Page last updated April 2, 2008... Thanks for looking!
UPCOMING EVENTS for 2008
Here's some of the places you'll find us this year...
April 24-27 Uwharrie, Southern Vintage Power Wagon Rally
May 9-11 Uhwarrie 4x4Cross
May 23-26 (Memorial Day weekend) Harlan, KY, Southern Shine Crawl
June 19-22 Uhwarrie, Full-Size Jeep East Coast Invasion
PAST EVENTS...
Uhwarrie National Forest - September 22-24, 2006
There was a good turnout for this event. To the best of my recollection, we had about 18-20 vehicles hit the trails, including the following...
- (5) M715's, ranging from stock to one with 4-wheel-steer and another sporting 52" tires
- M37 with Cummins 4BT
- M35 Duece-and-a-half bobbed 4x4
- (6) "Little" Jeeps, including (4) CJ's, a Scrambler, a TJ, an XJ, and a Commando
- J-10 cab truck
- Two Waggoneers
- Samurai
- V10 Super Duty
Some folks arrived Friday and spent the evening around the campfire. We had a site in the Group Camp while others enjoyed the views at Badin Lake Camp.
Saturday started out with an easy ride around Falls Dam just to get folks warmed up. Next, it was up the Rocky Mountain Loop to Kodak Rock. Everybody made it through relatively unscathed. The 4x4 duece had a tough time of it, as the transfer case would not lock in, so he basically did it in 2wd. No easy feat, to say the least, but he made it with a couple tugs from a 12,500lb winch. A couple of already dead trees met their demise during the winching operation, with one crashing down on top of the winch-er and another landing on the hood of the winch-ee. We headed back to camp for a much needed cooling off period. A short ride was made for the kiddies' sake and to break in a "dirt virgin" Ford V10 Super Duty. Back at camp that evening, a turkey went in the deep fryer. Later that evening, we got word that the M715 with 52's had lost its front spindle. Good excuse for a night ride!!! Everybody returned safely, but that M715 spent the night in the woods.
Sunday started out with a trip up Daniel. The 4-wheel-steer M715 and the J-10 cab truck attacked the face while the larger group came up the back side. When we reached the top, we found the M715 demonstrating the merits of JBWeld by re-attaching his transfer case with it. Maybe they'll hire him as a poster boy. After a few runs up and down the face by an intrepid few, everybody headed back to camp for lunch. Most packed up afterwards and headed for home, while a couple of folks headed out for a little more fun.
Callallantee - October 27-31, 2006
This place is way cool. Y'all gotta check it out. I had seen some of the mild stuff in a previous trip, but this was the first time I saw the really good stuff, thanks to Aaron's navigatin'.
It was me (and crew) with my CJ-5, Jason with "Sick Puppy", and Aaron with his Rockwell-ed 4 wheel steer M715. We all found our own way up there in the miserable fog and rain on Friday. The rain broke that evening just as I crested the mountains between Boone and Mountain City, and it stayed mostly dry for the rest of the trip. Aaron was already there and Jason showed up soon after I arrived. We washed away our aggravations around the fire and I settled into my room at Chalet du Ford... when a Suburban is just not big enough any more...
get ya one of these...
We woke up to a mostly rain free but soggy Saturday morning and headed up the Welder trail. This trail follows the bottom of a gulley up the mountain, with a good 95% of it running right up the rocky creek bed. Cool. There is an 8' near vertical waterfall soon after you start up. Aaron was over it before I even got there, but I got to watch "Sick Puppy" crest it after a few tries. I pulled my CJ-5 up on the face of it but it wanted to endo backwards so I opted for the go-round. We took a right turn and headed up a steep and slippery climb. After we all struggled at one point or another, and the Buick 455 in Aaron's ride started making some pretty scary noises, we decided to head back down for the day.
My "muddy buddy" inspecting a broken shock...
A beautiful Sunday found us heading up Welder again. "Sick Puppy" was replaced in the line-up by a Bronco from VA that was down for a day-trip. Aaron's motor started making the death rattle again so he turned back when we reached the trailhead and parked it for the rest of the trip. That left me and the Bronco to head up Welder. We made it about 100 yards past the previous day's progress before the Bronco's rear driveshaft came apart at the slip yoke. Closer inspection revealed that the center pin on one of his rear springs had sheared off and allowed that side of the rear end to shift backwards at least 8". Ouch. An hour later we had it back together good enough to get him back to the trailer using a allen wrench as a center pin.
Ford on Welder... 'nuff said...
On Monday, we made our final assault on Welder and made it to the top this time!!! "Sick Puppy" found a little wallowing hole to play in on the other side of the loop. Later that day we set out to find the fire tower but ended up finding a gravity (and death) defying climb/descent that left us feeling like we had gotten our money's worth for the weekend.
soup for you!!!