=20 I havn't had time to post anything since I left for Colorado
friday. Its be= en interesting heh. I didn't leave wisconsin until
7:10 pm central on frid= ay. I made it as far as Winona, MN where I
grabbed a room at a best wester= n for the night. After a restless
night sleep, I hit the road the next day= at about 9 am or so saturday
morning. The drive was long and mostly uneve= ntful except for
rendering some roadside assistance. I responded to a truck= driver
saying that there were two women stranded on the side of I-80 in Io=
wa, trying to change a flat tire, which turned out to be a woman and
her 6-= 7 year old daughter. I helped them change their tire and got
them back on = the road. She was very appreciative of the help and
thanked me over and ove= r. That was a good feeling :)
The drive seemed to drag on a ver= y long time and I made it into Lone
Duck at 2:30 am MST... with approx 1200= miles on the clock. Thats
about 1050+ miles in a single day over an approx= imate time of 17-18
hours. I slept in the cab of the truck when I got to th= e campground.
Woke up at 6:45 sunday morning after no where near enough s= leep. We
bummed around camp most of the day and went to Seven Falls waterf= all
later that night and saw some really awesome rock formations and
waterf= alls.
Monday was pretty awesome too. We set out for Garden of= the Gods rock
formations. Adam Jackie and Mike and I went walking around = a few of
the many trails in the area - seems like every where you turn arou= nd
here theres one skyline or another thats more awesome than what you
just= saw. We met up with Jon and Ed afterwards and hit some trails
for some gr= eat photo ops.
Tuesday we set out in the morning for Dakota Hill= and other areas
which I can't remember the names of right now. Dakota hil= l was
pretty cool actually. The only signs of civilization was the communi=
cations and cell towers that were posted up there. I was able to get
some = lightning strikes on video. The trees up at that elevation are
all very th= ick and stubby and short. There were what Mike guessed to
be, mining test = holes, dug out and filled in, with 20-some year old
trees that had taken ro= ot, all over the top of the hill... adding to
the eery landscape.
We set out for the highland afterwards and eventually topped well over
11= ,000 feet elevation. We made it to the top of this particulat
mountain ran= ge, the name of which escapes me... at the top the wind
was blowing somethi= ng feirce and it was cold. We were well above the
tree line and had spotted= a couple herds of elk on the way up. The
trail was moderate/easy. With lo= ts more bumps than really difficult
sections. Jason and Norah's stock quadc= ab made it over them just
fine. The views were more than breathtaking. It= s a sight I will not
soon forget and one that I hope I'll see again. Every= one remarked
that they had a wonderful day.
Wednesday decided to= throw me a curve ball. A sound I was hearing
tuesday night, turned out to= be both front axleshaft joints on the
Ram's front DANA axle, grinding thei= r rusted, non-greaseable,
factory OEM u-joints to peices. After runing aro= und town all morning
fetching u-joints and having to buy and entire craftsm= an socket set
just to get a single 1-11/16ths socket for the spindle nut, I= started
taking stuff apart and saw that the bolts that hold the wheel bear=
ing units to the spindle, are a funky ass 12 point dealy. A bolt head
that= I do not have a socket for. I am pondering if I should run all
over kingd= omcome trying to find that socket, or just have a shop
change the joints an= d be done with it. As it is I can't get any
parts. I'll have to put every= thing back together again to go look.
Everyone else is out in town. I mis= sed the brewery tour this AM and
unless someone comes back to camp, I'm goi= ng to miss the drag racing
at Bandamire, to say nothing or participting. S= omthing that I had
*really* been looking forward to - as I have never done = that before.
Anyway... I'm not really sure what to do at this point. I t= hink I'll
make a few phone calls and see what a shop will ream me for to ch=
ange the joints.
--
Posted b= y TerribleTom to National DML Meet at 7/19/2006 02:19:00= PM
.
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