Big Junk Run

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Well here's where I am at

still on the fence but I have to be honest, it seems like I am not going to make it.

I know I am a wuss too!

I have a bridge and in-depth water inspection going on today and early part of tomorrow,

Once done with that in morning, we have scheduled a board meeting/ dinner.

On Thursday still busy with the Big Chiefs.

Not to metion that Alma is going to Mexico city tomorrow morning for a lying detector test.
I am saying that she's corrupt like all the Mexicans but she's been doing this gig for 10 years and she has gone thru a bunch of tests before and she has passed them with flying colors. My take is that she's a good liar or way too honest!:hillbilly:

By Friday I am Death.


....Not to mention that I am changing jobs soon, hopefully by the end of the month, no more Bridge! :grinpimp:
 
I am at the Clatyon Country inn drinking a beer and waitin on you all
 
As usual a grand time was had by all and some GREAT memories were made. Roger and Spot, Kowboy, Fireman, Bailey, Dusty and his Dad, Bobby Don, C.C., Charles, Laura, Jim, Robert Dixon, Doc and Lindy, Greg, and Jaqueline all showed up. Roger kept us fed with biscuits and gravy and jelly for Bailey and I. Doc and Lindy shared their weiners with everyone and Roger made an awesome pot of chili. The weather was beautiful except for a little cool spell one morning. Wheeling was awesome even with a Jeep in tow.

To start out we have the Beauty:

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and the beasts:

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Where is starts:

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Wheeling:

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Sunday morning Kowboy, Bailey and I explored part of the K-Trail. Got a few miles in and had to turn around TWICE because of locked gates. Talked to Cris King and got the scoop on the correct way to go in!

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And Bailey found even another friend!

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Rest of the pics!

http://s753.photobucket.com/albums/xx175/Davidw1968/2011 Big Junk Run Clayton OK/?start=all
 
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Finally the pix came!

It seems like you guys had a large time.

Also finally the darn Heep from our President was shown working on this here forum....love it, even if it's a Heep:flipoff2:

Sir, I am really proud of you sir.

it's an honor be part of this Club:hillbilly:


...and before you'al go on giving me hell, I might not make much of traveling next year even though my 40 should be back in business w/ a new air shock suspension and dana 60 in front.

...like I said before, I am soon to change jobs and I might not have much chance to go out and wheel next year.
 
So picked up Brutus at the World Headquarters of Over The Hill Offroad on Thursday, 10 November and eased on up to Clayton. As documented above, wheeled Green Acres on Friday. Ran Wet and Wild, Jeff's Ledges, and Green Momba. She done good. Couple of nervous moments tryin' to keep the sheetmetal off the trees but really does good rock crawlin' ... even better than I had anticipated. :cool:

She wasn't really built with Green Acres hard-core wheelin' in mind and didn't wanna push my luck, so sat out Saturday's ride and jumped in Tigger with Mr. Dixon. Sunday ran a bit of K-trail with Fireman and headed out of Clayton 'round noonday. Fireman noticed my front diff was leakin' juice right steady. A quick look-see indicated the front diff cover had squeezed out the lower part of the gasket from impacts with the rocks. A quick phone call to The Old Man confirmed that with hubs out and in 2wd, no harm, no foul to keep on with my trip. :steer:

Eased on up Highway 2 outta Clayton and seen me a herd of buffalo. Done seen me herds of Buffalo before ... but nevertheless ... stop and take a picture ev'ry time. :grinpimp:

:flamingo:
buffalo north of Clayton.webp
 
First stop on the tour was Robbers Cave State Park. I consider myself quite fortunate to have seen as many cool places in the U.S. as I have ... and I'm now addin' Robbers Cave to that list. :cheers:

Because I'm an idiot, most of my pics at this park didn't turn out. :o

I will say though, that the cave area is really, REALLY bad-ass. I spent several hours scramblin' 'round on the huge rocks until my ol' legs just flat-out gave up on me. There was nobody else in the area that day and it took no stretch of the imagination at all to expect to see Jessie and Frank James or the Younger Brothers standin' 'round the next rock with sidearm drawn. The natural stone corral where they kept there horses close by, extremely concealed openin', and great views of Folks approachin' made it obvious this is the ideal hideout. Instantly brought out the kid in me.

I spent a most pleasant night in the brand new Dogwood Campground for tent campers.

:flamingo:
Dogwood Campground_Robbers Cave.webp
 
Here's a nice shot lookin' upstream on Ash Creek that feeds into Lake Wayne Wallace. A very pretty area.

The bath houses were fairly dated but the one in the new equestrian campground was nice and the hot shower was appreciated.

:flamingo:
Lake Wayne Wallace feeder stream_Robbers.webp
 
The Nature Center at the park had some real nice exhibits of dif'rent critters and a bunch of live snakes. But the coolest thang for me was the ol' road grader that was parked out front. :cool:

:flamingo:
Road Grader 1_Robbers Cave.webp
Road Grader 2_Robbers Cave.webp
 
Monday mornin' I packed up Brutus and off we went to Lake Wister State Park. I was surprised how big a lake and dam there was but the website info failed to mention that the majority of the campin' areas were closed. :mad:

Although a very pretty area as well, the one campin' area in the Park that was open did not have a tent area that was worth a fawk so I had me a quick lunch shoreside and eased on out.

Cruised on down the road to Talimena State Park. Very small place but nice and was thankful to have a place to throw the tent up real quick before the pendin' rain storms. :eek:

Looked like a nice big bath house there but evidently it was closed for the season. :rolleyes:

Slept like a baby with the rain pelterin' the top of the tent durin' the night.

Gotta say my new Big Agnes tent was a great purchase with it's ease of assembly and weather proofness. :clap:

:flamingo:
 
Nice break in the rain on Tuesday mornin' let me pack up Brutus and continue on.

One of the goals of the trip was to drive the Talimena Scenic Drive form Talihina, OK over to Mena, Ark. Heard really nice thangs 'bout the route. So off we went.

Rain started up again as I pulled into the huge visitor center on the Oklahoma side ... which was locked up tight for the season. For the life of me I can't figure out why so much of this s*** was closed down durin' such a pretty time of the year to be out campin'. Must be a budget thang. :meh:

So up, up, and away we went on the first steep grade. Good news was it quit rainin' ... bad news is it quit rainin' cuz we was in the friggin' rain clouds themselves. :lol:

Couldn't see but 'bout 30 feet. I'm sure the views were great but not so much for me as I eased along just tryin' to stay on the road. :rolleyes:

When I got to the intersection of Highway 259, I bailed off and headed south towards Beavers Bend State Park. A quick text or two to Fireman gave me some weather info that it weren't gonna improve none as the cold front was workin' its way 'cross the area. Time to shift gears on my night-time plans. Not wantin' to stay in the tent again ... but not wantin' to deviate from my State Park tour ... I got me a cabin at Beavers Bend. They called it a cabin anyways. Hell ... it was nicer than my house. 2 bedroom, 1 bath with ev'rythang in there 'cept food. Kitchen all geared up and all linens in place. Took a nice pic off the back porch just before the skies let loose. It rained like hell most of the night. Snapped a quick pic of the outside of the cabin (#44) on Wednesday mornin'.

:flamingo:
view cabin 44 _ Beavers Bend.webp
cabin 44 _ Beavers Bend.webp
 
Was thinkin' on Wednesday mornin' that the clouds would be clearin' up soon and I really wanted to see that dam scenic drive. So we back tracked north on 259 and then cut over on 63 to get back to the beginnin' of the route.

And up, up, and away we went again.

The clouds never did clear up but least they was much higher up. So high in fact that the rain comin' down mixed with sleet. :rolleyes:

As I rolled into each and ev'ry vista point, I could see a lil' ways off and stood there in the freezin' rain mix and read all the great signs. Learned that the mountain range was unusual since it ran east-west. Learned that it was formed by rocks that got forced up outta TX. Learned that the original single-wide road was established on the ridgeline was a truckin' route. Learned that the rockslide areas are the only home of some kinda worm ... which is the second longest worm in the US. Cool stuff. :cool:

I'm gonna do this route again ... and it'll be in summer on my scooter. :grinpimp:

Had figured on spendin' the night in Arkansas at Wilhelmina State Park on the scenic route. Once I got there though it's basic'ly just a big lodge/restaurant. They did have some campsites there but they was lined up in a row and looked like it'd be same as campin' in a Wal-Mart parkin' lot ... so we kept pushin' on.

Next really neat deal was the ol' fire watch tower at Rich Mountain. Great story there 'bout some VERY hearty souls that tended the tower back in the 20's. Well worth a quick stop.

Then it was off the scenic trail and into Mena. One of the first things on the way into town was the local high school ... which had a "For Sale" sign in front of it. :lol::lol:

Reckon times are hard all over.

So pointed Brutus south and headed for Texas ... still friggin' rainin'. :bang:

:flamingo:
 
After a 273-mile day, I pulled into Atlanta State Park in NE Texas. Got there right 'bout dark and the Park office was closed for the day. Was standin' there under the eave of the office tryin' to stay dry and cypher thru the procedure for campin' with an after-hours arrival when a Park Ranger walked up. Said was surprised to see a visitor and told me the Park was completely empty and I could camp wherever the hell I wanted to and we'd just square up with the paperwork come Mornin'. Very nice man.

So I eased Brutus on into the tent campin' area and a strange thang happened. I stopped at the bath house to both utilize and check-out the facilities (which were quite nice by the way) and then got back in the jeeper in the rain. Eased on 'round the corner and seen me spot #42, which caught my fancy. I pulled into the spot and shutdown the Hemi ... and the rain stopped. I mean it had been a true turd floater and just quit at the same moment the Hemi did. It was crazy. Turnin' that ignition key stopped the engine and the rain. Simple as that.

I threw the tent up real quick. No rain.

Fired up the stove and whipped up some grub. No rain.

Lookin' up in the sky, I could see a billion stars on the horizon at the edge of darkness where the clouds were. Popped open me a banquet beer and commenced to watch the stars appear to get closer. It was like openin' a window shade as the clouds moved on and the clear skies were exposed. Really neat.

Then heard me a rustlin' sound that got my attention. Got out my flashlight and took a look-see. There was a nice-sized armadillo easin' through my camp 'tween me and my tent that was 'bout 15' away. Minded his own bid'ness and just passin' thru. And that's how I spent my evenin'. Drinkin' banquet beer, watchin' the stars chase the clouds out, and watchin' the armadillos ease thru my camp. After 'bout 8 or 10 of each, I lost count of both the banquet beers and the armadillos. Funny deal. Spot # 42 in Atlanta State Park, TX will always be known to me as "The Armadillo Highway". :grinpimp:

Here's a shot of camp come Thursday mornin'. :cool:

:flamingo:
spot 42 _ Atlanta State Park.webp
 
Packed up and headed out again ... after squarin' up with the office of course.

Proceeded SW on 59 into the small town of Linden. Claimed to be the home of some famous gee-tar player and had a huge music complex of some kind just out of town. Seemed strangely out of place in such a small town. But what I needed was a laundromat. With all my clothes clean, I eased on down the road to Daingerfield State Park.

This Park was a most-pleasant surprise. It had evidently been closed quite a while for remodelin' and they just opened back up this past July. The facilities were unbelievable. The showers were nicer than I got at the 3X's. There was a very nice hikin' trail that went all the way around the lake that was quite scenic.

Here's a shot from that trail. :cool:

With the burn ban lifted at noon that day, had me a roarin' fire and a wonderfully peaceful evenin'. :beer:

:flamingo:
Lake Daingerfield.webp
 
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