Be Prepared

Even when Dad and I go out to play just for the day, with a group of people, we still take all our survival gear. It is better to be overly prepared than lost in the woods and no equipment. Maybe it's because Dad did Search and Rescue in his younger years, and both our boys gave 4 years to our local Search and Rescue team that I'm anal about being prepared.

   



We always carry with us:

1. Fire starting material:  flint and steel, wind proof matches, hatchet, and lint from our dryer ( works great as tender if you can't find anything near by. Some people I know use cotton balls dipped in wax)
2. First Aid Kit
3. Tarps for making shelter
4. Ropes 
5. 6 gallons of water. Water is good for drinking, cleansing, and putting out unwanted fires.
6. Water filtration system.
7. Food for several days per person. ( yes even if we are planning just a few hour trip I load the cooler up and toss it in) 
8. Hand and foot warmers
9. Several different weight jackets. I live in the Pacific Northwest. Weather can change quickly. 
10. Dry socks. 
11. Hat
12. If  Dad and I are going out alone we toss the chain saw in. We use this for clearing trails and for fire wood for the camp fire. 
13.  I NEVER leave home with out my Spot Locator device. I have the basic device with basic plan. Makes my family feel much better about Dad and I playing in the woods. 
14. Survival Knife
15. Shovel
16. and stuff I'm sure I'm forgetting several things that are always in the rigs

This list does not include tools and other such gear we carry all the time.

4 days of gear for 4 people

Another big thing is making sure someone knows where you are going to be. So if you are not home by X time or day they can send out the Calvary to find you.  Again Spot serves me well. I check in when I start my journey and it post on facebook we are OK and our location. I check in several times during the day and again one last time when we get home or back to camp for the night. That way there is always record of our last know GPS location.  Spot also has a 911 button so if we do have an emergency like being lost or injured so badly we can't make it out of the woods we can get help to us. I never want to have to look the SAR people in the face and say I'm sorry I wasn't prepared! I also don't want to be "that" story on the news. 

OH and NEVER rely 100% on your GPS. Get maps of the area. Look them over and get somewhat familiar with where you are and where you are going! 

Because we carry all that and more we can go to places like this and not worry so much about the what if's while we are there! We took care of the worrying while packing our bags! 

Play Safe and Tread Lightly
Mom

Southern Oregon Jeeps 2011 Rock Crawl and Mud Drags



Travis from Creepingrocks





OJO's own Phillip Bender



How's it going guys and gals. Just wanted to talk about last years rock crawl and mud drags I put on last year. Kyle Young and I got the idea hanging out. We pretty much put it together in about a month and it went awesome. We had 3 different events with different classes. First event was the rock crawl with mod stock, pro mod, and unlimited classes. We ran WEROC rules and with help from Brent Bradshaw of Team Trail Tough, 2009, 2010, 2011 unlimted class WEROC, CAL NEVA, and CAL ROCKS Champs, it was awesome.We had some major carnage and smoking tires, but all in all it was great. Next up was the obstacle course with mod stock, and pro mod class. It was the highlight of the day with 37 rigs competing. OjO's own Phillip Bender came in 11th place with a great run. We had a great course through the woods, with some mud, water and log crossings. Last but not least we did a mud drag with 2 classes. They where up to 35 inch tires and 36 and up. The mud pit was awesome and nasty. Lots of rigs stuck and a few rear diffs blown up.:-) In the end Travis Proudfit from Creepingrocks took top honors. The day turned out better then expected and for our first one it was a huge sucess. I spent a lot of time working with sponsors and had some awesome prizes and giveaways. The turnout was about 200 spectators and 37 rigs. This coming year we plan on bigger and better with more prizes and giveaways. Hope to get a few big sponsors. So all you Northen boys and girls wanna give it a shot, come on down. I will post the date at a later time as it still is in the works.

Newbie run to TSF

What an awesome trip! total 180 degrees  from the last trip you can read about it here "Epic Adventure: The Trails Bit Back"  We ended up with about 24 Wranglers.  We split into four groups. This group went off to play on the what I like to call the Big Boy trails. They headed out first. From all reports they had a really good day except for the run in with a group of less then desirable wheelers. But they didn't let it ruin their day.


The other three groups where made up of beginners, novices and experiences drivers.  We picked 3 moderate trails to use to break the newbies in. I was put outside my comfort zone. Dad and I have never been split up on a trail before. If I lead, which i don't do often, Dad is tail gunner if Dad leads someone is tail gunner, but frequently it is me. LOL Group one was headed up by yours truly, group two was headed up by Dad, and Group 3 was headed up by Jeff.

I led a small rag tag group in to the forest. Hoping against hope that I would not loose anyone. Oh wait to late! I left one at the meet up point! Crud there goes my perfect record. BUT you can't blame me. I was leading like 24 jeeps at 55mph. How could I keep track of them all?? At least I didn't leave her in the woods :-)  She had a small family emergency and had to cut out. But I didn't find this out until later. I worried about her but I did console myself with the fact I lost her in town and not on the trail. Next time Shannon.

Dad led group number two. Poor Dad his Jeep decided it didn't need to start right away when we left the gathering place. She then stalled a few times during the trip. BUT he got home under his own power this trip! We are thinking fuel filter. OY! I'm not sure what we did to make the Ugly Duckling so mad at us, but we did it good! Dad also found a few roads with tree's fallen across them as it had been storming up there the last few days. So his group also got to take a nice little tour of the area.

Now Group 3 had the most adventurous day of all. First Jeff lost his tail gunner ( not his fault tail gunner left with the wrong group but had a wonderful day anyway). They then got chased down by Ranger. (OK not Jeff's fault one of his guys forgot to put his OHV permit on oops!) Then Jeff got directions from the Ranger to a trial. Either Jeff didn't catch all the directions or the Ranger didn't give him the correct directions because they never found the trail.

On their travels around Browns camp to find the trail they came upon a truck in distress. Jeff held a recovery class on the spot. None of the other newbie groups got that privileged. They get back on the road looking for trails and a group of unsavory type wheelers, crowd the road and push Jeff off in to the ditch. They now get to hold recovery class number two :-) Poor Jeff. In the end they got to play on snow covered roads, and did make it to a couple trails. Everyone had a good time.


All in all it was a great day with lots of lessons learned for all. I lowered my tire pressure lower than last trips and it made a world of difference in the snow!  Only time I really had any issues was because of my own miss handling of the situation LOL no slamming on brakes in the snow LOL  Well unless you want to LOL
Every one says  they had an awesome day and all left with a smile on their face.

I'm working on a slide show of all the photo's I have stolen errr I mean asked permission to use from all the participants. As soon as I get it done I will toss it up.  I had to make this post short and sweet as I have a tone of home work to catch up on since I spent the day playing :-)

Play Safe and Tread Lightly! Mom

Shout Out To The Guys at The Shop

Dad injured his back on the job about 15 + years ago. He was a mechanic when I met him, and then moved on to metal fabrication. Oh the things we could do if only... We are lucky we found a shop in our neighborhood that we are very comfortable with, and the employees all live in our neighborhood.  I love supporting the local economy when possible! I'm sure we have made a couple vacation possible over the last year! :-) I love my shop so much the guys have become friends. They wheel with us from time to time. Not as often as I would like, but when you are an empty nester you can do things a little more often than those with kids at home still. Such is the nature of the beast of life.

I just wanted to say thanks to the guys for helping us get the stuff done we can't do ourselves these days. If you are ever in the Beaverton area and need work done to your off road vehicle or want to add some accessories to your car look up Patrick and Brian at Accessory OutFitters   Or look them up on Facebook 

What is that funky noise?

This happen a while ago, but I love sharing our eventful lives LOL If it is not one thing it is another.

I kept hearing this weird noise every time I took my foot off the brakes. I took Dad for a drive and he heard it too. So Dad spent the day trying to tracking down a sound we were sure was coming from the rear driver side brakes. This in-tales taking my tires off and putting them back on. Did I mention they are not light? Dad spent a good deal of time checking all the brake components.He found nothing wrong with the brakes. For good measure he then lubed all the lube points. I have somewhere round 19 of those and not all of them are easy to access. I then took it for a test drive and got to the end of my street ( 2 whole houses) and the noise was there as soon as I let my foot off the brake. OY! 

At my wits end ( Dad was long past his) I decided to take everything out of the back of the jeep. What could it hurt? Maybe it was something rolling around in the back since the brakes were fine. When doing so I found a spray can under the back seat that was preventing it from latching fully in to place. I took the can out, and latched the seat down. I then drove around a few blocks and WOOHOOO noise all gone! Yep every time I took my foot off the brakes the seat would move causing the noise. Wouldn't you logically think when the brake is disengaged, and then a noise is heard it must be a brake issue?

I'm was so happy I was able to fix my jeep LOL poor Dad was not so happy after spending the day taking things apart and putting them back together. :-) He cooled off quick enough lol On the bright side I know my brakes are in good shape and everything is where it should be LOL and all my lube points are nice a greased LOL




Play safe, be prepared, and tread lightly.

Mom

Be Responsible On Your Adventures.

Part of what I want to do with my Blog and Facebook page is promote legal and ethical wheeling. The first step for people that want to play off road  and who use the great outdoors need to educate themselves and others about what is legal and ethical off roading. In general when I post about off roading I'm usually talking about 4x4 vehicles because that is what I know and what I do. But this topic is much bigger than that. We are talking Hikers, bikers, motorcycle riders, horseback riders,atv's and 4 wheel drive vehicles. If I missed anything It was not intentional.

The best way to learn is by research and talking to those in the business. Here are a couple places to start with.
Tread Lightly
BlueRibbon Coalition 

Also if you have any questions about the area's you use for your off road adventures please take the time to talk to the organization that oversee's it's use. I have contacted the BLM in the past to clarify use legality's.
The more we educate ourselves and other the less damage to our environment will happen and the less trail closure will  happen.

I sent an email off to Jahmaal Rebb OHV Specialist from the Tillamook State forest. He over sees Browns Camp where Dad and I do the majority of our playing. He was nice enough to answer some of the questions I had in regards to what he saw as the worst issues and what he would like to see more of. Here is what he had to say.



Mr. Rebb:  Being in the management side of the motorized recreation world I tend to see things a little different than those who are just out to recreate. There are two main aspects of managing motorized recreation on public land that become somewhat of a balancing act. On one side you have a very dedicated, passionate motorized community that values the opportunities we provide and the other there is the natural environmental resource that is our responsibility to manage appropriately. Having a good understanding of the nature of motorized recreation I feel the only way to have a successful OHV area is to have the support and commitment from the user community to recreate responsibly. We rely heavily on our local clubs, organizations, partners and individual volunteers to preserve and improve the motorized recreation opportunities that exist. Having said that, I feel everything revolves around respect. Respect for each other and respect for our environment.

Mom:  Some people may unknowingly do tings that can be harmful to the environment, or be destructive to the trails. Ultimately these actions could get trails closed down. What do you see as the number one thing that people do that they shouldn't?

Mr. Rebb: The number one thing that I see that could close trails is off- trail travel. Proper planning, design, and layout allows us to build trails in areas that are sustainable and can accommodate the use it is designated for. Off-trail travel results in activity in undesirable locations and can lead to serious environmental issues. Second to that I would say, littering is a big problem. When you find trash on trail, in campgrounds and along roads it reflects upon the people that recreate in that area and the respect that they have toward that area. Although it may only be a small percentage of the use community that litters it reflects on the public use as a whole.

Mom:  Some of us belong to groups that have adopted trails at Browns Camp OHV park. But not all those that play belong to groups that do such things. What would you like to see more of from independent drivers when they come to play?

Mr. Rebb: I would like to see all motorized users take a more responsible approach to their activity that they engage in, not only for their own actions but to stand up to those whose actions negatively impact the perception of motorized recreation.


Mom: When someone says "hey lets go wheeling this weekend" word tends to spread fast. Next thing you know the trip you think you planned for four or five buddies blooms into 20 rigs. ( this has happened to me a couple times) Is there a limit to the size of groups that run around together? Is it best to split larger groups like that up in to smaller groups?


Mr. Rebb: Group size has always been an issue that has an impact on the trail system in various ways. Congestion is one that affects user enjoyment and also can result in trail widening or (trail creep). Public trail opportunities are shared. Respect toward other groups and use types need to be honored to maintain a strong unified OHV community and ensure enjoyment. We prefer to see smaller groups rather than larger groups to minimize the potential conflicts with other trail users and through dispersion reduce trail tread impact.

Play Safe, Be Prepared and Tread Lightly! 

Mom

My First Run With Oregon Jeep Owners

Re-post from another blog I author. 


Ok that's a little melodramatic. Well it may sound so to those that have not ever had the slightest chance of rolling a car. Have you ever felt  that feeling of your vehicle tipping to one side or the other? Or the gradually sliding down an incline to one side ?  The driver knows the only way it's going to stop is when it flops you over on your side. That feeling happened to a few of the guys today. BUT everyone kept their rigs right side up! No one took any major damage home. We lost a couple tires on a trail. And a few cosmetic peaces fell off. I mean really who needs all that stuff glued to the side of a car anyway ?  Dave broke his passenger side fender flare. Oh and more than one dent in rock sliders and skid plates. They did their jobs well today!

This translated for the laymen to mean
ONE HELL OF A GOOD DAY OFF ROAD! 

I conquered the one trail that put fear in my heart! Well up to this point anyway  :-) I'm sure I will find another one. Fire Break 5 for some reason was that one trail i just could not bring myself to do.  When Dave drove it I got out and walked to the top. Today I decided the hell with it! I was going to drive it myself, and I DID! So it took me twice as long as any of the other guys to accomplish this task. That is ok because I didn't give up and turn around or make someone else drive it for me. I love it when I'm able to push myself past my comfort zone and accomplish something big!

Thank you to my friend and fellow Jeeper Vincent Sortino for taking the photos of me coming up
Fire Break 5

If anyone wants to wast 6 minutes of your life and watch the video it can be found here 

Day Dreaming

I'm stuck inside working on homework today.  As I read the book I was assigned my mind drifts off to the fun that I had over the summer. I'm reading the book's "Encounters With the Archdruid"  and "Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why" both for the same class.  Both books spend a lot of time discussing the outdoors. Currently the "Encounters With the Archdruid" is taking place in the Cascade Mountains, only a bit farther North of where I live.  Dad and I did spend some time exploring the Cascades around Mt. Hood this last summer.
As they describe the beauty of the land I think of my trips with Dad. These photo's are of the weekend we Explored Bennett Pass Road.

Our Camp site off Barlow road

Quick Detour to look at the Mt. Hood at one of the Ski parks.

I always make Dad lead. That way if he falls off the mountain I know to stop :-) 

Time for a break and to take in the View of Mt. Hood from the east side. 

Somewhere along the trail :-) 

Lets hope that when I do the questions section of my homework I'm thinking of the book and not my travels! 

Sir err I mean Ma'am!

One of the things that happens frequently to a girl playing in a mans world is you get called Sir a lot.  Men who don't know you just assume a toy like I drive must belong to a man. Only way a women would drive such a thing is if it belonged to her man. Only time my man gets to drive my toy is when it is blocking his in and we are to lazy to move rigs around! :-)

Every time I pull in to a gas station that I don't frequent, or a new attendant is working I get "what can I get your sir? Oh I'm sorry ma'am"?  In parts stores men are always surprised that I actually know what I'm talking about. OY! I don't know it all, but I  know a bit more than the average woman or man for that matter. I know plenty of men that don't know a thing one about cars, and really don't want to know. So don't assume women are to dumb to know or just don't want to know about cars. There are plenty of us out there that do.

Last parts guy I ran in to had the gull to ask me " you know what the part looks like?" with shock on his face. I told him " Yes I do. I do get my nails dirty" He was not sure how to respond to that LOL

So my friend at PSC had some pink Spyder logo's made up for her and her girlfriends.  I then had a friend with a vinyl cutter make me a couple stickers that say Her Toy!  in green ( the accent color I'm going with). I'm curious to see if this will change the fact I get called Sir all too frequently.

Yes the only clean spot is where I cleaned it to put the sticker on haha

With my luck it will not change a thing, but it will give me something to point at and say "can you read?"