Photos *Official* Return from CCR08 - Ouray Colorado Pics and Trip Reports

[jenren81]

Imagine being right here, and, oops, no brakes.
The picture doesn't really show how steep it is there.
Yours truly would have poo'd the pants, but the cheeks were too tight-
Sheri couldn't feel the danger because she wasn't driving-


Thanks for the pic Hokie!!

that is an awesome pic!! i couldn't capture that cuz i was about ready to poo my pants at that point too lol

 

[Tbars4]

...I'm still working my way home...Doing about :shifty_ey 80 down the 15 just before Beaver Utah , one of my rear tires got a nail hole dead center...I am getting it patched and may stay in St. George Utah tonight, or Mesquite Nv...

 

[Tbars4]

...I'm in St. George and thought I would add some info before I head back home to work...

..First, I don't want to go home...I had a magnificent time...:biggthump

...Thanks Rick and JTSmith for the goodies...

...If it were not for JTSmith and SSmith, I would of had no place to stay as I did not know I was able to go until the day before I left and finding a place to stay was impossible on a Labor Day weekend...Thank you two and you know how I feel...

...Brian1 and your dad, Glad to finally meet up with you both since we didn't get to meet on the Mojave Desert Trail...Thank you for knowing all the great spots and the fast pace we did the trails at...

..Everyone else that attended, what a great group and the people you brought up were a blast too...I have memories of all of you, your friends, and your families, and this run will be remembered as a special trip...I will be looking forward to all of you coming out to Truckhaven when you can...

...As for all those who said they were coming and didn't, and especially the Colorado people...:mattmoon:...:...But I do understand as I too have missed a couple runs this summer..

...We wheeled from the time I got there...Meet up first thing in the morning and get back to camp about 1/2 hour before sunset each day, including Monday...Fast paced and minimal carnage...Great scenery, great trails, and good people...

...My Milage up and back was about 1800 miles...I put on about another 400 miles running around up there...Gas was $3.73 at home but ran about $4 all the way up to and around Ouray...My Ranger did not like the gas so I had to run 91 octane at about 4.25-4.29 a gallon..It felt like watered down gas but the 91 octane was what I needed.....For those who run diesel, Utah's diesel prices were from $3.85-$3.92..

...Favorite parts of the trip:
...Besides the people we ran with, The trails, towns, and scenery, I have several personal favorites...

...Seeing all the members faces when they seen a Ranger with California plates and hearing them say, "No, that can't be..He said he couldn't make it"...

..Dinner at dukes and the old cowpoke with the guitar telling his stories and singing his songs..
(Left to Right) Jon (JTSmith), Sheri (SSmith), Brian (Brian1), Jim (Brian's Dad), Marshall (Offroader_69_me) , His son , and his wife ....(Bad with names )

..Engineer pass in the rain, I love climbing the truck on wet, slick, rocks in the rain and the day ended with a drive back to camp in the pouring rain...
...Flexing the Ranger out in the rocks on the trails and seeing the faces of people coming the other way and then seeing their backup lights coming on, lol...
...Climbing the face of a switchback sideways and falling back in line...
...The Doe that walked thru camp on Tuesday morning like she knew we needed to be leaving so she can have her place back...

..And last but not least, all the smiling faces of everyone else having a blast in their vehicles and knowing all the stories they have to take home of this great adventure..

...Funniest moments, 2 of them:

...Waking up on Saturday morning and hollaring over to the Smith's tent, "Jon, Sherri, it's time to get up...I'm not sure if my cell phone reset time but it's either 6 or 7 am local time and we need to be getting"...Then, from out of a pup tent that showed up at 2:30 a.m. you hear in a slumbering voice, " It's 6 o'clock local time, we got an hour"..(Hokie)

..Telling Jon, " Hey, there goes a bII that needs a plate holder and he's from Kansas"...By golly, Jon ran to his truck, grabbed a plate holder and ran down the road after them..He did not stop till he caught them and that was by the gate of the KOA camp...

...Explorer Forum Moment:
...3 people huddled up in a mounty, in the pouring rain at night and learing over a laptop checking messages and the thread replies...We actually shared Jon's inverter each day just to download all the pics from the camera's and Jon's computer with it's long battery life became the machine everyone counted on...Thanks Jon..

...You all are a great bunch and my trip was excellent...The sad thing was it was way to short of a trip and seeing everyone leave was just sad......But, time to get back to work and start saving for the next trip and working on all the trucks project's...

...Thank you all very much, and Harley misses all the attention...

 

[Donner]

And those pics are incredible! Glad you all made it through safely... Who's the guy with the painted toe nails there?

 

[Turdle]

OK, we're home safe with no issues other than loosened lug nuts while in Manitou Springs--
Averaged 18 mpg, and consumed 1/2 quart of oil for the whole 2042 miles added to the turd--she's got a good engine.

I beleive we did the whole trip-including food for around 1k


Anyhow-

Off to bed. I have a large reflection post --it will be another thread.

Tbars took the words out of my mouth-

All I can add is Brian's truck is a monster in disguise.

I wish I had a tape recorder in our truck. It would go something like this-

me "Brian no, you're crazy"


Ssmith" you're crazy for doing this"

me " I know, but we'll get lost"

ssmith" wait, pull up a bit so I can see that-"


and so it goes I guess. We are hooked.
We now completely understand the meaning of "serious explorations


g'nite family

 

[techieman33]

So who all is in the picture? The only ones I know are Jon and Sheri. Also why are there no pictures of wakesk8er's sport I don't think I've seen any of it yet.

 

[jenren81]

here are some online albums of some of my pics.. i have a few more that are good and i'll post up on here directly when i get a chance...

http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2288936&l=ba273&id=14811518
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2289558&l=dc6b4&id=14811518
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2289565&l=867df&id=14811518

 

[jenren81]

So who all is in the picture? The only ones I know are Jon and Sheri. Also why are there no pictures of wakesk8er's sport I don't think I've seen any of it yet.

oh - there are a few pics earlier up on the first page... i'm not in the group pics because i had to sleep in... wasn't feeling very wonderful. i just put up some links to a few of my pics. enjoy!

again, thanks for the fun times everybody!

 

[jenren81]

here is a pic i think kinda shows how sketchy this could be.. mwahahaha... josh is on the edge here

 

[Tbars4]

....Nice pics Jenni......And that edge pic

...I also added names to the dinner pic but need to add a couple more with some help...

 

[410Fortune]

We are hooked.
We now completely understand the meaning of "serious explorations

Oh man I know that feeling! I was a total off road newbie when I followed Brett out to Moab in 2000 (think it was 2000).. at the time I had a 2" lift and some 31" tires. I could not believe my eyes, I had no idea a 4 door explorer could climb a 8' wall, I had no idea you could drive your 4x4 to those places, I too was HOOKED!!

So now JT its time to get out your check book!!!


Whats with the loosened lug nuts? Vandalism? seriously?

 

[ssmith]

Hey guys, My turn to tell ya'll what a wonderful time I had and enjoyed meeting everyone of you. I was skeptical about coming on this trip in the first place. Thought it would be all boring and mechanics talk. I was wrong and I admit it. There were a few women in the group besides me. Bethany it was great meeting you and your beautiful family. Wish there was more time for your schedule to have been together more. Thank you Rick for my knife, yes women like those things too.

Jenni you are a kill. Jon and I laughed so hard this morning over coffee at your photo album. We could hear you saying what was captioned under your pictures. Loved the crack kills. Thought Jon was going to spit his coffee. You are fun to be around and probably the life of any party. It was great meeting Shelby and Doug also. Tell them to come again with you the next time. We enjoyed the camp fire group and your immitation of the idiot at the showers,"You didn't do black bear."

Brett, Josh and Jim. Cuties. What can I say. Good luck in college and all your endeavors in life. Great conversation and yes funny stories. It was a pleasure getting to meet you.

Brian and Dad, Leaders of this mighty pack. You made the group invincible. Thank you for being there, this was our first time driving it and wouldn't have wanted to do it without you. Of course we wouldn't have known that until we got into it. That was some scary stuff. I overheard a lady from the Toyotas behind us tell someone about finding some messy drawers just left on the trail somewhere. That could have been a reality for us. Your great and hope to see you again. Thank you

Marshal and Shandale, hope I spelled that right. Brendan is adorable, cute kid and so bright. Hope you had as much fun as we did. My peaches were delicious. Should have bought more. If you ever come this direction you have a place to stay. I enjoyed your company, men are hilarious when it comes to their toys. Was hoping someone got a shot of Marshals tire hanging over the edge on Black Bear or Imogene whichever pass it was.

Ted, best for last. You stuck with us til we actually parted home. Were we procrastinating some? Yes it was sad and yes I wanted to cry but I really didn't want to see you break down (lol) so I contained myself. Thank you. It was my pleasure to meet you and Harley. Nice to meet someone who has the same attachment to their "kids". People just think we're nuts. I can't say enough good things. It's going to be hard getting back into reality. Yuk.
Again I say thank you to all who were there, Jon says the experience put him back in focus. I agree.

 

[offroader_69_me]

So who all is in the picture? The only ones I know are Jon and Sheri. Also why are there no pictures of wakesk8er's sport I don't think I've seen any of it yet.

ok it goes left to right
John and Sherry =jtsmith and his wife ssmith
Brian and uhh OMG I am horrible with names his dad= Brian1
Marshall, Brendan, Shandell =offroader_69_me and family

 

[SDVike]

here is a pic i think kinda shows how sketchy this could be.. mwahahaha... josh is on the edge here

Geez . . . I don't want to see that.

 

[offroader_69_me]

ok real quick still at work,

THANKS to Brian for putting this together, to RIck for the goodies,
it was great meeting eveyone!
Jenni the sport is to sweet

the 347 well that just rocks

the third gen no one would ever believe it!

the oh so pretty Black Mounty what a classy ride!

the ranger well of course it is a ranger what more could you want!

for the first time in a long time the white first gen was not a question of which one???

all you guys were great it was good seeing old friends and making some new ones

 

[Brian1]

for the first time in a long time the white first gen was not a question of which one???

LOL, so true!!

Brian1 and your dad, Glad to finally meet up with you both since we didn't get to meet on the Mojave Desert Trail...

...Seeing all the members faces when they seen a Ranger with California plates and hearing them say, "No, that can't be..

This was the first time my Explorer had been over a mile from home since the accident when I was going to meet you for the Mojave Trail back in March. It was a really nice surprise to see you there in the gas station ready to hit the trail Friday afternoon. I had no idea you were going to be there. Im looking forward to trying the Mojave Trail & Calico run another time and to see you again and to see your Explorer.

I made it home on 3/4 tank of gas so that puts it at about 19mpg on my way home. My carnage for the weekend included the cracks in my rear tire to become bigger/worse (see tbars pic), muffler outlet cracking more and my bug shield cracked in half (the duct tape in the Monday photos). This trip was the first offroad outing since I had done some major modifications back in January (rear axle swap, rear locker, brake upgrades, regearing, etc.) and it worked really well.

 

[Tbars4]

...Woohoo, I made it home...Well, just to the office...

...I seen a pre runner Rolls Royce driving down the freeway and a ranger burn to the ground near Barstow...May their Ranger R.I.P....Looks like a Terrible Herbst race is this weekend..

...Back to the old hum drum...I'm already showing off the pics and describing it all to anyone who will listen...They are amazed at the pic of josh's tire on the edge..

 

[Stic-o]

Gotta get there some time...Very nice

Ted you took the Ranger and not the Ex?

You should have stopped in Beaver for Chesee Curds....mmmmmmm so tasty, we call it Squeak Chesee, because it squeaks on your teeth when you eat it

 

[Spas]

Oh damn it all, you guys make me SO MASSIVELY JEALOUS with your beautiful mountains and scary as hell trails!! : All we have here are slippery rocks, mud and more mosquitos than you could possibly imagine


Glad you guys broke JT in right, he sounds thoroughly hooked now

 

[DB_1]

...I seen a pre runner Rolls Royce driving down the freeway

Was it this one?

Looks like a great time out there, maybe us Cali guys can caravan out there one year