Walker Valley E&E April 2015

Although the weather forecast for Yesterday, was not great, as usual…the weather man was wrong! It was a bit chilly, but sunny! 5.5 Tamers showed up for the WV E&E day. I am sure you are wondering who is the half Tamer….? Well, Candidate Scott Lear had shoulder surgery on Wednesday, and showed up for a little while….so, since he wasn’t there too long, and isn’t a full fledged Tamer yet, I listed him as half. Ed, Gary, Mike Levine, Cindy and myself were there to hand out maps, PNW info, Disco pass info, and Tamer info, as well as answer questions when needed. Also, Anthony and Tiffany stopped in for a bit, while testing (or not) their new buggy. Unfortunately, Anthony pulled his new buggy off the truck, drove it around the parking lot, found the alternator wasn’t charging and put it back on the truck. Sure sounded good going on the truck though. Hyden from DNR also joined us for about half the day. Also, a few Sno Co Crawlers helped us out, by taking and distributing information on the trails.

We handed out lots of maps, and information, and talked to quite a few people. Not very eventful, until we packed up to leave. I noticed a yellow Toyota at the edge of the parking lot, with two youngins staring at it….and walking around and staring some more….and a little head scratching, made me think I should go ask them if they had problems or needed help. “Yes, we need help”! Their driving side Tie Rod End, was missing the castle nut, and the threads on the TRE are now all buggered up….At first, we tried to put a new nut on the TRE, that wasn’t happening, since the threads were destroyed….then, we searched for a decent sized cotter key or nail….that didn’t work either. So, Gary volunteered to take one of the two, Astin I think his name was, into town to purchase a new TRE. I stayed behind with the Jagar to keep the 15 year old company with their broken down rig. After quite a bit of time had gone by, still no dodge, diesel, dually pulling back into the lot…figured I should check my phone, to see if Gary had called, only to find my phone battery was dead. I plugged it into charge, and yup, 4 or 5 messages. I called Gary back, and he says, “No place in Mt Vernon, has this TRE, not long ago, I replaced your TRE, I have no idea where the old one is, but look in the truck”. I pull out the first Parts Drawer in the new Storage system, and TADA, there is the old TRE, Right where he Gary left it! Jagar and I threaded it on, to be sure it would work, and yup, it’s a winner! Once Gary and Astin returned, they finished installing it, and began looking for a cotter key or something similar…a motorcycle guy in the lot, gave us a Weiner Roaster to hack up, and use for a cotter key….Jagar and Astin were now back on their way home!

Once home, we took care of sustenance needs, and thought we would relax in front of the tube for a bit….only to get a rather frantic phone call, from one of our very young Tamers (I won’t name names, as I am not sure his mother knows) ;-). “Casey, this is ______, I have a Situation….If I go forward I will roll, if I go backwards, I will roll, I am stuck in a large mud puddle in Clearview, if it isn’t too much trouble, could you come help”? My answers were, “Are you OK, Where exactly are you at, we’ll be there in a few”….he says “Yes, I am OK, I have my foot on the brake”! With my camera in hand, we head out the door, to rescue our young wheeler, holding his foot on the brake so he doesn’t roll his truck in the mud puddle. The phone rings again….”We got it out”! Whew, he says he is shaken, but OK…is gonna de-stress for a few, before driving home!

All in all, a great day!