PNW4WDA Region 1 Picnic Aug 2014

You couldn’t have asked for a nicer day for a picnic at the Thomas Farm up in Snohomish – with the not too hot sunshine and the attendees willing to have a little fun.  Bad Dan, staffing the “gate” showed his true Region 1 treasurer stuff by sitting at the entry taking the contribution and handing out the wrist bands.  Also barking the request, “You see someone without a wrist band – have ‘em come back over and fork it out.”  Ah Dan – a man of few, pithy and direct words.  But being that some of the proceeds go to the Oso Landslide victims showed his heart was in the right place.

When Mary and I (dragging Moosenstein on the trailer) came around the barn, we were very pleased to see a Tamer Jeep we haven’t seen off the trailer in ages – Dirtball – Mark Steven’s 1945 monster flattie.  Sooooo – okay – Mark’s trailer was there, and Dirtball was there – but no Mark and no pickup.  Where did he disappear to?  Oh – he’d left the keys at home and had to run back and get them.  I can’t imagine he didn’t figure out a way just to hotwire that thing and get it running – although I think the days of a splice running through a splice, running through yet another splice, and all that spliced to a splice (all different colors too) I think are long gone.  So – possibly getting the key was a better plan, or at least would avoid the inevitable small electrical fire that used to happen with some amount of regularity in earlier days.

Tamers were pretty well represented (and I thank all the Tamer’s who made it their priority for the day to attend) on the grounds.  I think we spanned at least 6, possibly 7 decades of Jeep production from the 1945 Dirtball, all the way to Jake Bradley’s JK – which has to be of vintage of only a few years old.  Also – the Tamer Toy contingent was also represented with another 3 or 4 rigs.

We even had a historical figure surprise me by showing up – Frank Remley, who was Tamer president when I was just a pup to my start in the club over 20 years ago.  Frank and his wife Pam have been highly involved in the PNW for many years, wheeling a red Landcruiser when I first met him.  Frank and Pam live over on the other side of mountains now, and they remain involved with PNW Region 4 and if you’ve gone to Pick Up a Mountain in recent years, I’m sure you’ve had a chance to meet them.  It was good to see Frank is still chugging along, now driving a silver TJ Rubicon Unlimited (he’ll sell it to you for the right price!)

Other clubs there I recall – Rainier Ridge Rams, Dirty Thirteen, Good Time Four Wheelers, probably a few others.  I wish there had been more clubs attending from Region 1, but those that were there certainly had a good time.

Amusements included a Show and Shine (although my rig made that a Show and Dull, and Karl’s rig made it a Show and Bent, with Karl showing off the fresh bends from the Rock Crawl at Goldendale a few weeks ago.)  And for my money – Isabel won hands down the Cutest Tamer award in my book.  Also there were the Scale, Slow Drags, Divorce Course, RTI ramp and the Teeter Totter.

Yes – the Teeter Totter – just like it sounds, except on steroids for playing “Balance the Rig.”  Two big planks on pivot points – you paid your buck to the Oso Landslide fund, then had 5 minutes to drive your rig up to get it to balance with neither end of the plank touching the ground for 5 seconds.  Sounds easy – right?  There is a craft to it, between playing with the gas, the brake, the clutch, the shifter, and throwing yourself back and forth in the seat trying to get right on that sweet spot.  An automatic did not really make that dance any easier.   A little bounce and roll helped too.  I gave it three separate tries – and was able only to get up to 3-1/2 seconds in the air, but no luck on the magical 5.  However – Rudi – aided I’m sure by some luck and only 2 hours of sleep, performed a Zen exercise of minimal consciousness and fancy footwork to keep those planks in the air for the required time.  So did 2 other folks – showing it could be done – but it sure was a trick.

The scale was just to drive up to the scale pads, weigh the front, then weigh the back.  (Much easier than “Hold your Rig in your arms, step on the scale, then put your rig down, then weigh yourself, and factor the difference.”)  I always wondered Moosenstein’s weight – and now I know – about 4,765 lbs.  And oddly enough – the back half weighs a couple hundred pounds more than the front.  That’ll make me feel better on those steep downhill grades.  To show what a little armoring and big tires will do for you, even Casey’s Toy was around 4,500 lbs.  Of course – I’m sure it weighed a little less than she expected since GARY WASHED IT!  I don’t know if he gets to be a sinner or a saint for that move – but it sure did look nice.  Love the new bitchin’ tube frame half doors she has on it too!  I might need to make me a couple of those.

On the slow drag course – where the goal is to go as slow as you can without braking or clutching (so basically an idle) I figured I’d beat many of the more stock rigs.  They were getting through in about 40 to 50 seconds, where Moosenstein took its old sweet time with the 8:1 low 1st in the T-18 and tera-lo 4:1 gears in the TC at about a minute and 6 seconds.  There have been tricks to this in the past – pulling a spark plug wire or two on your engine, or adjusting the idle down low (yeah – old school in those rigs where you actually still can adjust the idle – nowadays you have to make a pact with your devil of a computer to have any chance at all) let most of the air out of your tires to make them roll not as well and make the tire diameter smaller, and cut the corners around the cones as wide as you possibly can to have more ground to cover.  But – the best way to do it is to have gears.  Lots and LOTS of gears.  The battle of the slow crawl titans came between Dirtball and Karl, both of whom sport a few layers of gears down in their Atlas multi-speed transfer cases.  I think Dirtball won the day at something like the yawningly slow glacial pace of 3 minutes and 38 seconds.  Ho-Hum – I could barely stay awake for that challenge it was so restful.

In the Divorce Course – the driver wore the blindfold, and the passenger told the driver how to get through the course.  It was tight with some right hand and left hand turns, then a back up into a slot, then have to get between the tires set just outside of the wheelbase width.  I heard we had mixed results with Curt in his Rubiclone.  I think his copilot’s name was Charlie?  His blindfolded time got to be a little on the longish side with a few penalties for running over cones, but she pulled a much better time when she drove.  I wasn’t in the Jeep, so don’t know if the longer time was a matter of the navigator giving unclear instructions, or the driver just not listening.  Or maybe a little bit of both.

Carl from Olympic 4×4/Dirty 13 manned the grill for dogs and burgs, so you didn’t have to go away hungry.  And the day finished up with a little rig parade up over a few of the hills of bark and topsoil at the farm.

Tamers ran the RTI ramp.  Moosenstein did a respectable 768 stretching up the ramp (not bad for old school leaf springs)  Karl and Dirtball were in the top 3 stretching over 1000, and I think the biggest stretch of the day was something like 1300 by a TJ with a long arm setup obviously of epic length.

Thanks to everyone who were able to attend.  It was a good day of wheeling fun and fellowship.

Thanks for readin’ –
And Keep On Wheelin’!

Moose