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A neighbor friend made a comment about my Jeep once.  He had apparently witnessed two Jeeps waving at each other and he asked if “I” waved at other Jeeps.  I proudly said, “Yes I do!“  He asked, “Why would you do that?”  Me - “Well, when I first got the Jeep, people started waving at me and so I just waved back.  I’m friendly like that.  It’s how I roll.  But after owning the Jeep for awhile, I heard that it is a known practice among Jeep owners - “The Jeep Wave”.  He said, ”That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”

Now since we were on the phone and I was sitting at my computer , I typed in Jeep Wave.  It’s hysterical that this was the first item that showed up when I googled it.


Definition:

The Jeep Wave: An honor bestowed upon those drivers with the superior intelligence, taste, class, and discomfort tolerance to own the ultimate vehicle - the Jeep. Generally consists of vigorous side-to-side motion of one or both hands, but may be modified to suit circumstances and locally accepted etiquette.


It goes on, but the “discomfort tolerance” made my friend bust up laughing because he knows . . . it is NOT the most comfortable vehicle on the planet.  You need physical therapy after a long trip.  However, since I don’t travel much, it suits its purpose just fine - the beach!!!!  I got so tired of waiting on anyone with a four-wheel drive to invite me to the beach that I just went out and got my own.  Now I go whenever the mood strikes - and by myself sometimes.  I can almost throw a rock to North Carolina, so I drive down to a beach about an hour and a half away where they let you take your vehicle out there.  It’s soooo fun!!  I’ve only ever gotten stuck once - and of course, I was by myself AND it was a weekday so that meant there were not a lot of folks out there to help me out.  (THAT is also known as beach driving etiquette - help out those that are stuck - it could one day be you.  In fact, there are some folks that ride around out there with their 10-inch body lifts, 10-ton winches and 40″ tires spewing the testosterone of a Super Hero solely there to Save the Day!!!)  No big deal though.  It was a day off and I was in no hurry.  Sun was sun no matter where I was on the beach.  I was just calmly digging my way out when this truck pulled up with these two kids (they were like 22 years old tops) and asked if I had a rope.  Nope - no rope - never needed a rope before.  After all, I had superior beach driving skills (until my transmission popped out of 4-wheel drive)  I didn’t even know it could do that.  Still - no big deal.  Lesson learned.  These guys said they’d go get one.  I was like “Nawwhh. You don’t have to do that.  I’ll be okay.  I don’t want you to waste your day at the beach.”  They - “Awwh It’s alright.  We are working down the beach dredging.  This is more fun than that.”  Me - “Cool! So long as nobody gets in trouble.”  So one of the guys stayed behind and waited with me while his friend went off in search of a rope - just chatting away - North Carolina folks are like that (a friendly, easy-going bunch).  But I started feeling really old because the guy kept making references to his mom - like that was the only subject we’d have in common.  (He was probably right, but I’d like to think that I can talk to just about anybody)   But I thought it was nice of him to keep me company - even though he thought he was just doing his Boy Scout duty helping the old lady (who still thinks she’s twenty-something).  I’m sure he was thinking “shouldn’t this old lady be home crotcheting or something?”  Kids. . .I couldn’t get upset about it because they DID actually pull me out with tremendous ease.  And they were about as nice as they come.  It left me thinking how nice it was to see young men with manners.  Their mamas taught them well.  Either their mama or their Boy Scout leader.They did their good deed for the day.