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Voodoo Blue 82 Complete Refresh

Been a while since I posted. We've had a terrible tragedy happen to our family. There is a lot out there if you Google "Athena Passidakis". On April 3rd, our 21 year old daughter, Athena, was brutally murdered by her ex-boyfriend in Chico, CA where she was going to college. He ambushed her when she was pulling out in her car to go to her college internship that morning. He came up to the window and told her to get out. When she wouldn't, he pulled a gun and shot her in the left arm and then pulled her out and put her in a car he rented. The child locks on the back doors were set to not open from the inside. Long story short - 40 minutes later with the police following him, he pulled over and shot her 3 more times and then himself. She was going to graduate college and start the rest of her life. When they were dating, he never was violent to her or even yelled at her. He had no police record and the main investigator is baffled why he went from nothing to this. Usually, domestic violence escalates over time. Of course, this ripped apart our close family. Athena was roommates with our 25 year old daughter and she is totally devastated by this. The Chico and Redding (where we live) communities have been amazing in the support for all of us. 300-400 people attended candlelight vigils we had in both cities. The University has been wonderful. They awarded her her full degree in Health Services Administration and invited her older sister to walk with the other graduates in a cap and gown on Athena's behalf and receive her diploma. That was a wonderful ceremony - tough but wonderful. It's been a constant thing with family, our friends and her friends, some we never even knew, coming by our house to grieve with us. I'm just getting back to work now and it's still difficult. We will always have a hole in us and we'll miss her shining light forever.

Love and cherish your family like it's the last day. Because you never know when something will happen. This was a total surprise to us.

My wife Meri and I have been constantly together through all of it. She's a serious mountain biker and her friends took her on a long ride last Saturday. Instead of staying home alone, I took the Scrambler out to clear my head. Did some easy trails near Mt. Shasta. It was beautiful and gave me a little break for a bit. Here are few pics.

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At the start of one of the trails, I came across this Kia. He got stuck trying to turn around. The trail is clearly marked "High Clearance 4x4 Vehicles Only". He was there for 3 hours before I ran into him and was also lost. He was "using Google maps" but lost cell signal. One wheel of his front wheel drive was spinning and we could not push it back down onto the trail. I went around him and winched him backwards back onto the trail. Then I had him back down to a turnaround point and got him out the way he came. His back bumper pulled off on one side on a small ledge he had to drop down.

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I have put a lot of miles on the Scrambler since I got it back on the road. It's running great.

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Take care everyone.

George
 
George, I can’t begin to tell you how sorry I am……I couldn’t imagine.
My wife and I have3 daughters and 1 son that are ages 18-27. Even as young adults, I still love and worry about them as if they were still little. I’m glad to hear you have so much love and support around you and your family. My family and I will keep you in our thoughts and prayers.
 
Dear lord. So very sorry for all of you. Appreciate that you have so much support through this and love that you found some solace in your Jeep ❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹
 
My condolences to you and your family. You are in our prayers. I have a cousin in California who survived something a little similar 40 some years ago when her husband separated and later attacked her out of the blue. So sorry for your loss.
 
Renee and I are so sorry for your loss. We will be praying for you and your family.
 
I just read this in an airport while traveling back home... words can never express how truly sorry I was to hear this horrible news. Prayers for you and your family.

cb
 
I can't imagine.

I am around if you just need to talk.

Prayers that you find something, I can't figure out what.

My humblest condolences.
 
George, I can't even imagine the pain you and your family are dealing with. Along with every other forum member, I hope you find peace and the willpower to recover from your tragedy. Reach out if you need to talk. I'm retired and would welcome the conversation. Best of wishes to you, my friend.
 
My family and I are very sorry to hear this, we did see this in the news but wouldn't have imagined it would be someone on the forum. Sending prayers and good energy to you and your family. I can't imagine having to find peace with that.
 
There are no words. Thinking of yall
 
Got the Scrambler out on a moderate trail to a nearby lake. There is a pretty steep descent into the lake. We were with about 12 other vehicles - mostly JK and JL Wranglers. Nobody else went down this way. They took an easier route down to the lake. The 125:1 crawl ratio made this easy. Hardly used the brakes at all.


 
Here is my post to our trip to the Old Dale Mining District on BLM land just outside Joshua Tree National Park. We also did some 4x4 trails in the National Park. It was a great way to avoid the typical tourist areas in the park.

gpassida

Thread 'Joshua Tree National Park and surrounding BLM area'

Back from the trip to Joshua Tree National Park and the Old Dale Mining District on BLM land. Wow! It was fantastic. There are so many abandoned mines to visit. We did maybe 15% of them. Didn't see anybody for the first three days we were exploring the mines on the BLM land. Then we took a 4x4 road into the National Park and camped for two nights there. Took some 4x4 roads out of the Park, refueled and refilled our water containers and came back through from the South on the Berdoo Canyon 4x4 road. Some decent rocks in a few sections. The Scrambler did great, even with the heavy...
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I also posted my gear checklists here:

gpassida

Thread 'George's Checklists'

A few have asked to see my gear checklists. Here are a few... Hope they help. Yes...I was a Scoutmaster....

Can't upload Excel files so here are some PDF's. I didn't spend time formatting for PDF as I just use the Excel versions. So these lack dividing lines etc.

I also have a tool kit checklist but it needs some work so I didn't upload it.

This is a pic of my loadout without the tent, clothes bags etc. "Box 1, 2 and 3" are the Rubbermaid Totes from Walmart or Amazon. Three of them plus my Dometic refrigerator fit perfectly in the back of the Scrambler. They are tied town...
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