Trial and error... err fail.

I don't know about all of my family and friends, but Sunday was a very long day. So long in fact that it lasted well into Monday. Okay, I'll tell the story. It could be a long one though. I hope you have some time.

As you can see by the pictures at the top, we ran into some snow. But what you are looking at is not anything really. it's only about two and a half feet deep in the drifts. It got much worse. But lets not jump the gun here. I'd have more pictures buy the battery on my phone died.

Sunday started off as normally as most. We had a 4-wheeling trip planned all week. My friend Erik stopped by at 9:45 am to wake me up and make sure we were going. I got up, got ready and then got the truck fired up. We all met at another friends house around 11. By noon we were on our way.

We drove up Lincton Mountain Road. It's mostly compact dirt, rock (not to be mistaken for gravel) and a few puddles. Nothing major. On this road I found that the suspension in my truck is very stiff. Dena found out too. The glove box door fell off onto her feet.

We were almost to the end of that road, which intersects with Oregon Highway 204 / Weston Elgin Highway (going up to Spout Springs for you skiers) and the lead vehicle pulled over. Like cattle we all stop. It seems that the custom shock mounts on Brian's 4-runner weren't welded on very well and had just snapped off. Since Brian didn't weld them we couldn't give him to hard a time.

So Brian took the shocks the rest of the way off and we all continued on our merry little way. We got on the highway and drove to Skyline Ridge Road. This is the road that you take to get to Jubilee Lake. We came around one corner and there was a snow drift that was still taking up half the road way and went straight up the cliff side. I wish I would have snapped a picture of this thing. It was incredible.

Anyway, we got to the lake and walked around a little bit. We let the dogs cool off in the water and the kids play around. After about 20 minutes it was time to keep going. So we all jumped back in our rigs and headed out. We continued on Skyline. Not very far from the entrance to the lake is where those pictures were taken. In the first picture you can see the ruts I dug when I got stuck going into it. This is where we learned about the first problem my truck currently has.

It seems that my truck does not like to stay in 4-wheel drive. This could be a problem, but like the rednecks we are, we decided to chance it.

After I got pulled out of the first little hole I had dug (I was pulled about 8 feet) we unhooked from the other truck and I learned something else about my truck. It needs a carburetor. BAD! Just to add a note here for anyone not paying attention, I have only had this truck for a couple of days at this point and I hadn't really driven it at all (you know, to my defense). Anyway, I found out that it has a Holly Carburetor on it. Anyone that knows old Holly's knows right now what my truck was doing. Every time I stepped on the gas the truck would back fire, and nine times out of ten it would then die. Getting it out of that first patch of snow took some work, but we got it.

On up the trail we went. We drove up the road a little further and came to a clearing in the trees where all the snow had melted off. That's when Brian's 4-runner and Erik's Toyota pickup went off the road. They drove up the embankment (2 feet straight up) and up the hill. The hill is about 100 to 150 yards long and is about a 30 degree angle. Not really all that bad for most rigs. Mine on the other hand had to cough and spit and sputter it's way up because the carb was flooding out horribly. Not to worry, this isn't the first POS I've driven. I made it up the hill. I had to go around the embankment, but I made it up the hill. Up on top it was a muddy soupy mix of dried grasses, snow clumps and clay. It's fun. But I'm looking at a hill that is well over 45 degrees straight up. It's not long but it's steep. I know my truck is not going to do this. I had pretty much had enough already so I got in with Erik, and his wife Chandi got in with Dena. Let me just make this clear right now: Dena can drive. She made that truck do things it never should have done. It was a beautiful sight to watch.

Anyway, Dena and Chandi tried at this hill several times, but the carb would just flood out and they would die, or they'd get just to the top and lose power. So they went off to play. They didn't make it very far and I heard the truck die. After about 5 minutes I see they are still sitting there so I walked over to see what was up. You could tell they had been trying to start the rig because it just smelled flooded. But there was something else in there. A stale plastic smell. I looked a little closer and called Erik over. We opened the hood, sure enough the damn thing is on fire. Erik is yelling at the girls to get out of the truck and he's telling me to get the air cleaner off. It was happening a lot quicker than it needed to, to be honest with you. It's a carb fire. Sure, you need to get it put out, but come on. What is it going to spread to in a 79 Chevy? Everything under there is metal.

Anyway, the air cleaner came flying off (by the way, I have one of the longest air cleaner studs I have ever seen. It took forever to get the wing nut off) and flames "whoosh" are about 2 feet high. Erik and I are throwing snowballs down the carb to get the fire out because the one tool we forgot was the fire extinquisher. The snow has melted enough to be covered in dirt and pine needles. Just what I want going down the intake. But I suppose it's better than the alternative.

After the fire was out we all kind of sat around looking at the truck. No noticable damage, other than the lingering pine needles hanging out of the carb. Dena started appologizing. Like it was her fault the truck caught on fire. We all calmed her down, and sat around laughing about it. The kids and Erik all had a snow ball fight as we let the truck sit. About 30 minutes later, and about 4 tries we started the truck back up. Yes, it fired back up. This thing is a die hard truck. I'm sure the plugs are fouled, I know the carb is shot and the 4wheel drive keeps kicking out.

So I ask everyone, can we turn around and head back the way we came? I know what is wrong with the truck and I'd like to get it home to fix it. Nope. Not gonna happen. Everyone takes off. I would have just turned around myself, but I know there was one spot where I'm going to get stuck and there would be no one there to pull me out.

So we continue on. I let the girls continue to drive it. Oh, we adjusted the idle up a bit so it wouldn't die so easily. Anyway, the girls are having a ball in it. Any time it died they just turned the key (didn't give it any gas) and continued on their merry way. About a mile or less beyond the scene of the fire :-) they blew a bead on the tire. So we dig out the front tire, and set the bead (ether is wonderful for this, but having onboard air like my friends helps much more) and continued on. A short time later, same bead blew again. Reset and go again...

Then the snow started to get deeper, and deeper and deeper. By 10:30pm the truck was stuck against a tree and Dena was getting frustrated with it. To be honest, I had past frustration and I was into aggrivation. The drifts were sloping across the road and I was not having a good time anymore.

After getting stuck twice in a row Dena decided it was time to let Chandi drive. A short time later (not sure how as Erik and I were having trouble in his Toyota pickup) the truck ended up at the bottom of a 10' snow drift. Again, the 4wheel drive wasn't working and they slid down it. While trying to tug them out the truck died and wouldn't restart. Erik tried and tried and it just wouldn't start. My suggestion at this point was to leave it. Dena and I had to work the next morning and it was already very late.

Erik put the jumper cables on it to charge the battery sometime around 11:30. I'm not sure when but at some point while waiting I fell asleep. It was late, I was tired and cranky. I woke up a very short time later to Dena poking me in the arm saying choice words. She gets rather worked up quickly when she's tired. Anyway, I guess Erik had tried starting it again and it wouldn't start. So the decision was made to leave it up there.

Shortly after leaving it, Brian blew a bead on his truck. This night is just getting better and better. His front end was burried. But we all pitched in and dug it out and reset the bead.

Things finally started looking better. The snow was going away, the rigs were moving faster (anything beyond stuck is an improvement) and I could see an end to this experience.

And then Mother Nature, or Karma (as I like to call it) threw in another wrench. Across the road, with no way around it, was a 20-24" thick tree. I think it was a Tamarack, but at this point I didn't care. It was just after 2 in the morning.

Erik got out the chain saw and started cutting, but we had dulled the blade getting rid of a fallen tree earlier that we thought my truck was hung up on. Dirt and rocks have a tendancy to do that to a chain saw blade. So one and a half tanks of gas and three quarters of the tree later, the chain saw BREAKS IN HALF! No, I"m not kidding. The rubber bushing that connects the two parts of the chainsaw busted right in half. The bar on the saw is not as thick as the tree so we really don't know how far through it we are, but we know it's not all the way. After a few minutes of standing around thinking "what now" we decided we would take a chance and strap a truck to it and pull. If we are through it enough it will snap, and if not, we'll be leaving another rig up there. Luckily (and much to my surprise) we were more than three quarters of the way through it. It snapped and we pulled it out of the way.

Down the road a bit further there was another tree down, but we were able to go around that one.

Dena got home shortly before I did. When I got home she met me on the back steps and said "our day only gets better" and took me by the hand. She led me inside where a 25-30" patch of the lath and plaster from our ceiling had fallen down. It just fell down. It wasn't wet, it just decided to drop. Jarrett was home when it happened said that a small piece fell, and then the rest of it all came down about 30 minutes later.

As you can all see, it was a very long day. And for those wondering, yes I did make it to work on time Monday. I came in, worked until I new we had enough coverage and then left. I left here at 10am, got home at 10:25 and was asleep by 10:30. 24 hours to the minute after we left the day before.

A word to the wise, and a lesson learned the hard way I suppose. I hope you have all enjoyed reading about it, because I'm fairly certain you wouldn't have had much fun with us. :-)

More next time.