Great reports. I look forward to some pics. I may not have been able to make it to Moab but I did get some quality Cruiser time this weekend. I spent Friday putting my driver front kuckle back together and then Sunday swapped the door off my parts truck for a really slick Thule rack/basket combo that belonged to sirenmoses (Carol). I noticed she also had the retrofit 3-point seatbelts for the back seat and told her how envious I was. She told me to take them so without hesitation I removed her rear seat belts and installed mine in her truck. This will make things so much better for securing the kids and their seats in the back of my 60. Thanks again Carol.
I forgot to mention in my post above that David Lawrence, Ashleigh, and the girls also joined us on Golden Spike on Saturday in their 40 with open diffs. I don't know of anyone else but David who could take that truck through that trail. If you've been on the trail, you know that lockers are *almost* a necessity, especially on the Golden Crack obstacle. We did need to strap David through there, but he almost made it. Very impressive driving!
Steve's 40 has a rear locker, but is open in the front, and he had to use some real driving skill in spots that some of us were "cheating" on by using both lockers.
I also wanted to second Juane's comments about Shawn's help in getting us (me!) through all the hard stuff. He's a great spotter and was very patient.
Also, Graham was a big help in showing us 80 guys what his Lexus was capable of doing, so that we could also have the confidence in our rigs. Again - agree with Juane - 80s are very impressive off road. I couldn't be more pleased with my truck after seeing what it can do this weekend.
thank you Juane for the kind words. i said it on the trail, and i'll say it here, everyone that did GS and BTR gets the "Big Brass Pair Award". you guys really stepped up to the plate and up in level with out any complaints. i was impressed with the willingness of everyone to try everything we did. many of those were obstacles that are on par w/ Pritchett Canyon. the only difference is Pritchett's obstacles are mostly not optional (no bypass). but if you are doing all the hard stuff w/o bypasses, there really is no difference.
most impressive was all the 80's doing double whammy after watching a roll over on it...in front of a hard core, monster truck group... and making it look easy!
thanks to all who attended and made this the most fun i've had in Moab yet!
Good times indeed. Sorry we bailed on Sunday - Jennie said she couldn't face 4 straight days of riding (including trips up and back) (will have to work on that girl!), so we and Wendy got in a great hike in Arches. I was disappointed I didn't wheel, but I guess I'da been by myself on Tiptoe while youse guys were wenching and pulling straps, and that wouldn't have been as fun. We had a great time as passengers on GS!
Not only would I add my kudos to Shawn for his expert leadership and guiding, but I would like to express many kudos to all of you guys on the trip as well. As newbies in HDC, we were VERY IMPRESSED at the high level of safety and care everyone took looking out for each other in many tough and potentially dangerous spots. While its an expensive hobby that we will only be able to get further into one mod at a time, we feel that we found a really great group to persue this in!
As newbies in HDC, we were VERY IMPRESSED at the high level of safety and care everyone took looking out for each other in many tough and potentially dangerous spots. While its an expensive hobby that we will only be able to get further into one mod at a time, we feel that we found a really great group to persue this in!
The others will tell ya, if you want to break things and scratch up your truck and possibly roll it, you need to hang out with me and my piece of crap truck.
A few more data points regarding 2M radio usage at the HDC Fall Moab trip.
* Simplex contact with Steve when he was ~10 mi south of Cortez and we were in Monticello (~50 miles north of Cortez.)
* Simplex contact with Steve's radio when the mobile home was parked at the Moab KOA and we were on top of Elephant Hill.
* Simplex contact with Steve in the 40 when he was on Fins-N-Things and we were in the area around the Canyonlands visitor center.
* Strong signal and contact with the Moab repeater that is on a mountain top from everywhere in the E-Hill area, including down in the canyon. Heard multiple conversations among "jeepers" scattered all over the Moab area.
* Talked with the operator of an open non-linked repeater in the Cortez area. Nice guy. He gave me details on using the repeater but I was driving and had no way to write it down. Should provide ~100 mile radius around the Cortez area.
* There are 3 Moab repeaters. 2 were fairly active. I have configuration details on each. The owner can link them but he did not have them linked. Based on the wide coverage from the mountain-top repeater, I can see why he does not usually link the two.
FWIW, Shawn is that way at work too, which is one of the reasons why I chose to work w/him.
Re: seatbelts -- they came w/the truck & I never used them (nor did the few passengers I've had). I figured Marc would actually use them, and might be better able to attend HDC events. His wife called later & thanked me, so I know it was meant to be.
I had a nice long chat on the drive between Monticello and Cortez with a Cruiserhead from Pagosa Springs named Mike. He said he knew you and had sold you some FJ40 parts. They were on the way home on Sunday afternoon after a weekend wheeling their junk in Moab.
I had a nice long chat on the drive between Monticello and Cortez with a Cruiserhead from Pagosa Springs named Mike. He said he knew you and had sold you some FJ40 parts. They were on the way home on Sunday afternoon after a weekend wheeling their junk in Moab.
