Meet the Jeep owners who prepare the playground, trail for the festival
Christina and Mike Dietrick are dedicated Jeep owners.
The Westmoreland County couple modified their Jeeps, helped create a Jeep owners club, lead their own off-road rides, and volunteer their time and expertise at the annual Bantam Jeep Heritage Festival. Their retirement plans include traveling with their Jeeps.
Frequent festivalgoers might recognize the Dietricks and their Jeeps at the upcoming 14th annual event.
Christina’s 2010 Jeep Limited has a lift kit to accommodate her 34-inch off-road tires and has skulls, roses, an American flag, crossbones and a flower, known as the “confederate rose” painted on it. Christina and Jeep can be seen at the playground, an off-road course, at Cooper’s Lake Campground, which she has managed for the festival for the last two years.
She enhanced her Jeep so she could tackle the more challenging blue trails on the course.
“I got tired of being on the green trails. Now, I can run the blue. I wanted to play with the big boys,” she said.
Mike’s black 2014 Unlimited is embellished with a service star with a sunflower in one corner painted on the hood and “Sgt. Daisy” emblazoned on the side of the hood. His Jeep also has been lifted so it can also roll on big, off-road tires; and it has a winch to pull himself out of trouble. Mike and Sgt. Daisy manage the Kildoo trail.
“Sgt. Daisy is a well-known Jeep. She’s been in many parades. There’s been many pictures taken of Sgt. Daisy,” he said.
The Dietricks have been volunteering at the festival for six years and are certified recovering Jeeps that get stuck on trails or in mud bogs.
“We started as patrols, then they needed recovery volunteers so we signed up,” she said. “It just went nuts from there. We were soon helping them build trials and help guide. They took us over to the playground. We both managed that. He moved to Kildoo. I stayed.”
One of the rewards of volunteering is seeing fellow Jeep enthusiasts enjoying the trails.
“I get to see the joy on their faces, especially the first-timers,” she said.
The couple will go to their trails the day before the festival starts to make sure the sites are ready.
Mike has owned nothing but Jeep vehicles since 2007, but his first Jeep ride was at the festival six years ago.
“It all started at Bantam. It’s like going home for us,” he said.
Christina said her great-grandfather took her and other family members on rides in his Jeep years ago.
“We love our Jeeps. When we retire, we plan to travel with our Jeeps,” she said.
The Dietricks lead Jeep rides, have been involved with clubs over the years and are among the founders of the Jeep club Maverick Jeep Alliance. Their Jeeps carry them and their equipment on kayaking and camping trips. Mike said his Jeep is rarely clean.
“Everything we do outdoors involves Jeeps in some way,” he said.
