SMOKIN' DEAL

Steve and Terri Brock four-wheel across the U.S. with a home-built overland trailer

- Jered Korfhage

Three things you didn’t know about Steve Brock: He cut his teeth rock crawling a souped-up TJ Wrangler around the Midwest. He and his wife have been known to cook and eat breakfast skillets for meals other than breakfast. And he is always on the lookout for a good deal. In fact, it was a smokin’ good deal that got him into his current Overlanding rig: a ’12 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited. Let’s rewind to 2018.

Steve and his wife, Terri, were on the cusp of a bucket list trip—journeying west from Ohio with plans of exploring Utah and Colorado for two weeks. As Steve was preparing the trusty rock crawler—his ’02 Wrangler—for the adventure, he realized there was too much that needed to be fixed and too little time. So, he began combing the local dealerships for a ready-to-go ride and found a ’12 Wrangler Unlimited for a steal of a deal. Was it the hefty sum on the odometer? Did the owner of the Cadillac lot just want the used JKU off the premises? It’s anyone’s guess, but either way, Steve and Terri now had a new (to them) Jeep to take across the country. Also, did we mention the Jeep was stone-stock?

With the acquisition of the JKU, the final step standing between the Brocks and their adventure was devising a way to pull camping gear behind the Jeep. Steve’s solution was a home-cooked adventure trailer on a 4x6-foot steel platform with 35-inch tires, leaf springs, a solid axle, and space for everything, including a kayak on top. With the freshly completed trailer in tow, Steve, Terri, and the stock Jeep completed the journey around the West with scarcely a hiccup. Since then, they’ve upgraded the trailer, added to the Jeep’s off-road capability, and the couple has explored everything from 4x4 parks to