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Louisiana mudbug
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, February 23, 2005 - 10:55 pm: | 
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After I got back to dry land ,and telling myself ---> "never again cross water this deep with Gators tires", I then go in search of some new trails to ride my Max on. The place I now ride at,has so many trails,that I,m always finding new ones. Trails that I never saw the last time I went. I was riding my Max IV down a long watery jeep trail,when I spotted a long water trail section,a little wider than my Max.Maybe some some 4 wheel jeep or truck made it? This water section I saw ahead of me,was almost a block long in length.
Since the sides of this water trail section were not too far apart,I thought to myself,if worse comes to worse,I can use all of my Max bag of tricks to "get myself unstuck". Well,when I was about halfway through the water,I got high centered! I first tried standing,,rocking my Max side to side. Next,since I had previously removed my winsheild,I sat on the front of my Max with my knees facing rearward,and opperated the throttle,and rocking side to side. Nope!
Next,I got out of the Max,pushed foward against it,with one foot in the water and the other foot on some wet dirt. Nope! H,mmm!!!!
By now the sun was about an half hour from going down, and day light was soon fading. I then decided to pull my key out,and hopefully sprint back as fast as I could,to get my "come-a-long" and "Pull-Pal. Trouble was,I had not been down this trail before,and only had a general idea where my jeep and trailer was parked at. The very reason I was in this fix,was because I left in a such a hurry to get to where I wanted to ride my Max,because I was running so late,that I,d forget to put my floor boards in back in place! This left all of my chains exposed,to what ever fell on them. I had to come to a stop,every so often,to remove excess leaves,pine needles,and small sticks,that were collecting around my chains. I then started jogging down a trail at a faster pace. A trail that I "thought" would bring me to another trail,in the direction of my jeep ,on a main jeep trail ( partially dry ). This plan I hoped, would get me back to my jeep, that had my Pull-Pal and come-along inside it. I continued to jog at a faster pace,and pray to myself " Lord help me Jesus" !! I had to run through water sections,with one foot in the water,and the other foot on the closest bank,pushing branches away at the same time. I continued to jog, and accidently found a new trail,that I,d seen also accidently two months ago, when I almost submerged my Max in a deep creek.When I jumped out,,the water was up to my neck!
But,Thats another Max adventure. Maybe part three?
I continued to jog at a fast pace,on this newly found trail,until it came to a deadend.This was at a very deep ravine,that fed the creek that I almost sunk my Max in some months earlier. Hmmm!
maybe I,ll finish this new trail the next time I go?
Day light by now, was just about gone. I then turned 90 degrees to my left,and walked through the woods, in a direction as straight as I could go.I walked and crawled my way over limbs,under limbs,between trees,and through stickers vines! I continued to pray " Lord please help me!
I,m in deep trouble now!! I came to a small narrow creek,that I could easily make it across, if I tried to jump to the other side. I tried to walk as staight as I could through woods,and get lost even worse! I thought I heard a 4-wheeler????
Yes!! I did hear two 4-wheelers! I began to yell loudly ----HELP,,,,HELP!! I then heard a voice answer me back to my left. "OVER HERE" I then yelled back, " where are you at?" The voice comes back to my ears,," over here!" I began to fight my way through the branches and vines, in the direction that I,d heard the voice,and soon saw what looked like an open area. A new trail maybe? Yes,it was,and with two men on two Honda formen 4x4,s! Praise God, help has arrived! After I told both of them what happened,I then asked both of them if either of them knew how to get me back to my "stuck in the mud" Max. Nope,they both told me!This was their very first time trail riding there. hmmmm!! Well,I hopped on the back of the nearest Honda Formen 4x4,and off we all rode in search of my Max. I did manage to guide them back to where " I thought I was the last place I,d rode my max,but,no can do! All I did was lead us around in circles ,finding every trail that I,d last rode on,all but the one we really needed to find. I,d bought a GPS the last weekend,but I,ve still not figured out how to use it yet?? Well,God helps fools and idiots they say,and the trail I mananged to lead both of them on,took us almost back to my jeep.We then all saw the head lights of a jeep trying to get itself unstuck in the mud.My newly found 4-wheeler friend had a light in his truck that he said I could use.
I had previously told him,that if I had some light,we could all ride back to where they found me earlier,and I,d walk back through the woods again,back in the direction that I came before I met them. Trouble was,with me on the other side of the woods,they did have any idea what direction to go to find me,with me being on the other side. More silent prayers!
Well,I decided that this was not a very good idea ,so we then rode down a trail that I "thought" was a good one( a new one ) but, it soon dead ended into the woods! Hmmmm!
We then rode back another direction,when we saw a Jeep 4x4 and a Yamaha 450 racing 4-wheeler.This turned out to be the 4x4 jeep we,d seen stuck earlier. My newly found friend said "why dont you ask one of them if they can help us"? "maybe they know the trail to find your Max on?" Well,Praise God,one of then did know,but only had a general idea where my Max might be stuck. All of us began to ride down a trail in the direction where I "thought" my Max was. Finally,after about 45 minutes of riding in the dark,the two guys that I,d most recently met,said "I think we know where to go. Well,it was a direction I,d never even thought of. Straight down a concrete 4 lane road. But,it was really deserted. Good for us. The racing Yamaha is poping wheelies,1st,2nd,and 3rd gear, just flying down the road ahead of us! I think to myself " where is he going? finanlly we see his tail lights come on just ahead of us. He then lead us all in a left turn ,down a concrete two lane road, that soon dead ends. After he explains where we are at, the only way we can go,is to the left. So off we all ride. As we all ride down a trail that I,ve not seen before,I begin think to myself " hmmm,,this looks very familier". As we all ride further ahead, "I think,yes! I think,I hope,yes,I,m now praying,let this be the right jeep trail Lord. I strain my eyes to see ahead. I think I see my Max! YES!!
Praise God,its still there,still bellied up in mud! Well,my Honda Formen friends both have winches. The Jeep also has a winch too.My head hights,tail lights,and winch are all shorted out,for what reason I dont know? I,m so glad now to find my Max,I really dont care! My Honda formen friend pulls out a long flat strap. I then tie it to the front of both sides of my roll bar,and off we all ride. I have one Honda rider in front of me and another in back of me,to shine the way ahead of me. Soon,we all arrive back to where we parked our trailers. |
Rogersmith (Rogersmith)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, February 23, 2005 - 10:55 pm: |
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Mudbug, you're certainly getting broke in on the new toy. Buying tires that swim poorly, taking off by yourself without recovery equipment.. all things that I've done, hehe. Be careful out there. |
david berger (Davidrrrd)
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Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, February 23, 2005 - 10:55 pm: |
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david you should head out on your adventures with thes guys insted of finding them after your on foot,
i hope you got some e-mail address or phone numbers,
id be willing to bet at least one of them guys could demistify some of your electricle system faults.
with your wireing working corectly you could see, your winch would work too,
all that room onboard i don't understand why you dident have the comealong and asorted gear with you.
if any of these guys are willing to hook up for rides say as a groop you could sugest a frs radio chanel for groop to use to see whos out there on any given day, and maybe someone is tech savy and can help you with gps questions,
wouldent it be nice if you could set there dry and warm in your max and give out a set of co-ordenets over frs raidio and have someone you know come ploding along in a few minuets,
last evening myself and tim okeef and tim schotanus were out rideing down by tim okeefes
there came a broken master link and somehow we did not have a spair among us.
i hang my head in shame cause i usualy carry the kitchen sink and i would have had that size in it.
we dragged the disabled machine out via winch,
i think i should get a winch, there usefull. |
Rogersmith (Rogersmith)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, February 23, 2005 - 10:55 pm: |
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Speaking of winches, Harbor Freight has a sale on through Christmas. They have a $100 winch for $50. With a snatch block (pully reduction) I think it might be worth a try, on a budget. |
Louisiana mudbug
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, February 23, 2005 - 10:55 pm: |
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( David Berger )
Yes,David,I did get the phone number of the two guys that were on the Honda,s 4x4,s. In fact,we both agreed to hook for some trail rides together in the near future.The two guys that originally found me, when I was lost in the woods,were a father and son.
In fact, the Father has a GPS, and has agreed to help me understand how to work the GPS I recently bought. But,he told me ----> he knows nothing about electrical problems. He,s a pharmacy manager. I guess when you make that kind of money,you can easily pay other people to do the trouble shooting for you, ha-ha
David,I wrote two very long postings on the same day,and, with the very same subject title " Between a Rock and a Hard Spot with my Amphib" but each under different title headings. Did you read the other long post I wrote with the same title? Each one was different.
In the last long post that I wrote, ( I wrote two post on the same day )I fully explained why I did not have either my "come-a-long" or my "Pull-Pal" with me. It was almost 1:00pm by the time I finally my house,got my Max cleaned up, and then left for the trails. Since the sun now goes down about 5:30pm,I was in a big hurry to get to the trails before it go dark. It was not until I got to where I wanted to ride my Max,and then began unloading my Max, that I finally realized that I,d forgot to reinstall my floor boards. This left all my chains fully exposed,and with no place to put either my "come-a-long or "pul-pal". |
Timothy Schotanus (Mudbuster)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, February 23, 2005 - 10:55 pm: |
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Yes this is one for the records. Dave Berger made it through a ride and I didn't! A broken master link on my left side main drive chain in the middle of a swamp is a very bad thing. |
Brett Bonner (Brettbonner)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, February 23, 2005 - 10:55 pm: |
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I don't have any buddies with Max's or 6 wheelers. And part of the reason mine is wearing out so fast it that it goes places with 4 people that 4 wheelers can go. Then, when it gets stuck, everybody groans. God forbid, it breaks down where I can't recover it. Luckily, that hasn't happened - yet. |
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