I've had my tj for maybe two weeks?This wasn't a Jeep. But related.
My then GF (now wife) and I decided to rent a convertible in LA and drive to San Diego for the weekend. When we picked it up the top was down.
It was very hot out. I'd say in the upper 80's. And the sun was beating down. Not a cloud in the sky.
When we got to Camp Pendleton there was a huge wreck someplace before Oceanside (the end of Camp Pendleton). And the freeway came to a complete stop. Now you can't enter Camp Pendleton without military id. And the 5 freeway runs right thru it for several miles down the coast. So your kind of trapped on the freeway. No turning off to use a phone. (This was before cellphones. Or at least before they were common.) With the one exception of the southbound rest stop. Which we passed.
Well it's already a couple hours into our journey with the top off. And my bald head is getting red. And my GF in her bikini top is getting red shoulders. And a burnt face. Traffic starts creeping very very slowly. And we pull over to get out and put the top up.
We tried for an hour to figure out how to get the top back up. No doing. Nothing worked. Even asked a few people parked like us on the 5 freeway. Nobody could figure it out. It takes us 7 hours(!) to get thru Camp Pendleton. And we are both FRIED. I mean red to the core. I'm seriously wondering if my GF is having a bad reaction to her sunburn.
So we get out of the traffic mess. And high tail it to SD with the top down and the ac on. We get to our hotel. I call the rental place. And they inform us that the convertible top release is a button up under the right rear wheel well! Like hidden. I guess it must have been a safety feature? So you couldn't easily get the top to go down so you could steal it? IDK. All I know is we spent the rest of the weekend in our hotel room. Nursing the worse sunburns we'd ever had. And did nothing we had planned.
Moral of the story. Always carry a hat. And an extra for your occupants. Her face was fried!
Beginning to put together a little duffle of necessary things for the little beast. After riding around today, and yesterday with the top off sunscreen has made it's way to one of the top 5 things.