witness any longer.  Cannot the kingdom of salvation, take me home.

    Prolly would have better luck writing Santa clause lol.



    Quote from DJS DAD


    I can certainly take critisism, jabs and jokes so feel free to let me have it. It was my first visit to the canal and my last. I had heard you were not supposed to go off the main trails and I originally went up there to scope out potential fishing areas along the banks. I'm sure I must have passed a sign like that but I never read. Frankly, I was only driving through muddy areas I could see from the main trail and I got stuck only 30 feet off the main trail in what had looked like a recently bulldozed area. It's funny how Jeep commercials never show the vehicle stuck but then again, it wasn't the vehicles fault, it was the stupid driver... ME. Haha.


    The only reason I had the Jeep washed was because of all the oils and clay in the mud, I didn't want all that crap on my paint for any length of time and if I didn't have time to do it myself.


    I'm going to write a letter to our legislators about an off-road park. It will probably get me nowhere but I doesn't hurt to try.

    Quote from Keith_C


    It's pretty clear.





    Sure it is... somewhat... to those who know... or think they knew... until they're signing a ticket.

    I'm not condoning the actions here at all. Once again we come back to what DNREC defines a maintained roadway as. I would read "no offroad traffic" as stay off the grass if I was a noob. Some of the illegal trails up there look just like the maintained roads because they are intended for NG training (if they still do that) and are pretty well worn. If I saw a dirt trail that didn't look much different than the access roads I drove in on I would think it's meant to be driven on. Now, if I saw 2 ruts going off into the woods or grassy areas, common sense tells me uhn uh buddy! There should be better signage on the illegal trails like "Do Not Enter" or "Use by NG Vehicles Only."

    Like Jodie said, maybe he didn't know. Ignorance of the law is not an excuse and unfortunately he found out the hard way and received a nice price tag for that trip. Lesson learned, hopefully. If it happens again then it's his own fault and he should get dragged through the mud (unintentional punny).

    To the OP, as you've already found out, you're actions were illegal whether you knew it at the time or not. To the point, as Keith and Billy have both stated (a bit roundaboutishly), illegal wheeling is neither endorsed by our club nor mention of it tolerated here. It is a huge deterrence to establishing legal wheeling areas and a poor reflection on responsible law-abiding people who enjoy our sport.

    As I said previously, welcome to the Jeep life! Check out the Trail Rides and Gatherings forum and join up on one of the upcoming rides (they won't get you fined, I think). We are a scraggly bunch of jerks who tolerate each others company from time to time... J/K! :innocent: There's a lot of friendly people here and a lot of knowledge concerning all things Jeep.

    Your life is made up of 2 dates and a dash... make the most of the dash!

    I sure hope u guys don't speed with your off road vehicles either. That would make the rest of us with off road vehicles looks bad, I mean it's clearly illegal and signs are posted everywhere. Before u know it, it will be full on anarchy. :laughing: :razz:


    U guys get crazy as soon as someone says canal on here. Relax, most people who don't know any better go there. Shooting him a simple pm giving him a heads up would have worked :up:

    I keep seeing these threads pop up...
    Would it be possible for us to work with DEDNR to create/post signage indicating what's legal and what's not?

    You will never hear me complain about hearing someone educate about c**** riding. I learned my lesson and other newbie's along the way will learn theirs by way of this forum or a fine. I'm all about promoting conservation and off-road education. I appreciate and respect the members of DEJA for teaching the right thing even if many of you feel like you are banging your head against a way. :bang:


    Thanks for the welcome stomper... I feel right at home!

    When a man lies, he murders some part of the world.  These are the pale deaths, which men miscall their lives.  All this I cannot bear to witness any longer.  Cannot the kingdom of salvation, take me home.

    Quote from GSE Nick


    U guys get crazy as soon as someone says canal on here. Relax, most people who don't know any better go there. Shooting him a simple pm giving him a heads up would have worked :up:



    I don't see any "crazy" going on here at all. There were no verbal bashings for the guy making a poor decision. As a matter of fact, I think the responses were petty toned down. Knowledge through education. If no one informs him, how is he supposed to know? Guy seems like a pretty responsible person. We all make mistakes from time to time. :innocent:


    Quote from GSE Nick


    I sure hope u guys don't speed with your off road vehicles either. That would make the rest of us with off road vehicles looks bad, I mean it's clearly illegal and signs are posted everywhere. Before u know it, it will be full on anarchy. :laughing: :razz:



    Same principle here as the knuckleheads doing stupid/illegal things on motorcycles. Gives the other motorcyclists on the road who are law-abiding a bad name, huh? Ask Alex Lien or his wife or his daughter how they feel about motorcyclists. The actions of a few....


    Apologies to the OP. I believe we've derailed your thread. :doh:

    Your life is made up of 2 dates and a dash... make the most of the dash!

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