Dixie Run - Tellico 10/05/2002

ok here goes.............
me and Wes left charlotte around noon. We blew a trailer tire just shy of Ashville. while changing the tire Brian and Cory milbourn stopped and followed us the rest of the way into Murphy. got to the best western where we met john and Jennifer stowe. they said they had been wheeling in Tellico and already replaced their cj"s water pump and were in the process of getting the left front spring hanger welded up they broke. they said Richard queen was up here and camping near the Dixie staging area. we ate dinner at the sirloin steak house. while there, Brian king came by and said he was broke up on school bus and gathering parts for his front axle.

woke up sat morning and headed to Robbinsville. we met George waldrop and two of his friends in the ingles parking lot. it was about 10:30am and we headed out to tackle the buffalo trail. the group was as follows.

Brian and Cory in cj5 33's winched and locked
john and Jennifer in cj5 33's winched and locked
George's friend #1 in cj8 camo colored 35's winched and locked
George's friend #2 in cj8 yellow color 35's winched and locked
me in cj5.5 37's winched and locked
Wes in cj7 37's winched and locked
George in cj rock buggy 38's winched and locked
as we rode, the buffalo trail god let it be known that he was out there because we all started to have carnage. The first section of the trail was slippery and rocky. you couldn't get anywhere no matter what line you took. we were constantly winching and stacking rocks. George's buggy over heats. a blown over flow bottle and a small hole in the radiator is discovered as a result of his electric fans not working. We do a trail fix and get him rolling. the first major obstacle was a two stage rocky climb. George was the only one to make it up clean, but he had to hammer it hard several times till he made it up. the rest of us tried but ended up pulling cable. Wes smacks a tree and dents his windshield frame. George over heats again and we rewire his fans to keep them running. we continue to struggle up the trail. we get to a hill climb that's soft moist dirt. the camo cj8 tries it and gets high centered do to the deep ruts. he backs down and we make a bypass to the left. the yellow cj 8 looses his power steering belt while trying to climb the by pass. get the belt back on but realize the belt took out both hoses when it came loose. Me and Wes try the original trail hoping the 37s are tall enough. well there not and we both get almost to the top before we get high centered. we pull out the winch cable. this is where both of our winches start to come unwound from the other end. (the eyelets that attach the cable to the side of the drum broke). get them fixed and respooled. john takes the bypass and on the way up and smacks a tree on the passenger side cowl leaving a large dent. Brian comes up the bypass also but smacks a different tree and twists his whole windshield frame into the shape of a pretzel and spider webbing the glass. we get to the switch back and meet me root. this thing is sticking out from the left bank and scraps the side of your vehicle as you go by. John gets little throttle happy and lays his jeep over on the driers side after he got past the root. we get some pictures and then righted his jeep back on its tires. Brian's carb starts acting up and doesn't let the engine run right the rest of the trip. the guy in the yellow cj8 decides he needs power steering, so I break out some stuff and we fix his hoses the best we can. he also discovers his steering box mount is cracked, so get that welded up too. its also time to add some more water to Georges radiator. Its now starting to get dark and we still have several miles to go. We get to a level spot near the top and Wes's jeep and the camo's jeep stop running. we trouble shoot the camo's jeep and find a blown fuse that powers the fuel injection. put in new fuse and he is running. check varies things on Wes's and cant find the problem. it finally cranks up on its own. get rolling and I notice my volt gauge is reading like 11 to 12 volts. Great my alternator isn't charging and I am running on battery power. we finally make it to the top of the mountain and exit the trail at around 10pm. make it back to ingles and get loaded up and head back to Murphy at 11pm. what a heck of a 12 hour trail ride. last year we ran a group of around 10 vehicles thru it and we did it in about 7-8 hours. the trail sure has gotten tough..........needless to say we didn't make it back in time to go to the Dixie dinner and raffle.

Tom K