FYBR NOV 2014

[Livin4Today]

FYBR NOV 2014

Believe it or not (Scumby) we were rolled out of town right at 10:00 am, jumping on I-82 to catch a wicked side wind all the way to Prosser, slowing our roll to about 65 mph. In Prosser, we met Cim & Jaime (Toyman2), and headed for Yakima as the rain began, thankfully the winds calmed way down. We decided to keep a 65 mph pace and rolled into Yakima for a refueling stop right about the time some wiseacre was posting nonsense...

After fueling up, we were again under way and rolled up to our favorite turn-out to park in just below the lodge right at 1:30 pm. We off loaded Cim's and my Jeep and all 3 rigs made a quick trip up to the lodge, to find the gate open but no sign of Dale, Derek, or Ron. We guessed they got held up or were scouting the trail.

So we decided to Scout Raven's Roost ourselves...

Cim & Jaime, Mandi, and I drove our rigs up the power line trail to about the highest meadow or jump out before the hog back and took the road up from there the rest of the way to the tower. Mainly because the rain had turned to a heavy snow and some strange ratcheting like sounds coming from Xaria (Mandi's XJ).

It seems that new clutch we bought couldn't have waited to be installed, as it gave up its guts and the ratcheting we believe to be transfer case skipping, but even through that Mandi made the peak in Xaria, but she was pissed off (Xaria, well I guess they both were), because part way down in the dark the clutch said no more, and the starter wasn't playing anymore either, so we had to bump start her in the snow. After a couple of bad attempts to stop and swap drivers it was decided that Cim would pilot Xaria down and back to camp as clutch less shifting became the name of the game, while Jaime and I followed. Cim successfully got it back to camp and we put her on the trailer and decided to cook some dinner and again check on Dale.

During our feast on Chicken Enchiladas, a couple of rigs stopped and we heard a knock, it's Dale, Derek & GF, and Ron & son just arriving... They headed up to the lodge, and we swung up after dinner to see how they were set up, it was still pouring rain. After a quick visit we headed back down to our turn-out. On the ice on our way down Cim hit a stump and puked a u-joint cap and I heard something banging. Having killed Mandi's rig we decided we ought to give ours a good once over, which led to a late ride down canyon to get a signal to Cim's friend Kevin to pick up a u joint on his way up in the morning...

Saturday morning, the plan was to roll by 9:00, which just happened to be the same time everybody showed up... So we told Dale and his crew to go ahead, that we'd catch up after we got a cap clipped in. That turned into a front left corner tear down and rebuild in 20 degrees. 90 mins later we were rolling, me, Mandi, & Syler in our JKU, Cim & Jaime in his TJ, and Kevin & Jenn in a well built Toyota 4 Runner (a friend of Chrispy's). We ran right up to the start of the Powerline Trail, expecting to find the others as the snow got deeper and slicker with last nights rain frozen underfoot. We ran the trail nearly to the top having many mishaps on the ice. At one point I couldn't get past some icy spot so we used my rear wench to pendulum my nose back downhill, but not until I slid into the tree so hard I nearly buried Julia in the snow that used to be on the tree all with my window open. We eventually peaked Raven's Roost and decided to head back and have an early dinner as Kevin & Jenn were driving back to the Tri-Cities. Then at the bottom end of the hog back, Cim got a wild hair to run back up the hog back, so much for an early dinner, it took us about two more hours to get up and we had to bailout 2 corners before the top as it was too steep and icy. So we headed back to camp, arriving just after 7:00 pm, and I ran up to check on Dale & crew to find the gate closed, the artic blast was upon us and everything near the gate was a sheet of ice.

Thinking back to how cold the previous night was, I guessed they must have made an early retreat, as their firewood supplies were minimal. Oddly we never crossed paths or heard them on the radio, so I went back down, we said our goodbyes to Kevin & Jenn and grabbed some dinner and called it an earlier night. Sunday morning we were up, Cim was first out and we were 30 mins behind him getting home around 2:30 pm, after dropping Xaria off at BryansFab...

We had a great time, snow was plentiful but it was really cold!

Ms Mandi will be sharing pictures shortly...

[Mandi]

[scumby]

nice write up and good pics. glad to hear you departed on time from the tricities. is this going to become a habit?

so the mandiwagon needs a clutch and transfer case chain, is that what i'm reading?

[SPR]

Ditto on the nice write-up

[Mandi]

so the mandiwagon needs a clutch and transfer case chain, is that what i'm reading?

Why Yes, Dr. Scumby, you are correct....and luckily we already have the new clutch purchased.....

we need tires too......I am grateful for the deal I got on Lee's old tires, but they are not much good in the snow.....

[TJDave]

Really nice pictures Mandi.

[Livin4Today]

Dale, please fill us in on the fun & trials you guys had, and of course any pics, please...

[toyman2]

Yep, it was a fun trip. Also my rear ARB wasn't to happy with me. It was super cold sat night and I was tired. My beer would freeze just sitting outside before I could drink it.

[Mandi]

Somehow Syler the Jeep Dog strained his tail on this trip. On Sunday morning he let out a serious yelp of pain when jumping on our bed in the RV, His tail drooped and it was obviously very painful for him to move it or sit.
$400 later, he has been diagnosed with "cold tail" after sedation and X-rays.....and sent home with doggy pain relievers and anti-inflammatories.

anyone ever heard of this?

[scumby]

Somehow Syler the Jeep Dog strained his tail on this trip. On Sunday morning he let out a serious yelp of pain when jumping on our bed in the RV, His tail drooped and it was obviously very painful for him to move it or sit.
$400 later, he has been diagnosed with "cold tail" after sedation and X-rays.....and sent home with doggy pain relievers and anti-inflammatories.

anyone ever heard of this?

never heard of it, does it have to do with the cold temps?

[Mandi]

Somehow Syler the Jeep Dog strained his tail on this trip. On Sunday morning he let out a serious yelp of pain when jumping on our bed in the RV, His tail drooped and it was obviously very painful for him to move it or sit.
$400 later, he has been diagnosed with "cold tail" after sedation and X-rays.....and sent home with doggy pain relievers and anti-inflammatories.

anyone ever heard of this?

never heard of it, does it have to do with the cold temps?

Also can be called "swimmers tail" it is most commonly diagnosed in labs that train hard for hunting.

[iaccocca]

That is why my dogs don't have tails.

[Livin4Today]

And the wideo...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSTFtUN0yps[/youtube]

[iaccocca]

Nice Lance. I can see that took a lot of work.

Did everyone make the 'sledding hill'? That would be the 1st part of your vid with live action.

[Yrjan]

That video was great Lance! Good job!

[Livin4Today]

Nice Lance. I can see that took a lot of work.

Did everyone make the 'sledding hill'? That would be the 1st part of your vid with live action.

That would be a Negative Ghost Rider, Cim & I tried but living up to it's name we'd simply sled back down. Found a couple of other sledding areas too.

[iaccocca]

Now you gottsa go back! You cannot be owned by that hill.

[Livin4Today]

Now you gottsa go back! You cannot be owned by that hill.

Actually I think it was payback for us owning it the night before...

[TJDave]

Awesomesauce. Excellent vid. Wish we coulda....

[toyman2]

We made it Friday night, sat was nothing but a sheet of ice. Kevin made it but I wasn't willing to hit it with that much momentum

[Livin4Today]

We made it Friday night, sat was nothing but a sheet of ice. Kevin made it but I wasn't willing to hit it with that much momentum

Not to mention he was doubled down also...