Tip Top

Well the day started off nice enough, but turned to crap after a few hours. One wrong turn, then the Liberty broke a front drive shaft which rendered it a 4X4 no more and I had to be drug around like a puppy on a leash that doesn't want to go on a walk. Then we had couple of low fuel issues. Special thanks to Rob and Sharon who did the dragging and Special thanks to all who helped stack rocks, push, spot, and in general help me make a very long trip out in 2WD. It was a very, very long day and night and into the early morning hours of Sunday. Jerry, Marty, Bob, Don and Shannon were the smart ones and went back home at Tip Top. The rest of us decided to run the loop back to Lake Pleasant. Major error on our part. We ended up down at an Agua Fria that was backed up from a lake full of spring runoff and the road was impassable. Then some of us ended up at Humbug Creek where the lake again was up to the road that made a 100 yard mud pit to cross. NOT! Soooooooo we ended up going out the same way we went in. We got back to the air down spot about 11:00PM. Then to add insult to injury the 202 had an accident at 32nd street and the freeway was closed, with all traffic being taken of of the freeway at 32nd street. Paul, Ken, Jim and myself sat in that mess for an hour or more before we finally were able to get back on the 202 and make our final journey home. Thanks to Paul and Barb who followed me home to make sure I made it. When I walked in the door it was 1:21AM!

On a lighter note I jacked up the Liberty this morning and was able to determine that it was a constant velocity joint broken on the front drive shaft. This was very good news indeed compared to what I thought it was or could have been. I removed it and will drop it off at the drive shaft shop tomorrow to be rebuilt. The Liberty has been very good to me over the years. Most of you know that it gets wheeled pretty hard and this is the first incident I have ever had with her, on or off road.

And on a final note. The Jeep ham radio crowd was in communication with us on our final 10 miles out. They were aware that we had fuel problems, water issues and were a little hungry. These guys were willing to leave their homes at 9 or10 o'clock to drive up the mountain to bring us what we needed to get back. I am extremely grateful that we have Jeep people and ham radio operators that are out there listening, and are willing to leave their families to help out other Jeepers, or anyone for that matter. I am proud to be among that crowd and a fellow ham radio operator. Thanks guys.

Happy Trails,
Steve

It ended up being a much longer day than I had thought it would be. In the end, I still had fun.

I was trying to look at topo maps online and I think that place where the stone cabin was when we came out of the wash is Ft. Tule. Also, the hill where we saw the 3 wild burros, I think is actually called Wild Burro Mesa. haha.

Sounds like a rough day of it. Glad it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

Jerry

hi all, driving out at night wasn't so bad, couldn't see the bottom! those steep grades made fish creek hill look like a walk in the park. Rob and Sharon are my new hero's, great job.



lazy dog

Wow! Looks like I missed all the action. Glad everyone is ok and that things weren't as bad as they could have been!

Jeeping is an adventure!
Even though I was running on 4 hours of sleep from the night before, I had a great time and would do it again. (well, maybe not ) The ham radios and APRS came in real handy and special thanks to Virgil for all he did. All those lights on the front of my jeep came in real handy too. Thanks to the group for letting me lead so I could use them. I went yesterday and bought a Jerry can so I will always have some extra fuel.... just in case. Steves jeep is the little liberty that could! Man, that thing amazes me. Great job Steve.

For those that may be intersted, here is a link to our APS track as provided by W7SAZ.
http://www.mountainin...

Awesome Randy! I was going to ask you if that thing recorded a history.

Jeeping is an adventure!
Even though I was running on 4 hours of sleep from the night before, I had a great time and would do it again. (well, maybe not ) The ham radios and APRS came in real handy and special thanks to Virgil for all he did. All those lights on the front of my jeep came in real handy too. Thanks to the group for letting me lead so I could use them. I went yesterday and bought a Jerry can so I will always have some extra fuel.... just in case. Steves jeep is the little liberty that could! Man, that thing amazes me. Great job Steve.

For those that may be intersted, here is a link to our APS track as provided by W7SAZ.
http://www.mountainin...

Randy you need to show me some time how to hook the GPS up to the Ham radio to be tracked. That is such a cool feature. I recently took Steve's setup and did a similar thing where I have my handheld GPS hooked up to a laptop with National Geographic TOPO software installed where it can automatically track your current position on the topo images. Very cool!

Yes, I also think APRS is my next ham project.

I have heard the Kenwood HT D7 is really good for the APRS stuff.
And something called a tinytrak I think.

jdawg.