With the sudden spate of sunshine today, I decided to remove the soft top from the Jeep, and run around topless. It was everything I imagined, and then some. I’ve never owned a convertible, but I’ve gotta figure this was a lot like that kind of experience…. except, of course, that I wasn’t sitting down low to the road!

With the top off, I decided to run some errands. For someone who has, at best, had only a sunroof to open over their heads, the experience of traveling “open air” was exhilarating. I could definitely get used to that, and now that I understand better how to lower the soft top, I believe I’ll be doing that quite a bit this summer.

However, with the trip impending, I got Cousin Mark to help reinstall the hard top. It was insanely easy to put on. I’m now thinking of a lift in the garage for the top, so I can add/remove it at will and by myself. A former Wrangler owner at work has pointed me toward a Hoist-A-Top mechanism, and it looks like it’d work very well for what I’d need. Maybe after the trip…

And BTW, with the sun out, the Wranglers were out in force, mostly topless, and no one seemed to care that I had an Unlimited. The waves flowed freely, and that’s a good thing to see!