Nails on a blackboard!

Nails on a blackboard pretty much describes what I was listening to most of the day yesterday. I took “Mercedes” out for her first trail ride since she joined the family. While we found an occasional clay road improved by loggers, most of the trails we were on were soft sand and not quite as wide as the jeep. The branches and palmetto fronds were constantly scraping the sides of the jeep, and there was the occasional loud thump as the CB antenna was pulled back by a branch and released against the jeep top.

I was riding with the Orlando Jeep Club in the Ocala National Forest. This part of the forest runs along the Saint Johns River and is quite dense.

The highlight of the trip was a short, but steep, sand hill. The sand was very soft and the jeeps were sunk up to their axels as they tried to negotiate the climb. Mercedes is a Rubicon model and has the ability to “lock”, or drive, all four tires directly without the spin normally allowed a tire that loses traction. This feature makes it impossible to drive on pavement, but on loose uneven terrain it is sometimes the only way you can get enough traction to move. I put the jeep in four-wheel-low gearing, engaged the lockers and charged up the hill. There was a lot of slipping and sliding, and the back seat now resembles a cat's litter box, but Mercedes made it up just fine. Not everyone did.

Believe me it looked worse in person.

Two jeeps faltered and needed help. Due to the soft sand it was hard to get enough traction on the pulling jeep. In one case two jeeps at the top were connected end to end by a tow strap, then to stuck jeep by a second strap. They worked their way up like a train. In the other case all but that last jeep were parked at the top of the hill. There was not enough room at the top to connect two pulling jeeps with the 20’ strap. The jeep that was connected to the stuck vehicle was still in soft sand and could not get a grip. We hooked his winch cable to a parked jeep and used the winch to pull the stuck jeep, and the jeep with the winch, forward in 10' increments until the stuck jeep was able to move under its own power. Pretty cool.

Now to clean Mercedes up, Saturday is the annual club car show.

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Lacey Pate Poker Run

The Jacked Up Jeep Club out of Winter Haven, Florida runs a fundraiser each year to assist a young girl, Lacey Pate, with Kings Syndrome. There are only about three victims of this disease in the country so there are very few places for treatment of this disease that affects spine growth. Lacey has to under go an average of three surgeries annually to prevent severe curvature of the spine. The funds that come from this event are a big help to Lacey's family.

The Orlando Jeep Club, and other clubs in central Florida, turn out in good number to support the event. Our Orlando club met up at what must be the worlds largest McDonalds for the trip to Davenport, FL.

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There must have been about twenty-five jeeps from our club and we were the first to arrive at Posner Park Dodge, the  dealership  that provided space for holding the event's start and finish. By getting there early we got the first two rows by the highway to show off our jeeps.

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If you are not familiar with what a Poker Run is, you follow printed instructions to arrive at various checkpoints around the area. At each checkpoint you draw a playing card that will eventually give you a poker had at the end. Best hand wins! (best I could do was a pair of tens)

We got the chance to spend time at Bok Tower Gardens near Lake Wales, FL and also visited two restaurants along the way. Enough time is allotted to allow you to enjoy the stops, and we did stop at Cherry Pockets for a grouper sandwich.

Curt checks in with Elly. Our wives were on their own road trip to Miami.

Cherry Pocket Steak & Seafood Shack in Lake Whales, FL

The final stop was Web's Goat Fudge. This is evidently a very popular ice cream and candy shop on highway 27 not far off of Interstate 4. Who would have thought you could make fudge out of goats! I have seen goats up close. I passed on the fudge.

Anyway, the Jacked Up Jeep Club got a big turnout. There were close to a hundred jeeps. After the run was complete they held raffle drawings and had lots of grilled chicken and hot dogs. Everyone had a good time, and helped a nice young girl in the process.

Happy St. Valentine's Day

We finished up in Gaffney this morning and hit the road. It got down into the thirties last night and we were thoughtful enough to turn on the heat. It was pretty chilly this morning as we got ready to go. Cold enough in fact to affect the air pressure in the tires. Since I knew the technicians were to air up the tires to their proper pressure I thought I had better double check with them to be sure that the low pressure was indeed just temperature related. Turns out it was, so off we went.

We are stopping in Hardeeville, SC just short of Savannah, GA. We set up, but did not unhook the jeep. No place to go really. Even if we wanted to go somewhere nice for dinner all the places would be packed for Valentine's Day.

What did I get Barbara for Valentine's Day you ask? You know the holiday color is red, so I got her a nice expensive bottle of wine. I know you thought it would be something nice to wear, but at our age it might just be!

Cherokee Foothills Scenic Highway, SC

Six-thirty came pretty early this morning. It was in the low forties overnight here in the hills of northern South Carolina, and we did not turn the heat on before going to bed. The coffee maker started grinding away right on time to have us up and ready for the service technician’s arrival, but we were snug under the comforter and it took a while for me to muster up the courage to get up and bring two cups of java back to bed. But hey, a guy has to do what a guy has to do. (I also turned on the heat)

Wayne, great guy and he knows his stuff.

Wayne showed up a little after eight to take the coach into the service bay, so we headed off to Mr. Waffle! I don’t know about you, but we think there is nothing quite like breakfast at a country diner.

After breakfast we decided to explore the Cherokee Foothills Scenic Highway. This is SC Hwy 11 and it winds its way up to Gaffney from the Georgia border. We did not have the time to travel the whole 115 miles each way, but we saw that there were some interesting old bridges within a reasonable drive. I wish I could say we had a nice day for the drive, but it was drizzling with low clouds that obscured any scenic views. It was nice countryside for a ride, though, and the bridges we found were cool. Two of the four we saw were not really accessible; you had to admire them from arms length. The other two, on the other hand have been incorporated into small park settings and were quite nice.

Campbell’s Bridge, built in 1909, is the last covered bridge in South Carolina.

Can't keep the girls out of the water.

The Poinsett Bridge was built in 1820 on what was then the state road from Greenville to Ashville. Today it is preserved, but not restored, miles away from the interstate that now connects those two cities.

The coach service was complete when we returned, so we bundled up inside to spend a grey afternoon with a good book. Tomorrow we will head back to Florida with a planned stop once again in Hardeeville, SC.

Gaffney, SC

It is February, so this must be Gaffney, SC.

Yep; we come to the Freightliner Service Center each year for our annual chassis service. Who knows this chassis better? They built it! We do it in February to take a shakedown run before our spring trip, which is usually started towards the end of March.

The last two years I showed pictures of the parking area we stay in overnight when we get here. I wised up and will show you some of the people that make it happen here. Here is Pat who handles appointments and acts as cashier, so she gets you here and then gets your money. She is a great person to talk to when you are trying to figure out what you are going to need to have done. She is very knowledgeable, and VERY nice.

Pat keeps everything sorted out!

Yesterday we drove to Hardeeville, SC and got set up before the rain started. We headed over to the home of Nina and Archie Sellew for dinner as the rain started. It got pretty nasty eventually, but wow, was dinner worth it. It is always a treat to visit Nina and Archie.

We got back to the RV to find that the bedroom slide seal is allowing water intrusion. This started in early December while I was at Ft. DeSoto, but I thought it was a function of the high winds that accompanied the rain. Now I know it is just a damned leak, and one that needs to be addressed or it will cause damage to the interior. We pulled the slide in to stop the leaking, but in the process scraped all the water off the side of the slide on the way in and dumped even more water on the carpet. Yuck, when it rains it pours, right? It rained all night and early morning. It sounded great on the roof, but kept me wondering where the water would be coming in next.

We had a good drive up to Gaffney. Most of it was under dry skies, but it is raining once again and expected to continue through the night. Yes, the slide is in.

St. John's River, FL

We got a little fishing done! Curt Anderson invited us out for an afternoon on the St. John’s River. 

Captain Curt

The shad were running and he thought it would be fun for us. He is out fishing several times a week, so he let us catch the fish today. Barbara and I tied at five shad apiece, but she says she got the biggest one. It was hard to argue since it did not quite get all the way into the boat to tell. Should we count those? 

I also caught two sunfish and a speck, so I am declaring myself King of the River for the trip.

Use both hands, Curt. I think I have a whale!

Oh, another shad. It FELT like a whale!

We loved the chance to get out on the water. Thanks Curt!

Mercedes Ready to Tow

Well, we finally got the towing equipment installed on Mercedes, our 2005 Wrangler Unlimited. On New Years Eve we had Camping Connection in Kissimmee, FL remove the Air Force One (AFO) auxiliary braking system from our Honda Pilot along with the Blue Ox baseplate that the towbar connected to. We elected to do this rather than buy a new Air Force One system that would have allowed us to pull either vehicle. These systems are quite expensive, so we decided to reuse the one from the Honda.

We returned on January 7^th to have Camping Connection install the Blue Ox adapters and the Air Force One. Blue Ox produces these adapters for those who wish to fabricate their own baseplates or modify existing third party bumpers to use with the Blue Ox towbars. We chose to do the latter after discussions with Blue Ox technical support. The adapters were mounted inboard of the shackle mounts of the Bestop HighRock bumper on the jeep when we purchased it. It is a solid 3/16 steel frame mounted bumper built to support winch operations. It is plenty tough enough to act as a towing platform. At this time we had the electrical and air fittings mounted to the lower edge of the bumper. Enough slack was left in all lines to allow these items to be relocated to the top of the bumper once a winch is installed and suitable mounting locations could be determined. For now they are in a more exposed location, but our off-roading will be limited until other modifications such as a suspension lift and winch are installed.

Below the adapters are the breakaway switch, air fitting and light hookup.

AFO Operating Unit under hood.

AFO Brake Actuator attached to brake pedal.

Completed hookup.

Ready to Roll!

The thirty-mile test tow back to storage proved everything works as well as with the Honda. Next month will provide another checkout as we take the coach to Gaffney, SC for annual maintenance service.