By Rusty

The Ridge Rambler trail was only run on Friday. There were 10 vehicles (including guides), nine Jeeps and one Montero. For a supposedly "easy" trail, the day took its toll. My CJ8 suffered from mechanical problems (beginning with my needing 4-wheel drive to get up the driveway to the trail head (Jenny said because of no weight in the back of the pickup bed. Thanks for the face saving comment!) and ending with our arriving at lunch on the end of a strap (thank you Hamer). More funds for the buck-a-stuck. The Hubner family also left at lunch due to a minor illness. I saw them around later and was glad everyone felt better and going back on the trails. Everyone else survived the morning's twisty trail through the woods and mild off-camber by the pond. We enjoyed lunch and the tour of the Tate's cabin by the lake.

The report about the afternoon run will be hearsay. Sandra Mikrut and daughter Christie were in a 60th anniversary silver Cherokee that had barely seen it's first oil change. Sandra has been a passenger with Rooster for many trips, but is an admitted novice at driving. Her morning was great, but the afternoon - well, she became a real Jeeper. There was the stump that rearranged her front bumper and the branch from another downed log that left its mark on the rear passenger door and all the way back to the rear fender, popping it off (Rooster, you took that well.) No other afternoon trail reports.

Follow up: Sandra washed the trail dust off (with great supervision by the guys) and relaxed on Saturday. John & I discovered the CJ8 starter wouldn't do its thing on Saturday morning, so he pushed and then we winched it onto the trailer (is that another buck?). Those extra toys can be useful in unexpected ways. Then we dropped it off for repair and toured the great city of Hannibal, Mo.~