West Virginia 03

It was truly a wild and wonderful trip to the mountain state of West Virginia. Everyone that went arrived at the scenic Glen Ferris Inn by 11:30 PM Thursday night. The crew included myself (Jeff Boone), Joe Harper, Jeff Shearer, Tom Knopp with his wife Bess, John Henry with wife Lisa, John Stowe with soon to be wife Jennifer, and last, but certainly not least was Wes, who needs to disconnect the sway bar Rollins with Margaret and daughter Taylor. First for the wild side of the trip, there was a considerable amount of carnage that included, but was not limited to a broken shackle (Tom Knopp), a broken leaf spring (John Henry), a clutch linkage that came loose (John Stowe), a broken axle shaft u-joint (Andy Moss our trail leader Friday from Mountaineer Off Road), A burst radiator (Jeff Shearer), and myself with a broken inner axle shaft and u-joint. Only Jeff Shearer and myself were unable to ride our rigs on Saturday, but we hitched a ride with John Stowe and Joe for the Saturday ride.

    Now that we've covered some of the wild stuff let's get down to the wonderful part of the trip that was graciously hosted by Mountaineer Off Road 4X4 club. Not only did they have a killer logo, but they also had a lot of nice folks with capable rigs. A big thanks to Andy Moss for putting this trip together by allowing us access to the private land that their club enjoys exclusive permission to. The terrain was challenging, and the scenery was breath taking. One of the highlights was the last trail of the day on Saturday called clutch creek (aptly named according to John Stowe). This was a scenic creek that was filled with rocks and ledges and more rocks and more ledges and a slick hill climb at the end. The difficulty was high as attested to by the number of broken parts on the trail that included a busted shackle, a broke leaf spring, an over heated winch, and yes, a failed clutch linkage. The steep climb up the rocks in the creek bed was expertly negotiated by everyone as there was no winching required, however the last steep, slippery hill was another story. John Stowe and one Mountaineer club member were the only ones to make it up the final hill without winching, but everyone gave it a heck of a try. Again thanks to Andy Moss and Mountaineer Off Road club for hosting us.  Jeff B

Pics by Andrew Moss