At Initial Point with the JEEP

Initial Point.

It’s near Swan Falls, in the South Ada desert. And you couldn’t find a more appropriate place to begin our storytelling.

This pre-summer evening found Freeman and Melissa Dawson and their four daughters in an open-topped red Jeep at an area in Idaho where in 1867, it literally all began.

Lafayette Cartee, the Gem State’s first surveyor general, decided that the spot 8.5 miles south of what would later become Kuna was the ideal place of beginning. It would be forever known from 1867 on as the origin of every Idaho survey thereafter, and makes the nearby city of Meridian’s name much less of a mystery.

All good stories have good beginnings.

So does ours.

Over a decade ago, a young Freeman Dawson discovered a way to blend doing something he enjoyed (he had an ongoing thing with Toyota trucks) with making a living. While at BYU, he owned over 50 different Toyotas, and many more motorcycles. Selling them paid for his expenses, with some to spare. Even though his studies were directed towards becoming a teacher, the excitement of finding the right trucks and matching them up with the right new owner continued to take center stage. 

He met and married his wife, Melissa, who he calls the “girl of his dreams”, and moved to Idaho to continue doing what he enjoyed; buying and selling those Toyotas. 

Something to know about Freeman: he’s an improver. He looked around at the car business uneasily.  Although there were certainly exceptions, for the most part, the car business seemed to live up to its sour reputation. He asked himself many times if he really wanted to be affiliated with the industry, or if he should pursue some other career altogether. 

When asking that question, one thing became abundantly clear:

The used car dealer stereotype needed to be shattered. The experience could be so different, so much better, that people would change their minds about the used car buying process.

“Like Susan Boyle,” he tells us, “Remember her on Britain’s Got Talent? No one expected her to do what she did. They looked her over and wrote her off to be just like the rest of them. And then…”

That sort of theme was something Maverick Car Company’s owner could get behind one-hundred per cent. “We could be the Susan Boyle of used car sales.”

On this night, amongst the dry, rocky, barren surroundings, a red Jeep filled with a bright-eyed, dark-haired family crested the hill, anxious for adventure.

Knowing there are no smooth roads to be had on this particular journey, they bumped along the terrain while holding on tight. Discovering herds of sheep with sheep dogs in training, just beyond them, the girls got excited.

Maverick’s photographer, Jed Davis, was there to capture the fun. One such shot required positioning on the side of a hill. While backing up to take a picture, Jed alerted a rattler just a couple of feet away, who’d just killed himself a whistle pig and didn’t want anyone else getting in on his meal. 

 The family climbed their way in the Jeep to the top of Initial Point to see the historical marker for themselves, and found it to be worth the effort. 

As clouds crept over the sky, cooling the air and bringing out scents of evening and freshly-cut alfalfa, the Dawson family enjoyed the site.

It’s always a good view from the top.

Directions to Initial Point

From Kuna, turn south on Swan Falls Road until you see the Initial Point sign. After turning down that road, you’ll go about a mile on first gravel, then dirt. Park near the fork in the road (the area to the right is sometimes used for camping and a party or two, and the area to the left is a rugged, somewhat muffler-challenging terrain that only sturdy 4x4’s like Maverick’s 2008 Jeep Wrangler should take on. For those hiking, it’s about ten minutes to the top.