XJ List Spring Fling

This past weekend Janice, Jenny and I attended the XJ list Spring Fling in Harlan, KY. The off road park in Harlan is my favorite of all that I have been to so far. It has over 7000 acres and over 200 miles of trails.

This weekend, rigs form our group conquered the infamous Lions Den. This is short but extremely challenging trial with shear drops and very narrow passages.

Josh has been building his XJ for the last six months with this trail in mind. And all his work paid off by making it through with just a few scratches on his well designed roll cage.

Jenny got quite a scare after she conquered Rail Bed with her new Lock Right Locker. AS she chose the narrow exit form the trail she slipped her front wheel off the ledge as was dangling about eight feet above a huge boulder. I quickly stabilized her with a winch line form my Jeep while the others put straps in place and Neal Hoover brought up his rig to winch the other end.

After some careful maneuvering, she was back on solid ground with only a leaking power steering pump as damage. She was very grateful to all who assisted her.

Several of the rigs ran Profanity. Jenny's Power steering was really acting up so those of us with her made sure she made it out the main trail and met back up at Middle fork. Evan drove her rig back down the rather scary trail to the campground as she was having trouble steering withe failing pump.

Evan loaned Janice his BMW and she and Jenny headed into town to fetch a new pump while Evan and I pulled the old pump. We had it off well before they got back. But when they got back we realized that we needed a pulley removal tool to make the swap complete. Evan and I went back into town to get the loaner tool. Armed with eh proper implements, we finished up the swap just about dark and settled in by the campfire.

The next morning we headed up to see the vista that the group had discovered the evening before while we were working on Jenny's Jeep. On the way there, Evan broke a transmission line. We were able to pool supplies from the group to make a trail repair right on the spot and continue on.

We had lunch while we enjoyed the beautiful view. I warmed some hot pocket meals on the intake manifold. We also posed for a group photo there.

We then made our way to the lower rock garden to play around some more.

We ended the day with steaks and potato boats cooked over a wood fire. Campfire conversation continued well into the night.

The levitating cell phone

I remember when I was racing at Cherokee Trails, my co driver Josh had clipped his cell phone to the tray under the glove box in the Jeep. It seemed pretty secure there and had stayed most of the day. However on our second pass on the Oswald Dome stage, there is a series of yumps that I was getting more confident on the second pass through.

As we accelerated down the hill, I hit one of the yumps with a bit more vigor than before. Josh paused in his reading of the notes and I was distracted from the road as he pointed out that his cell phone was hovering in mid air. The impact of the jump had popped the clip loose and sent it up just as the Jeep started to fall down the far side of the jump. The phone seemed to just hang there for what seemed like a very long time before the Jeep landed and his phone crashed to the floor board. We were both laughing so hard that I had trouble making the next turn.

Unfortunately the battery came loose from the camera so we did not record it on the in car video.

To prevent such occurrence in the future, Natalie from MobileFun.co.uk Iphone Acccessories sent me a StayStuck phone pad. This silicone pad is made of an amazing friction material that sticks to just about anything. I have been driving around with it in my street Jeep this week and my cell phone has stayed put just like the product name suggests. I have stuck it on the dash and on the center console and it stays either place just fine.

I have not hit any bumps as hard as those on the rally special stage but I do think it would hold up to those conditions as well.

The sample she sent me also has a really cool feature in that it has a place to mount a suction cup device like a phone holder or a GPS navigation device. I plan to test it further in my off road Jeep to see how it holds up to bumps and dust.

However, right now my mom has it. When she saw it and I told her what it is for, she snatched it up to "test" it herself as she hates having to stick her GPS to the windshield. She plans to use the pad to mount her GPS in a more easily accessible position.

So, it you have trouble with levitating cell phones or just want to mount your GPS or other suction cup mount device somewhere besides the windshield, this is the phone accessory for you. Check them out at IPhone Accessories or go direct to the StayPut Pad link.

This might even come in handy for mounting a camera on the Tail of The Dragon where the law enforcement folks have gotten picky about things mounted to the windshield. If they ever get the rock slide cleared anyway.

Playing in the rock garden at Harlan.

Coppinger Cove off road trip

This weekend we made a trip to Coppinger Cove along the Little Sequachie River.

We decided to take Jenny's XJ to test her new lift and tires.

We met there with a group of Toyotas from Atlanta.

The rains and snow melt had the water much higher than normal so much of the road in was flooded. Once we made it to the river crossing however, we found the water very deep and the current very swift.

We then decided to return to the highway and come in from the north. We entered on Pocket road and went down the stair case in to the valley. We passed the waterfall that springs from a cliff and falls into a sink hole.

We finally worked our way back to the other side of the river which had dropped a little since the morning when we first tried to cross.

The water crossing was a little scary due to the swift current but we all made it across safely.

See more videos here:
http://youtube.com/user/mlstrawxj

Mike

http://www.free2bme.ws/