February 2007 JV Rookie Run Pictures and Talk

TObject · #1 02-11-2007, 04:16 PM

As usual, I had fantastic time. It was great to see old friends again and to meet some new people.

Here is a link to an album with pictures from the pre-run:

http://www.pronografics.com/pictures...ie_Run/PreRun/

I will get pictures of the main thing ready later.

Jerry Bransford · #2 02-11-2007, 04:50 PM

Allen and I just got home, worn out a tad but exhilerated. What a great trip, everyone was really helpful, thank you all so much. It was also great meeting those I had not met before, and seeing again all those I had not wheeled with in a long time.

The trail was tougher than I remembered but at least the Jeep made it through in relatively good shape aside from the steering box. I'm sure happy you had that spare, Blaine, I don't know what I would have done otherwise.

Especially appreciated was when Ron and (oops I am sorry I forgot your name) drove all the way back to camp to retrieve Blaine's spare steering box while the old one was being pulled off. Thank you both!

Anyway, my son Allen and I had a really great time. We enjoyed the good natured campfire conversations, and we genuinely appreciated the trail assistance, great spotting, the ribbing, all the help, and just being able to hang around with all you genuinely good people for the weekend. Thank you all, you really went out of your way to make this latest rookie trip a great one for all us rookies!

chef · #3 02-11-2007, 05:36 PM

I vote to let you come out again Jerry, but you've got to let Allen drive the trail, It's time to start breaking him in!

Beautiful pictures Sergey

Joe Dillard · #4 02-11-2007, 06:28 PM

Awesome pics Sergey.

Like Sergey already mentioned, but it certainly deserves to be said again; I had a wonderful time and look forward to the next trip.

Adam, I especially wanted to thank you for the supurb dinner you cooked and all the clean-up duties you and Matt did for all of us afterwards. I REALLY appreciate it.

The spotting and help from everybody throughout the weekend was top notch too.

papromike · #5 02-11-2007, 08:50 PM

Blaine, ADAM, Matt, Erik, JEFF, Chris, KAT, Tammy and EVERYONE... I had an absolutely AWESOME time..

Words and pictures cannot describe how I felt at the beginning, throughout and at the end of the trail. I am still jumping around and ready to go back (although probably not with the same rig)

Thanks to all that helped me get the short bus up the trail in one piece.

It was totally great fun, great friendship, great food and most of all great lessons learned on why you guys do certain things the ways you do.

There is simply NO margin for error and the fact that you guys all pitched in to get my 4 door station wagon up that trail with Nerr a ding on is truly a testament to how dedicated you guys are to other peoples enjoyment and interest in the hobby.

I truly will remember this weekend always and can't wait to be out there again.

Your friend Michael Palmer..

mrblaine · #6 02-11-2007, 08:58 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by TObject
As usual, I had fantastic time. It was great to see old friends again and to meet some new people.

Here is a link to an album with pictures from the pre-run:

http://www.pronografics.com/pictures...ie_Run/PreRun/

I will get pictures of the main thing ready later.

Nice pictures Sergey. Thank you for attending and being Jeff's trail bitch. He needs one. You've been sorely missed, but my aim is getting slightly better.

mrblaine · #7 02-11-2007, 09:01 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Jerry Bransford
Allen and I just got home, worn out a tad but exhilerated. What a great trip, everyone was really helpful, thank you all so much. It was also great meeting those I had not met before, and seeing again all those I had not wheeled with in a long time.

The trail was tougher than I remembered but at least the Jeep made it through in relatively good shape aside from the steering box. I'm sure happy you had that spare, Blaine, I don't know what I would have done otherwise. Especially appreciated was when Ron and (oops I am sorry I forgot your name) drove all the way back to camp to retrieve Blaine's spare steering box while the old one was being pulled off. Thank you both!

Anyway, my son Allen and I had a really great time. We enjoyed the good natured campfire conversations, and we genuinely appreciated the trail assistance, great spotting, the ribbing, all the help, and just being able to hang around with all you genuinely good people for the weekend. Thank you all, you really went out of your way to make this latest rookie trip a great one for all us rookies!

Jerry, there's a reason I have more money in spares than should be legal and in those are many contributions from the group. We all pitch in to keep the trailer supplied and it rarely lets us down.

I am glad you enjoyed it and hope you can make it more often, hopefully with some t-case gearing to allow your finesseful side to shine through. Not to mention it will be much easier on your rig.

I'm glad Allen had a good time as well.

mrblaine · #8 02-11-2007, 09:03 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by chef
I vote to let you come out again Jerry, but you've got to let Allen drive the trail, It's time to start breaking him in!

Beautiful pictures Sergey

Thanks for the wonderful dinner Adam, it was enjoyed by all. Next time, be a bit less shy getting clean up help. You cooked it, it won't hurt to have some extra hands cleaning it up.

mrblaine · #9 02-11-2007, 09:07 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by papromike
Blaine, ADAM, Matt, Erik, JEFF, Chris, KAT, Tammy and EVERYONE... I had an absolutely AWESOME time..

Words and pictures cannot describe how I felt at the beginning, throughout and at the end of the trail. I am still jumping around and ready to go back (although probably not with the same rig)

Thanks to all that helped me get the short bus up the trail in one piece.

It was totally great fun, great friendship, great food and most of all great lessons learned on why you guys do certain things the ways you do.

There is simply NO margin for error and the fact that you guys all pitched in to get my 4 door station wagon up that trail with Nerr a ding on is truly a testament to how dedicated you guys are to other peoples enjoyment and interest in the hobby.

I truly will remember this weekend always and can't wait to be out there again.

Your friend Michael Palmer..

Thank you for noticing Michael. This is exactly why we do the RR each year. It is a fair bit of work to try and keep everyone relaxed on the trail and paying attention. Now you understand exactly what we mean when we say the line is an inch wide in places.

I hope you find a way to come out and share your friendship and good times more often.

mrblaine · #10 02-11-2007, 09:07 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Joe Dillard
Awesome pics Sergey.

Like Sergey already mentioned, but it certainly deserves to be said again; I had a wonderful time and look forward to the next trip.

Adam, I especially wanted to thank you for the supurb dinner you cooked and all the clean-up duties you and Matt did for all of us afterwards. I REALLY appreciate it.

The spotting and help from everybody throughout the weekend was top notch too.

Thanks for coming out and helping Joe. It is very much appreciated.

steelman · #11 02-11-2007, 09:24 PM

Hey guys (and gals),

Thanks for letting me tag along this weekend. I had a great time, and it was good to put some faces to the names/usernames! I definitely have a ways to go ($) before my rig will be worthy, but some day...some day...

Special thanks to Mike for letting me ride the bus! Great job out there!

(Note to self...start creating the infinately long list of parts needed

)

NAILER341 · #12 02-11-2007, 09:55 PM

great pictures sergey.
it was nice to see you out there again.

i had an excellent time out there. it was great company, and a hell of a lot of fun. there was a bit of drama, and excitement, but it was all handled well.

it was sure handy to have a spare steering box out there, eh' jerry

i could have done without the hundred yard dash for the fire extinguisher, though i'm sure i could use the excercise.

mike, you handled your jeep and all of the pressure, and pre run ribbing masterfully.
good job out there.
be sure to join us more often if even in the passenger seat.

adam, the tacos were great. thanks for shooting all of the pics with my camera. you make a great trail bitch. i'll get the pics up soon.

sarah, you are a quick learner with the iron pot thingie. great pasta.
thanks chris and tam for the steak and chickens.

lets do it again soon.

of course, blaine and kat... thanks for putting this thing together.

jeff... your rig worked great, and you are a very resilient human

it was nice to wheel with you again.

stewart.. great tats

Joe Dillard · #13 02-11-2007, 10:18 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by NAILER341
stewart.. great tats

LMAO.

TObject · #14 02-11-2007, 11:19 PM

Here is a link to the album with my pictures of the main event, the 2007 Johnson Valley Rookie Run:

http://www.pronografics.com/pictures...ookie_Run/Run/

Adam, thank you very much for the tasty and delicious food: the carne asada, and the chicken. Kathryn, thank you very much for supplying me with the fork for the family sized salad and for deserts.

Thanks to everybody for everything.

My personal chauffeur, Jeff, is good enough for the Paris-Dakar rally, his rock crawling skills are also improving, especially with plugs in tires.

Mike, you should really think about buying my jeep. I am a motivated seller, and I would much rather sell the jeep to somebody I know than some unknown eBay jerk. The axles have been recently gone over by John Lemeaux and the rest of the things that required attention have been attended by one of the most respected fabricators. I purposely kept the jeep off the Hammer trails since then. Oh yes, and we just installed the new fancy-shmacy front brake kit.

JeepGal · #15 02-12-2007, 12:45 AM

Very cool pics Sergey! I like how creative they are

As usual, Chris and I had a great time out there with all you folks. It was nice to meet a few new people, and wheel with some old friends as well.

Matt- I want to thank you for your awesome spotting, I honestly didn't know I was driving over a few of those obstacles, your spotting was flawless

Mike did an excellent job at keeping his grocery getter off the rocks! I was very impressed. Time for a TJ Mikey.

Kurt, its amazing how calm you stayed in your little crisis with the fire under your Jeep. I love how when the fire extinguisher finally made it down the trail to Chris, he just leaned over, and in one puff, blew it out...hehehehe. (Lesson: NEVER use water on an electrical fire)

Stuart, well ummm errr...nice tattoo's

And excellent driving as well! I'm sure you're going to be hooked.

Adam, Ron, Jeff, Jason, Jerry...it was great wheeling with you guys again

Once again, thanks for your hospitality Blaine and Kat. There are really no words to describe you generosity thank you!

Tam

PAULHEAD · #16 02-12-2007, 04:45 AM

Sweet pics. Per usual I'm a little jealous.

Stuart · #17 02-12-2007, 04:46 AM

I want to thank everyone that helped me out this weekend also. A huge thanks to Chef for the great dinner.
Blaine and Kat thanks you guys for the spotting. And to all the great guys i met this weekend. I would love to do it again, next time i will keep my pants up!! Hope to see you guys again.
Stuart

Kiwi · #18 02-12-2007, 06:02 AM

Great pictures Sergey. I really miss that place already, and seeing all the pictures makes me miss it even more. Must be the winter blues or something.

Nice beadlocks Ron, they add just touch of "je ne sais quoi" to your rig

Kurt · #19 02-12-2007, 07:26 AM

Thanks to Blain and Kat for the invitation to run JV. That was everything I expected and more. I'd say Pam and I had fun, but that would be a slight understatement! Too bad my camera decided to take the day off.
It was good to meet everyone; you all made us feel at home. We left early so I didn't get to say goodbye to everyone, but beleive me, I'll remember all of you. That was a great team on the trail, and look forward to doing JV again. Sans electrical fire...

Once again, thanks for the excellent time.

Kurt

NAILER341 · #20 02-12-2007, 07:41 AM

great pics sergey!
i like this one

Paradiddle · #21 02-12-2007, 08:33 AM

Dig the rear tire wrinkle

I had a wonderful time. I sure missed you guys and the wheeling - big time thanks to Blaine and Kat for busitng his ass and getting my rig ready. It works so well its scary - what a difference. Now I just gotta get some seat time!

Campfire banter was great - the food amazing (THANKS Adam) and meeting the new people enjoyable.

Thanks again - looking forward to the next trip!

Jeff

Larry Nickell · #22 02-12-2007, 09:27 AM

Viewing those pictures sure brings back great memories, wish I could have been there. :crying: :whining: :wishilivedcloser:

Robert J. Yates · #23 02-12-2007, 09:51 AM

Sounds like a great time. Tell me about the steering box.

Jeff Weston · #24 02-12-2007, 09:56 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Robert J. Yates
Sounds like a great time. Tell me about the steering box.

Sounds like de ja vu all over again, huh Robert?

I want to know about the electrical fire. Was a Mobi involved?

mrblaine · #25 02-12-2007, 10:05 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Robert J. Yates
Sounds like a great time. Tell me about the steering box.

It was a bad core. You could see the crack had rust in it and significant amounts of it where the o-ring groove was.

I think what's happening is the cores are getting tossed around before they get to Lee's and get dropped on the ends.

Van runs into the same issue with his hydroboost cores.

speaceman · #26 02-12-2007, 10:22 AM

Awesome pictures!

Who stole papromike's doors?

(Just kidding).

Art Welch · #27 02-12-2007, 10:25 AM

That sucks about the steering box Jerry. I feel lucky it didn't fail on me while I had it, I suppose having the ram assist took enough load off of it that the problem was masked.

I'll PM you about working out a refund. I don't feel good at all about it failing on you like this.

papromike · #28 02-12-2007, 10:42 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by speaceman
Awesome pictures!

Who stole papromike's doors?

(Just kidding).

UH took em off, or else they would have been ruined at this spot and many others.

speaceman · #29 02-12-2007, 10:59 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by papromike
[B]UH took em off, or else they would have been ruined at this spot and many others.

Nah... that would have waxed right out.

I have to say I'm impressed you took your bus out on the trails at JV.

It crossed my mind once that I wanted to take my ZJ into JV and then I got a TJ.

mrblaine · #30 02-12-2007, 11:01 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Art Welch
That sucks about the steering box Jerry. I feel lucky it didn't fail on me while I had it, I suppose having the ram assist took enough load off of it that the problem was masked.

I'll PM you about working out a refund. I don't feel good at all about it failing on you like this.

When it happened to Robert's I spoke at length with Tommy about the cause and it's nothing to do with the load on the box according to him. There's nothing in there that hits the cap when you turn and in Jerry's case, the wheels were pointed straight ahead.

I don't think it's a pump issue. His pump puts out 1450 psi at 3.17 gpm at idle and doesn't vary.