Gully Washer
We met at Slims and had lunch and was on the trail by Noon. Some guys from Decatur and Oklahoma wanted to follow us but it really didn't slow us down too much. After Green Mamba, we all split up. Around 4:30 we were heading up the hill towards Cakewalk when the rain started. Huge lightening show all around us. At least Meanie & Big Tex have a windshield and top. Poor Brian/Morris and Dusty/Tommy were getting soaked in their rigs (no top, no doors). They just pulled their hats down tight and kept a rolling.
When we reached the top of Cakewalk, the bottom fell out. Major flooding-type rains. (About twice as hard as Saturday's rain at the Ramble). It was great. We came down the hill and decided to run Jeff's Ledges and Wet n' Wild backwards on the way back to Slims.
We loaded up in the rain and called it a day. Brian & Morris headed towards Denison and Matthew and I and Dusty & Tommy grabbed a pizza in town and then headed home.
Great day.
Carnage Report:
Grape Ape: Dusty had a problem with his ARB on Green Mamba and his on-board mechanic (Tommy) fixed it in no time. Later smoke started coming out of the glove box and they determined that the wiring harness was on fire. Dusty's personal mechanic fixed that too and they were good to go. (This all happened before the rain hit).
Big Tex: We all heard a LOUD pop (like an axle breaking sound) when Big Tex was climbing up the big obstacle on Green Mamba. I was on the right side with the front tires up doing (ok attempting) a front dig to move the nose on overto the right a bit). When it happened, Brian said "stop...you broke your axle". But we never found any breakage and Big Tex climbed on out and worked great the rest of the day.
Meanie: Towards the end of the day(during the heavy rain) Matthew heard something up in the front of Meanie that sounded like metal hitting metal. We did not spot the problem until we get her back in the shop in Commerce. He has a Dana 60 in the front and the passenger side spring is held on by 1 U-bolt and 2 regular bolts that bolt downward into the side of the pumpkin. Both of these bolts had stripped out and popped out of the pumpkin. Repairs are under way.
Brian's new buggy (nameless?): Worked great with no problems.
Got some great video.
