ezapar

For the record, I haven't given out any copies. I've only let people view it so far.

I made a point of re-wording my statement to say that I didn't mean club members as much as guys from the bulletin board. . . One of the guys telling us stopped himself, and reworded assholes to say that they were called rump roast "hats". For some reason, the post didn't go thru, but I walked away from the computer thinking it had. Don't wanna start a fight, wanna brag about what we accomplished. Anybody would have to be impressed by what we did. We did find plenty of parts, and we thru them in with our garbage. We heard 50/50 as to whether the post pile and gatekeeper were the same. . . If the post pile isn't the gate keeper, it may as well have been.

I can't post stuff from my video right away, my pc is too old to process the digital video. SO, for now, I can play it back on my vcr and take phtos of the tv screen with my other more simple computer ready digicam. Will post a bunch of them for previews, will add caption and a brief story behind each. Here's Peppy the Little Brown Mule, Formerly known as the Unhatched, (story in its self) broken attempting the second of 4 gnarly steps. He simultainiously broke a front strut, (at the still stock part of what he'd modified) a front axle, and a rear stub axle internally in the diff. The first two were easy fixes, (involving welding 6 inches of the highlift jack's handle to the strut as a sleave) but the stub had twisted as it broke iside the rear diff. It involved completely disassebliing the rear diff and welding a spare bolt to the stub to get a grip to pull it out. This accomplished after 2 hours or so of a million on the spot revelations as to how to get it out without disassembly, which were all to no avail. (btw, Robert had tightened his 4.44 lsd rear diff with air tools when he built it to assure it not coming apart during his 1000+ mile trip driving to the Rubicon and subsequently using it to 4X one of the gnarliest trails known to man. Didn't come apart without a good fight.) 10 hour job all said and done, our first day mostly waisted. We'd made it a half a mile up this rock pile, we knew now what we were up against. Drove away after breakfast the following morning. We'd winched it up to a clearing off the side of the road that would allow us to pitch tents. Had a bit of a slope, we've all got funny stories of constanly sliding during our sleep as we stirred. lol Ken had to take the bipass to get around him to get a position to be able to winch him. Bypass involved Ken needing his winch to free him of a big rock. PS Robert's shot at it is all on video, shot from behind as he manhandles the trail before the non-modified in his ride gave out. EZ

I had to let some people preview it, need to be able to let people know this is like nothing I've ever produced before. Gotta raise interest. Need a much faster computer with more ram and gigs to download my footage. My PC is 6 + years old. 466 used to seem screaming fast, 10 gigs was "more than I'd ever need" when I bought it. :boohoo: Tim. I thought about you every night. My tent was made by Wenzel, the big ol' logo was right by my face. If we had a black marker, I was gonna write D. Tim above it. LOL

hehe If they were at Spyder Lake and didn't see us, it's because they took the easy way in thru Loon Lake and not thru the Gate Keeper like we did. It would have been impossible to miss us on the trail we were on. When the Toyotathon is over, they'll most likely drive home and have plenty to say. (Did you know that locally, the Pirates are reguarded as the assholes of the trail? They're the ones known to gladly strip your stuck vehicle and the ones drinking and shooting guns, leaving garbage and parts behind?) We never did make it to Spyder or the Sluece. We made it about 2 miles from the Sluece. We ran out of spare parts, and didn't wanna be dicks and possibly block the trail for the hundred or so Yotas coming thru in groups of 20 about once an hour on Friday. The people we explained this to didn't say we were pussies for deciding this. They gave us respect for repecting them and the trail. They thought we were unlike most idiots who would insist on proving a point and continuing. We had already done the Gate Keeper, the Slab, and Walker's Hill. 2 of the 3 are listed among the "most difficult" on the map's legend. We were satisfied. *****edit**** to keep the record clean, we may have confused the post pile with the gate keeper. Gnarly at any rate. We can only go by what we're told, as the gatekeeper was not mentioned in the "bible". ****edit**** More and more stories soon. Pics also, I promise. The video will take a little while. You've waited 10 months, another won't be so bad. Zap "jeeps. . . taste like chicken"

First. To all of you who doubted or hated. . . You can kiss the Hatch Patrol/Oregon Off Road Subaru Club's collective rump roast! :moon: (Yeah, that IS a 12 inch lift on John's 2.2 powered hatch.) With that said. I could not have been in abetter group of companions. Any body who ever talks bad about Ken, John, Anthony, Robert or Lori will be black marked in my book for good, and I mean that. Decisions were made as a collective, there was no real leader, we all took our turn. We all worked as a team, sharing responsibilities and duties. We kept each others' spirits high every time another break happened. We looked out for eachother and everybody pitched in to his/her best ability. We stuck up for eachother when the occasional rump roast hole reared his head. We did our best to respect the rules of the trail. They were all very patient with me as I ran ahead to set up my camera to film, even though I know they were chomping to get over that new obstacle. (did I mention I walked/jogged about 30 miles or so on my bum knee in 4 days?) We did indeed beat a couple of the harder parts of the Mighty Rubicon! I do indeed have proper documentation of it on digital tape about 1 hour and 40 minutes long. Anybody who's seen my Off Road videos has seen nothing yet. The hardest stuff we've ever done in the past was about a 3 on the scale of 1-10, the Rubicon would rate a 9. It is as it's described. I have many many many still shots, taken with both of my digital cameras as well. Pics soon, I promise video in it's time. (I'll start a separate thread soon) The photos will be posted on the Hatch Patrol.com as we sort thru them. We did not make it to the famous Little Sluece Box, but did conquer the equally as famous Gate Keeper, or "Post Pile" or what the locals call "Rookie Filter". ( The VAST MAJORITY bypass this obstlacle and come in just 3 miles of so below the Sluece thru relatively easy trail. ) We did indeed make it up Walker's Hill without moving rocks, even though told groups had been lately. We did it in front of a group of seasoned Rubicon spectactors who's first comment was "We wanna be impressed". They had broken a transfer case on one of their big Yotas attempting it. They walked away impressd, believe me. (nother story, all on film!) We did indeed gain the respect of jeepers, yotas, and the locals. They also, except a minute few of the guys on the trail, gained respect from us. Not only does it reside on the refridgerator ant Uncle Tom's Cabin, but our "Hatch Patrol Rubicon 2003" logo sits proudly on the wall of "Robb's" wall of club logos at the camp ground/general store/bar/restaruant!!!!! ************************************************** We want to also thank Frank and his employees for not only letting us leave the two tow rigs for 4 days, but for their hospitality, kindness, trail information, and encouragement. We were timid and unsure if we were nuts when we approached, we'd been told since day one of planning that it was an impossible trail for the likes of our rigs. Once they got a look at our rigs, heard our story, saw we obviously meant business, they were the first to ever tell us we could most likely pull it off. ************************************************** We were prepared as well as anyone who was on the trail, and more prepared than most of them, no spoob. We possessed every item on the long list of things needed and recommended in the Rubicon "Bible" but 2 before tackling the trip. The two included: an experienced guide, and spare keys. We found out that we did indeed possess vehicles prepared for the Rubicon Trail. The actual story in another post. Back safe and sound, Eric Zap.

Flo you oughta get my number from Jason Baha. We'll most likely be here in PDX for a couple of days at the end of the week. Will stay thu the weekend for RallyX. Lift maybe?

Message. . . ? Anyways, just for a reminder......... Rose Quarter left at the light Right on MLK left on Mill two blocks on right Flo you oughta get my number from Jason Baha. We'll most likely be here in PDX for a couple of days at the end of the week. Will stay thu the weekend for RallyX. Lift maybe?

200 miles south of home, hanging at Rallitek, will meet Ken in the morning. Adam, send me an email with your #, I'll try and do as you say as we head thru Grant's Pass. chairotsu@earthlink.net Love the new emotocons, still wonder why folks can't stay on topic.