Just a quick update...it was damn cold today and we woke up to about an inch of snow. We didn't get the snow I was anticipating and it's looking like it's down to only an inch or 2 more tonight - PISSED!!!

Rausch is like a skating rink...everything has a thick coating of ice. I blew a bead doing full throttle assaults on an ice hill on 1C. We didn't do much more than just cruise around and enjoyed the day. Rob had a real close call climbing out of a bowl on trail 5 - I thought he was a goner.

It's finally beer thirty so adios. There's a big crowd here at the comfort inn, we're gonna have an awesome time!!

Be careful guys and have a great time........

Back home safe and sound. We started the morning with the guys wrenching on Rob's toyota. Me, Matt, and Bill decide to go over to the gauntlet instead of sitting in the lot and that's when round 2 of wrenching started. Matt broke the outer chromo 44 shaft - a clean break at that. We thought the hub broke and i'm still surprised the hub or u-joint didn't break before the shaft.

Rob had a spare so he put the spare in and we were off to the ice skating rink again. We did the green part of the O trail and Chris (monster s10) and I ran the black section. It was a blast! Thanks for the spot Bill and Pickens! It was pretty icy and snowy and it was all virgin snow/ice when i went through. It was a lot of bumping and throttle. Another great technique was just spinning the tires till they melted the ice, heated up, and then climbed - lots of fun and it was a challenge.

We went onto the 3 hill climbs off the pole line and that ended up into a throttle fest. Bill was first up on the far right climb and went up it like nothing - like usual!! Rob tried the center and it was solid ice - no chance. Chris tried right and middle with no luck. I got onto the right and was full throttle in 3rd gear several times - very determined. I was almost through but i ended up popping a bead on the back right. I also sheered the front left valve stem just about off and it was barely holding air. I didn't have good luck with tires this weekend. Chuck made it up next to the top also with a 3rd gear assault. Matt was next and was bouncing off the rev limiter for a while and it dropped just where it needed to and he made it too. It was a good show and a good end of the day.

Well that's all for now...thanks everyone for a great weekend, we had a blast and it was great to be out. Every time we wheel together it reminds me of what a great group we have. I'll post pics later.

We are home also. Had a great time with everyone. We had a good size group both days. Picked up a guy from Pittsburgh looking for a group to go with in the lot Saturday. He had a BIG rock buggy very nice but very cold.
Thanks to the whole group for a good time. There was ice on every thing made a lot of trails very challenging.As nick said not as much snow as we hoped for.


Here are my pics ( none of me I don't know how that happen)
It was cold so Holly stayed in jeep as much as she could and I don't blame her.

http://picasaweb.google.com/toyota327/RC11009?authkey=PrG6hoq80z8&feat=directlink

Not only is the turtle living...........He's gettin a piece........

We are trying to breed some new turtles one from Reading and one from Stillwater we will see what we get.One of them was Nicks one was mine and Holly was the breeder.

This trip was a blast! It was cold, solid ice and the west property was OFF LIMITS due to ice. We started the first day trying 1c with the hills and bowls. I was first in and climbed about 3/4 of the way up and then immediately back down with the tires still spinning forwards. That was when we discovered that under the fresh snow was the thick ice over EVERYTHING. I wasn't backing out of that trail, been in that hole on the right against the tree before. Took the straight ahead paty over this little hump that gave me quite a struggle but after several attempts and 4th gear through the uphill side I made it out. NIck tried but after a few scary moments decided to back out, that was quite scary as well with bowls on boths sides and very little room o top of the crowned trail. I circled around and Matt M took the lead through 1 and we headed to the black section. turned out that all the trails were going to be extremely challenging. there was no "crawling" through the trails, instead you keep momentum and the tires would bounce around between the rocks. This simple trail took what seemed like foreever and I have a new dent on the passenger side in front of the door from the famous tree on the right. My neice Rachael was riding shotgun and she had a blast. we tried a few bowls and called it a day early when the snow and wind started hammering us. Had a wonderful dinner at O'neals and then gathered in the lobby for the rest of the night/morning. Saturday we did gauntlet as Nick mentioned, I got 3/4 through and got stuck about 20' behind where Matt broke his stub shaft. couldn't situate the jeep away from a boulder that was catching my rear diff. it was like a bowl and with no traction the rear just settled into that spot every time. We then went up the easy side of the hill climb just past gauntlet on the right, it was a struggle but everyone made it up one way or another. Then we went to O trail where I tried to guide Nick through, the ice had different ideas and we had to constantly change the line according to what the jeep wanted to do. Chris in the monster truck came through and it was still a struggle but made it through. We headed back to C trail and stopped to assist another group with pulling a cherokee up a hill. Nick winched and then pulled him up and we were on our way again. Decided to head to the pole line for the 3 hill climbs. I must say being the first one up made it easier because there was some crusty snow on top of the ice to provide traction. After that it was solid ice exposed and took quite a while to get about half the vehicles up. We ended our day with that and headed back to load the trailer. I thought it was going to be a PITA with all the ice but it was really a lot of fun and required a lot of full throttle grinding to get the jeep to go in the general direction you wanted. Thanks to everyone that attended. It was nice seeing some faces I haven't seen in awhile. I had a great time and look forward to wheeling again soon. Nick start your snow dance and get us some SNOW.

Consider it done

I loved every minute of this weekend. Finally got to show off the Toyota a little and work out some bugs. It needs a front locker bad. The girls had a blast in the jeep Emily is getting comfortable behind the wheel. Thanks for a great time guys.

I had a great time and it was a great group of people. I like to thank everyone that helped with the axle change, it saved my day.

http://picasaweb.google.com/njf128/RauschCreek_01_1011_09#

Not too many but make sure to check out the videos - they blend in with the pics but there's the one of bills climb in 1c and also the blue torch buggy on yellow jacket and rob finally opening up that 350 on the solid ice hill climb

We will get our pics up when amy feels better and I get the STAINS OUTTA MY PANTS We had a blast all weekend that was a awesome group and with the weather it was a great time . And Nick got to hear the small block off the rev limiter Oh wait his was all weekend thanks to all cant wait to do it again...

assume pics and videos, i enjoyed watching all of them

Also would like to thank Mel for letting us hang out in the lobby Sucks you got stuck working a double, but we are glad you were there.

Yah - thank you very much mel! We wouldn't have had near as much fun without your hospitality!!