Six rigs met at Monroe Buzz Inn, Ron, Heather, candidate Scott and his strap jockey Jim, Gary, Casey, and Dave, with the Blue Jeep and a new rear axle. (Does anyone know Dave’s full name)? Amazingly, we planned to leave Buzz Inn at 9:15 am, and actually pulled out of the parking lot at 9:18am!
We arrived at Reiter Foothills, to hear a cow bell in the distance…Kurtis in his repaired Yota was already there and hitting the original trail! As we are airing down, and talking to others, Kurtis limps down the road, with a broken front axle. He has an extra, so runs his rig up a rock, and gets going on replacing, so he can continue to play today. A bit later, Rick and Jennifer showed up to join in the Tamer Fun.
Of those attending this run, most had never been to Reiter, so we started on the original trail, bypassing the rock pile…Tow Fees ensued to several members. I talked Heather into trying this trail, with the help of Charlie Preston. We figured if anyone could get Heather through this, open/open, and new to wheeling, it would be Charlie. Heather got some instruction on rock crawling and off she went! In the pics and videos, you will see her shiny silver caps, surrounding her wheel’s fake beadlocks. Near the end of the first portion of the trail, her right front wheel spun against a big rock, and you can see shiny little silver caps spewing out of her wheel area like popcorn. We hope to edit that video to show the miniscule destruction. Charlie continued to coach Heather near the rock pile, only to announce, “You are now Officially High Centered”! So, Heather got a lesson in using her never used winch.
We continued through the trail, collecting a few more tow fees, until we got to the play area, with the big tires. Scott Lear did a little showing off, posing his Jeep, only to disengage his tire from his rim. We were able to quickly get the rig off the ground, and push air into the tire, and get him back on the trail. Here, we also watched Crash get his rig perfectly high centered on the big tires….another buggy pushed him over the edge to get him back on the trail.
We exited the trail, and were headed up the hill to the new G11 trail. We wanted Gary and his ‘lil Samurai, to go first, as he was small and short wheel based…After hearing how tight and twisty the trail is, from so many, we figured if Miss Understood couldn’t make it, the rest of us would have trouble, or at minimum, body damage. We waited at the trail head, and we waited some more. Many drug out munchies, and we waited even more. Apparently Gary was dilly-dallying around down the hill, handing out TT Biz Cards and Chatting with the Rainier Ridge Ram members, and had forgotten about his beloved TT’s, waiting for him….So, we Executed a perfect Tamer U Turn and went back down the hill, to do the G9. Since this trail is a bit more technical then the original trail, a few members opted not to drive it, but to spot, take pics and video, and ride with others running the trail! All went well, until Kurtis decided he really preferred to replace axles in pairs! Thankfully, about then Karl showed up with a parts delivery. An axle in one hand and a box of donuts in the other, the swarm watched at Kurtis replace the other axle. Kurtis is getting so proficient at axle replacement, he was able to complete this task, during the time it took Rick to run the section of rock near the end of the G9. Rick was able to use his new winch in this section of trail.
We still wanted to do the connector trail and check out the new G11 trail, so we headed out…only to find a bright green with purple flames, Jeep, blocking the exit to the trail! The swarm proceeded to gather round….to view the right rear axle resting quietly away from the green and purple Jeep. We were able to get the jeep just forward enough for Miss Creant to pass, turn around and winch him out of the trail, while several spotters, kept kicking his wheel back into place. He slowly drove out of the trail, with continued tire kicking.
Once we got the Jeep out, we began talking with the group, as they attempted to call AAA to come get their broken Jeep. They are members of a small club called Brok3n Offroad….Yes, BROK3N as in Broken, with a 3 instead of an E. There is a reason for this 3 being in their name, as no matter where they are, or what they are doing there always seems to be a break down at 3pm. Looking at the clock…yes, it is indeed now 3pm! Owner Michael Belisle and dad Steven Anderson, live just a few miles down the road in Gold Bar. So, rather then seeing this group wait for hours for AAA to show up, we offered to toss their broken Jeep on our trailer and give him a ride home. OK, so now we have so many rigs, and so many drivers….leave a rig or two at Reiter, and run the jeep home then return to pick up the rig…or? Thank you to candidate Scott and his sidekick Jim, we decided to have Scott drive the Miss Understood, and Jim drive Scott’s jeep, while Mike Belisle climbed in the 3D with Gary, to haul the broken jeep home. Although there was an offer of payment I explained to the group, that we have a $1 tow fee in our club, and Mike’s dad quickly pulled a $1 bill from his pocket, thinking this was quite a bargain! We explained “this is what we do”! Mike and dad were very thankful, as well as Mike’s twin brother Dave (who was not there).
Brother Dave, posted a very nice comment on the TT FB Page: “I would just like to say that you guys and girls in this club are awesome. You guys helped my brother out today in a big way. I am sure you would remember him he was the guy in the green jeep with the broken Axel. It is really good to see people do the things you guys do. I think that all clubs should try and be like you guys. So once again thank you and keep being the people you are.” This speak volumes for the things the Timber Tamers do! Beyond that, I handed out more TT Biz Cards, and these gentlemen, are interested in joining our club! (Moose, since you don’t do FB, I included brother Dave’s comment, so you too, could see it)!?
Since it was getting late, and we now had a broken jeep to deliver, we decided to call it a day. Rick, Jennifer and Kurtis did go up and walk the G11, and feel we could do this trail…on another day. Kurtis offered to lead us through the trail, with a 6-pack of new axles, on a future run to Reiter.
Casey #256
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