My Pride My Joy

The best accomplishments in  my life L & J 

The  best adventure of my life was raising my two boys.  I loved every stage they went through, from toddlers really starting to discover the world around them, to pre-schoolers learning social skills, and on to school age gaining knowledge by leaps and bounds.  But my favorite age by far was the adolescents! This is when I got to watch my two boys turn in to young men, and watch them learn about life, love and relationships.  We had the best conversations about life, and the world.  Those are the times I miss most with my boys.  Although I have to say watching the young men they are and finding their way in the world is pretty nice too. 




I'm so very proud of the young men they are and what they have already accomplished in their short lives.

J practicing his Olympic style Small Bore shooting. 

The Day L kept me safe and helped me though a panic attack.
Long story short Mom is afraid of heights and panicked half way up this bluff LOL 

J repelling  Demonstration 

L repelling Demonstration 

A Melancholy 4 Wheeling Mom. 

Play Safe and Tread Lightly! 

Mom and Dads first experience with Browns Camp

Adventures have been few and far between for Mom and Dad. Well, unless you count the approaching end of winter term in school. Dad in panicking about finals, Mom is in denial that they are coming up. So here I sit typing a blog instead of studying or doing house work.

If you have not noticed I have added a slide show at the top of the page. I'm going to try and change it out periodically.

I figured to fill in on my lack of adventures and interviews. ( I am waiting on several interviews to come in) I would share some of our adventures from last year with you guys and gals.


Our very first tip out  was to Browns camp but before we met any other  off roaders in person . One of the guys on Wranglerforum.com told us about the Powerline Trail at Browns camp. He told us it was a nice easy drive and a great place to have a picnic lunch. So we packed up our lunch and our SAR trained son and his girlfriend ( Mom was a bit worried about getting lost)  Both the boy and  his gal pal are proficient at reading maps and wilderness survival. Mom was afraid dad's skills at SAR and wilderness survival where a bit outdated and rusty. Shhhhhh Don't tell him that!

We knew nothing about sway bars and disconnecting them.  Ok we had read about them but where not confident enough to play with them the first time out with no one else with us.  YES, yes shame on Mom and Dad for going out in one vehicle alone. I had no idea just how much difference there was in  being disconnected in ride quality and flex. I disconnect and air down now just on gravels roads LOL oh the ride is so much nicers!  And yes I did learn first hand why we reconnect before hitting the freeway at high speeds LOL can you say body rollllllllll

Baby Dolls first photo off road. AWW how young  she looks there.

This is where I learned what I missed most about the F-250 I traded in for Baby Doll. THE TAIL GATE!   We have had trucks for so many years I took for granted I had a built in table for picnics
We now have a small roll up table we carry with us or we use the hood.

Mom panicked and made Dad leave before it got completely dark. Now  we hardly ever get out of there before dark. Oh how quickly things change when you have fun LOL
I did make the kids double check each others mapping though. They did as I asked even if they did roll their eyes at me every time I asked! Dad just ignored me after 20 years he is use to it :-)




We all have to start somewhere!
Play Safe and Tread Lightly
Mom

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

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! 

Reminiscing With Mom

As  little girl I remember riding in my dads beast of a truck.  Well at least to a little girl it seemed to be a beast. It was a fairly stock 70's something 4x4 Dodge. I can't even remember the color of the thing. He mostly used it for dump runs and going out to cut fire wood in the back country.

But the fondest memories I have of riding in it were when we took it to the Mud Races.Now mud racing is very different then what they do in the South. That is called mud bogging :-).  We would back up to the fenced off area, separating the track from parking,  and line up with all the other spectators The adults set up chairs in the bed, and the kids sat on the roof of the trucks.

Friend of mine after a little mud holing 

Imagine a high school track and field track.  Now replace the rubbery  track with a slick snotty clay/muddy mess. At one end you have the normal arch of the two curves make. At the other end in the arch is sett up with barrels . Think Rodeo barrel racing. On the long side closest to the spectators is a HUGE hole in the track filled 3/4 of the way with water. I would guess 5ft to 6ft of water.( keep in mind I was around ten years old it could have been 4 ft and look like 9ft to me )  This is what we called the race track.

There are three separate events on this track.  1) Barrel racing a timed event 2) Mud hole racing a Timed event IF you make it through the water on your own power. 3) a whole track event. You start on the straight side head to the barrels, then through the mud hole. Again a Timed event. When I say timed event we are not talking NASCAR time tables. There are  way more recoveries on this track than on a paved racetrack :-)

There were more recoveries, laughing and falling down then most anything else. But it was good clean well OK muddy fun! I loved going to those events with my dad. I would have loved to take my boys to such events when they were little, but by then we where living in a big city and I hadn't a clue how to go about finding such things. ( life before computers)




What are some of  your first memories of playing in/with a 4x4?