Another month another trail ride. Started off with John, Roy, and myself getting to the park and pickle off of Rt.110 about quarter to 5. Chit chatting in the parking lot, oohs and aahs on John’s new manly 1-ton Cummins powered dually, and just overall laughter of the pickle pullers that were circling the lot like vultures. Blaine with his JK, Jake and Amanda trailering her XJ, and Warren trailering his TJ came around 5. Evan pulled up quarter after 5 pulling his 2-Jeep trailer with Joe as his passenger and 2nd Jeep on the trailer. We hit the road and quickly catch up to Mike on the expressway with his 2 passengers. Once we hit CT, we hit the rest stop quickly to check the straps since we all noticed a few loose and Evan pulled his CJ a bit forward since he was swaying like hell all over the road. We were off again and arrived at the Blue Bonnet Diner around 8:15ish. Everyone unloads their trailers, we meet up with more LIOR members at the parking lot who stayed the night and went in for some breakfast. As usual, Jake ordering his little kiddie drink of chocolate milk, apple sauce, and a bib as the rest of us just chuckle at the order. Joe ended up hyper-ventilating once Evan pulled a fast one sending the waitress to our table to tell us a Jeep from the parking lot has rolled over. Once Joe went to the front, the entire table rolled in laughter. Good one Ev!
We ended up at the trail head around 10:15 to meet up with a potential new LIOR member and his passenger, we’ll call said passenger Happy-Go-Lucky-Lawyer, more on that later. Of course, Mike had to make the side climb of Monster Rock look easy, those Krawlers, boy do they stick. I opted not try and awaited Blaine, since we all knew he was going to try…DENIED! We were all in shocks since he’s the new member who’s had the best luck on all obstacles since he’s been here, making them all look easy. Nope, from the very beginning, it got the best of him. I remember how I felt when I was denied and I wasn’t top dog anymore, hahah. Evan stated he didn’t want to wheel that day and wanted to go home so he didn’t even try. We all walked up the entrance one by one to the 2nd steep rock face. Mike put on a show, revving the piss out of the engine and damn near dumping it on the side, soo close! Ended up having to winch him over in order to keep him on all fours. Happy-Go-Lucky-Lawyer screamed, “That was f*ck*ing awesome!!!”. I tried, but it was definitely too steep for my liking, and since I only had 1 extra pair of undies, I didn’t want to soil them that quickly. Again, Evan did the go-around, as if he was driving a stock JK. Who would’ve thunk it…
The rest of the day, we all hit all the different lines and obstacles that Mabell had to offer. One by one, crawling our way to the summit. Mike again makes the 3rd steep rock face look easy bouncing off the rev limiter, rear getting sideways, and making it up. I try, to no avail, close, but not enough. I was off my game again. Here’s where it got ugly. Gene hyper-extended his swaybar and flipped the links the wrong way. Since he was wrenching on it in the center of the trail, which made Andy (Pres. Of HV4W) take another line up the same steep rock face. All I saw was one bounce, it went sideways, and landed on the roof. Again, Happy-Go-Lucky-Lawyer screamed, “That was f*ck*ing awesome!!!”. Oh boy, we all knew he had his 2 kid passengers in the truck so we ran to help. All were wearing their seatbelts (AWESOME!) and were hanging upside down for a good 2 minutes. Did look pretty funny though legs flailing in the air. We get them out, put a few straps and 2 winches on the truck and got it back on its tires. Aside from the smashed windshield frame and window, the truck was pretty decent. A couple dents here and there and a couple small tears on the top. Evan and John pull the spark plugs and cranked it over, put them back in and fired her up. She was alive and continued wheelin’ for the day. No one was hurt or shakened up.
Soon thereafter we stopped for lunch with Amanda and Warren firing up their BBQ pit. Assortment of franks, sausages, brats, chips, cookies, etc. We all had a mouthful of food and continued on. Toward the end of the day is where Evan finally came to life again going BANZAI up another steep obstacle. Again, Happy-Go-Lucky-Lawyer screamed, “That was f*ck*ing awesome!!! If I had a truck, THAT’S how I’d drive it!!!”. He should participate in KOH, try racing that CJ! Off my game, I tried and ended up smashing the body up some more, had to winch up, oh well. Another obstacle Mike walked up like it wasn’t even there. Jim gave it all he had a few times and finally overcame the obstacle making it up. Again, here’s where it got ugly again. Blaine tried it, ended up putting the truck at a steep angle and made the engine starve itself of oil. Somehow or another, he ended up only having 1 qt of oil in his pan, no low oil or low oil pressure light came on and he ended up spinning a bearing. I heard the noise come on, thought something was broken, once I heard it again I told him to shut down. Between his winch and my winch, we ended up winching him up the obstacle. My battery light turned on and Mike took my spot winching him the rest of the way. We all end the day and limped him off the trail. Mike tried to pull him all the way to the parking lot but got denied by a local cop. Evan had to bring his truck and trailer to get Blaine’s JK on it. Joe had to drive all the way back home in a downpour of a night.
Cracker Barrel, of course, is where most of us had dinner and called it a night. Jake, Amanda, and I stayed at the same hotel in CT since we all made it to the NOVA meeting at EVB in Danbury, CT the next morning. I must say, staying overnight after a day of wheelin’ beats staying the night before. Funny thing of the day is nothing really happened to Brian. He didn’t break anything, smash into a tree or rock, banzai’d up anything…I don’t know. I think he’s losing his touch.
If I missed or forgot anything, too bad, I’m only human and was up front all day. I need help with this writing stuff, it’s hard!
MaBell, she loves to eat Jeeps and spit them out. Rolling them, breaking them, bashing them, etc.
Until next month! Meetree
