So Zone Offroad is growing. Over the last few years our warehouse space and offices have more than doubled in size, new products are released on a near weekly basis, and we continue to hire talented enthusiasts to fill our employment openings. This past weekend we handed the keys to the Zone JK over to one of our newest sales hires from California to take a trip up to the Silver Lake Sand Dunes on the coast of Lake Michigan. They may not be Glamis or Pismo, but we’re proud of these 300 or so acres of sandy hill climbs inhabited each Spring-Fall season by thousands of gearheads and their sand toys.
We (Pete, the new guy and me, the marketing guy) made the 3 hour trek up from Zone Offroad’s home offices in Coldwater, MI with full intentions of solid day shredding it on the sand, grabbing some action shots and enjoying one of the last open weekend’s of the 2014 season at the dunes. Almost every Silver Lake dune day starts with a a climb up test hill, a gnarly razorback’d dune that overlooks the entrance to the park. With the new guy behind the wheel we spent the first few hours traversing all the dry real-estate the park had to offer along with a few covered by standing water. After a while we set up the Go Pros and shot some sweet action shots as dark storm clouds rolled in. During one of the high speed passes coming off a steep dune the Jeep caught a rut during the slide which resulted in the company’s 2013 Jeep JK and former SEMA built project rig ending up on its side. Pete wasn’t injured in the roll and the Jeep survived with only cracked fiberglass hardtop, and a broken mirror; a true testament to the quality of the Jeep, its GenRight Armor, the Rigid light bar, and the Mickey Thompson tires holding the bead through the roll aired down.
A big thanks to everyone that came to the rescue and helped right-side up the Jeep. We had a crowd gathering to watch and were quick to respond in our time of need. Once the Jeep was righted, fluids checked, and the cooler repacked we continued on for the rest of the day, a bit cautious, but still out to have a good time on the dunes before making the cruise back down to Coldwater. Following the dune session Pete went in to tell the boss about the roll and find out if he still had a job 2 weeks in, lucky for him we have a policy that it’s OK to roll a company trail rig as long as you’re getting photos of it.
Stay tuned video to come…
