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Post by 87B2XLT on Nov 12, 2006 23:25:25 GMT -5
Did everyone make it back okay? The rain and wind were coming pretty good most of the trip back for me, and I decided not to stop @ Crozet because of the weather and wanting to get home as soon as I safely could. Coming across the south end of the HRBT, I nearly got swept off the bridge, or so it felt like. Fran, Tom, Don, and guests ( Sorry, forgot names  )... hope you all made it back okay and without incident! I made it okay without any problems. Aired the rest of the way up @ McDorman's and did a final once-over to make sure nothing was awry and headed out. If the weather lightens up during the week, I'll probably pull wheels/tires and take a closer look at a few things. I think my driver's rear brake was just gunked up from all the mud and junk. Could have also been the cable hanging up from all the mud and gunk underneath. Kept checking things every stop I made at rest stops and whatnot and everything seemed to be alright. I'll know for sure pretty soon. Chime in when you get on, please!  |
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Post by FJ40Fran on Nov 13, 2006 9:41:08 GMT -5
Yep, made it back too at about 6:30 PM. It was a good weekend. Don't think Second Mtn ever looked better after we were finished. Got to wheel the tow truck, have some W. VA pin striping to prove (it will all buff out). Crozet was wet and muddy as expected. My biggest challenge of the day,,, Chris Packard says, "Fran, can you lead the low group today?" "Sure Chris, anytime." "Well there's your first Jeep." I look over and here's a stock TJ on 27 inch ATs. Two hours, three tugs, and one slashed side wall later, the happier than ever driver (and passenger) parked it and hopped in to ride the rest of the day. They had quite the intro to wheeling and I believe departed hooked.
Fran
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Post by Chele on Nov 13, 2006 10:42:28 GMT -5
That's nice Fran! So, did you drive the new FJ or the big FJ? I bet those people were thrilled. I like Crozet, but dang, not when it's all wet and stuff. You did good initiating the newbie!
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Post by FJ40Fran on Nov 13, 2006 11:41:51 GMT -5
I was driving the real FJ-Crawler, vs the new FJ Cruiser.  |
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Post by N2Rocks on Nov 13, 2006 13:02:24 GMT -5
My friends and I made it to our homes safely at 5:00. The wind and rain made the trip home a little more interesting. Otherwise it was a good weekend of wheeling.
Don
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Post by swampercj on Nov 13, 2006 15:11:51 GMT -5
I didn't do the 2nd mt clean up but I did manage to hit Crozet for both days. I think it was the most vehicles Chris and heather ever had. When we pulled up into the field Sat morning there were just lines of rigs ready to go. I think they had close to 80 rigs this past weekend. I didn't here anyone complaining and things ran smoothly. I think the wheeling was much better on Sat for doing the Reds, and a still a few were untouchable with muddy tires. Which made the Blacks and blues harder too! There was a ton of Jeeps that didn't run on Sunday because of weather and or they were broken. We only had 4 in our line on Sunday, which allowed us to run everything. Lots and lots of mud which and you could hear engines hitting the rev limiters all over. We went up hecklers at the end of the day and it was so muddy It took all 4 of us about a hour to get up over it. Unfortunately in our group this weekend we did have some breakage and I think 6 rollovers/flops. Which stopped two rigs from running the following day. Got to see Fran up there as he was loading up and was looking at Don's and his friends Green CJ when they both drove off. Sorry Don wasn’t gonna run through the cow pasture to say hi. All in all it was a great end of the year run for me since, and I didn’t break anything expensive. I just bent my steering wheel on a rock.
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Post by 87B2XLT on Nov 13, 2006 18:47:27 GMT -5
Glad to hear most everyone made it home in one piece. Yeah, speaking of muddy, when we were breaking camp, the low area in the middle of the campsite was just slosh. I had to pull closer to Tom's Rubi to air up one tire to at least get me (more) safely back to McDorman's to air all the way back up. Well, after getting the one tire at least not-so-worrysome, backing away from Tom's Rubi took a little persuasion, but I finally got some traction enough to ease away without much wheelspin. Made me wish I at least had trac-lok limited-slip OEM diffs on the ol' beater BII ( already checked axle codes against references and yep, both open diffs ). Anyhow, I believe I got in around 2:30-3pm. I'm wondering if you guys saw the westbound back-up still when you were on the east side of Richmond? Man, there was a nasty pile-up I gathered over channel 19 on the CB and it was backed up for around 5-10 miles or maybe closer to 15. UGLY. I do sort of wish I had tagged along with Don and friends to at least see Crozet, but OH well. Some other time. I can just imagine how nasty muddy it was out there! Only person to not check in so far is Tom.... should we worry or has anyone heard from him?   |
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Post by M38A1 on Nov 13, 2006 20:09:33 GMT -5
I'm back,
Got in last night about 6PM to find the area had no power so I ran a generator for a while. I unloaded the damp tarps, tent, etc. today after work. This trip wore me out for some reason.
Thanks to all that helped out, glad you enjoyed the Dictum Ridge rock section. I met up with some old friends on Sunday. We also have 3 future members that have there overnight event out of the way,and I think 2 of them can become Dues paying members now.
They checked in about 8 deer at MacDormans on Sat.
There is something nice about a good rain and sleeping in a tent, but a dry day is better for packing up. Ray and Dave slept in their JEEP/ BRONCO so packing was a little quicker for them.
Thanks again, it was a great job. You guy's got the pictures ready yet?
Tom
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Post by 87B2XLT on Nov 13, 2006 20:18:42 GMT -5
Tom, check your e-mail. I sent you all of my pictures, including the ones from up on Dictum's. Speaking of deer, I think I saw about 6 on the side of the road that were road kill :[ I don't know how Virginia is, but a lot of places I have been sometimes frown on taking ones like that home and processing them. Glad to hear you're okay, kinda figured you were busy or something. When I got home, I almost thought we had lost power as well, couldn't see any of the lights on inside the house from the driveway and the front light wasn't turned on. Amazingly enough, we didn't lose power overnight last night... but somehow I screwed up my alarm clock setting and woke up a little over an hour late this morning, but still made it in on time.... since I usually go in about an hour to an hour and a half early anyhow. Hope to see what the rest of the pics look like soon.
Dave G
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Post by M38A1 on Nov 13, 2006 20:23:41 GMT -5
They are coming in now, thanks Dave
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Post by FJ40Fran on Nov 13, 2006 23:02:55 GMT -5
Here with a couple pics... Note the orange garbage bags,,, not a bad idea Tom since we are in hunting season.  A good crew, about the right size for what we had to do.  |
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jay
Wheeler
Posts: 27
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Post by jay on Nov 14, 2006 10:21:36 GMT -5
Sorry it took me so long to reply. I made it home ok. Got to love the wind and rain. I had a great time! Don thank you for benign a great spotter even if my inexperience makes me a not so good driver thus far. Also to everyone else thanks for the encouragement. I cant wait to get out and learn some more!
Tom I will email you the pics.
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Post by 87B2XLT on Nov 14, 2006 21:53:31 GMT -5
Fran, your pics aren't showing up Ah hell, almost forgot about you Jay, sorry. Glad to hear you made it back okay as well. Don't worry, man... you did better than I probably would have, even if I was driving your Jeep! I have tackled a few obstacles here and there, but nothing quite like Dictum's. I know everyone was ribbin' ya some about it, that's all part of the fun... kinda like Tom ribbin' me about coming all the way to the campsite Friday night the next day (and then some!)... I -knew- I should have just kept going and crossed the stream and rolled on in... ;D I'm actually wanting to see what 2nd Mt and out that way are like in the snow! I'm sure that'll be a challenge... one that would at least require me to get some different tires at the VERY least, heh. EDIT: Nevermind, Fran, my browser is being screwy.  |
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Post by swampercj on Nov 15, 2006 8:17:39 GMT -5
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Post by 87B2XLT on Nov 15, 2006 17:17:22 GMT -5
Looks like it was a lot of test of buggy and driver mettle (and not metal) at Crozet. I would have loved to have stopped by Sunday, but some other time. It'll be a while before I dare think of actually doing any of the trails out there... gotta get some liftage and tireage before I do any mild or crazy obstacles! It'd be cool just to go and see some of the runs, though.
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