Is your 4x4 destined to be a family heirloom?

Keepsake or Jeepsake? Sometimes it’s the same thing

- CHRISTIAN HAZEL

Keepsakes are interesting things. Sometimes they’re useful contrivances and sometimes they serve no purpose other than to elicit a memory. But sometimes they’re the vehicle through which memories are made. And yes, that was an intentional pun because for me and my family, we seem to make the majority of our memories via motorized cars, trucks, Jeeps, and boats. It should come as no surprise considering what my day job is, but my kids have grown up with a half-dozen 4x4s of all sorts in the driveway and didn’t believe me at first when I told them not every kid in their school went off-roading in Moab and hard-core trails around the country on a regular basis. And while each of my four kids has their personal favorite of all my vehicles, they all seem to have a soft spot for the family Wrangler, “Project Why-J.”