 After a clear drive to the farm we began to unload the rigs when it began to
drizzle which we knew would increase the difficulty of the challenges that
awaited us. Luckily for us the drizzle quickly ceased and the clouds started
to break so it looks to be a good day ahead of us, or so we thought.
 We weaved down the trail through the trees towards the first challenge named
Rock Road. It is a long ravine filled with all sizes of rocks that are
usually moss covered and extremely slippery which can be run either
direction uphill or downhill. We chose to run it uphill which definitely
increases the difficulty of this obstacle. Generally this obstacle thins out
the group quickly since someone always seems to break something here. Out of
the seven rigs only four of us were willing to attempt the Rock Road and
we knew if we broke it would be a short ride but then again this was one of
the challenges we wanted to face. This year the moss was very limited but
the fallen leaves made up for it by making it slippery but even more so by
hiding the many crevices between the rocks.
Steve went first and worked his way up Rock Road until his left front tire
fell into one of the many hidden crevices. After many a try Steve opted for
the cable. The winch line was hooked and out he came. Steve then made quick
work for the rest of Rock Road.
 Next was Max Dollinger of MOAB Off Road of Kentucky in his well built 350
powered CJ-7. Max eased his rig onto Rock Road and then walked it up the
trail without incident. Joe in his super light weight Zook buggy was next
and he worked his zook through the Rock Road obstacle proving that
narrowness is king on this section.
 Finally it was my turn and I couldnt
wait to attempt this obstacle this year after having issues with it the
previous year where I was walking the Rock Road and fell and broke my
right foot. It was my turn for revenge. It must have been my time caused I
eased through the Rock Road except for one spot where I pointed my
front-end skyward but with a slight reverse and turn of the tire I was
moving forward again. The only catch here was that my right rear coil spring
popped out and it took the lot of us to get it back in. After that it was
smooth sailing and I made quick work of the Rock Road.
  Once again we had to weave through the trees to get to the next challenge or
should I say play area was the twisty creek bed. This is a great place to
test your suspension and just have fun. As we preceded towards this area
Marks right front tire on his YJ went parallel to the ground. Incredible,
he had broken the lower ball joint on his Dana 44 axle. Max and Steve came
to the rescue and got inventive and used a hand full of zip ties to
re-secure the knuckle to the axle housing so Mark could get his YJ back to
the staging area. Mark headed for the staging area and we preceded top the
creek bed. Mark quickly caught back up and we began the run at the creek
bed.
  We dropped down into the creek bed and played around there twisting our
suspensions and testing our maneuverability skills. There were a bunch of
fallen tree branches that attacked our rigs as we meandered through this
creek bed and one stick wedged between my shock and axle housing and bent my
shock while another lanced Steves lower radiator hose causing radiator
fluid to pour out of his zook.
Steve knew of few junk cars on his property so he ventured off to get
another hose so we decided to play around on a few little climbs while we
waited. After playing on the hill climbs we decided to try the excessively
muddy V-rut which leads to the sink hole. This is a one-way obstacle where
you drive in though the rut and then turn around in the sink hole and drive
back out. Joe went in first and didnt get very far and backed out. I went
next figuring the extra width of my zook would give me the advantage here.  I
went in and was making great progress until it was pointed out to me that my
right front tire wasnt pulling. At that point I should have backed out but
I didnt cause I figured I could make it in three wheel drive since it has
been progressing so easily, I was wrong, way wrong. I ended up wedging my zook in the rut and busting the left front axle due to the bind it was in,
now I was stuck! Joe tried multiple times to extract me but I was stuck,
S-T-U-C-K! Lucky for me Max and Steve returned and Max backed into the rut
and we hooked the strap and finally were able to extract my rig.
 The group headed to next obstacle Three Creeks while Jim Stopinski
followed me back to the staging area to drop my zook off.
 We rejoined the
group to begin the assault on Three Creeks. This is a neat area where three
rocky creek beds with some off camber spots converge into one. As with Rock
Road, this obstacle can be run from either direction and is fun no matter
which way you go at it. The five rigs left from our original seven proceeded
to tackle Three Creeks. Everyone went down Three Creeks without a
problem and Max decided that he wanted to run it uphill too so we watched as
he played around.
 We decided to head for the hill climbs since the temperature was starting to
fall and starting to lose sunlight. As we headed towards the climbs we
noticed Jims right front wheel on his zook was getting wobbly.
 After we
found some level ground we pulled the tire to see what was wrong and found
that four of the six spindle bolts had sheared off of his Dana 30. Glad we
stopped him when we did. We scavenged through our rigs to find nuts and
bolts to re-attach the spindle and found some bolts that we could make work
but they were not the bolts we preferred. It took longer than we expected to
make the necessary repairs to Jims zook and now it was dark and the
temperature was still dropping so we decided to head home and that concluded
yet another joyous Turkey Run.
Special thanks to Steve Birchler for the great time and letting us wheel his
farm, Max Dollinger for always lending a hand when someone broke and Jim
Stopinski for taking so many great pictures.
More photos can be seen at Jim Stopinskis website under - 11/27/2005 Added
new pictures from Steves farm:
http://www.projectsamurai.com/home.html
Moab Off Road of Kentucky
3812 Bishop Lane
Louisville, KY 40218
(502) 962-8141
www.moaboffroad.net |
After a clear drive to the farm we began to unload the rigs when it began to
drizzle which we knew would increase the difficulty of the challenges that
awaited us. Luckily for us the drizzle quickly ceased and the clouds started
to break so it looks to be a good day ahead of us, or so we thought.
