Slabs 3: TExplorers, uh, well, we'll make it home...
Before the "carnage" posts begin, I wish to opine that the run itself was an example of doing things
right.
It rained all day and we knew going in it was going to be iffy. I'm still cold and wet as I write this and it is twelve hours later. I'm getting those random shivers once every few minutes (need another blanket).
We did play awhile on the near side of the river and it gave everyone an idea of what it is like to climb on "slickrock" granite - going nearly vertical even when the surface is wet - because there is
so much traction. Oughtta get'em juiced for Moab, eh. Then we looked onward across the deepening river to continue the run.
The bigger rigs looked for ways in to make the river crossings and we found a place.
First right decision: to leave half the rigs at the staging area and have everyone pile into the capable rigs. That is a good thing done right. I want to commend those who left their vehicles in the staging/airdown shoals area for their common sense and maturity. I took Kris and Kubben into the crossing so they could get a closer look and the three of us made an educated judgement call concerning whether to bring other vehicles in. It is very easy to succumb to peer pressure and push it, but every vehicle that needed to stay at the shoals did so. The maturity to say "no, I ain't trying this" is in my mind admirable. I have often seen that decision-making ability lacking on other runs.
After starting in to Eagle Rock, Jesse didn't make a river crossing and "stalled" (hydrolocked) his engine. Getting him out took a couple of hours (give or take my estimated time accuracy - it seemed like five hours!). Second right decision: do not start the engine while in the river.
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With the help of mav's winch and TWO helpers (a huge K5 and a Toy[whatwuzzit?] - both with something like 39x18 Boggers) we finally got Jesse out. Third right decision: having all the straps/ D-clevis bolts/ etc to get the job done and also the towpoints to hook them to the second we needed them.
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Okay - hydrolocked engine. No big deal, removed all sparkplugs, spit the H20 out, and Jesse was good to go again. Fourth right decision: coming prepared (thanks Michael!) with all the tools needed for any engine work. If we did not have the means to remove his plugs we would still be out there (add a spark plug socket to your trail equipment list if you haven't already done so). I personally am religious enough to believe that we got some good "Karma" by strapping out all of those lifted Blazers at the first of the run. Did anyone get a picture of the three of us side-by-side all simultaneously strapping out Chevy/GMC's all at once? That's gotta be a classic pic if someone got it.
Fifth right decision: upon witnessing 39x18 Boggers dig into sand right up to their axles, we called our own plans off. Think about that. We got into some extremely deep stuff out there.
The run itself was a failure but the implementation was a success. We had to abort but everyone came prepared and we had the ability and means to handle the adventure. It could easily have been much worse. I went Exploring for alternate routes through the river and had to get strapped twice myself. Even with my new locker, once traction was lost even slightly in the deep underwater sand, instantaneous digging up to the undercarriage resulted. We learned the hard way the Slabs is for dry weather. We got out of there and decided to camp out at a scenic local state park instead.
Six right decisions.
BUT: mav and Kris Guillbeaux got involved in an accident on the way to the state park and we spent a few hours with the local EMTs, highway patrol, etc; and at the hospital. I believe mav will be okay; at least he got out and ate with us after a thorough probing in the emergency ward. Kris's pretty paint job has much character now and I got to SawZall his front fender moldings while the Trooper was interviewing him
. At least we got both mav's and Kris's vehicles mobile so noone needed a flatbed tow from the accident site. I had told mav that the trail would take his rear-exit dual exhaust off. I was wrong: Kris did it instead
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I was in front so did not witness the accident and will leave other discussion to the rest of the group. I did want to emphasize that (apart from the unfortunate post-run traffic accident) the aborted run in my opinion was a success since we used common sense and aborted the run instead of trying to push on. That is sometimes a hard decision when a dozen people show up from hundreds of miles away but I believe we did the right thing. There is always tomorrow.
Though for the Slabs, for me tomorrow will have to be very dry next time.
PS/ concerning the Full Size Spare Issue: I still have my 255/70r16 original spare which I had to put on my left front when I blew a bead. Above 40 mph the computer worked like it was designed and released all drive to my front. I was able to travel the 200+ miles tonight to Dallas at 60 mph with no problem even though it is quite smaller than the other three BFG's I am wearing. I did notice though on the river that since it is the smaller tire the open diffy transferred power to it instead of my big BFG and under the conditions we were in rendered my front drive almost worthless: deep sand and I was spinning a Wilderness AT instead of a big BFG. I'll probabaly finally go ahead now and shell out bucks for a good aggressive tread fullsize spare. I do want to emphasize though that there has been much discussion on what would happen with an undersize spare and this helps attest to the fact that with it unlocked there should be no problem getting you home under normal conditions. We gotta think about the fact that the most opportune time to lose a tire is under the most ABnormal conditions, though. Food for thought.
[Edited by Sinjin on 01-28-2001 at 11:13 AM]
