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Anyone have thoughts on a July trip?  Thinking....Rocks and Valleys?

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Day trip unless you are making your own overnight plans.  East siders leaving WalMart on Court St at 8am,  we will meet up with everyone else at the Mt Morris Rest Area off of I75 at 8:30

My wife is getting ready to transition back to a car, so we need to make room in the driveway.

2008 Wrangler Unlimited "X" 57k miles $19,995 OBO

Factory goodies include dual tops, running boards, cruise/air/tilt/pw/pl, traction control & ABS brakes, front tow hooks/rear factory hitch, 17" alloy wheels

Aftermarket goodies are limited to Husky floor liners, CB antenna mount behind the spare tire, grab handles, trailer brake control module

This is a relative unmolested Wrangler (my wife's DD), never used for more extreme offroading than Silver Lake sand dunes and West Branch two tracks.  All maintenance/warranty/recall issues recently completed (including new fuel tank).  Brand new tires and steering stabilizer installed 3/2011.

Feel free to call if you have questions 810-241-2482

No it was not Jeep-related.  Deb got home from work yesterday afternoon to find several inches of standing water in the basement.  When the weather started warming up we discovered that our sump discharge line was frozen, so we temporarily rerouted it to the sink with a garden hose, but things thawed quickly and things have been working well for several days so I was a bit confused.  When I got home last night, not only was there water, but a thin sheen of oil on top of the water.  So I went to the garage to get my handy utility pump so I could get the water down far enought to work on the sump pump.  The utility pump was acting up some last fall, and apparently did not survive the winter.  $109 trip to Home Depot.  Back home, I got the water pumper down with my new utility pump, and pulled the sump pump from the pit.  Apparently, the bearing let go allowing the oil-filled motor to puke out the oil.  $196 trip to Home Depot for a new sump pump.  Fimally got everything installed, pumping the way it should, but now the cleanup.  $Cost?  Unknown, but it ain't going to be fun.

What's the best way to get rid of those winter blues?  Need an escape from Tax Season?  

Let's go play!

A couple of years back a handful of us took a weekend and went to West Branch to go camping and exploring some new trails with our sons.  Unfortunately, on the way home I was messing around with my then-new GPS and deleted all of our tracks.  I am going to plan a day trip to West Branch to try and find some of those trails again, I enjoyed our run on the last Sunday of February last year and plan to do it again this year.  Nothing formal, no serious plans, just a day to go poke around in the woods.  A little snow might make it interesting.  

Same rules as last year - you need tow points at both ends, and bring your sense of humor!

Who's in?

No I am not planning the breakfast menu for our next trip - I just scheduled my amateur radio Technician level license exam for next Monday in Davison.  They have a local amateur radio club that offers a class through the adult education program to get you ready for the Technician exam, they are doing their testing Monday so I am going to head there instead of Baker College on 11/13.  

Why HAM?  Ever try to call for help on the CB in the woods?  Maybe you can reach out a mile or so, but generally the distance is measured in yards, not miles.  A number of offroaders choose 2m radios - if you have enough power to hit a repeater, you can communicate with another user as much as 40 miles away from the repeater tower.  Talk about reach out and touch someone.  If the repeater has the option available, you can also place a telephone call through the repeater, which gives you unlimited reach.  

I used a site called hamtestonline.com to prep for the exam.  $20 gives you access to their training system, which uses the actual Technician exam questions as part of the training.  There is a bit of math and some physics involved in all of this, but if you can memorize the answers that counts as good as being able to actually do the math.  For those that don't know, as a bright-eyed teenager I left home to study engineering only to discover that physics and I didn't see eye to eye...especially Electricity and Magnetism.  Radio waves = Electricity & Magnetism, and even I could get through it, so anyone can do it!

The equipment is not cheap - looks like a decent 2m radio will run about $200, and almost $100 more for coax and antenna.

Volunteers Needed for Stewardship Workdays in Southeast Michigan in November
Contact: Laurel Malvitz-Draper 248-359-9057
Agency: Natural Resources and Environment


October 26
The Department of Natural Resources and Environment today announced the schedule of volunteer stewardship workdays to be held throughout November in southeastern Michigan state parks and recreation areas.

Volunteers are needed to help collect native plant seeds and cut invasive shrubs in natural areas within state parks and recreation areas. These activities will help protect and restore the unique natural areas in these southeast Michigan state parks. Volunteering for these workdays is a great way to get outside, breathe some cool fall air and get a bit of exercise. Volunteers will also be able to experience Michigan's lovely fall colors and harvesting tradition.

Dates, times and locations of the workdays are as follows:

• Saturday, Nov. 6, Algonac State Park
(St. Clair County), 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
• Sunday, Nov. 7, Highland Recreation Area
(Oakland County), 1 to 4 p.m.
• Saturday, Nov. 13, Bald Mountain Rec. Area
(Oakland County), 9 a.m. to noon
• Saturday, Nov. 13, Highland Recreation Area
(Oakland County), 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• Sunday, Nov. 14, Waterloo Rec. Area
(Washtenaw County), 1 to 4 p.m.
•
Volunteers should bring appropriate clothing for outdoor work, including long pants, boots, gloves and drinking water. For seed collecting, volunteers should also bring a clean, empty milk jug and sunscreen.

For information about the specific tasks at each location and to obtain directions, visit the DNRE website at http://www.michigan.gov/dnrvolunteers and link to the "Calendar of Volunteer Stewardship Workdays." All volunteers are asked to register using the forms available on the website. A special form for all seed collecting activities is available at the top of the calendar listing. Any questions should be directed to Laurel Malvitz-Draper at http://www.michigan.gov/dnre.


It is events like these that help build a working relationship...

Wit a helmet, safety glasses and bundled up against a damp  October morning our friend Doug doesn't really LOOK lile our friend Doug until about the third take.

I am heading up to see the new rocks and play for a while, anyone wanna tag along?

The fall color tour yesterday contained more adventure and less color than we planned.  The colors were a bit past their peak this weekend as we covered almost exclusively 2wd roads and trails.  Our attempt to stay legal in the National Forest result in some nice color, 1 tesspass, and no requirement for 4wd.  It appears that anything fun was excluded from the Motor Vehicle Use Map.  But we had a nice day in the woods, so not a total washout.  We ended the day at Silver Lake, where I had several reminders that a 4dr JK is significantly longer than my LJ and has a much lower breakover angle.  One stuck was a simple hill that after watching Ed snap over I thought I should get out of the gas a bit at the top.  The second one was a repeat, except failing light, park closing and nothing but ATVs around...on the last crest of Test Hill.  Beautiful view, just not normally a spot to hang out and take pictures.  When we finally found a willing helper with tow hooks (who plays in the sand without tow hooks??) we went looking for Ed and Julie at 7:29 to make sure they weren't still waiting for us, when we saw and heard somone calling for help over by the "forest".  Turned out to be Ed and Julie!  Ed was a long way down a loose hill, but he had his stick to connect our straps, and we inched him out just as darkness fell and the park closed.

The Trolls will be hosting their annual fall color tour again this year, October 9 in the Wolverine/Indian River area.  No charge, lunch is provided, and the run will include a mid-day stop back at the campground they are coordinating with.

October 10 is the fall Quarterly membership meeting for GLFWDA, held at the Dam Site Inn in Pellston.

For more details, bop on over to GLFWDA website.

I have my axle back, ready to swap in this weekend.

I have almost 2 cases of beer left over from Jonathon's birthday party.

Anybody want to help me solve my problems on Saturday?

Sitting alone in a gravel parking lot, surrounded by big, unfriendly-looking Jeeps.  At first it might have looked abandoned, but the owner called to check up on it, so not as lost and forgotten as it looked!

What's getting done to your Jeep Ed?

A Note from Peter Vahry, UFWDA Invernational VP:

 UFWDA biennial survey
« on: June 27, 2010, 09:46:39 pm »  

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

UFWDA has being running major surveys over several years now at two yearly intervals and yes... there is another one that we would really appreciate your involvement with.

Although aimed at members, UFWDA welcome wider input from the 4x4 community, so we are happy for the survey link to be circulated.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ufwda2010

Some questions may not be ideally worded but that's usually because we repeat quite a few questions every time we run this survey, which allows the direct comparison with earlier answers. There are 74 questions but many are simple 'yes/no' style. There are opportunities to be more expansive with some answers.
Please take a few minutes to complete the survey, as it can provide some really useful data about our
recreation and the people who enjoy four wheeling.

It wasn't that long ago that we welcomed a new face into our home, and it seems like just a few years later we are crossing a milestone.



My Jeep rolled over 100k today.

(You thought I was getting all weepy about Jonathon's birthday, didn't you?)

Anybody object to passing the hat at Sunday's meeting for a collection to donate to GLFWDA for the extra rocks at St Helen they are trying to purchase?

Anybody have a couple of minutes to stop by and help me move an entertainment center?  Deb and I got it to the porch
but Cody isn't coming to get it until Sunday.  Deb would like it moved to the garage before Jonathon's party, but she isn't strong enough to help me get it there.

Anyone going to be over this way after work one night?

Not sure what the technical name for this seal is, fits between the windshield frame and your hardtop or soft top header

unused (can you still call it new after 4 years in the garage?)  $20

I don't think I will be buying a YJ again anytime soon, time to part with the last of the chrome/stainless parts for my YJ.

Very good used $30 pair