Cheaper than the tow? aka Recycling in the Pikes Peak area

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So...You go muddin' in the Pike National Forest where the US Forest Service signs tell you not to and you get your fancy Ford diesel 4x4 stuck. You don't wanna spend the $500 to $1000 to have the offroad wrecker get you out...so 7 days later your Ford truck gets rolled over on its side by what we refer to as "the vultures" and your fancy Dana 60's or Dana 70's or whatever you used to have for axles are looted. A few days later, your Powerstroke diesel engine gets a bullet hole shot into it, and 3 guys show up in the middle of the night and try to help themselves to your tranny. Makes the tow look pretty cheap, eh? Now ... the tow is more expensive and all you get is what the vultures left you. Priceless!!! Note: that is NOT the photographers Dr. Pepper can. I guess you get thirsty removing axles at +9000 feet altitude.

My Jeep Has A 4 Inch Lift!!!

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So I settle in off to the side of the water crossing to watch. Two Jeeps are traveling together, the first one has tried to cross the water too fast, and has stalled her Jeep by getting water in her open intake. A USFS Volunteer has showed up and is explaining how you want to go just fast enough to keep positive exhaust pressure, but slow enough as to not force water up your air intake. The black Jeep sporting it's local military base permit winches the ladie's gold Jeep out, and the guy driving the black Jeep then proclaims "But I have a 4 inch lift". This comment is followed by one of the faster attempts at this crossing I have seen yet. Yep...you guessed it. The black Jeep quietly comes to rest in about the same spot the gold Jeep was just pulled from. Everyone seems to be good sports about spending the next several hours pulling spark plugs, cranking water out of cylinders, etc. It was a beautiful day... I went wheeling, but drove by a few times over the next several hours to find them still there "drying things out". MUST be a Jeep thing.

Ft. Carson Jeeper Makes Us All Proud

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This is something I had never planned having to ever blog about. This is a post of a GOOD THING. Yes, I know they are out there, but it is so rare to run across them and we get so tired of seeing the bad, it was a GREAT refresher to run across this. This military gentleman had picked up all this trash that morning and was jsut settling in to enjoy a beverage in his campsite as he waited for some friends to arrive. Thank You!!! Beverage deserved! The USFS ranger who gave these pictures to me and told me this guys story with such excitement, also said this guy said he usually ran with Colorado4x4 group, but this weekend was waiting for the Big Horn group. I guess the Big Horn club was coming up the next day to help the USFS do some trail maintenance on FSR 370C aka Eagle Rock Trail. Thank you all!

Here's Your Sign. Can You Read It?

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Wow...Do you think Jeff Foxworthy might have known this guy when he made the phrase "Here's your sign!" so popular in relating to what he calls "stupid people"? Here is a vehicle sporting a window decal to a local military base parked in front of a fence with no less than 5 signs indicating that the property owner does NOT want the public to access from this point. The ground was fairly soft here and the only obvious tracks from this vehicle lead over to where the fence wire is spread and the tracks continue on the other side. Folks, we appreciate what you do for us in places like Iraq and around the globe, but this kinda stuff does not make me wanna see you in my neighborhood. Public access IS permitted from the east end of this reservoir for fishing. How long before such neglect for the rules leads to no public access? At a minimum this person is not helping the cause to have CSU to open South Slope / Seven Lakes to public hiking, are they? When a fence with a lock and 5 signs don't get the message across, I'm not sure what would. Future comment: "Hey son, I remember back in 2007 when I would disregard the fishing access rules. Thats why there is no more public access for you". I wonder if I ignored signs and fences on the local military base that this guys works if I would be treated so easily.