BIG BEAR 99

The night was warm, the stars were bright and it was the perfect time for a jeep run. Scarecrow, Knucklehead (who was playing passenger) and I drove to Green River where we were meet up with One Eyed. We hung around until the rest of the group showed up. There were a total of 11 vehicles. Pappy & Cupcake, Montego & Louise, Groundhog, Rooster & Jerrbear, 10-Ball and our guests Ozzie, Ken, & John.

We finally headed out after we re-grouped from the first potty break and headed out to meet up with Bob-o. Well of course Scarecrow had to go pee first. I was in the lead at this time since it is easier for everyone to keep up the 4-banger. Scarecrow took off to find a place to pee. We passed him going down the pass on the 60. OK, so I had to go pee next. We stopped in Beaumont. After Ozzie put in his first 5 gals of oil we left. Still no Scarecrow. We headed out to Yucca calling for Scarecrow, and not just on the CB either. We finally get to the drop off point at about 11:00 and guess who is there, yep Scarecrow and Knucklehead. Bob-o & Fidget are waiting for us along with another guest, Chris. That makes a total of 13 vehicles. Where are Bob & Rhonda? We head out to try and find a place to camp. We see houses and more houses, wondering if we would ever find a place to camp. Bob-o found us a great place.

Saturday morning was beautiful and hot. We get moving and Bob-o finds us a trail with a black diamond. Don't know the name but it is adopted by the Riverside Ruff Riders. And a pretty good trail at that. Chris gets a little stuck on the first up hill rock climb, but with a little guidance gets up it without any problem. We get to the first rock garden. Most went around, but those of us who wanted a challenge went thru. 10-Ball, me, One Eyed, Montego, Scarecrow, and Cupcake all went thru without any problems. We have a little break and start up again when Ken seems to be not going anywhere. His motor mount is broken so it makes his clutch come off. They get fixed & Scarecrow gives him a little help. Jason then gets high centered. Rooster comes to the rescue and pulls him off. I looked at the spot where Groundhog got stuck and just couldn't figure out what he was thinking. Louise tells Rooster to move his jeep and Rooster tells her the, 'Keys are in it!' So Louise gets in, starts its, it doesn't go anywhere, oh yeah the e-brake. I tell her where it is located. She puts it in first and bang, clank, grind, UH Oh!. Rooster moves it up and finds out his rear brake had decintigraded. From what I hear it is not the first time this has happened. Ken then breaks down again. LUNCH!

After lunch we head on up, then back down, actually, the trail does a loop. As we are headed down, 10-Ball stops to adjust his idle again, we all know that you can't trust a Jeep's e-brake. I think his jeep decided it was tired of having it's idle fixed again, and started down hill by itself. 10-ball jumps in can't see anything cause the hood is up! He finally stops it after about 25 feet. Thank goodness Montego wasn't right in front of him.

When we get to the first rock garden that we went up, Montego gets delayed. They holler for Scarecrow to get his winch, but by the time he gets there Montego gets moving again. You have to be quick with Montego around. We get to Big Bear well almost, after a few short turn arounds, John's truck won't go anywhere, he had to put it into 4-wheel drive & unlock the hubs to get it to the gas station. It was just a linkage problem. We all gas up and head up to our camping spot near the dump. The camp fire (what camp fire) was pretty rowdy, pretty typical. I guess you could say it was a normal TRW camp fire.

We woke up to another beautiful day in the woods. Did someone say that there was a gas leak? I can't seem to remember, but all I know is that Scarecrow had to fix a leak from a rotted gas hose. I don't think it could have been my jeep. Nah! We head out to John Bull. No problems here. Oh wait, John had a little problem with his pumpkin cover. 10-Ball decides to let Knucklehead drive. He felt sorry for him. Bob-o leads us around the hole, (the one that we usually have lunch at) Knucklehead couldn't just let the hole be the hole, he had to go down into the hole. That wasn't the problem. The problem was when it was time to go up out of the hole. He had to make his own trail. He got stuck, almost roll stuck. They holler for a winch, so Scarecrow & Pappy head back up the trail in Scarecrows TJ. To winch them off. Of course 10-Ball is driving now, since Knucklehead says it wouldn't stay running he couldn't get it up the hill.

Well it is lunch now! As we are finishing our lunch 10-Ball is tearing about his spark plugs. Time to head home now. We leave Bob-o and Fidget at the Y and head on down the mountain. We park behind Taco Bell while some get gas, 10-Ball goes into use the bathroom. We think he was taking a bath, since he took so long. Or did he really sit down and eat. We said good bye to all that stayed on the 91 when we hit the 55. It was a perfect weekend for some great 4 wheeling. Is it time for the Rubicon yet?!!!

Casper