| Sunday wasn't the best day I ever saw on the
Prairie. By the time Church was over, it was clear that bad
weather was on our horizon - not that we cared too much about
that. |
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When we stopped for drinks at the trail head, things looked
as if they might be going to change for the better. I was
thinking that it was wonderfully handy to have young boys
able to scramble up to that cooler - as I was taking the photo
I noticed the rainbow. |
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Wet weather draws people who love to play in
the mud. As much as some folks seem driven to vilify the "red
necks" who enjoy this sport, I never see those people
on the prairie. It's just as well, my Megs makes a mean mud
ball and I'd hate to see her get arrested. |
| These two could make a Crest commercial; or
how about, "Got Milk?" |
| Just looking at the entrance to Bad Luck Prairie,
we could see that things were going to be wetter than they
had been in recent weeks. Carl and Colleen Vick like to keep
their blue TJ Clean -- it's just as well to get them off to
a good start. |
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| First one little mud puddle, then a little mud
hole, then . . . I'll save that 'til then but stay with us,
not just everybody gets to see Carl taking a bath! |
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| One of the most interesting aspects of the Prairie
is the varieties of mud - and you best have an understanding
of the way this works if you are ever going to venture out
on the Prairie alone, which is never a good idea in my opinion
unless it cannot be avoided. |
| Roger Green, and his silver YJ are no stranger to the Prairie
and its mud. We have hundreds of pictures of them in slogging
thru mud and swimming thru water deeper than his hood. In
this picture, he stopped in the rain to chat with Carl. |
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For those who have seen the sort of thing he
routinely puts that YJ through, it's hard to imagine him stopping
on level ground and getting stuck in a puddle of rain, but
that is exactly what he did. Sitting on the right kind of
dirt, it's easy to do. |
| Rich wasn't able to push him out either. Although it looks
like the slightest push would ease him out of the little rut
he created (and it would) Rich couldn't get enough traction
on that stuff to move him at all. In a matter of seconds both
were spinning their wheels. |
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Roger was not a happy camper.
If you look close, you'll note that he doesn't have a winch
and if you could tell in this mud, you'd see that those
tires are about worn out. The next time we saw Roger, he
spent a few bucks and changed things with his YJ rather
dramatically.
At first glance, I thought Roger was a bit more annoyed
with me taking pictures of his misfortune than he actually
was. |
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| I zoomed in an realized that Roger, finally
willing to concede that Mother Nature's mud had snagged him,
was merely motioning for us to come get him. The kids just
love that! |
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The Jeep Rubicon comes from the factory outfitted with air
lockers front and rear. With the dealer installed lift and
35" tall Goodyear MTR's, it gives us a tremendous advantage
over other vehicles with open differentials. |
| We weren't the only ones out there with a "go
anywhere" Jeep. I don't know who they were, but the people
in the white Jeep were out on the Prairie by themselves. |
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| By the looks of things, they could handle it
- I found myself thinking what a welcome sight they would
be for anyone sitting stuck out in the middle of nowhere.
I'd like to have that guy's cell number myself. |
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| I kept thinking that the rain would go away,
and I suppose it was thinking that we'd finally get discouraged
and go home. It didn't and we didn't. |
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| Rich followed us in his Chevy truck through
one sloppy mess after another. He doesn't have a Jeep but
he's the one who always has spare parts. Just the day before,
while we fed coons, Roger blew a radiator hose. Rich rummaged
around in his truck until he found one. |
Rich |
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Rich's truck managed to deal with the mud
and the water pretty well but he ultimately found the mud
hole he couldn't get thru.
One thing about it - when that big heavy truck get's stuck,
it can be a real job to winch it out. |
| The guys first tried to pull Rich out backwards.
They were having trouble so Jeremy drove back thru the mud
hole to see if he could be any help. He had brought along
some friends from Church; it looked like they might get stuck
but he made it. |
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| Once he got thru and they managed to pull Rich's
truck back onto dry land, Jeremy decided to attempt the trip
back thru the spot where Rich was stuck, no doubt encouraged
onward by his carload of people who had never done this. |
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| While we waited for Rich to get his truck running,
Jeremy and his friends played in the mud. Considering that
his Jeep is a stock Wrangler Sport without posi-traction,
it amazes me how well it does. |
| One of our favorite things to do is to introduce
people who have never actually driven a Jeep to what they
can do. When Becky, one of the young ladies of our Church,
asked if she could come along, she had no idea that she'd
be driving the Jeep herself. |
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| We continued through the Prairie following Roger's
lead as the rain began to subside a little, and it was clear
that Carl and Colleen had completely abandoned any hope they
might have had to keep from getting their blue TJ dirty. |
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We finally caught Roger stalled by a water
crossing with his hood up. It was a peculiar thing - his
Jeep started instantly and purred but the gas pedal would
not work and any effort to manually work the linkage met
with significant resistance and stalled the Jeep.
We ultimately figured it out -- the sock Roger was using
as a make-shift air cleaner had been sucked down into the
throttle body. This was the silver TJ's last day for that
sort of thing too.
Once we got him up and running, Carl took time out for
. . . something. |
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| I'm not sure what he was doing, but I think
he was washing his sandals off. Whatever it was, Carl seemed
comical to the rest of us. "That's enough
leg there Carl, my web site's rated G you know." |
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| Roger took off ahead of us, but
we caught up to him, sitting in a muddy ditch spinning his
wheels. You'll notice that Carl and Colleen managed to get
past him without getting dirty. Colleen used a strap to pull
him out while we watched. |
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| Once we got back to the sign, an expression
that most of us use to refer to the pond at US Highway 41,
Roger and his sister Jennifer set sail for a little sunset
cruise. My kids just love this guy. |
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| When the intrepid TJ nose-dived, we were all
acutely aware that Roger had no snorkel, but he plowed on
thru without getting water in his air box. It looked like
he was actually going to make it. |
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| Somehow, I think the people ar Car Fax would
like to have this picture. |
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To be honest (just so someone
doesn't actually attempt that) the tug-o-war photo was for
fun. We couldn't have moved that Jeep with a hundred guys
pulling on that rope. What but a Jeep can be used like a
submarine one minute and driving down the boulevard the
next? |
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| Although we remained on Bad Luck Prairie thru
the wee hours of the morning, it soon became too dark and
too wet to take pictures. The mosquitoes, the heat, the endless
parade of crazy people stuck in mud holes they had no business
in . . . I really wish I could share it with you; if you haven't
had enough of sharing Bad Luck Prairie with us, I guess you'll
just have to join us on Day 3. . |
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| For now, we'll leave it to Richard's lovely
sister Jennifer to say, "Ciao." |
