Harlan 8/9-12/07

J.C.

J.C.

Volunteer
Moderator
Joined
Apr 18, 2005
Location
Greensboro, NC
Pics & Vids: http://good-times.webshots.com/album/560262983jeDrOe?start=0

Had a great weekend wheeling Harlan with CTB & The Farm Hands. I rode every day with Rich, Yager, mpistolpj and tjfreddy. We were joined at various times by 91oneton and the Farm Hands, tw89yj, TiredIronGRB & HokieYJ from Grace 4x4 and the usual misfits from CTB. The weekend started inauspiciously for Yager as he experienced tow rig problems and was forced to ride up with Rich. We hooked up just outside Greensboro, making it to the VA welcome station where we paused for a pit stop. As Rich got out of his rig he spotted a trailer tire that was bald down to the wire! It had lost all the tread and put a nice black mark on the bed of his tow rig without him ever hearing it! He changed it quickly and we were on to Harlan without further incident. The trails were dry and dusty for the most part and the weather was hot. We suffered very little in the way of damage with tjfreddy breaking the ears of a D44 stub and ripping a front upper control arm mount off the axle tube and 91oneton cutting a tire on Cream Puff. TiredIronGRB showed us a new trail called Fish Fossil that no one was able to get up on though 91oneton gave it a real battle and then he turned wildlife expert as he spotted a rattlesnake in the lower rock garden! Rich's Righteous Rock Race Ready Rearsteer Rockwell'd Rig did great for it's first trail ride and the motor sounds awesome, tjfreddy is a totally fearless driver following much larger rigs with his 33" tired TJ anywhere they went and nothing was able to stop mpistolpj and his buggy the entire weekend including Cream Puff! I really became a fan of rear steer vehicles after watching PJ and Rich in action, there are certain situations where it is invaluable. Several times I witnessed them work their way out of a trap while I had to be pulled sideways a few feet in the Lion's Den in order to make it out, big difference! Another GREAT weekend of wheeling, meeting and eating :) Hope to see YOU there next time!
 
Great pics John... Good to see everyone and met some new faces, it was GREAT to get on the trail again, and finally get to Harlan... CYJKrawler lives up to his name.. patience is his buzz-word.. deftly crawling most things, being patient and precise.. PJ and Dee are a blast to wheel with, with PJ's lovely wife Dee being the more care-free driver of their bad-ass buggy.. since PJ has to fix anything she breaks :lol: TJFreddy - he really puts that jeep through a workout - it left Harlan with more than a little re-shaped metal, a little less plastic, and alot more character.. :D

I'm taking the stuff of my camera now, it seems to be mostly of Brandon.. (Someone else was using it)

Long freaking drive back home.. Had to buy 2 new "trailer" tires at the wally world in Kingsport, TN, after we found that the LR trailer tire was coming apart as well.. presumably overloaded when the LF one went. Went from Harlan to Kingsport at 35-40mph, to try and keep the tire from shredding before we could get the new ones.. There will be 2 new P205/75R15's available soon, if someone needs spares.. :)

Videos and pics NEVER do the obstacles justice, that's for damn sure. Those pics of Mason jar look almost moderate, but it doesn't feel like it from the driver's seat!
Fun place, it gave the cruiser a good workout.

My short list:
Replace 3 knuckle boots, and make guards for them.
Re-valve rear shocks (too stiff)
install crotch straps on the harnesses
Grab bar for the passengers

Thanks again John for the use of the welder to repair the cable shifter (and thanks PJ for jumping in and welding it up)

Vids:
http://media.putfile.com/Me-at-Harlan
http://media.putfile.com/Brandon-at-Harlan
 
rich good footage man .. or should i thank yager. i think i had can opener until my tree i was proping up on broke
 
Heh...yeah, thank Yager... I know PJ & Dee have a TON of video on their camera thanks to Dee and Yager as well, can't wait to see it.
 
Yeah, I forgot to include the story of the sherriff showing up looking for Rich and Mike. When he came around the truck that night asking for them Mike looked like he had seen a ghost. I'll let them elaborate if they want to :)
 
Ill be uploading pics in a few...
But my trip started out my my truck temp. climbing immediately and reaching critical 10min from the house... 100deg heat and 370k on the radiator = not cooling well... So I was able to limp back home and toss some gear into my car and meet up with rich at his work and still make the trip as a passenger aka camera/winch/spotter bitch.
All the trails are awesome which made rubbed in the fact that I couldn't leave some of my own paint on the trails with my jeep.. Everyones rigs did great and there was no lack of effort on anyone part to make attempts at obstacles..
It was nice to finally put a lot of names (both virtual and real) with a faces and BS.. I felt a bit out of place around all the 'war stories' as my only contribution was at most.. "it sure looked good from where i was standing.." or I didn't fall on my ass walking up those rocks over there... " Or " Ya man it was hard pulling that cable out..." but anyway...
Rich's wife and my wife had a special task force dispatched to locate us. She hadn't heard from us and the Putney camp ground had called saying we hadn't made it later Friday night, makeing them both start fearing the worse.. (BTW: I had failed to keep my wife updated as to the change of camping plans from Putney to Evarts. So the call had them fearing the worst. ) I was slightly embarrassed when thats all the sheriff deputy had been sent to do was find us, as I knew exactly where I was... I'm am very happy to have a wife that loves me as much as she does... Actually I was amazed at the efforts they went through and how quickly they were able to locate us.. The KY tourism board seemed to do most of the coordination and knew exactly who/where to call to check the various likely locations.. Good to know they had the ability to do that if/when needed..
Pics.. I don't know the names of any of the trails so feel free to chime in when names/locations...
The reason for mostly other peoples rigs was that I was abandoned by Rich and forced to ride with fast freddy the whole first day.. So I took a bunch of pics so hopefully rich still has them.. Brandon didn't hesitate to try anything and thus produce the best picture opportunities so he got a lot of pics taken.. Plus seeing his buggy climb 6' boulders with all wheels still planted is very cool...
pics..

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