10/24/2016
Alright. A little bit better recap of our trip down to hot springs ORV park now that I have some time. Our trip started the same way every trip does. Scrambling. Scrambling to finish fixing a rig from the last trip out. Scrambling to make sure the trailer and tow rig are in good shape. Scrambling to make sure all reservations are in place. Did I bring all the right spare parts? What tools am I forgetting? Do I have enough Captain for five days in the south? So many things to get figured out in what seems like a short amount of time. The Saturday before our trip, Greg and I went up to the shop, pulled the big ole trailer in, and gave it a once over. Checked all the tires, brakes, bearings, lights. Etc. the thought of hauling three rigs across four state lines is a little nerve racking for me. We did our due diligence, so we were feeling pretty good. Loaded up my rental jeep, (huge thanks Ward family!) and set off to the Claire's house in Rogers. Greg and I dropped the trailer, played musical cars, loaded his buggy on, started throwing spares on and did what we could. Peter still had some finishing touches on his rig, so it would have to wait to be loaded. We called it as good as it could be for now. Fast forward to Tuesday night. We all meet at the Claire's again. Load up Peters rig, double check all the straps, spend an hour getting the weight distributing hitch right, triple check the straps, and turn in for the night. We have a fair size drive ahead of us.
We depart at 6 am Wednesday. Gregs got the truck with himself and the Claire's, all three rigs on a bumper pull trailer that we've grown to fall in love with, and myself and my daughter in a chase car. Nothing exciting happens the whole way down. We get around 9 mpg, which I am fine with! Spend the night at Stacy's moms house, where the is plenty of food and homemade lasagna waiting for us! Score! We wake up and hit the road again about 6 am Thursday, make it to the off-road park, unload stuff, run to town, head back and get ready for our first outing. About that time Leo and Gem rolled in with their framed Xj. This thing is awesome. 6.2 V-8, one tons, and a lunatic behind the wheel. We all load up and head for our first trail. Things got interesting. It's a different kind of wheeling down there. Long slabs. Bigger hills. Less traction. But a ton of fun. About an hour into our first trail, The Gorrs line up on an obstacle. Richard figures Eh, I've got a hemi. I'll just throttle right up this! Hammer down, jeep goes up, jeep comes down, rear Axle makes horrible noises and right rear stops spinning. Best part/worse part, Gallagher, Richards son, comments so innocently, but yet perfect - "we drove all this way to break already!?" I'll admit, I literally had to bite my tongue. We finish the trail, play around a little on the way out, and make it back to camp, which is ok, because it's time for dinner anyways. Pull apart the Rock Jock 60 in the rear of The Gorrs jeep, pull the carrier, and find all the gears inside the ARB have eaten themselves alive along with a couple other parts. The decision is made to weld it up right there at camp, and make it a spool. It's only day one. We're wheeling. F it. Campfire and shenanigans ensue. The night is complete. Richard and I woke up early Friday morning, head to town, grab gear l**e, Rtv, etc. head back, slap the axle together and hope the little battery powered 110 welder was up to the task. Everyone loads up, we go out wheeling. I don't remember the name of the trails we were on. Cassidy and I were having a blast wheeling the CJ, everyone's rig is working well. Richards rig develops and issue. An odd one. It wants to die, seemingly only when you put it in drive. Which is odd. It's a purely mechanical 727 in his jeep. The engine doesn't know, or care what gear it's in. More on that later. Richard basically drives out in reverse. Crazy Leo. The name fits. Leo gets into the same obstacle that denied the Cj, caused Gorrs rig to be denied, and gives Claire's a workout. Leo figures he's got more power then anyone in our group and sticky tires. He's going to let that V-8 sing, and sing it does! Right up until the point the sticky tires do their thing with the motor singing and a chromoly 35 spline stubshaft decides to give up. Richard and Leo head back to camp and assess. Myself, Peter and Greg decide to give another trail a try. It's called Warn hill. I wonder why? Anyone that has seen ski jump in Gilbert, think of that. But five times as long, steeper, looser, and a giant slab half way up to stop you. All of us complete the trail, but not without a raise in blood pressure. A workout from pulling cable, and plenty of throttle. We all head back. When we arrived at camp, Leo was already done fixing his stub shaft and Peter and I jump on trying to figure out why Gorrs jeep randomly dies. We think it needs a MAP sensor. Stores are closed, so we will get it in the morning. Our group heads to Fishermans Wharf in town for dinner. This is also Kats surprise birthday party. The night was great. Kat was surprised. Great food. Even better friends. Dinner is had. Drinks are consumed. Campfire and shenanigans ensue. Another great night. Saturday morning. Our last day to wheel. Richard installs his map sensor. Peter notices I'm missing two unjoint caps on my front shaft. Leo grabs a joint on the way in for me. Peter pulls it apart while I work on other stuff and eat. Install new joint. Crack ear on shaft. Weld joint, and ear to be one. It's the last day. It probably won't work, but I'm going to try. I think it may have been Saturday morning, i was still puzzled by Richards jeep. Get on my back and start looking over things better. Why didn't the MAP sensor fix it? Dumb luck allows me to find the 5v reference wire for the speed sensor shorted to the exhaust. Guess what. It shares the same reference signal as the MAP sensor. Snip, snip, all done. Runs great. We notice on a pre trip inspection Greg's upper link mounts are tearing themselves off of his axle. Grind, zip, zap, weld. Let's go wheeling! First obstacle my hodge podge Dana 44 shaft breaks when the steering box bolts pop out of the frame, all at the same time, almost breaking my thumb with the steering wheel. Replace bolts. Unlock lockout. F**k it. I'm wheeling in 3wd. It's my last day in Arkansas. We have a great day of wheeling. The best yet. Richard conquers an obstacle that denied everyone else, Peter blows a seal out on his power steering pump. It's late in the day. We call it. Head back to camp. Load up. Pack up what we can. Guess what happens next? Campfire, drinks and final night of Shenanigans. My stomach hurt from laughing. Sunday morning we wake up at 0500, everyone on road by 0600. Slight detour on the way home, but literally not even a hiccup from anyone's tow rig or trailer. This is the stuff you dream of in a trip. Five days. Great friends. Great wheeling. This was one for the books.
