If you have been following our trail recommendations on our Trails tab, chances are you have noticed a few pictures with a small orange Jeep somewhere in the background. Odd, right? Not to us, and a little explanation may be in order as to why we take Jimmy the Jeep with us whenever we go hiking.
Mike and I have always wanted a Jeep. It has been our dream car, so to speak. We think they look cool with their rugged exteriors, big knobby tires, and removable tops, and we always thought it would be fun to have one to drive on our camping and hiking adventures. Some of our most exciting and fun moments have been on back-country Jeep tours – ahh, the adrenaline! So, we have dreamed about having one for years, but we never could make it happen. They’ve always been too far out of our price range, much less not a wise choice for a family of five who really needed to stick with the mini-van option instead, for practical reasons. Instead, we just talked endlessly about them, always noticing them on the road (everyone seemed to have one but us!), discussing which color we would want, and acting like one day soon it would be parked in our driveway…it was just a dream, and we both knew it.
Several years back, as I was Christmas shopping, I got the bright idea to get Mike a Jeep as a present, just as a joke. Not the real one of course, but I found one in the toy aisle that fit the bill – a cute orange one with black tires. Perfect, as it was one of the colors he liked the most for his “some day” Jeep. I put it in his stocking, and as he took it out, his reply was, “Perfect! Our dream is now a reality!” We laughed about it, and then the cute orange Jeep was relegated to the top shelf of the desk we had in our study so he could stare at it and dream some more.
Fast forward a few years, we become somewhat empty nesters, and our hiking and camping adventures really come into full swing. As we were heading home from one of these adventures, again noticing all of the different colors and styles of Jeeps on the road, and again making comments like, “There’s my Jeep,” or “Wouldn’t that one be so fun to have,” Mike made a comment that confused me for a moment. “You know,” he said in all seriousness, “we already have a Jeep that we could take hiking with us.” I looked at him like he was crazy. I thought he was half-mad when he continued with, “We’ve got that orange one in the study. We could be taking that one with us. It may not be the real thing, but he could be our hiking buddy.” I could tell he was being half-silly at the end here, but there was a seriousness to his tone as well. I sat there for a moment thinking, and then the idea grew on me. Yeah, why not? We might not be in the position to get a real Jeep, but why not play with the dream a bit and make it as real as possible?
We talked a bit more and that’s when we came up with a name for our new hiking buddy – Jimmy – which I liked because, well, I am an English teacher and alliteration is my thing. Jimmy the Jeep – perfect!
Ever since that conversation, Jimmy has joined us on every single hike. He sits on either me or Mike’s shoulder in what I lovingly call his “car seat,” which is really just a plastic strap attached to our backpacks. We get some strange looks at times as we pass other hikers, and it makes us giggle. We also make sure he is included in a few of our pictures from each hike. We’ve made it a challenge to find the most interesting places to “stage” him. He is our dream car and taking our dream on the trail has added an extra layer of fun to our adventures. It may seem a bit silly, but hear me out on this one. Dreams are great to have, even better if you have someone to share them with. But sometimes, dreams don’t come true for whatever reason. And you know what…that’s ok. Sometimes the journey of the dream can be just as fun and fulfilling as achieving the dream itself. It is what you make of it, what you invest into it.
Mike and I will probably never buy a Jeep. I just don’t think it’s in the cards for us. But we won’t give up on the dream. For now, our hiking buddy keeps the dream alive and brings us a different kind of fulfillment and happiness. We are enjoying the journey of the dream; a dream made more real through a little orange plastic Jeep named Jimmy we like to call our hiking buddy.
