On our way to Sinkhole Flat Jason saw a Ram Charger for sale. It's something we have been talking about for quite some time now since it is hard to wheel in the winter with the girls just hanging out in the back of the mud truck. Getting the jeep was supposed to help solve that, but it needs some money put into it to get it where we'd like to go, but then it wouldn't be such a great family vehicle for running errands.
We thought about it for a week and then Jason made the call. He ended up talking the guy down on the price, so how could we pass it up?
We took it wheeling Thursday night when we brought it home and realized it was almost exactly a year from when we bought the jeep (maybe we've started a new tradition). Well, it is not the wheeling machine the guy made it out to be; just going down a dirt road that had a few dips in it, and we were rubbing the fenders with the tires.
Our plan is to swap all the parts from the mud truck to the Ram Charger so it will then be our mud truck. We'll have to do a little more work on it to fit those 38" tires!
Friday night Abriana had her friend, Tanisha, spend the night and we took the RC out again to find some squeakies. We got to Axtel and the thing died in the middle of the road; seems we need an alternator. So we went back home and loaded up in the jeep. No luck on the squeakies, but it was a lot of family fun.
In the morning we went fishing. Jason has had a hankering for trout for awhile so we hit Nine Mile. The sun was shining, the breeze was cold, the girls were hiking, the fish weren't biting. Hours and hours without a bite isn't much fun anymore, so we loaded up and went home to grab a few things before we went to try Redmond. We were thinking some more 27 inch pike (or bigger) would at least curb the fishing crave we had.
John called when we got to the house. They were headed up XL Canyon and asked if we'd like to come. Sweet! We've heard a lot about it, but never have been. Change of plans; we'll go fishing in the morning and Tanisha can stay another night. We left right away and since we beat them there we took a few minutes to get my new gun on paper. I like my new gun!
We finally hooked up with everyone and set out up the canyon. We were the first ones to park and walk. Our jeep does not have the clearance or flex that it needs to conquer that canyon. Maybe that is a good thing considering what happened later.
John was the next to park it when he got stuck in a hole right beside a rock. Eric and Mandy didn't want to beat their truck or do any body damage, so they parked it a little farther up. Kevin and Mike kept going until Kevin came down on a rock and split the tube of his drive-line in half! Everyone was saying, "Wow, I've never seen that happen before!" So while the guys worked on replacing the drive-line, a fire was started for the kids. Mike decided he wanted to go up to the top and see the waterfall.
Kevin's truck was ready to go and we could hear Mike coming back down when all my girls decided they just wanted to lay down in the jeep. I walked them back down and sat waiting thinking any minute we would leave. Jason showed up almost half an hour later and said, "We are officially on a rescue mission. Mike did the exact same thing his brother did, and when pulling his truck off the rock, it yipped over!" It was a sight to see and I really wish I had remembered the camera.
John got his Blazer unstuck and tried to get up to Mike to use the winch to upright the truck. He didn't make it very far; he almost tipped over on the next obstacle. Everyone decided then it would be best to go back in the light. We changed our plans again, and said we'd get the mud truck up there to help.
Long story short, by the time we got the mud truck just about ready to go, we figured they had already got the job done. Besides they probably had enough vehicles up there anyway. So we loaded up in the jeep and went fishing on the west side of Yuba.
It was a great day to be fishing! The sun was blazing, the girls were playing in the sand and water, and the lake was smooth as glass. Wish we had the boat out there.
But again, no fish were biting. We stayed for quite some time enjoying the nice summer day, until it was time to get the girls home, showered and put to bed.
It felt so good to be outdoors in the nice weather! It was like a mini vacation.
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