This morning my son and I took the VX on its first real offroad experience since I bought it just under two months ago. This was his first experience offroad (seventeen and rarin' to go).

Places to go offroad are difficult to find here in Northern Virginia, but we managed to find some suitable dirt roads leading into an unimproved area without a NO TRESSPASSING sign and that hasn't been overtaken by a contractor to meet the ravenous need for housing here.

After the gullies, the grass roads, and the small streams, we came to an area that looked like someone had trenched part of the road and removed all the grass. There was plenty of mud and we wallowed. Yup, got stuck! The son was driving and he tried to power his way out, but we got a bit high-centered with only one wheel firmly on the ground and another with a partial.

We swapped drivers and I rocked the VX to no avail (always worked with the IH Scout's we had growing up). So, it was power user time and I shifted into low (tranfer case already in four-wheel low) and gave her the gun while turning the wheel seeking a bit of higher ground.

She grabbed and kept going! Smooth transition to "higher ground." After the high-fives we motored out of the area to the local gas station for a cold drink and car wash.

A great shared experience with dad and son!