So of the 5 people who said they were coming this weekend, not counting those who had last minute changes in their plans, one other Jeep besides mine showed up.
Osito129 (Chris from Hampton, Va) and his buddy Brad in Chris' stock YJ met my girlfriend Melissa (Stockjeepcj) and I (we had my Scrambler, mostly stock) in Charlottesville, Va at about 0900am on Saturday morning.
They made it with no problems short of Chris losing the scratchbuilt shelf/noise damper he'd made to go under his bikini top and ALL of his CD'S on the side of interstate 64 westbound...
Despite the lack of anyone else, we headed on towards Harrisonburg, Va where we had planned to spend the weekend riding some trails and generally just seeing what we could find out about them. On the way over we stopped for gas and saw another group of Jeeps stopped at a shopping center so we rode over to say hello.
Turns out they were members of NOVAJEEPERS and were running late to a planned trail run so Tom (in a Scrambler), his girlfriend Jen (in a stock TJ) and Jim (in a CJ-7) invited us to join the three of them and we'd just head on together. COOL!
Got onto the trail only to find several things going wrong... my Scrambler lost power something fierce (a timing problem we all decided) so I ended up running in 4 low all the time ( which worked out quite well, since I didn't need excessive power) and Chris' Wrangler wouldn't lock in at all.
Tom spent quite some time underneath it trying to figure out what was going on only to reach the conclusion of "it's broke" :?
But we decided "what the Hell" and kept going. Stopped to play on a rock to try to show some flex and who should we meet coming down the trail for the other direction? The rest of the crew that Tom, Jen and Jim were supposed to meet! Is that timing or what?
Now we were up to 18-20 Jeeps! The NOVA JEEPERS again, altered the plans somewhat (are these great folks or what?) to include us. We all decided to break up into 2 or 3 groups as to make it easier on everyone.
Darren in a tricked out and locked Rubicon led our group of 5 Jeeps up onto "Dicked'em Trail". We soon discovered the reason for the nickname.
Darren nearly turned over crawling up a series of rocks which only the tow strap hooked to his roll bar and 5-6 of us hanging off of it prevented. Between the rain, the slick rocks and the mud this was getting ugly. The rest of us decided, after all of 2-3 seconds of deliberation, that there was no way we were going up there (not that most of us could have any way
). So Darren headed back down, again nearly turning over. Even as easy as his rig made it look he told us he had more than one thought of sliding over the edge.
Set up camp for the evening at about 530pm and from then until around 200am we had people pulling in and setting up camp and shoot the breeze with us while Brad provided much appreciated comic relief (I tell ya, this guy is a hoot!). We woke this morning to find 13-14 Jeeps in camp and over 20 people! COOL!
Headed out again, played in lotsa mudholes, creek crossings, and even a rock climb or two which we all made (even Chris' 2 wheel drive Wrangler) without any problems. Honestly? We were all pretty impressed by the spotting, the driving and yes, even the performance of the 4x2 Wrangler.
Turns out, later in the day, Chris DID find a way to get his Jeep locked in. He ran into a rock about half the size of the Jeep and it started to work! Guess we just needed a bigger hammer...
Last obstacle of the day was a creek/rock climb that Jim and his CJ-7 nearly jumped from one to the other on (leaving those with lesser equiped Jeeps such as myself, quite envious). Eric and his Wrangler made it to the next to last step and rather than keep trying and break something he turned around and came on back down. Lastly was yet another tricked out and locked TJ that not only went to the top like a mountain goat , but never even paused for the victory dance. He turned around, grinned and down he came with Jim right behind him.
Overall? A great time had by all and we again extend our greatest thanks and appreciation to all the members of NOVA JEEPERS for taking us in and allowing us to join their run. A great bunch of people there.
Chris and Brad will be posting some pics soon and as soon as ours come back Melissa and I will toss some on here too.
Still planning for one in September, we welcome all comers, and a special invite to anyone from NOVA JEEPERS to return the favor and hospitality.
Ya'll take care,
Chris (Greywolf) and Melissa (StockJeepCJ)
Osito129 (Chris from Hampton, Va) and his buddy Brad in Chris' stock YJ met my girlfriend Melissa (Stockjeepcj) and I (we had my Scrambler, mostly stock) in Charlottesville, Va at about 0900am on Saturday morning.
They made it with no problems short of Chris losing the scratchbuilt shelf/noise damper he'd made to go under his bikini top and ALL of his CD'S on the side of interstate 64 westbound...
Despite the lack of anyone else, we headed on towards Harrisonburg, Va where we had planned to spend the weekend riding some trails and generally just seeing what we could find out about them. On the way over we stopped for gas and saw another group of Jeeps stopped at a shopping center so we rode over to say hello.
Turns out they were members of NOVAJEEPERS and were running late to a planned trail run so Tom (in a Scrambler), his girlfriend Jen (in a stock TJ) and Jim (in a CJ-7) invited us to join the three of them and we'd just head on together. COOL!
Got onto the trail only to find several things going wrong... my Scrambler lost power something fierce (a timing problem we all decided) so I ended up running in 4 low all the time ( which worked out quite well, since I didn't need excessive power) and Chris' Wrangler wouldn't lock in at all.
Tom spent quite some time underneath it trying to figure out what was going on only to reach the conclusion of "it's broke" :?
But we decided "what the Hell" and kept going. Stopped to play on a rock to try to show some flex and who should we meet coming down the trail for the other direction? The rest of the crew that Tom, Jen and Jim were supposed to meet! Is that timing or what?
Now we were up to 18-20 Jeeps! The NOVA JEEPERS again, altered the plans somewhat (are these great folks or what?) to include us. We all decided to break up into 2 or 3 groups as to make it easier on everyone.
Darren in a tricked out and locked Rubicon led our group of 5 Jeeps up onto "Dicked'em Trail". We soon discovered the reason for the nickname.
Darren nearly turned over crawling up a series of rocks which only the tow strap hooked to his roll bar and 5-6 of us hanging off of it prevented. Between the rain, the slick rocks and the mud this was getting ugly. The rest of us decided, after all of 2-3 seconds of deliberation, that there was no way we were going up there (not that most of us could have any way
). So Darren headed back down, again nearly turning over. Even as easy as his rig made it look he told us he had more than one thought of sliding over the edge.Set up camp for the evening at about 530pm and from then until around 200am we had people pulling in and setting up camp and shoot the breeze with us while Brad provided much appreciated comic relief (I tell ya, this guy is a hoot!). We woke this morning to find 13-14 Jeeps in camp and over 20 people! COOL!
Headed out again, played in lotsa mudholes, creek crossings, and even a rock climb or two which we all made (even Chris' 2 wheel drive Wrangler) without any problems. Honestly? We were all pretty impressed by the spotting, the driving and yes, even the performance of the 4x2 Wrangler.
Turns out, later in the day, Chris DID find a way to get his Jeep locked in. He ran into a rock about half the size of the Jeep and it started to work! Guess we just needed a bigger hammer...
Last obstacle of the day was a creek/rock climb that Jim and his CJ-7 nearly jumped from one to the other on (leaving those with lesser equiped Jeeps such as myself, quite envious). Eric and his Wrangler made it to the next to last step and rather than keep trying and break something he turned around and came on back down. Lastly was yet another tricked out and locked TJ that not only went to the top like a mountain goat , but never even paused for the victory dance. He turned around, grinned and down he came with Jim right behind him.
Overall? A great time had by all and we again extend our greatest thanks and appreciation to all the members of NOVA JEEPERS for taking us in and allowing us to join their run. A great bunch of people there.
Chris and Brad will be posting some pics soon and as soon as ours come back Melissa and I will toss some on here too.
Still planning for one in September, we welcome all comers, and a special invite to anyone from NOVA JEEPERS to return the favor and hospitality.
Ya'll take care,
Chris (Greywolf) and Melissa (StockJeepCJ)
