Mid Atlantic Full Size Jeep Club Jeep-In 2006 Post Trip Report

[JeepinPete]

(Preface... Forgive me for any names or relations that I got wrong. I am horrible with names in general...)

Just like last year, the 2006 trip was a great time for all, at least until Sat night...

I arrived late Friday evening without my Cherokee, unfortunately. By the time I got there, Bill (91G-Dub) with his near factory '91 Waggy, Nichole & Dave (DLShaffer) in their '91 Suburban, Art & Sara (arter) in his heavily modified '86 trail Waggy, Ann & friends (Battle_Wagon_NJ) in her very nice burgundy Waggy, Doug with his very brown Cherokee WT and his buddy, in a nice XJ, and finally John and Heidi in his Dodge Ram, were already there. I set up my tent, realizing I forgot half my tent polls in the rush to get out that night. Fortunately I packed two tents, just in case, so I managed to cobble another poll from the second tent. After that I spent a bit of time shooting the bull with Bill and Doug, then called it a night. About 30 minutes later, the first thunderstorm of the weekend started up. With just a small leak in the tent, I went to sleep...

Sat morning awoke to a calm cloudy day, pretty cool for this time of year. Everyone did their morning rituals and generally milled about, awaiting the beginning of the festivities. The group pulled out of the campground around 9, which is also the time JR and his son pulled in in their sky high Honcho. Sweet truck! We unloaded his camping gear, and headed out to the Atsion ranger station, which was the jump off spot.

At the ranger station, we met up Greenfire in his beautiful slightly lifted '90 Waggy. Bill held the group meeting and we were off to the trails. Since my Cheorkee didn't make the trip, I caught the backseat with Nichole and Dave. Almost as soon as we started, the group got split...What happened there Bill?

We proceeded down some graded sand roads through the Pine Barrens. The beginning of the trip was very picturesque. The rain the night before was very welcomed since it kept the typical dust down to nothing. The drive continued for about an hour or so until we got to the first play spot.

Then the fun began. JR in his Honcho was the first in, and first stuck. His Honcho rides on 38 Swampers, which promptly went away in the mud. After attempts at rocking forward and backward got nowhere, out came the tow straps. We hooked him up to Dave's Sub, and with a bit of effort, out came the Honcho.

We then pulled up to the rest of the group, where Art had found another hole The Sub to the rescue again. Finally John tried the same hole in his pretty much stock Ram, with predictable results Once again the Sub came to the rescue. Starting to see a pattern here? Dave then proceeded to blow through the hole with his Sub, which had 35" Mud Hawgs.

We proceeded down the trails taking in the scenery of the Pine Barrens. The group came up to a large puddle, or small pond, depending on how you look at such things. The water was 20" minimum judging by how little of JR's 38's were visible. I think there was a bit of worry from the stock Waggy contingent, but everyone made it through without incident. But as we were milling about waiting for everyone to drive through, the first of several mechanical incidents happened. Bill's Waggy decided it didn't want to start. Fortunately it was just being a bit grouchy, because it finally started on its own accord.

Then the group drove to the Emilio Carranza Crash Monument. We all got out and checked it out. Now the second mechanical incident reared its head. Ann's Waggy didn't want to turn over. It was cranking very slowly. Art and Bill proceeded to swap out the battery with the secondary battery from Art's Waggy. This unfortunately didn't do the trick. We then tried to bypass the starter solenoid, which also didn't work. Finally a little hammering on the starter motor itself did the trick.

Nest stop was lunch. On to Apple Pie Hill, which is the highest spot in South Jersey. There is also a fire ranger tower on the top of the hill, which people are free to climb up and look around. It isn't for those that have a fear of heights! We had an excellent lunch of Weber grilled burgers and dogs. Donated goodie bag items were also given out. Thanks go out to all of the sponcers of the trip!!

The afternoon was more of the same. Beautiful trail rides to the play spots, where Dave, John, Art, and JR got their truck dirty! Dave was gaining confidence with his new tires, and by the end of the day we couldn't keep him out of the holes! Couldn't blame him for a bit of trepidation early on, since the Pines had claimed and engine and trans in a couple previous trips down here.

We wound up the day and made our way back to camp. The pot luck dinner cooking began, and the rains started. The dinner was excellent, with pulled pork, corn on the cob, pasta salad, and brats and kraut. Everyone had very full bellies. Like I said, the rain also started, and just got heavier and heavier. The dirt road along the campsite turned into a river. Unfortunately my tent was at the bottom of it The air mattress saved me on this trip.

Around 9:00, the group decided to go for a night run. I decided to stay back, since I was beat from the days activities. I went to bed, but was awoken around 11 by Nichole. She was trying to tell me something, but my mind wasn't working. Probably after the 4th or 5th time through, it finally started to sink in. Apparently Art was having trouble with his Wag. After I got more of the story, trouble was a gross understatement. His wheel and axle had fallen off! I got dressed and caught a ride back out with Dave. When I got there, a tow truck had shown up to lift the back of his rig up so that he could slide the tire and axle back in. I do not know what all happened afterwards, since Bill took Art and Sara home. I am sure they will chime in soon enough.

I woke up early Sunday morning and broke camp. I left early, around 7:30, for home. Unfortunately most everyone was still asleep...

[91G-Dub]

Just adding a bit to what Pete already posted.

The weather guessers were wrong and right at the same time. Initial forecasts of torrential downpours for Friday night were off just a bit, the real heavy stuff didn't hit until dinner time on Saturday. Then the Gates of H3ll opened up! but that didn't prevent us all from having a super weekend (well maybe Arter has a different opinion).

Got to the campground at around 5:00PM on Friday after driving through a heavy rain that never hit the campground. Lots of folks were already there and had set up or were getting set up. After a few minutes of howdy-do's got my modest area set up and joined in on the general chit-chat with old and new friends. Doug and his cousin showed up right before dark and got themselves squared away and the late arrival was Pete with Gandolf in tow. Pete can set up a tent with missing parts in the dark like a wizard. After a few hours of general BSing most folks hit the tents at around 11:00 and as Pete said a few of us diehards kept it up deep into the night. Just got settled in and a thunderstorm hit (2:00AM) that dropped a bit of rain on us. Most stayed pretty dry although Dave & Nichole's tent along with Battle Wagon's had some leakage issues.

Saturday morning broke overcast but dry and after eveyone took care of breakfast and coffee we headed out to the Ranger Station. A few minutes for a quick meeting and review of the trail rules by our Trail-Boss Arter and we were on our way. I had a "Senior Moment " missed the turn-off for the trail and had to double back earning me the Golden Compass award for the day.

Throughout the day the trails that Arter picked had something for everyone. Those of us Stockers got to test both our courage and FSJs while the Big Dogs got to play in some pretty serious Pine Barrens Goo. Lunch at the Fire Tower was a big hit and after the Goodie Bags were distributed and all bellies were full we had a few more hours of fun.

Just after we got back to the Campground and started to get the Pot-Luck Dinner going (thanks Nichole for all your work on this) it started to drizzle a bit, then it started to rain, then it really started to rain. Heavy serious rain !

An evening Trail Ride broke out and the Big Dogs (along with Doug in his stock Cherokee Chief) started at around 9:00PM. Battle Wagon and I rode shotgun with Arter and many of us got to experience nightime wheeling in the rain for the first time. Totally different and a very exciting way to wheel.

Just as we got off the trail headed back to the Campground what seemed for a moment like a blow-out in Arter's passenger side rear wheel turned into a pretty hairy event. All of a sudden his rear wheel passed the FSJ rolling through the brambles and made a U-turn headed back towards the FSJ. I was sitting in the back seat passenger side and was watching the wheel and axle make it's own path. Arter did a super job of getting the FSJ stopped safely and after a few attempts of jacking and blocking the Jeep up a tow truck rode by and gave us a huge hand by lifting the FSJ so Art could get the wheel back on safely enough to at least let it sit for the night off the side of the road. I'm sure he'll add to the story with details.

Many more parts of all the stories to follow.

[Greenfire]

Yikes I was a bit concerned about Arter's rear end (of the wag) when he got pulled out of one the mud holes. But glad to hear everyone was ok. I was thinkin about all you guys while driving home going up 206. The rain was torrential!!!

Id also like to say that we had a great time and it was well worth the trip. Also thank you for the hospitality especailly since we came down with no food to contribute. Next time I will plan on camping and bringing more.

Oh yea and on the way home my friend Sean said he wants a..... SUBURBAN..... . Hahah. I think Ill get him convinced to get some sort of Jeep even if its not an FSJ.

-Jason.

[arter]

Thank you to everyone who participated for being such a fantastic group. I had a great time in spite of ending up 'three wheelin'! First time the ol' girl ever let me down where I couldn't limp her home somehow. At least she had the good sense to do it in the right place with the right kind of people around, gotta give her credit for that. She's in the driveway now, waiting for me to have a new bearing pressed on. I'll let y'all know how that story ends, hopefully by the time this next weekend is over. If we have that much fun in torrential rain, think what a great trip we can have on a couple of crisp fall days trying to get Dave stuck!

[JeepinPete]

Several of the group have sent me their pictures. I went through them and compiled a photo timeline of sorts of the trip. Enjoy!

2006 Mid Atlantic Full Size Jeep Club Jeep-In

[91G-Dub]

Anybody else have pics? Saw lots of cameras on the trail and at the campground.

[Battle_Wagon_NJ]

Wow those are some great pix, especially at high crossing! Fantastic action shots. Now we've got to get those videos on here...