Vance's Closing Thoughts...

It is 9:30 am on May 23rd and I am on the airport shuttle, on my way back home.

It is very difficult to sum this trip up without writing a lengthy novel, but I will do my best...

This whole thing started when I read the ad that Josey had posted on our website only a few weeks ago (march 10, 2007).  As I have said before, as soon as I read it I immediately felt that we had to have the jeep and meet with Nick.  Trying to drive the old jeep home was an adventure and opportunity that couldn't be resisted. I vividly remember thinking that driving a stock 60 year old vehicle (that had never been designed for highway driving) more than 2,000 miles across country would either be the best or worst decision of our life.  There was no middle ground in this one, it was either going to be a once-in-a-lifetime adventure or the ultimate "I told you so" regret of a lifetime.  I felt that if all went relatively well throughout the trip that the experience would be phenomenal so we quickly decided to roll the dice and go for it.

I knew that there was a very slim chance that the old jeep would make it all the way without some kind of mechanical issue. Oddly enough, that is exactly what intrigued me about the whole trip. The fact that we wouldn't know if we were going to make it all the way home until either we did or didn't had a high level of excitement to me.  Every mile that we made it would be 1 more mile behind us and the question as to whether or not that was going to be our last (driven) mile.

We had no intentions, ability or time to "check out the jeep" before we headed out on the road.  We bought the jeep sight unseen, and on the first day of the trip we loaded our gear, checked the oil, fired it up and hit the road.  Other than having a great deal of confidence in the reliability of Jeeps, we really didn't know how far she was going to take us.  We joked about how embarrassing it would be to blow the engine or transmission in the first mile, but we both knew that the odds were more in favor of something like that actually happening vs. not.  Furthermore, we had no support vehicle following us or any back-up plan whatsoever for what we were going to do if in fact something like that did happen, and that in itself was the fuel for the adrenaline rush of this trip.

Now that it is done and we are safely home, it is very difficult to identify the highest point of the trip.  Even better is the fact that it is tougher to pinpoint the low points of the trip due to the lack of them.  Meeting Nick was without a doubt one of the ultimate highs.  Like most people, I grew up having fictitious hero's and it took me 38 years until I got to meet and shake the hand of a real one.  I can honestly say that I have never met anyone like Nick before, and I am pretty confident that I never will again.  Most people never get a chance to meet someone like Nick and that is something that I will cherish for the rest of my life.

In fact, the only low that I can think of from this whole trip is knowing that Nicks life story and life-long collection of artifacts, pictures, medals and memorabilia are pretty much isolated from the rest of the world.  I have no doubt that Nick has stories that millions of people would love to hear, and I firmly believe that Nick has earned the right to tell every single one of them. I only wish that we could do more to make that happen.

This trip gave me a very pleasant and positive attitude towards people and society. These days we hear so much about the "bad" people that we start to believe that it is the majority.  This trip certainly opened my eyes to the fact that the majority of people are kind and good-hearted.  Certainly the ones that we met in all 9 states fell into that category.  During the past 13 days the overwhelmingly majority of the people we met along the way were good people willing to go out of their way to help someone for nothing more than the feeling it gave them.  To me, that is a fool-proof formula for judging ones character.

Josey is one of those people that will forever be embedded in my file of "good people".  Here is a guy that has dedicated his life to his country, community and family and asks for nothing in return.  He told me that a few years ago he gave up trying to save the world so he could focus more on his family.  He really has no idea of what he has already done to make the world a better place, and whether he likes it or not he will continue to "save the world" every day of his life by being a man filled with integrity and patriotism.  The things he has done for Nick over the years is nothing short of heroic.  He will continue to do everything in his power to protect Nick and his possessions, and again, ask for nothing in return.  That is the definition of integrity in my books.

I am not a good enough writer to adequately express my feelings toward Nick.  As I have said before, meeting with Nick was a life altering experience.  I will remember his stories and that day for the rest of my life.  I only wish that more people could share our experience.  SOMEBODY NEEDS TO WRITE NICKS BIOGRAPHY OR MAKE A MOVIE BASED ON HIS LIFE.  Indiana Jones would be humbled.

Last but not least, I got the opportunity to build a solid friendship with Will.  Prior to this trip we had never met and by the end of the trip I felt as though we had known each other forever.  I can say with confidence that after driving over 2,000 miles in a 1948 Jeep Willys with someone that you will either be best friends or never want to see each other again.  We are already planning next years Road Trip so that tells you which side we fell on in that one.  Will is a very rare and unique person full of energy, adventure, optimism, knowledge and one of those people that you instantly feel comfortable with and would trust with anything.  That is one of the reasons that he is so successful in his field, and why he is the PR guy for JeepBrokers....the best PR guy in the industry PERIOD.  Will also has a fantastic sense of of humor which is one of the major factors that made this event that much more enjoyable.

My only advice to all that read this is to stay off the Interstates the next time you go on a trip.  Don't think of it as taking more time but rather think of it as investing your time wisely.  Who cares if you get there an hour or two later?  The things you see and people you meet along the way will pay huge dividends to your time investment.

My only regret in this whole adventure is that we didn't turn around once we got to Snow Flake, drive it back to Tallahassee and spend a few more days with Nick and Josey.

Until next year, thank you all for your support and we hope you enjoyed following our adventure...we certainly did!

- Vance Crowder

Wrapping up this trip and experience in a few paragraphs will be tough if not impossible but I will try to recap my thoughts, feelings and experiences in the following.

Heading into this trip I was filled with excitement, wonder and even some apprehension but there was no way on this earth that I was going to miss this opportunity to see and do so many things all in one trip. I was excited to meet Nick Fallier, my excitement turned into amazement when we did actually get to spend some time with him. I only hope that when I am Nick’s age I am as sharp and can remember the details of my life’s experiences as he does. It was truly an honor to get to spend time with him and hear the stories he has to tell; this is without question, one of the most adventurous and accomplished men that I have ever met. It astounds me at how many movies are produced, TV shows made that are fiction and yet here is a living hero that deserves his story to be shared with a world that I believe would genuinely enjoy the tales. A real life Indiana Jones!!

I was equally excited to spend some time with Vance, whom I had communicated with and worked with over several years to share our love of Jeeps with the world to create one of the most visited sites on the web. For almost a decade we had talked about going to the Rubicon, to Moab or elsewhere to go wheeling for a week and things always seemed to get in the way of our plans so I was looking forward to the trip get to spend time with Vance and further our business plan. After Vance and I spent as much time as we did together we found that our personalities were very similar and I think we were both a little relieved that we were able to travel and enjoy the company as much as we did. It was always entertaining and enjoyable, even when we had breakage or tough decisions to make we never had any trouble deciding together what we should do. I left this trip with a growing anticipation of where JeepBrokers.com will be going in the future, there is no doubt in my mind great things are yet to come. I am proud to have Vance as a friend and partner in business; he has integrity and is an incredible businessman. He has excelled in his profession and it is easy to understand why when you actually spend some time with him.

Being an adventurer at heart I continued to have a growing excitement from the day we decided to take this trip to our last day on the road pulling into Snowflake. We went through areas of the country that I absolutely fell in love with and yet others that I have no desire to return to. If I was going to pick a favorite state I would have to say that the people in Tennessee and the mountainous setting with rolling hills would rank at the top of my list. Arkansas would run a close second, that part of the country was so green and beautiful. My least favorite would be a hands down Oklahoma, with the exception of the folks in Cleveland we really didn’t get any kind of a warm reception like we had in so many other towns and states. Thanks again Route 64 in Cleveland, your willingness to help strangers helped us continue on our journey. Aside from that we met so many nice people along the way and it was great to talk to other Jeep enthusiasts that shared our passion for the outdoors and of course Jeeps.

This was truly an experience of a life time; there is not one mile of road, one hour of the day or even one moment that I would change of this trip. The towns we went through, the people we met, the weather we fought and the minimal breakage we had made this trip the best that we could have ever hoped for……. I wouldn’t hesitate for a second to do it again. Thanks to all of you that followed along with the story, it kept us excited when we would receive new emails daily and we knew that people were truly enjoying the trip with us.

These kinds of experiences in life are truly what living is about; with every one I find myself a little more humbled. I was amazed at how many people along the way that we met at various restaurants, gas stations or stops that didn’t know what was in the next town less than a hundred miles away. There is a whole world out there to see and I want to see it all from a Jeep. I am already pumped and ready to get the trip going for 2008. I hope to meet many more of you out there on our next road trip and I hope our adventure has inspired some of you to take a chance and to live life…..  roll the dice from time to time and see what fate has to offer. Time to get busy living and have some fun!!

 - Will Morgan