Dave called the meeting to order and announced that it was his intent to see that the club was incorporated by the end of the year.
Julie and Tom's baby boy,
Walker Adams
, was born on July
17 at 5:19 a.m.
She delivered their 8 lb. 15 oz. baby on the third
push!
(Mark your calendars!)
Six 4X4 rigs met at "Z's" place Friday night, July 18th. Friday night's feature was BBQ Filet Mignon and a large campfire. The camp was small, located on James property at 4500 ft. elevation.
Saturday morning all was well, up early and on the road by 8:30. The round-up and safety check was at Tamarack Ridge. Some rigs got hot. J.L. (son) had carb problems. The safety check went well and all passed.
The road to Strawberry Lake took its toll. Overheating, vapor locks and two rigs stuck in 2WD.
At Strawberry Lake, the pit crew took Ray's jeep hubs off, and found the problem-a spring in backwards. J.Z.'s rig (son) turned back with carb problem. Roxie and Jerry T. walked 2 miles up to Strawberry Lake and took seats in JBZ's Bronco. The fish were biting.
The food was good. The Pit Crew completed the repairs and we headed back down the trail. We stopped at Mirror Lake Rd. bet none ventured out. It was just too hot and the trail too "rough". It's now 3 p.m. and at least 1 hour to Shaver Lake. We decided to skip the SJ&E Trail and head back to camp.
Back at camp Darlene gives the Z's Ford Camper a new name. The "Hacienda". It had a shower with hot water. The word is that unless Ray gets a Jeep Shower like Preston's they will stay in the "Hacienda" on the Coyote Run.
30 minutes back at camp, Pat G. was working on his Jeep Cherokee, he backs up his, we hear a snap and he got 4WD again. He's it going to need it for Sunday's Run to "Bald Mountain."
The talk at the campfire was about the Jeep Shower. Our engineers, Ray and Mark the draftsman and Jerry, the electrician was making a drawing on the ground. Shari, Preston's wife brought out her special glasses with Duel head lights. Great for night drawing on the ground.
Bald Mountain on Sunday is the favorite trail of trail boss, J. B. Z. It's located 5 miles west of Shaver Lake off Dinkey Creek Road.
Five rigs met at Swanson Meadow Campground. Many used the U.S.F. S. Little Green Buildings just off the main road. And it's off to Bald Mt. At 9,000 ft. elevation. Look-out built in 1934. At Bald Mountain you can look down on Shaver Lake 6 miles away, see the valley floor to the west, and see the back fork of Pine Flat Reservoir some 40 miles away to the southwest. From here you can see the Eastern High Slopes, some with snow. They glisten in the high mountain sunlight.
Now, the trail's been steep, with bald rocks, but no rough stuff.
It's time to stop this glamour show and do some serious Jeeping. The road back has some large rocks, side slopes, and steep down hill grades. Some get out and walk. At a resting stop, the gang says, "I wonder if my Jeep can make it up this trail?" Trail Boss, Mr. "Z" answered "This Little Bronco Trail goes both ways, Boys, but today, we're going Down."
From the Trail the group headed 8 miles to see the "Big Trees" at McKinley Grove. We had to take numbers to get in restroom this time.
It was a nice cap to a wonderful trail. We made it back to camp by 4 tired and dirty. But all made it without a breakdown. No FUBAR this trip, just fun.
For being good hosts, Mark and Margaret gave Trail Boss, "Z" a bronco shirt for which we thank them.
Mark and Margaret's sons had an entirely different adventure on their own trip to Red Lake. Sunday night when they decided to leave camp, Matt's belt broke (he thought he had a spare). By the time they got to Shaver in Nathan's jeep, the parts house was closed. So they went back to Red to spend the night. (They weren't part of the group, they were staying at Red to fish.)
Monday morning no one in Shaver had a belt to fit so they ordered a belt, bought some more food and went back to Red Lake. Tuesday they went back to Shaver, the belt didn't arrive until 3, so they decided to go back to Red, fix the jeep and spend yet an other night before returning.
As for Mark's "rescue attempt" - I got a call Monday morn, Tracy (Matt's wife) could barely speak. She awoke with Matt still not home. I assumed that since no word was heard that they'd had trouble on the trail and told her not to worry. After getting off the phone I came to the conclusion that since no calls were made they must have broke both jeeps. So off I went-I figured the kids could get themselves out but with Tracy and Margaret sick with worry I had no choice... I kept checking back home, by the time I reached Academy & Manning out of Fresno they had called to tell us that they would be back Tuesday. (The first message they had left that they wouldn't be home Sunday on Matt's machine wasn't retrieved.) So after careful deliberation I decided to give up my effort to spend the night at Red, go home and get ready for work.
Moral of the story, Check those spare parts you THINK you have, if you leave a message so others know your OK maybe leave it at 2 different places (or make sure the 1 is on a machine that works) and don't break near a place you'd like to spend more time at anyway.
(Editor's note: I think if you're going to break, it might as well be somewhere you want to stay anyway! )
Do you have something you want to sell? Clean out that garage and spread the wealth. Your fellow club members may be your best market for the extra parts, accessories, tools, etc. you just don't know what to do with. (Ray, how are those hinges?!)
offers a 15% discount on all part
(& 10% off accessories like hats)
to club members who present their 1997 Membership Card!
Ted Miles Jeep/Eagle
7380 El Camino Real
Atascadero 466-2411
If you haven't heard already (and I can hardly imagine anyone's missed out on this bad news), our president, Dave H., lost his tools, his spare parts his camping gear and his whole Jeep to thieves!
Dave, Donna & two of their close friends were all loaded up and ready to go when they parked their jeep in the motel parking lot of the Placerville Inn on July 23 the night before the Rubicon: Jeepers Jamboree. When they got up at 4 a.m., the jeep fully loaded for the trail, was gone! He's pretty bummed as you might imagine. At last word he hasn't heard anything. The cops are saying that, it's most likely already parted out.
Lessons First, no Jeep appears to be immune. They're popular at this point. Tips from the cops, cock your wheels hard then lock the steering wheel, don't back into a stall (especially if it would be relatively easy to line a trailer up with the Jeep), use some sort of theft deterrent such as The Club or alarm (thought thieves often know how to defeat these, it gives them one more thing to worry about and may lead the thieves to look for an easier target), don't leave all your stuff in your Jeep, hard-top or no.
If you find this Jeep, notify the local police that it is a stolen vehicle & notify Dave.