Hi, and welcome to my outdoor blog.

Hi there. My name is Derek Odom, and I’m a full-time freelance writer and author. What you may not know is that I’m also an outdoor enthusiast, big time. I own a 1988 Jeep Cherokee that’s lifted and sitting on 35” tires, locked and loaded – hence the name of the blog. I also enjoy boating, fishing, camping, shooting, dirt roads or just about anything else that involves nature of some sort or being outside. Okay, I’m not base-jumping any time soon, but you get the drift.

I’ll be documenting my off-road and camping/shooting/fishing adventures on this blog, and I hope that at least some of you find the entries to be good reads. My girlfriend, Eliza, and I are always doing some sort of camping or wheeling. We cannot get enough of it, really. The Jeep club I am a part of (www.NAXJA.org) offers many opportunities throughout the year to hit the dirt and we have many independent friends who love to camp, fish, hike or shoot and so we are never without options. When the Jeep is down for repairs, we take our 1986 Crown Vic 8-passenger wagon. Yea, it’s like that.

As for guns, I own a Kimber Custom TLE 1911 model .45 semi-auto, a CZ-75 B 9mm, a Mossberg 12-gauge and a .22 rifle which is a Ruger 10. The girlfriend has the hand cannon, in the form of a blued .357 Ruger six-shot revolver. You should see her eyes light up every time she gets it in her hand. A little unsettling, really. We shoot as often as money will allow, as ammunition isn’t cheap. We always use ear protection and obey all local laws any time we have a gun out, whether at the range or out in the mountains at one of the “self-serve” shooting areas that are completely unmonitored.

When wheeling, we stay on the designated trail as much as humanly possible, because land use and keeping trails open are important to us. If you are reading this blog, you’ve probably seen the asshats who take off into the brush with their rigs and start mowing down bushes or small trees after a few beers. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m definitely a fan of throwing back a couple cold ones and have even been known to have one at a lunch break on the trail, but driving completely obliterated is another thing entirely. Stay on the trail, and save the beer guzzling for the campfire.

Anyhow, since this is just my introduction I’ll quit with the politically correct banter and see if I can’t get going on an actual post that may be more informative as to how we actually do things, and some of the adventures we have. Let the good times roll.