The Adventures of
Princess:Of the Mud Part VI
Princess' ultimate off-roading
experience, "christening" the new engine, testing the new lift and
tires.
It's been a few months now since
Princess' main projects have been completed.
Mike mentioned this has been the longest time he's went without
off-roading. A brief time later after talking with his friend Robert he
was invited to an off-roading trip just a short distance away from
where we live.
The day before it had snowed a few inches although the snow had melted
away before we arrived.
Mike had already decided since he had never been to this place before
although he had read and researched it, we would take Princess.
I had already decided I would let Mike do the driving since he was
"Jonesing" about off-roading.
The day began rocky. We were getting phone calls from Robert about this
delay and that. The leader of the group's vehicle had broke down. We
were not sure we'd get to off-road though we'd make the best of the day.
When the call came that they were finally on their way Mike, Janice and
I were getting excited. We met up at a gas station to get gas and
snacks then headed on down the road.
Our destination: Coppinger's Cove
Mike told me a few days earlier he had heard about it and wanted to go
sometime back, but that it had been closed. He wasn't sure it had been
opened back up until he did research then learned others had recently
been there.
At the beginning of the adventure (which turned out later to be our
ending), all you could see was water and not just a puddle here or
there. It was water at least a foot and a half to two feet in some
places. Occassionally you would see a mound to get up on then go back
into the water. I was so glad Mike was driving.
Janice sat up in the front for awhile since I wanted to be a back seat
passenger enjoying the ride.
When we got to one place the leader of the group got left behind by his
ride so he rode shotgun with us for awhile.
It was so fun going through the water then over the huge rocks.
Princess was handling it all gracefully.
Mike was quite please with Princess' performance ( I think she trully
loves off-roading and knows it).
A little while later we came up the Little Sequatchie River that at the
time was raging. The water had to have been 3 1/2 to 4 feet deep at the
time. Many of the guys were concerned about crossing it.
I
couldn't see my beloved Jeep crossing it. One of the guys did
go
across though he had a snorkel to assist.
There was a little struggling but he made it there and then back.
The leader wanted to find the other end of the trail.
The funniest parts had to be Princess pulling the Toyota truck with the
snorkel out of the mud. Mind you Mike has been driving and the driver
of the truck Assumed Princess was Mike's. The guy in one
sense
offended me when he seen my beloved Princess across from the truck
getting ready to pull him out and made a comment. I quickly let him
know that was My Jeep. He quickly shut his mouth and let the
Jeep
do the talking.
Mike by this time was having a blast. He was like a rooster cocking his
head high since he pulled a Toyota truck out of the muddy ruts then
played on a side trail before coming back to the line.
The comedy hour wasn't over just yet. The next guy in line in
his
recently purchased used Isuzu Trooper fell down into the rut even
deeper putting his passenger side rear wheel at least 3 feet up in the
air. This was with his four year old son strapped in his car
seat
asking his dad later on, Can we do that again?
Back to where we started the adventure.
It took us at least 20-30 minutes of trial and errors. I
wasn't sure if we'd get to see any action the way it was going.
Finally we came upon one of the main starts/ends. A few more trial and
errors finally got us to some action.
Let the rough ride begin. The trail had many, many, many rough and
rocky areas.
Some of the guys mentioned waterfalls being along side the trail which
you could hear and some you could see. They were beautiful.
As we were going along we had to stop at one place and Mike decided he
would be the one to take a look at the trail. What he didn't
tell
me is that a part of it had apparently washed out and we would be going
through a very rough, fast moving patch of water.
I was in the back looking at some information for my upcoming business
venture when I stopped, looked up and my jaw hit the floorboard just as
Mike was driving across the water!
He told me later that was the scariest part of the trail for him.
The rest of the guys followed shortly after then we stopped for a break
so our hearts would slow to their normal paces. We had also heard a
strange clanging noise from under the hood. Turns out the fan
shroud had come loose.
Mike brought Princess up to a hill to sit by a waterfall. She
had her picture taken then one with me.
As we headed on down the trail the clanging noise came back so I found
a bolt to temporarily hold the shroud in place.
I was having fun especially driving through the water in certain
places. I was beginning to wonder where this trail was taking
us
since I was seeing the Little Sequatchie River again. I was
sure
hoping it would take us to an easier crossing place than earlier.
That wasn't the case. Everyone stopped and began preparing
for
the trek across the river. It had calmed and went down some
just
not enough for my confidence. Mike was quite eager to go
across
which surprised me.
Robert was hesitant particularly since his alternator sits low on his
truck.
So as people were doing what they could to encourage Robert to take the
challenge I worked up my own then told Mike lets just do it.
We let the leader know we would go next. Mike had already
connected the strap which I gladly held on to.
What scared me the most was everyone telling us to roll down all the
windows just in case....
My heart began pounding hard as we lined up. Something in me
at
the last minute come out of my mouth and told Mike to go for it.
Janice holding on to her camera and one of the oh sh*t bars videoed the
trek across. About the middle of the river I was hoping for
dear
life my Jeep would make it. I was holding on to the strap for
dear life (like what was I going to do? pull my jeep to safety?)
eventually telling Mike we're going to make it.
Looking back at the video the water was up over halfway on the doors.
Mike said the water was at least 3 feet deep.
He took it stride though and we hollered we made it! As we touched the
shore.
As we got out the water drained from all the doors. When we
were
getting ready to leave later, I realized the entire floorboard was
soaked.
After we made the trek across, as usual Robert followed. We
cheered him and the others behind us on. I mean surely since
a
mere Jeep Cherokee amongst all the Toyotas and an Isuzu would all make
it across.
In the end, everyone made it across and so we all headed back home.
What an awesome day!