Last of summer 8/31. "Fire and Mud"

This was the last summery thing we got to do before school started and the leaves turned yellow and football (ugh) started.  We went out the same place off Jenny M creek we went earlier in the year.  The main road had been dug up and big ditches and walls were put up to keep people out of the owners lumber.  

The biggest difference was that this time we were riding in style, Brian let us take the top and doors of his jeep so we could stand up and really experience the trip.  That turned out to be kind of a bad idea.  at one point Jordan, when standing, got rammed in the gut by the roll bar as we went over a big bump.  Also having the doors and roof off meant we all got "a light smattering" of trail mud.  not to mention the trees reaching into the cab.  Despite all of this the feel of a topless rig, i now know, is impossible to beat.  

We pretty well mapped out the entire system of trails as far as we were willing to go.  we got turned back twice by swampy conditions, the kind that turn any adventure from fun to work.  As impressed as I was with the rig having a nice winch I wasn't interested in the slightest to try it out.  The first of these two turnarounds we (I) learned how to catch an exhaust on fire.  And my faithful crew learned hot to put one out.  I made sure we brought water remembering a time in juneau we'd been so long at digging our rig out we had to quit for thirst.

After finding a spot we could defeat the earthen road block I offered Caleb the drivers seat, which being on a trail and him being such a fit trail boss he hesitated but for effect before exclaiming his acceptance as though he'd been wanting to ask but hoping more that i'd offer.  (I'm reading an old book right now and the way its written is so cool its worth imitating, bear with me) 

When we first left the Toziers were over (Papa Tozier was off doing manly things like growing a beard so there were visiting) and the four boys came over with wide eyes wanting to know where we were going.  I felt bad we had to leave them.  If we had another rig we could have spit up and split them, that would have been fun.

After the trip was over Tobi, Jordan , and I went to Brian's house and hung out watched some stargate and some specially selected episodes of firefly.  The next day jordan and I painfully washed the mud out of the jeep and got the top back on it.  I'd suggest Caleb and Tobi owed us a little but I'm sure we just made payments on our debt.

No girls and no dogs (consequently no barf in the car) but we still managed to scrape a little fun together anyway.