29 May 2009
As usual, today started as most days where I need to leave on a trip. I woke up late, had to get the FJ packed and to top everything else off, I really wanted to get the oil changed before taking off for Independence, CA and the start of my White Mountain adventure.
Originally, I was supposed to meet Luke (Radrod) at my office around 11:30, but given the state of my morning, I was quickly changing plans. There was no way I was going to make it to the office in time to meet him so we made a last minute change of plans. He would meet me at my folks house between 11:30 and noon. That gave me just enough time to get my stuff together, to get the oil changed with enough time to hit the local Ralph’s to pick up some ice and firewood.
Luke rolled up a few minutes before noon and after a brief salutation, we hopped into our respective trucks, dialed our CB radios to channel 20 and hit the road.
We managed to get ahead of the traffic, with the exception of some minor slowing on the I15 as we approached the 60 and the I10. Other than that, it was pretty smooth sailing all the way to our first gas stop at the 395 / 58 junction. Luke took advantage of this opportunity to fill his extra fuel tanks located on his roof, nestled in just below his rooftop tent. Twenty or so minutes later and beck on the road we went.
I had called Steve earlier and we determined that we would be hitting the 14 / 395 junction at roughly the same time so we decided to meet up and be a caravan of 3 the rest of the way to Independence and our camp for the night at Gray’s Meadows. Originally, we had planned to meet at a little brewery off of the 14, roughly a mile north of the 178. As fate would have it, there was a misunderstanding in the directions and Luke and I ended up waiting for Steve at the Shell station in Pearsonville, just a few miles up the 395. While there, we topped off our tanks again and when Steve arrived, we fell in line behind him and started the last ninety miles of our drive.
The time and miles passed quickly as the three of us chattered back and forth on the CB. Even Keith got into the chat at times. Surprisingly, he managed to stay awake for the duration of the drive. He’s usually out cold before we get to the freeway.
I guess it was around 4:00 PM when we pulled into Independence and another fifteen minutes later, we spied Nevadaesh’s Sun Fusion FJ and the campsites we would call “home” for the night. My immediate thought when I saw which sites Gary had chosen for us was “Why in the world did he choose sites so close to the road???” But when we actually arrived at the sites, and I saw the view, I completely understood…
The view from Gray's Meadow.
What can I say? Nevadaesh did good!
We were all anxious to get out and stretch our legs so we found our respective spots, parked and headed down to see Gary and his pooch Sydney. It also gave us a chance to look around a bit and take in some of the sights.
This was the view to our west.
Keith had wanted to explore the area and while he was out, I decided to unload the truck so we could easily get to our gear later in the evening. A little while later, I had the gear out of the FJ, our chairs placed around the fire ring and our lantern was assembled and sitting in the middle of the picnic table.
When my work was done, I headed over to the next site and found Steve and Keith kicking back, checking out the view…
Spert and Keith checking out the view.
In the mean time, Gary had mentioned that he wanted to head back into town for dinner. We were still waiting on one more person to arrive at camp so we all kicked back and Spert brole out his case of Orange Blossom Ale and offered each of us a bottle. I must admit that I though of my buddy Jay when Steve told us about the beer. I knew that Jay would have appreciated this quirky flavored micro brew.
Eric (aka Poker) wasn’t too far away and we were all still trying to kill time untill he arrived. Steve meandered over to my site and we talked for a bit.
Personally, I think he was just looking for a reason to check out the mountains to the west.
Poker finally arrived a little before 6:00 so we all loaded into the Fjs and headed back into Independence. No one really knew what we would find as far as restaurants so we did a quick lap around town. Needless to say, our options were limited to just one place, Hooligans Bar & Grill.
The service was lacking and it took what seemed like forever to just place our oder and longer still to get our food. The wiatress had recommended the burgers, noting that they ground their own meat. She sold me on the burger so a burger I ordered, along with an order of their hot wings. She was right, the burger was damned good and the wings were too!
After dinner we all headed back up to camp and got a fire started. Everyone pulled up a chair and we sat around the fire ring, enjoying a beer or two and soaking up the warmth of the fire. Luke was the first to head back to his camp and turn in. Gary followed around an hour later. Eric, Steve, Keith and I stayed out a couple hours more, talking and discussing the agenda for tomorrow. Then Eric broke out the bratwurst and he and Keith had second meal.
Eric waiting for his brat to cook..
Steve takes a cat nap as Keith woofs down his bratwurst.
The hour was getting late and we had an early start the next morning so we all headed to our sites to turn in. As usual, Keith and I slept in the FJ. The front seats are surprisingly comfortable.
And with that, I will say good night.
Day 2 coming soon…
Well, I’ve been putting this off for a couple weeks now; trying to convince myself not to get into the blogging world while at the same time, having an undying need to share my adventures with anyone who’d like to read about ‘em. Hopefully my audience will eventually grow, but for now I’m sure this will be more for my buddy Jay than anyone else.
I’ve also been trying to decide which 4×4 trip to start off my new blog and I finally decided on the most recent trip I’ve been on which took place the last weekend in May 2009.
As you can see from the title of this entry, this trip was called the White Mountain Pre-Run. What’s a “pre-run” you ask? Well, in off-roading terms a pre-run is a scouting trip taken to look over a particular trail or group of trails before leading a larger group along the route. It gives the trail boss a chance to get any obstacles or large obstructions out of the way and get a general idea of the condition of the trail.
Although we had initially intended to keep the group limited to just four FJs on the pre-run our trail boss, Steve “Spertierra” (“Spert” for short) Garcia ended up opening it up to a select few who couldn’t make it on the actual run scheduled for a few weeks later. Our numbers grew from the original four rigs to a total of eight, with two dropping out at the last minute leaving our total number at six rigs.
The cast of characters for this run is as follows:
Trail Boss – Steve (aka Spert or Spertierra). Gary (aka Nevadaesh). Luke (aka Radrod). Eric (aka Poker). Mike (aka MikesCruiser) and his little lady Jenny. And Tail Gunning (bringing up the rear) yours truly, Brian (aka Kokopeli) and my oldest son Keith.
Ok, have you got all that? Day 1 of the trip is coming soon…
