Just hung around friday and watched as people rolled in. Had a couple of suds and turned in. Woke up saturday, did a few chores and decided to go for a ride. Aired up the tires. and headed out. Straw hat Tim followed in his rhino and we headed over to lost creek trail to run a couple of new spots. It had rained some so the first hill was a good challenge, although the truck shot up on the first try. Went around the backside and wound down a new trail. The rhino declined the first hill, but followed through the new trail without a problem. We headed back to first beach and climbed up a couple of washes when smokey showed up in the exploder, followed by Jamie in the ranger and a new guy in an older f250 with boggers. We were going to go back to camp for dome drinks for the kids, and pass through part of the competition course on the way. We went to go through the old tire pit and up eddie's revenge. Went to go around the mud at the tire pit, but the earlier rain had slicked up the by pass. After a couple of tries I slid off, and the truck leaned precariously down the slope. It was time to make a decision, either back up, risking sliding down into the mud hole below or go forward and feed it left and point the truck into the mud and hopefully drive it out down the slope. I decided with forwards, so I dropped it into gear and started to turn left. As soon as I started turning the steering wheel it started sliding down the hill, so I dumped the clutch and dropped the hammer, still feeding left. When it got to the bottom of the slope it felt like the right side tires were coming off the ground, but there was no turning back now. I stayed in the throttle, hoping that the left front would bite in and pull the truck on down. No luck. Instead it lost forward momentum, and started tipping onto the drivers' side. It felt like slow motion, as I watched the mud nearing through the drivers window. I braced myself and came to a stop completely on the driver's side. Quickly I turned the ignition off and started to climb out through the front window. I got lots of cheers for my heroic effort. Smokey was allready pulling around for the emergency winch over. Within minutes we had the truck back onto its wheels. We loaded up the cargo that was lost and backed up to level the truck back out. It started right up, engine had a miss, power steering was whining and I had no clutch pedal. I pointed for the mud hole I had tried to avoid, slammed it into gear and hammered through the hole without a problem. Smokey's ranger tried to come through behind me, but with only three wheels pulling it didn't make it on the first try. Jamie backed up, tried again, and BANG!!! it back fired and died. Now I had to pull him through the hole without a clutch and a dead miss. Also found that the radiator had sprung a leak. Luckily it pulled him right through. I topped off the clutch fluid and steering fluid and headed back to camp in a hurry before the engine got hot. Turned out the ranger stripped out another distributor gear. Went to Josh's shop and got another radiator so I could run again later.
Turned out the radiator I got had four more holes then the one I had, although I didn't find that out untill after I installed it. Gave up on the repair and sat out the rest of the weekend. Turnout was fair all weekend, despite the weather.
Kevin brought out the suburban and within minutes of arrival had found a heck of a mud hole on the pipe line. He hammered forward and reverse, over and over, until finally it came out. In the process he broke the smallest, cheapest part that sidelined him for the rest of the day. Dang valve stem ripped out of the wheel, and with a two piece 400 pound beadlocked wheel there was no quick way to repair.
Sunday I went to the carwash to clean off the sammi, think I'm gonna get that thing going again. Came back, and unloaded, which is no easy chore when a truck has no axles in it.
Almost forgot friday's stuck. My son Chad got to test out toymaker's new toy, a chevy S 10 p.o.s. Shortly after leaving From camp he called and said he was stuck at the cork scew. I offered to send toymaker over to pull him out, but he begged me not to tell him. Turned out Eddie or double D was up for the task. We went down there and sure enough he was stuck. I told him to hook up the cable, but he was worried about getting his favorite shorts dirty wading in the mud hole. So, he stipped down butt ass naked to wade out to hook the cable up. It turned out the mud was only ankle deep. I've never been so embarrased by him as that very moment. I sure wouldn't strip down in front of a bunch of dudes. We pulled him out very easy after he got his dang shorts back on.
Had a good weekend, finished it up with a pig out session at Denny's. Got rearended by song girl on the way. No damage, just a light bump at the stop sign in the rear. Will post some pics of this weekend's carnage. Hope to see y'all next weekend.
