Well, back home again, the 40 is all cleaned up after an hour or more hosing and washing off all that coal dirt! The event was a good one- not as heavily attended as in some recent years but I think there were 69 trucks registered for the event. Except for being hot hot hot the weather cooperated pretty good. I didn't see any of the scattered thunderstorms that had been predicted in the days prior to the event. The wheeling was, as always, great. Some of the comments I heard from anyone who wheeled the property across the road were that it was too hot, all the clear cutting left little or no shade for anyone. The rest of the property has been growing in and i didn't think it was too bad at all.
Wednesday was a good day, maybe fifteen trucks in all. Our group went out, included Shirtless Burl and daughter Gina in their 62, Chris in his capable 40, Patrick i his capable 80, and our own Vince in his 80. Matt reed rode along with me in my 40 as trail leaders. We did Jotters way right out of the park, then up the various hillclimbs in the area where the old original L trails are located. Went down CV trail and up O then did Yellow Jacket. headed over trail E and down the (getting somewhat gnarly) hillclimbs to the west property, Did trail 20, part of 12 then up trail 15 to Crawl Daddy. Chris and Patrick both made it all the way up, I made it halfway, had to pull some cable and opted put the bypass. From there we went back up the hillclimbs to trail E and went out to Camelback. I hadn't done that trail in years and it proved to be quite interesting. if you don't like off camber it's not the trail for you. We then did the middle section of snakebite, the section with the off camber area, wasn't as bad as it used to be.
Thursday saw us wheeling with wold man Chris Stearns from Masschusetts, Carll Jurgilewiecz (Pardon the spelling, Carl) in his capable 40, Tom Humphries in his 40, and Angelo and son in their Jeep. We did various trails with some guys watching the more adventurous of the group doing the harder trails. I rode with Chris in his 80 as trail leader. Once again we gravitated down toward Crawl daddy. Chris made it up with some banging and crashing and then Carl made it up in his 40. On the way down the exit trail Chris decided to play a bit in the big rocks and broke an inner axle in his 80. While still drivable it no longer had 4WD. he and I left the group and headed back to the campground where we disassembled the passenger side axle and found that the axle had broken about two inches out of the birfield. Chris had a spare so we were going to be all right. in the meantime a call came in that Tom H needed a clutch slave cylinder for his 40- so Chris and I took my 80 and drove to my garage where we switched his spare axle and Longfield around and I grabbed the slave for Tom. When we got back to camp Chris's 80 was together in no time, and Tom had replaced his leaking slave with the replacement. Worked out quite well!
Friday we wheeled at Anthracite. There was quite a trail of rigs headed north on I-81 and up 901 and then High Road. We split into three groups there, Andy Zook leading one group on greens and blues, Crusha leading a black/red group, and I rode with Patrick in his 80 as trail leaders. Andy had Jon Sourbeer in his nice 40, Tom H in his 40, and Angelo in the jeep, Burl in the FJ62, and Chris (last name unknown) in his white 80. Crusha and Vince had the big boys with them, while my group had Jeff in his cool 40, and Stump, Chris, old Bob Bascom and Charlton in their 40's. I'm probably forgetting someone because I'm actually older than old Bob............. sorry about that if so. We did some great trails, did the culvert trail that Crusha never seems to be able to find, then did the side trail off Barney Rubble. At the top of that trail Chris took me up a very tough black that I think is a red, quite the ride with a lot of gas pedal! From their we went down Barney Rubble, ran a few other trails and drove up Barney Rubble. Chris managed to get quite an insect sting/bite on his left eye area, and Vince from Forge Specialties got nailed too. After all that we watched Crusha's group on a wild sidehill trail was extremely off camber. Our own Morgan had joined up with us as a late arrival, his Cummins powered stick shift 80 series was a blast! he managed to pick up a small log more than 6 feet in length, it was jammed in his undercarriage by the rear axle. had to cut it out with a saw!
Saturday was a day for not breaking anything. We had a large group, and managed to leave the staging area at about 8:50 before the official drivers meeting. I was trail leader in my 40, with Tom H, Angelo in his 40, Jim Chenowith in his blue 60, our own Gadget Guy in the white 80 series, Polish Carl in his 40, club prez Andy Zook in his Taco, Andy Marquardt in his awesome red 4Runner, and Steve Colavito and wife Kelly in their FJ Cruiser. Managed to do a lot of trails, let me see if I can remember them all. Went down L past the old office area then a few of the crew did the middle hillclimb. From there we took the shortcut to trail C, then to CV trail , exited it on O trail. Went over to the west property and did trail 10, part of 12, then followed some XTerras through trail 14. From there we went around the bottom doing 19B I think it was, then up the chute to the end of H trail. It was interesting to see the different trucks articulating through that section. Ran into a few jeeps at that point but there was no congestion anywhere in our travels. From there we drove up the power line trail which is getting interesting- I'd call it more difficult than it used to be but not quite as scary if that makes sense. The line is pretty well defined now after years of wheeling on it. from there we went up a neat hillclimb to trail E, where Andy Z and I parted with the group. Left them in what I heard was the very capable hands of new trail leader Andy M. I think they did trail 23 after I left not really sure.
There are some photos posted up on the Capital City site, starting on page 5. Here's the link to it: 2016 Coal Mine Cruiser Classic
The food Saturday evening was very good, much improved over last year. I think the Gotham guys did well in selecting this new BBQ caterer. The raffle was pretty good, Andy M won quite a bit, Andy Zook raked in some things and at the end of the auction I was fortunate enough to win a complete 80 knuckle overhaul kit, along with a $50 gift certificate from Beno. The raffle was over about 9PM.
All in all I'd say another good coal mine event is now in the books. Good wheeling, good friends, good beer, all that good stuff. Anyone who kissed it missed a good one. Plan to attend next years event which will be July 12 through 15th. Anyone having pictures from this year please post them here!
Wednesday was a good day, maybe fifteen trucks in all. Our group went out, included Shirtless Burl and daughter Gina in their 62, Chris in his capable 40, Patrick i his capable 80, and our own Vince in his 80. Matt reed rode along with me in my 40 as trail leaders. We did Jotters way right out of the park, then up the various hillclimbs in the area where the old original L trails are located. Went down CV trail and up O then did Yellow Jacket. headed over trail E and down the (getting somewhat gnarly) hillclimbs to the west property, Did trail 20, part of 12 then up trail 15 to Crawl Daddy. Chris and Patrick both made it all the way up, I made it halfway, had to pull some cable and opted put the bypass. From there we went back up the hillclimbs to trail E and went out to Camelback. I hadn't done that trail in years and it proved to be quite interesting. if you don't like off camber it's not the trail for you. We then did the middle section of snakebite, the section with the off camber area, wasn't as bad as it used to be.
Thursday saw us wheeling with wold man Chris Stearns from Masschusetts, Carll Jurgilewiecz (Pardon the spelling, Carl) in his capable 40, Tom Humphries in his 40, and Angelo and son in their Jeep. We did various trails with some guys watching the more adventurous of the group doing the harder trails. I rode with Chris in his 80 as trail leader. Once again we gravitated down toward Crawl daddy. Chris made it up with some banging and crashing and then Carl made it up in his 40. On the way down the exit trail Chris decided to play a bit in the big rocks and broke an inner axle in his 80. While still drivable it no longer had 4WD. he and I left the group and headed back to the campground where we disassembled the passenger side axle and found that the axle had broken about two inches out of the birfield. Chris had a spare so we were going to be all right. in the meantime a call came in that Tom H needed a clutch slave cylinder for his 40- so Chris and I took my 80 and drove to my garage where we switched his spare axle and Longfield around and I grabbed the slave for Tom. When we got back to camp Chris's 80 was together in no time, and Tom had replaced his leaking slave with the replacement. Worked out quite well!
Friday we wheeled at Anthracite. There was quite a trail of rigs headed north on I-81 and up 901 and then High Road. We split into three groups there, Andy Zook leading one group on greens and blues, Crusha leading a black/red group, and I rode with Patrick in his 80 as trail leaders. Andy had Jon Sourbeer in his nice 40, Tom H in his 40, and Angelo in the jeep, Burl in the FJ62, and Chris (last name unknown) in his white 80. Crusha and Vince had the big boys with them, while my group had Jeff in his cool 40, and Stump, Chris, old Bob Bascom and Charlton in their 40's. I'm probably forgetting someone because I'm actually older than old Bob............. sorry about that if so. We did some great trails, did the culvert trail that Crusha never seems to be able to find, then did the side trail off Barney Rubble. At the top of that trail Chris took me up a very tough black that I think is a red, quite the ride with a lot of gas pedal! From their we went down Barney Rubble, ran a few other trails and drove up Barney Rubble. Chris managed to get quite an insect sting/bite on his left eye area, and Vince from Forge Specialties got nailed too. After all that we watched Crusha's group on a wild sidehill trail was extremely off camber. Our own Morgan had joined up with us as a late arrival, his Cummins powered stick shift 80 series was a blast! he managed to pick up a small log more than 6 feet in length, it was jammed in his undercarriage by the rear axle. had to cut it out with a saw!
Saturday was a day for not breaking anything. We had a large group, and managed to leave the staging area at about 8:50 before the official drivers meeting. I was trail leader in my 40, with Tom H, Angelo in his 40, Jim Chenowith in his blue 60, our own Gadget Guy in the white 80 series, Polish Carl in his 40, club prez Andy Zook in his Taco, Andy Marquardt in his awesome red 4Runner, and Steve Colavito and wife Kelly in their FJ Cruiser. Managed to do a lot of trails, let me see if I can remember them all. Went down L past the old office area then a few of the crew did the middle hillclimb. From there we took the shortcut to trail C, then to CV trail , exited it on O trail. Went over to the west property and did trail 10, part of 12, then followed some XTerras through trail 14. From there we went around the bottom doing 19B I think it was, then up the chute to the end of H trail. It was interesting to see the different trucks articulating through that section. Ran into a few jeeps at that point but there was no congestion anywhere in our travels. From there we drove up the power line trail which is getting interesting- I'd call it more difficult than it used to be but not quite as scary if that makes sense. The line is pretty well defined now after years of wheeling on it. from there we went up a neat hillclimb to trail E, where Andy Z and I parted with the group. Left them in what I heard was the very capable hands of new trail leader Andy M. I think they did trail 23 after I left not really sure.
There are some photos posted up on the Capital City site, starting on page 5. Here's the link to it: 2016 Coal Mine Cruiser Classic
The food Saturday evening was very good, much improved over last year. I think the Gotham guys did well in selecting this new BBQ caterer. The raffle was pretty good, Andy M won quite a bit, Andy Zook raked in some things and at the end of the auction I was fortunate enough to win a complete 80 knuckle overhaul kit, along with a $50 gift certificate from Beno. The raffle was over about 9PM.
All in all I'd say another good coal mine event is now in the books. Good wheeling, good friends, good beer, all that good stuff. Anyone who kissed it missed a good one. Plan to attend next years event which will be July 12 through 15th. Anyone having pictures from this year please post them here!
Last edited:
Can't wait to check it out in person.
