SDS Posted December 18, 2021 Report Share Posted December 18, 2021 Started driving. ETA 9:44 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SDS Posted December 18, 2021 Report Share Posted December 18, 2021 Started driving. ETA 9:44. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drafdog Posted December 18, 2021 Report Share Posted December 18, 2021 We are leaving in the next 10-20 minutes and in the need of contact Oliver's phone number is 650-918-9823. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mffoster Posted December 18, 2021 Report Share Posted December 18, 2021 Leaving Reno at 9:30. Will have radio on, phone 7755012991 just in case Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Motobrewer Posted December 18, 2021 Report Share Posted December 18, 2021 Should’ve swung by the drip. Beer makes cold nights warm. El Chapomint 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr.BlueSky Posted December 20, 2021 Report Share Posted December 20, 2021 Hopefully everyone had a blast! Sad we missed it. Please find the club photos album here - feel free to upload photos at your liesure. https://photos.app.goo.gl/rbr4xBz2o5obnZXs8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elherbinator Posted December 20, 2021 Author Report Share Posted December 20, 2021 The snow run went well. It was a lot fun as most snow runs are and was very pretty with all the fresh, pristine white snow. Even with all the fresh snow within the last week, the trail was decently tracked and made it pretty user friendly for mildly built vehicles. We met up in Auburn at 10 and left with a caravan of 5 vehicles (JR in his D2, Robert in his D2, Oliver and Mark in their D2, Sasha in LR3, and myself in THE D2 😉). Along Highway 49 we had Nick in his Series join us. We met up with Mike in his 110 at the Washington Hotel and had our full group of 7 vehicles. Snow was present a pretty low elevations, so we aired up not far past downtown Washington. We were making steady progress and enjoying the drive for a while. After maybe 5 or 6 miles without having any issues we ran into our first obstacle in the form of a brown Toyota 4Runner, loaded up with all the overland goodies, helplessly stuck in the snow. We had been driving steadily for a while, so we used this opportunity to take a rest and relax and have some lunch. The 4runner was with another similarity kitted 4runner and another late model Toyota I believe. They clearly were a little out of their element (had a nice Warn Zein winch but no remote and neglected to turn their locker on), so we offered some advice and leant them a couple kinetic ropes to use. The unstuck 4runner was having trouble committing to the speed needed to fully utilize the kinetic ropes and pull his friend out of the hole he has gotten himself in, so I determined it would be easier for me get around the stuck 4runner and pull him out myself. With some spotting help from Mike and Robert, I was able to widen the trail a bit and get around. With 2 kinetic ropes attached to each other, I got up to a pretty good yanking speed and was able to get him out with the first try. I then proceeded to pull him up the hill. Unfortunately his steering or the offset nature of pull sent him plowing into a snowbank to the side of the trail. Luckily it was the high side and not the one that could have sent him down the side of the mountain. It was actually kind of funny if you got see it happen considering there wasn’t any damage to anything. Robert then pulled up behind him and pulled him back out of the snow bank and he was able to make it up to the turn around spot his friends were parked at. After getting by the Toyotas, we were cruising again at a nice steady pace without issue. Unfortunately that didn’t last very long. We again came across a couple of stuck vehicles who were seemingly biting off more than they were equipped to chew. This time it was a JK or JL Rubicon with big tires (37?) and a D5. For some inexplicable reason, the D5 was in front of the Jeep and was totally bogged down in soft snow. He had chains on his very mild all terrain tires in the rear, but he was going no where. Another Jeep showed up ahead of the D5 and tried to pull him up and out. The D5 didn’t move, the Jeep got stuck. The whole ordeal took a long time, but I basically ended up up driving around the first Jeep and D5 and then winching out the stuck Jeep that came down to help. Since we had to widen the trail to get around the stuck vehicles, we ended up having to drive through some deeper, softer snow to the side of the original snow. This soft and deep snow ended up sinking JR’s tires and getting him stuck beyond what his open diffs could handle. Nick and JR decided that this would be a good time to turn around since it was starting to get late and the snow was getting deeper and softer and we progressed. The campers passed on the high side of JR and we continued on our way while Nick and JR freed his stuck D2 and headed down the mountain. Not much farther up the mountain the trail became untracked and we decided to make camp rather than attempt to struggle forward to the lake. It was close to 4 and starting to get darker and colder, so it seemed like the prudent choice. Had we not ran into the other parties and saved a couple hours we likely would have tried to get farther, but that was not the case. Part of the decision to not go further was the fact that the end of the tracked up snow was adjacent to a really nice, flat, open area that we could comfortably camp. So Robert and I drove around for a bit to pack down the area and then we all set up camp under the last remnants of the dwindling sun. We had plenty of wood and sustained a good fire that night. It didn’t get too cold during the night and we even had a full (or full enough) moon that kept the camp pretty lit, so everyone had a good sleep. Oliver and Mark were even bold enough to sleep under the stars and neither of them lost any extremities as far as I know. Everybody slept in pretty good the next morning and things didn’t really start going around camp until about 9. We started a morning fire and while everyone was getting their breakfast together we started to get the sxs crowd rolling up. One guy got stuck apparently and they all just sort of parked on the trail like 15 yards from our camp. They were super obnoxious in nearly every imaginable way and stayed for what seemed like a couple hours. Between their blaring music, yelling, and reving, we pretty much were ready to get out of there by the time we had all eaten and packed. We had contemplated trying to get to the lake, but decided it wouldn’t be worth it, especially if we would be running into the huge group of sxs’s at the lake again. It was smooth sailing all the way the trail. We had to pass a few groups of sxs’s (must have been a big club run), but nothing really held us up. We ended up taking a break in a clearing a maybe 30 minutes to take a group photo and allow a Robert to hunt himself a Christmas tree. After that we headed down the hill. Sasha, Mark, and Oliver headed home while Mike, Robert, Jason, Merlyn, and myself headed to brewery for some food and drink in Grass Valley. The adventure wasn’t over however. While heading south on 80 through Sacramento, my rear diff gave out. It made a terrible noise so I pulled off the nearest exit. It was clear I would not be driving home. We ended up getting AAA to tow the rover home and we got a ride from Robert home. We were very happy to have Robert following behind when this happened. Hopefully I can get the parts for the repair soon and still make the most out the winter. All in all a great trip even with the carnage. IMG_8096.MOV Mr.BlueSky, yokrieger, CRYA and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr.BlueSky Posted December 21, 2021 Report Share Posted December 21, 2021 Nice write-up! The trip sounds like a blast. Sorry to hear about the your differential : (. Elherbinator 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jethro Posted December 21, 2021 Report Share Posted December 21, 2021 8 hours ago, Elherbinator said: The snow run went well. It was a lot fun as most snow runs are and was very pretty with all the fresh, pristine white snow. Even with all the fresh snow within the last week, the trail was decently tracked and made it pretty user friendly for mildly built vehicles. We met up in Auburn at 10 and left with a caravan of 5 vehicles (JR in his D2, Robert in his D2, Oliver and Mark in their D2, Sasha in LR3, and myself in THE D2 😉). Along Highway 49 we had Nick in his Series join us. We met up with Mike in his 110 at the Washington Hotel and had our full group of 7 vehicles. Snow was present a pretty low elevations, so we aired up not far past downtown Washington. We were making steady progress and enjoying the drive for a while. After maybe 5 or 6 miles without having any issues we ran into our first obstacle in the form of a brown Toyota 4Runner, loaded up with all the overland goodies, helplessly stuck in the snow. We had been driving steadily for a while, so we used this opportunity to take a rest and relax and have some lunch. The 4runner was with another similarity kitted 4runner and another late model Toyota I believe. They clearly were a little out of their element (had a nice Warn Zein winch but no remote and neglected to turn their locker on), so we offered some advice and leant them a couple kinetic ropes to use. The unstuck 4runner was having trouble committing to the speed needed to fully utilize the kinetic ropes and pull his friend out of the hole he has gotten himself in, so I determined it would be easier for me get around the stuck 4runner and pull him out myself. With some spotting help from Mike and Robert, I was able to widen the trail a bit and get around. With 2 kinetic ropes attached to each other, I got up to a pretty good yanking speed and was able to get him out with the first try. I then proceeded to pull him up the hill. Unfortunately his steering or the offset nature of pull sent him plowing into a snowbank to the side of the trail. Luckily it was the high side and not the one that could have sent him down the side of the mountain. It was actually kind of funny if you got see it happen considering there wasn’t any damage to anything. Robert then pulled up behind him and pulled him back out of the snow bank and he was able to make it up to the turn around spot his friends were parked at. After getting by the Toyotas, we were cruising again at a nice steady pace without issue. Unfortunately that didn’t last very long. We again came across a couple of stuck vehicles who were seemingly biting off more than they were equipped to chew. This time it was a JK or JL Rubicon with big tires (37?) and a D5. For some inexplicable reason, the D5 was in front of the Jeep and was totally bogged down in soft snow. He had chains on his very mild all terrain tires in the rear, but he was going no where. Another Jeep showed up ahead of the D5 and tried to pull him up and out. The D5 didn’t move, the Jeep got stuck. The whole ordeal took a long time, but I basically ended up up driving around the first Jeep and D5 and then winching out the stuck Jeep that came down to help. Since we had to widen the trail to get around the stuck vehicles, we ended up having to drive through some deeper, softer snow to the side of the original snow. This soft and deep snow ended up sinking JR’s tires and getting him stuck beyond what his open diffs could handle. Nick and JR decided that this would be a good time to turn around since it was starting to get late and the snow was getting deeper and softer and we progressed. The campers passed on the high side of JR and we continued on our way while Nick and JR freed his stuck D2 and headed down the mountain. Not much farther up the mountain the trail became untracked and we decided to make camp rather than attempt to struggle forward to the lake. It was close to 4 and starting to get darker and colder, so it seemed like the prudent choice. Had we not ran into the other parties and saved a couple hours we likely would have tried to get farther, but that was not the case. Part of the decision to not go further was the fact that the end of the tracked up snow was adjacent to a really nice, flat, open area that we could comfortably camp. So Robert and I drove around for a bit to pack down the area and then we all set up camp under the last remnants of the dwindling sun. We had plenty of wood and sustained a good fire that night. It didn’t get too cold during the night and we even had a full (or full enough) moon that kept the camp pretty lit, so everyone had a good sleep. Oliver and Mark were even bold enough to sleep under the stars and neither of them lost any extremities as far as I know. Everybody slept in pretty good the next morning and things didn’t really start going around camp until about 9. We started a morning fire and while everyone was getting their breakfast together we started to get the sxs crowd rolling up. One guy got stuck apparently and they all just sort of parked on the trail like 15 yards from our camp. They were super obnoxious in nearly every imaginable way and stayed for what seemed like a couple hours. Between their blaring music, yelling, and reving, we pretty much were ready to get out of there by the time we had all eaten and packed. We had contemplated trying to get to the lake, but decided it wouldn’t be worth it, especially if we would be running into the huge group of sxs’s at the lake again. It was smooth sailing all the way the trail. We had to pass a few groups of sxs’s (must have been a big club run), but nothing really held us up. We ended up taking a break in a clearing a maybe 30 minutes to take a group photo and allow a Robert to hunt himself a Christmas tree. After that we headed down the hill. Sasha, Mark, and Oliver headed home while Mike, Robert, Jason, Merlyn, and myself headed to brewery for some food and drink in Grass Valley. The adventure wasn’t over however. While heading south on 80 through Sacramento, my rear diff gave out. It made a terrible noise so I pulled off the nearest exit. It was clear I would not be driving home. We ended up getting AAA to tow the rover home and we got a ride from Robert home. We were very happy to have Robert following behind when this happened. Hopefully I can get the parts for the repair soon and still make the most out the winter. All in all a great trip even with the carnage. IMG_8096.MOV Epic trip!! Sorry for the carnage!! Elherbinator 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SDS Posted December 21, 2021 Report Share Posted December 21, 2021 Very sorry to hear about your differential Eric. I also wanted to thank you and all others who came on the trip. It was my first one and I enjoyed it tremendously. Learned quite a bit about Rovers and driving. Most of all, thank you all for the wonderful company! Now I just need to sort out my transmission to be ready for the next trip LP Rover, Elherbinator and Mr.BlueSky 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elherbinator Posted December 21, 2021 Author Report Share Posted December 21, 2021 Looks like Robert caught the 4runner recovery on his phone. Even the end when he steered in to the berm 😂 IMG_8171.MOV LP Rover 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mffoster Posted December 21, 2021 Report Share Posted December 21, 2021 Great write up, bummer about your rear diff. At least it was on the way home! Elherbinator 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LP Rover Posted December 22, 2021 Report Share Posted December 22, 2021 Agreed, very nice write up Eric. Glad your diff didn't go out while you were packing down the snow for everyone to go around the D5, etc..... Elherbinator 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drafdog Posted December 22, 2021 Report Share Posted December 22, 2021 Was a fun trip! We had a blast and we are currently working on the plans for the Shaver Annual. Sorry to see your rear diff in pieces. Elherbinator 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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