In article <clgaqs$s5n$1@bent.twistedbits.net>, SilverEightynine@aol.com
writes:
>
> As I posted the other day, I hit a deer coming in on Friday. Woke up once or
> twice Friday night to see someone sleeping on a couch across the room from
me.
> I honestly didn't know who it was - figured it may have been Jon - rolled
over
> and went back to sleep. At 10 am or so - Jon walks in the barn - - ok so who
> the hell is on the couch!? Turns out Walt Felix made a snap descision to
head
> out at 11 pm and arrived some time early sunday morning.
>
> Jim Knox arrived next, followed by Ed, Mike and Anne, and then Jason and
Norah.
> Oddly enough - defying all odds... JIM KNOX was the first to get his truck
> muddy! While everyone was sitting around BSing, breaking what was left of
> Jason and Norah's antenna, and while I was doing an oil change on the Ram...
> Jim threw his truck in 4x4 and went to test it out! While he didn't go
offroad
> on the trails or in The Pit, he did hit a couple puddles and got more dirt on
> it than I have seen ever.
>
> Jim noticed he had a larger than pinhole leak in his upper radiator hose - so
> yet another parts run was launched from DML Homeland. I went with Jim in
> search of the hose, to end up at NAPA, with a flex hose the actually fit
better
> than the stock hose.
>
> Returned to the Barn to chow down on burgers and hot dogs.... I should have
> brought some cheese from Wisconsin! After a few rounds of "hide stuff from
Tom"
> and BSing around in a cold parking lot that was not cold nor a parking lot...
> we saddled up to make a mud run. Walt and myself in Walt's 88, Mike and Anne
in
> Mike's Franken'Koda... Ed and Jason and Norah came down in their respective
> trucks, to the mud pit to watch another new DML event... Dakota Circle Track
> Racing! Walt made it through The Pit a few times, but Mike was too concerned
> about getting stuck with his AT tires. He managed to splatter Walt's Dak with
a
> thick coating of mud and grass from spinning his rear tires while infront of
> us.
>
> We took to the trails next - very wet and very muddy were the conditions. WE
> reached the upper waterfall and Walt decided not to try to climb the rocks.
> Too slick. There was major erosion since the BBQ. One section of the rock
> face nad sheered off and there was a huge sand bar that was not there in
July.
> The trip back to the Barn was uneventful.
>
> We sat around the fire for a while - dodging the constantly shifting smoke.
> When ig became too windy outside we migrated indoors to watch lots of video
> from the past day and from the BBQ in July.
>
> I would have to say this was the best turn out for a Daktoberfest ever. THe
> weather was perfect for most of the day as well. Couldn't have asked for a
> better weekend!!
>
> Now its a long count down until the BBQ - NINE MONTHS AWAY! Too long for
some
> - not long enough for others hehehehe.
>
> TerribleTom @ DML Headquarters
Yea, it was a last minute decision. After moping around the house for a few
hours Friday night, Ingrid told me to “Just Go!” Not that she was holding me
back any, having just moved into a new house, everything is still in boxes and
I really need to get unpacked and return life back to normal. Plus, I have a
couple of trees that need to be dealt with if I want to get the local channels
back from DirectTV (Damn 119 satellite is too low on the horizon.) In a light
rain I quickly removed the wooden sides I built for the trailer for the house
move, hooked it to the Ram, loaded the Dakota and left the house about 11PM.
Once I got onto the Mass Pike, I found the trailer got a little squirrelly over
65mph so I stopped at the first exit in NY to move the Dakota more forward on
the trailer. After that with exception of stopping once to chat with one of
the fine New York State Thruway Representiaves (luckily only a verbal for 95 in
a 65), and a 20 minute power nap at the rest stop just east of Buffalo, along
with 3 $60 gas stops, some McD’s and a $6.50 pack of smokes (ouch) it was a
rather uneventful drive. At least until I got on to King Rd. for I almost hit
Tom’s left-overs which was still lying partially in the travel lane. I arrived
on Saturday morning just before 5AM. Discovered, I forgot my sleeping bag so I
just crashed (no pun intended Tom) on a couch until Jon woke me at 10AM. Spent
some time BS’ing with Jon, Tom and Jim who arrived shortly later. When Mike &
Ann showed up, spent some time under Mike’s Dakota, admiring his welding
abilities. I have to say that the photos he posted really don’t do the job
justice. Very clean installation and has me considering some slight changes to
the plans I have for my straight axle swap. Got a few good ideas from seeing
it first hand. Chatted with Ja-Nor & Ed, watched the “Hide stuff from Tom”
game (still think you should have called Barry in OH? and had him call Tom with
“I have you keys, come get ‘em”). By 4PM, the only truck with mud on it was
Jim’s Show Queen/Drag Truck. That is except for mine which still had what the
rain hadn’t washed off since the BBQ in July. Once we got underway, made a few
passes at the Mud Pit which was full to the brim. On the first try, I lost
forward momentum and for a second thought Tom was gonna have to swim. But
after shifting from drive to reverse and back a few times while working the
wheel back and forth, the Baja Claws finally found enough bite to power out.
The next few tries went with little effort. After a few dirt track laps with
Mike, where I was trying to get some of the mud he was throwing, in my
passenger’s window where Tom was sitting, we headed down to washboard hill to
see how bad the erosion has been since the BBQ. The ruts are quite a bit
deeper than they were at the BBQ and the pile of debris at the bottom has been
reduced to just two trees lying across the side of were we usually turn left to
get to the river. If it wasn’t for those two trees, we could go straight
instead of turning left. I went down first with Mike spotting then I spotted
Mike down. Both trucks made it with little effort. We headed up to the upper
falls, where I made two quick attempts to go up. Both times, the rear of the
truck walked to the left on the slick, wet rocks towards the deep water pool at
the bottom. After two tries, I decided to leave them for the next time when
the rocks aren’t as wet. Like Tom posted, the run off from the left over
hurricanes changed the shape of the falls considerably. Even washboard hill
has slate showing in a few spots for those of you who know the trails. In the
not to distant future, the upper falls may actually become more challenging
than the lower falls with a steeper, more undercut edge. After snapping a few
dark pictures we headed back up washboard hill back to the hanger via Ranger
Gulch. Even though we didn’t get all that much time on the trails, it was still
worth the 6 hour overnight drive. It was good to see everyone and I look
forward to next July.
Walt
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Nov 01 2004 - 10:47:43 EST