Interview Elaine Dobiesz

In this JTS Chic Chat episode, Wendy interviews Elaine about her inspiring journey from owning no Jeep to building a highly modified off-roading machine she now takes on adventures around Big Bear Lake, California. JTS Chic Chat offers a women-centric perspective on Jeeps and off-roading. Subscribe today and never miss an episode!

Are you ready? It’s the Jeep Dog Show Chick Chat with Wendy and Ivana

 

Well, Howdy, it’s Wendy and welcome back to another episode of Chick Chat. You know, this is the place where we celebrate the perfect fusion of style and adventure. The Jeeps have long been synonymous with ruggedness, freedom and the spirit of adventure. And who says women can’t embrace all of that more? You know what, I have a very special guest again. I’m so excited about Elaine Dobias. She’s from our Bear Valley 4×4 Club right here in Big Bear. And I just can’t wait to share her story with you guys. Welcome Elaine. Thank you for having me.

 

And so Elaine and I met, gosh, it’s been a number of years now, hasn’t Elaine? Yeah, it’s been a while, right?

 

I’m not sure what year it was, but it was through our Quilt Guild. And then we reconnected again through the Jeeping. Yeah, through Bear Valley 4×4 Club, which is a club here in Big Bear.

 

And I just remember you being very brand new to the whole Jeep thing. Of course, so was I at one point. So we all started off brand new, right? That’s what’s so cool about this. Yes. I thought it’d be a fun story to share how Elaine has started brand new and then give you a little tease of how she’s ventured into other things. So, all right. So tell us what you started with, Elaine. What was your first Jeep that brought you to the Jeep Club? Well, when I came to Big Bear in 2010 and I had a vehicle that was not four-wheel drive and after spending a few winters of putting chains on, I no longer wanted to do that. So I noticed that a lot of people here in Big Bear had Jeeps. So I decided I wanted to get one for myself. And so in 2013, I bought my first Jeep.

 

Very cool. And I think we, you officially probably joined the club around, was it 2017? I think we were trying to figure out our dates. Yes, I believe it was around 2017. Yeah. And so tell us about your Jeep. I know what her name is. You can share her name. Yes. So she’s a 2013 JK Wrangler Sport.

 

And when I first came up to Big Bear with her, a friend saw her and said, “Oh, Olive.” And I go, “Oh, I like that. I’m going to name her Olive.” And that’s part of her color, too. It’s a real pretty olive color, which is nice. She’s like an army green color. So she does look like Olive. Yeah. And she’s perfectly stock at this point. She was. And you were doing some off-roading on your own, though. You had… Yeah. Just the easy roads up here, the forest roads. But there’s so many of them. I mean, we have so many trails like that up here. It’s crazy. Yeah. And I didn’t know what I was getting myself into, but I love it. So I was out on one of the forest roads and came across the Bear Valley 4×4 Club out on a run. And I stopped and spoke with them. And they told me about their meeting. So came to the meeting. And that’s where I saw you and Bill. And you guys were just getting into the club. Right. And then I met Shelby, who had the beast. You guys remember that. If you listen to the deep talk show, I talked about the beast, how much Shelby did with that. And then when it caught fire. So you check out that episode. I’ll have to get that number for our listeners. But yeah, so go ahead, Shelby. Yeah. I always said the beast was indestructible, but I didn’t think about fire. I know. And that was a sad day. But I had a lot of fun going out on the really difficult runs in the beast with him. And then I would just drive my Jeep when it was the easy runs with the club. Well, one of the stories I love about your starting is that one of your first runs that you went with this club. Yes, it was the very first run. And what happened? You get there, you’re talking to everybody and they’re doing what? And you’re like, huh? Yeah. Well, you know, as usual, we have a meeting place and they said, oh, well, we’re going to air down. And I’m looking around going, what is airing down? And then I start watching and everyone’s going over to their Jeeps and letting air out of their tires. Amazing. And now I’m like, I’m thinking I got to buy some equipment.

 

And here’s how it starts, by the way. Yes, it did start there.

 

But I had had a really fun day. Yeah. And and stayed with it. And over the years, I’ve had a lot of fun and I’ve learned a lot. Yes, you have. Yes, I remember, too. We were sort of instrumental in the very beginning of Bill and I were involved in the club. I think Bill was president at some point and we were looking to for people to actually host runs because that’s kind of what you do in a club as you go out and you run. And of course, a lot of our members had done all the trails on here and they really weren’t as interested. And I looked at Elaine, I said, why don’t you lead a run? And she’s looking at me like, no, I don’t even know what that means. And I don’t want to. And I said, sure, you lead it. You pick the trail. We’ll follow behind and we’ll help you. And she’s like, OK. Well, luckily you had been on a whole bunch of trails, some that I had never been on because they were just these beautiful, easy, simple with meadows and views. And oh, my gosh, I’ve had some of the best runs on your runs now. Yeah, a lot of scenic areas. Yeah. And there are members in the club that do want to do the easy runs. And so they enjoy those scenic runs and we stop and have a picnic by the creek.

 

Some of it has some history to it. So that makes it fun, too. But that’s part of the Jeep community. Wouldn’t you say that you kind of discovered by joining the club and doing this is that you have this ability to see places that you cannot see from a regular vehicle? Now, it might be a hiker or a bicyclist and you might be able to get to some of these places. But for the most part, you can’t get to these places. Right. They’re not going to go to the distance that we can go in the Jeep’s either. Yeah. And I know it’s just I’ve always enjoyed your run specifically because it tends to be something that I wasn’t as familiar with. And, you know, when you’re a regular jeeper, you tend to do the same kind of runs like, oh, we got Gold Mountain and John Bowl and some of these bigger trails that everybody knows about that Jeep badge of honor trails. But there are so many hidden jewels up in our area and Big Bear that I love that Elaine just opened that door for us. And I just anytime she’s got a run, I’m like, I want to go. Yes, it’s going to be more relaxing, you know. And I like getting out and exploring and finding new places, too. Yeah. And when I do, then I want to share it with others. Yeah. And it’s always great to do that. So so we so we kind of pushed you. Your first one was like you were a little bit nervous, I remember, but you were great.

 

Just reminding you of things like you have to do a driver’s meeting and you as the run leader, you need to go and introduce yourself to people. Because of course, once we have a run in our club, we invite others that maybe aren’t members. And so you want to get to meet people. You also as the trail leader have to figure out where are you stopping for lunch? You also have to go as fast as you can, but as slow as the group is, you know, you sort to know what you’re doing. So I feel like you really took to this so fast that you just jumped in there with both feet and you super enjoyed just one meeting people, but taking them to all these places that you’ve been to. Yes. And you’ve been good about pushing me out of my comfort zone and encouraging me to do things that I didn’t think I could do. And then I find that I can do it. I’m kind of sorry about that, but not really. No, I’m glad that you have pushed me because it’s pushed me to do more and and then makes me want to do even more. Well, I also think, too, I mean, we’re friends, of course, but being a mentor, not that I had this vast knowledge of experience, but being able to take someone like yourself and seeing the potential that you could do and have fun and sort of push a little bit with that guidance. You know, we didn’t just send you out there and say, go try it on your own. See what happens. You know, we tried to be there with you. We tried to support you so that it could be your run. But you had that backup. And I think just as mentors in the G4 world, we need to do more of that to get people out of that passenger seat into the driver’s seat. I mean, Elaine’s a perfect example of that. She absolutely loves it. I don’t think we could get you out of your driver’s seat now. And I get excited when I see other women out there driving Jeeps, too. Yeah. Well, we’re just as capable. I mean, our vehicles are the only limit. You know, if you’re trying to take a stock Jeep up to something like a John Bull, it’s not going to happen. But now you’ve done some improvements to all of in the last year or two. So yeah, a little bit about some of your, quote, upgrades. And I’m not going to say I’m sorry, because this is all how it happens, by the way.

 

Well, I did start out slow. And I put the new metal bumpers and fenders.

 

And then a little bit later, I added the rock slides.

 

And then I saw that I could do the rock slides that have the dropdown steps. Rock slide engineering. Yeah, that actually went down when you opened the doors. Because I have friends that struggle getting into my Jeep.

 

And so I turn those on for them when I’m picking them up and taking them places. I love it. And then later I did buy an RV.

 

And so I wanted to be able to tow my Jeep and added a towing package to it that I got from you and Bill. So now I tow my Jeep places and I can go with the 4×4 Club on RV off-roading trips, which last year we did Moab. And we’ve done Borrego Springs and Quartzsite.

 

And pretty soon we’re going to be doing Bishop. Well, and you just went on your own. You went up to Washington, Oregon and Washington and spent, what, almost a month? Well, I was gone for five weeks and actually went all the way up into Canada.

 

And so I had my Jeep so that we could have a base camp with the RV and then venture out and explore in the Jeep. Didn’t do any serious jeeping. But you don’t need to. You just start out doing things. And you’re taking your Jeep and being able to go see parts of this country that, by the way, if you’ve not been to Oregon or Washington, you all need to get there because it is a stunning piece of country. Oh, it is. Now, I like what you do with the motorhome. You’re actually staying in a place called Harvest Host, right? Yes. I learned about Harvest Host where you pay a membership fee that gets you onto their app.

 

And when you’re traveling, you can search for these places that you can stay overnight for free. They do encourage you to purchase things from, you know, it can be a winery, a brewery, a farm.

 

And so you try to support those people. But staying at each of those places, you end up with an incredible experience. Wow. So you may be on a farm where you’re parked with chickens next to you. They have goats and pigs and horses and cows. Or you’re at a winery where it’s very peaceful and you can do the wine tasting, purchase wine or be at a brewery and have lunch and their micro beers.

 

So it’s always a fun experience. So on that trip, we mostly did stay at these Harvest Hosts. I think that’s just amazing because now you’re not in a campground with, you know, lights out at 10 and they have to be quiet. I mean, you would still be quiet at these places, but you’re really by yourself, aren’t you? Yes. There might be one other rig there.

 

You do have to be self-contained because usually, you know, you’re not going to have electricity or water or hookups for sewer.

 

But you know, it’s usually for one night and it’s great when you’re traveling and you just need somewhere to park for the night. And now some of them are allowing you to stay more than one night. Love that. I just think it’s a neat way to see part of this country and the fact that you’re towing the Jeep up there with you wherever you’re going, you can just say, you know what, I’m going to go venture off into town or I want to go on this trail. Where’s this trail go? Let’s go check it out. Yes. So are you looking using like an app system to find these trails? Are you buying a map locally in town? How do you find some of these trails that you want to try when you’re other areas?

 

Usually you know, when say, for instance, we’re staying at a harvest host or we’re even staying in an RV park, they will give you information. Love it. Tell you what you can go and explore in that area, things to visit. You know, if you’re hiking, they’ll tell you about hiking. If you’re jeeping, they’ll tell you where a good place to go jeeping. Cool. So now tell us what else you’ve upgraded on your Jeep because this is not the end. Right. Well, I did do a two inch lift and then I added a winch. Just recently put front and rear lockers on. I haven’t been out to test them out yet. I don’t really need them as much as you think, but yes. But soon. Yeah.

 

And but this week I’m going to be adding a full skid plate package and then I’ll be ready to hit go mountain. Hit the big stuff. Yeah. I can’t wait to kick you out. It’s going to be fun. And then for traveling, I did add the front runner rack and I added a shade. Yeah. Because that’s going to be nice, especially when you’re doing areas that don’t have these beautiful trees that we have here in Big Bear. You are going to need space. I mean, we have a huge umbrella that we attach to the back of our hitch that comes apart. But you’re talking about one that’s attached that actually just opens up and you have the whole back completely shaded. I think that’s yes. Yes. Which is good. You know, when we go off the mountain down into the desert areas or like in Moab.

 

Yeah. Because there’s no trees there, right? Not much.

 

And then even, you know, when we travel out to Borrego Springs or to court site, there’s no shade.

 

So that’ll come in really handy. I think that’s going to be a great use of those upgrades.

 

So any other plans other than skid plates?

 

Because you’re on 35s now, right?

 

Yes. I’m yeah, I did change to the 35s. I had 33s before so upgraded to the 35s. And I think with that lift and getting the skid plates, you’ve got the good rock slide engineering. You’re going to be fine. I think so, too. The whole mountain is going to be easy for you.

 

So yeah, I’m looking forward to getting out there and challenging myself a little more.

 

Hang on, guys. Let’s hold for a second. I need some water.

 

Why this coffee?

 

OK, we’ll take a pause, give five seconds or so, and then we’ll start again.

 

All right. Well, I can’t wait to get you back out there and get you into Gold Mountain because I think that’s going to be such a fun experience because you’ve been on all these big trails in Shelby’s rig or in somebody else’s. You’ve been with us a couple of times. We’ve done Motino Wash. She’s done all the different trails around here.

 

So I think that’s going to be a really good

 

experience for you driving.

 

Yes. And, you know, the more I get out there, the more skilled I get.

 

And, you know, you’re always there helping me with the lines and Shelby and other people in the four by four club. So and that that’s one of the great things about being in a club. Is that everybody will pitch in and help you and they they will educate you and make you a skilled driver. Yep. There’s always going to be somebody out there that you’re thinking, I don’t really know that I want to learn from them. But you learn something anyway, right? And then everybody you’re like, I want to learn from them. So yes, I’m always learning. And it’s amazing how much I’ve learned over, you know, the past what, seven years. I know that I’ve been with the club and been out with you and Shelby. Even myself, because I started just like you brand new, didn’t even understand what the jeeps were doing off road. Had no idea when Bill got our Jeep. So I’m in the same boat you are. Sort of, you know, elevated and we’re having fun and we’re learning. So I think that’s a really good story from now. I do know that you have been ducked. It has been quite a few ducks that you have. Do you have a favorite one?

 

Well, I think I have about 13 ducks and it’s hard to choose a favorite one, but one that’s very special to me is it’s a hiker duck. Okay. Which which I do also hike. But up here in Big Bear, we have the Pacific Crest Trail that I think that there’s about 58 miles that go around and through Big Bear. And that trail start, they usually start from Mexico and go all the way to Canada.

 

And so I do what’s called a trail angel and I do things to help out the hikers. And last year I started hosting some at my house. And so the first group that I had after they left my house, after having a wonderful time and we were still in touch to this day, they went on and they were, I forget where they were, that they picked up this larger duck that has a backpack. Oh. And so that means a lot to me. Well, and there’s people you’re meeting from all over the world. Correct. Just local people walking through. You’re actually connecting with people in other countries, correct? Exactly. And so that first group that I hosted, one of the girls was from Australia.

 

Another girl was from Colorado and then a couple of guys from North or South Carolina. Wow.

 

I’ve stayed in touch with them. And then this year I’ve hosted more and became good friends with a few from the Detroit, Michigan area. Yeah. The hosting too, just for listeners, that’s where they’ve been on hiking. They’re just hiking from Mexico up to Canada. And so by her hosting, she’s bringing them into their house, giving them food, shower, a place to sleep, right? So they’re not on the dirt. Right. Do their laundry. Yeah. So it’s really a nice thing. And the trail angel, tell us what that is. Cause I know you’ve been involved in that for quite some time. Yeah. Well, you can do varying things. And I started out just giving them rides from the trail into Big Bear or from Big Bear back out onto the trail. Then later on, I started setting up a cooler with drinks and snacks in it. And I knew of people that brought them into their home and hosted them. And I just thought that that would be wonderful. And so last year I finally did, and it’s just been a wonderful experience. And, you know, I’ve met people from all around the world and all around the country and, you know, I become friends with some of them and stay connected with them on Facebook or Instagram.

 

And, um, actually on, on this RV trip this summer, I reconnected with some of them up in Bend, Oregon.

 

And, and on that trip, I also did a little bit of trail magic and, you know, gave some of them rides up in those areas also. Yeah. I think it’s amazing community that you’ve developed through that. And I, I, I have to believe that the Jeep has helped you to get to that community. Um, you know, yes, because I do drive out on some of the dirt roads to, to pick some of them up. Yeah. I think it’s amazing. Just a different way that you can use your Jeep, you know, and just to help with the community and connect with people. So, um, what would you like to say to somebody brand new who’s maybe thinking, ah, I just bought a Jeep or I should buy a Jeep or I don’t even know where to go. What would you tell somebody? Cause you’ve had that experience being brand new and now look at your experience level, so what would you say to somebody? Well, I would say look for a local four by four club because you’re going to connect with people who have that same interest and they’re going to be able to help you out and you’re going to learn a lot from those people. I would say that that that’s been the biggest thing for me and learning all that I now know. Yeah. Well, and even for our club, you, uh, you were in charge of leading, not leading the runs, but in charge of getting all the runs set up. Yes. I now coordinate them. Yeah. So you’re in charge of saying to like us, Hey, can you, you know, lead a run? So it’s not just starting and kind of getting involved. You’re actually now helping to get other people and I’m sure mentoring others coming in saying we got to get out and do some easy runs. Let’s go out and do some fun runs. Yeah. That’s the plan at least.

 

I hope I can inspire someone to get out there and enjoy this. Yeah. So what’s your plans on the horizon? You have another trip coming up with the Jeep. You’re going to take the motor home or what are you doing for the rest of the year? Uh, well, in, in a, about another week or two, I’m going to be hooking the Jeep up to the RV and going on a trip to Great Basin National Park because, um, that’s another love of mine is visiting our national parks and we’ll hit some other places along the way, some state park and hopefully on the way back, um, go through Death Valley National Park. That’ll be nice. And then soon after that, the four by four club is going up to Bishop. Okay. And so I’ll be doing that trip. And that’s a, that’s a camping trip with the club where they’re going to be there for what, three or four days and then they’ll do runs out of Bishop. Yeah. We’re actually going to be there longer. Um, there are some people that’ll be going from the 9th of October till the 18th. Okay. And I’ll be there for most of that. And there’s great trails up in that area also. And for you listeners, that’s about central California for us on the, on the Eastern side of the Sierras. Yes. Beautiful, beautiful region. Um, there’s the Alabama Hills that a lot of the Hollywood movies, the older Westerns things were made from out there. Yes. Beautiful museum and loam pine. I mean, these are just some of the areas around Bishop. So there is a lot of wheeling just in those areas too. So that’ll be a fun trip to hear how you guys are doing that. So. Yes. Uh, last year we went up and stayed in loam pine and did some really fun runs and one of them was to a mine. Um, I forget the name of it, but that was really, really nice. There were a lot of remains left for that mine. Well, there’s so many different minds even around Southern California, you know, if you get to see that you can go to and even right here in Big Bear in Big Bear, we do too. We have a lot of them. And then in death Valley, you’re going to, there’s Panama Valley, which is the Valley before you get to death Valley. And that defense mine, that’s huge. You can walk in that. There’s like, I don’t know, 15 stories tall. That thing is amazing. Okay. I’ll have to look into that one because I am not into that. So cool. Well, it’s been fun to share you starting as a newbie, a real newbie venturing into, oh wait, I forgot you have a second Jeep. You need to talk about your second Jeep. Oh yeah. Well, all of his always been my day to day transportation.

 

And when I was deciding that I wanted to do more rock crawling kind of stuff with her, I thought, well, I need something else for my day to day transportation. So a year ago I bought a Jeep Gladiator and the beautiful color. Oh my gosh. It’s my, oh, that beautiful blue. Sorry, Tony. It’s so popular right now.

 

And yeah, I, I named the, um, Gladiator. Gladiator. Its name is Roman. Roman and he is a beautiful, that beautiful, beautiful blue is just gorgeous. So yeah. And he’s a nice ride. Yeah. But he’s going to be great for traveling. He’s street only. You’ve done a little bit of, you know, trailering with him, right? You’ve done a little bit of, but he’s not, he’s not going on your trips with you. Right. It’s going to be all of going on your trips. Yeah. He’s not set up to be towed. Yeah. Um, so if, if I am not going to be RVing and I want to travel, then I go in, in Roman, yeah, the last year I drove him up to a Glacier National Park. Yeah. So just out exploring and look at you. I mean, you have to be proud of yourself where you, when you think about where you started now, you have a very ambitious spirit.

 

You’re my friend, you’re my new friend.