Minion XJ Shakedown Run 11-07-2020

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tobyw
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Minion XJ Shakedown Run 11-07-2020

Postby tobyw » Mon Nov 09, 2020 11:45 am

Loaded up the boys' XJ and took it up to Naches for a little shakedown run. Thanks to the recent snow in the upper elevations, we got into a leeeeetle more than we bargained for as the day evolved... Overall though it was a hoot and the little XJ, and it's young pilot, performed admirably all things considered. 8)

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Overview of the days route:

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We met OG in Long Meadow, as he was up camping for the weekend.

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We ran a little bit of the lower section of Kaner, right up to the base of E-dung where we ran into a large group of Monster/Rock Star/Coors Light swilling folks that just oozed lacking talent, so we diverted back to the fire road and made a beeline for Lily Pond to try and beat the crowd. We did try the last hill climb section before the pond, and after a couple of attempts OG was successful, but the poor XJ was under matched for the conditions and was denied after a few comical efforts. After backing down and out of the way, Boy Scout and the ever-faithful Blue did what they always do, and chugged to the top sans drama. The XJ's took the rest of the fire road and we met back up at Lily Pond:

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From Lily Pond we pointed the steads up and toward the Quartz Mountain intersection. The boy had a tough go on the upper section of the climb, with the slimy goo mud/snow mix giving away under the downhill side and putting him in a bit of a pickle. A quick winch recovery and we were back on our way:

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We trundled our way across the gap, with the conditions proving to be challenging and whole lot of fun. I ended up taking the wheel for a bit through some of the tougher stretches, giving the boy a few pointers and trying to avoid mass vehicular casualties. This was just too much for his current skill level, particularly since this is only the third time he has wheeled the XJ. We stopped for a late lunch at Pica Meadows:

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With the day already getting a little long, we had to decide where to exit the trail system... Going back down to Lily was a non-starter based on what we had encountered getting there, which left us to choose the Strings/Tipod or Qaurtz. After some debate, we decided on Quartz and headed out. The going from Pica Meadow was steady and much less troublesome, so we made good time to the Southern base of Quartz, where we came upon a fork in the trail that we had never explored. OG pulled it up on his GPS, and it appeared this fork was a shortcut trail out to the 31 road, which was our destination... So we took it, and low and behold, it was a significant shortcut and timesaver!! At some point on the shortcut trail, however, it was noted that my old man had blown a bead on his XJ, so a quick addition of psi's was in order:

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With that handled, we hopped onto 3100 and made our way down to Barber Springs, up and over Manashtash Ridge and back down to Hwy 410, with darkness in full effect. We made the quick jaunt back to Long Meadow with low tires and high beams, loaded up and said our goodbyes as OG was camping again for the night.

Overall it was a great trip, with a few lessons learned and a new trail having been found. Total success :thu:
Yep, I've wheeled one of those, too...
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OldGreen
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Re: Minion XJ Shakedown Run 11-07-2020

Postby OldGreen » Mon Nov 09, 2020 2:00 pm

Video will be forthcoming. . .complete with heckling. After the crew left, this happened. Plus Beer.

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Last edited by OldGreen on Mon Nov 09, 2020 2:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.

OldGreen
Posts: 4502
Joined: Tue Mar 13, 2007 6:21 am
Location: coming or going?

Re: Minion XJ Shakedown Run 11-07-2020

Postby OldGreen » Mon Nov 09, 2020 2:03 pm

The main lesson = this is PHUN


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