Tri-state MK's trail ride: Badlands, IN 9/23

Randoo-N-CJ · Sep 26, 2008

Will H said:
Great pics guys, The one with the four Pats is gonna be my new desktop also.
Willy when you get the parts let me know and we'll get those plates put on for ya:smiley_thumbs_up: I made my appointment to get the horn replaced today; that thing sounds sick I tell ya.

I wish I could have heard it. I bet it sounds like a dying animal..hehe

Will, thanks for giving me the info on how to correctly get my Pat set up to run up the hills so well. (yeppp, I forgot to kick it into lockout until Will reminded me.) Up to that point, what little climbing I did was just in drive with ESP off. Go figure.

Will H · Sep 26, 2008

Glad I could help Randoo.

About lunch two sandwiches, two sodas, and two handfuls of chips was my limit. Not to say that I could of done another sandwich but what would you guys think?

I'll PM my address so you can e-mail me the photos.

firemothjoe · Sep 26, 2008

Holy smacks, those are some high quality Pics, Randoo! I knew we'd get some good ones when you broke out the big professional grade monster camera! I'm trying to figure out that spy satellite photo you linked to, but I can't make heads or tales of it! Perhaps when placed over the Badlands' crappy map, it would make more sense to me! Nevertheless, I am up for another Badlands visit- especially if there is new territory to explore! Let's not plan the next trail ride in this thread, rather, I'd say we should discuss takeaways and lessons learned from this trip. Feel free to share.

1. I mentioned this before, but radios are awesome! I felt bad because I only had 3 talkabout radios to go around. (I used to have 4, but one got wet during a resent hiking trip that went HORRIBLY WRONG). If there were 6 radios, then everyone woulda been in contact with everyone. We used the horns to communicate with non-radio holders, but "come here" vs. "get back" all sounds the same in horn language! I propose that, for next time, each driver gets a radio. They come in compact and simple, like the ones I use http://www.shoplet.com/office/db/MTRFV200AAPR.html or in extravagant and awesome, like this one- https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=6404 ...that one can actually transmit your location! Not everyone has to go out and buy a pair, remember I have two extra to lend out. Someone else could buy a pair and split them and the cost with another driver. Simple! Just a proposal!

2. Mud+ brand new car+ mud soaked engine=maintenance cost?? Monkey see- monkey do. Will H went roaring through 3 ft deep mud puddles, and so did Firemothjoe. But Will is a mechanical genius, Firemoth is not! My question is, will gently spraying down the engine at the car wash do the trick, or is there some long term maintenance issues I should keep and eye out for? Besides a dying goat horn that is!

Randoo-N-CJ · Sep 26, 2008

Joe, I was finally able to figure out where things were with that satellite photo when I zoomed back out a little and had the Badlands map right in front of me (pointed correctly to the north).
Hey, those radios look like the nuts. The price wasn't near as bad as I thought they might be. If we get another group together, I'll be sure to get a pair for us.
The only thing I can think of for next time mostly effects me and westsidewilly: and that's to remember that there is A TIME DIFFERENCE!!:icon_rolleyes: That and remembering to bring a video camera to throw up some youtube stuff again. Can't have too many of those, can we??
After looking at everyones pictures that were taken this last week, I've come to the conclusion that our trip was very well documented. :smiley_thumbs_up:

firemothjoe · Sep 26, 2008

Heck yeah it was! So, is this the biggest Patriot meet to date? 4 Patriots, 6 jeeps total. Only thing missing was a bonfire and beer later that night.

alas, it's forbidden at Badlands. Hate to see what the rules would be if they called it Goodlands.

Will H · Sep 26, 2008

Joe,
Take the garden hose and an old towel and spray and wipe that engine clean. That's what I do to get the dirt off there is nothing you can hurt under there with the spray nozzle of a garden hose, but use towel or rag to wipe off the grunge.

I noticed that the A/C was not cooling as well as usual when I left and I stopped at the spray car wash in Attica to hose off some of the crud. The mud/soup we were going through restrcted air flow through the A/C condenser in front of the radiator. So take the hose to the condenser and radiator and spray it out until it's clean. You too Willy!

I noticed I got alot of tree branch pin stripes this time around. I'm already waxing them out. I might have a couple of 2-way raidos this weekend.

heckler · Sep 26, 2008

so Will, did (do) you take your Explorer out to do similar drives, or is it really a Jeep thing?

I never took my S10 Jimmy out with the intention of just driving around.

Will H · Sep 26, 2008

polished_heckler said:
so Will, did (do) you take your Explorer out to do similar drives, or is it really a Jeep thing?

I never took my S10 Jimmy out with the intention of just driving around.

Nope it's only a 4X2 Explorer although it's most likley seen more off roading when I have taken it hunting and fishing than some 4X4's. I know for sure that it would not have made it through alot of the stuff we went through at Badlands.

The best thing about the Explorer is it gets 22mpg on the Hwy and that's where it spends most of it's time to and from work. (110,000 miles on it)

HoosierMud · Sep 26, 2008

CB radios would do just fine and they are relatively inexpensive (cheap

).

BTW, I did see an XJ Cherokee in one of the photos, right???? Ah, nice to see it doing things it was meant to do!

Randoo-N-CJ · Sep 26, 2008

HoosierMud said:
CB radios would do just fine and they are relatively inexpensive (cheap).

BTW, I did see an XJ Cherokee in one of the photos, right???? Ah, nice to see it doing things it was meant to do!

It was one bad mamma jamma too! It went places we just drooled over but wouldn't even think about going to.

Oh, I thought of another reason for the handheld radios: a couple of times a person might go walk up/down a trail to see what's up ahead to make sure there would be a place for the Jeeps to get turned around if necessary and having that radio would speed up the process of reporting what they find. If we have another one of these shin-digs, I'll definitely pick up a pair.

On yet another topic related to this trip: Does anyone have plans to send pics in to the Badlands website? The lady at the counter knew we were going to take a bunch of photos and asked if we could send some back to them. Just a thought.

HoosierMud · Sep 26, 2008

They do have the handheld CB radios that you could use. I like having a CB in the car, in addition to my cell phone, because there isn't total cell phone coverage.

I learned the value of a CB many years ago while coming back to Indiana from seeing my parents in AZ. It was around midnight and my car broke down 20 miles in the middle of Nowhere (acutally Deming), New Mexico. Got a trucker to stop and he assisted until I was able to get a wrecker to tow my car into town--about 2 1/2 hrs. later.

Besides, if you ever go to Camp Jeep/Jeep Jamborees, they encourage you to have a CB radio to communicate with other parties attending.

Randoo-N-CJ · Sep 26, 2008

HoosierMud said:
They do have the handheld CB radios that you could use. I like having a CB in the car, in addition to my cell phone, because there isn't total cell phone coverage.

I learned the value of a CB many years ago while coming back to Indiana from seeing my parents in AZ. It was around midnight and my car broke down 20 miles in the middle of Nowhere (acutally Deming), New Mexico. Got a trucker to stop and he assisted until I was able to get a wrecker to tow my car into town--about 2 1/2 hrs. later.

Besides, if you ever go to Camp Jeep/Jeep Jamborees, they encourage you to have a CB radio to communicate with other parties attending.

I've heard about that Jamboree. There's one in Alton Il, just a couple of hours (2.25 hrs roughly) from me. I will be checking into that next year since they already held it for this year.

On the handheld CBs, are the channels the same as the portable radios I just checked into? Or would that necessitate using two channels, one for the CB and one for the handheld radios? (the frequencies is what I'm wondering about)

firemothjoe · Sep 27, 2008

Hoosiermud, if you wanna use the handheld cb, then go for it! Will H has a handheld too, and I got a base unit with external anteanna. So there will be no problem staying in touch! However after taking the Pepsi challange after two trail rides, I can honestly say that I prefer the talkabouts. Besides the reasons Randoo mantioned.. They seem to transmit way clearer and further. Also, the talkabouts I use are just $35 a pair. Cmon! Ya can't beat that!

On a cleaner note, I took my Patriot to the car wash. Took a crap load of quarters and over an hour, but the body and engine are **** and span! I ran out of time before I could get to the tires and wheels! Might have to finish the job tomorrow.

Ill email a bunch of photos I took to Badlands when I get home tonight. I also need to mail some pics to Ghost Soldier. If your listening, Ghost, check your inbox Sat morning.

firemothjoe · Sep 27, 2008

Randoo, the Citizen band(cb) and Family Band are two totally differant animals... I do believe. I'm not at all a radio expert though.

Ill do an experiment and set the talkabout on scan while transmitting from differant channels on the cb. Then vice versa. Ill get to the bottom of this!

HoosierMud · Sep 27, 2008

firemothjoe said:
Hoosiermud, if you wanna use the handheld cb, then go for it! Will H has a handheld too, and I got a base unit with external anteanna. So there will be no problem staying in touch! However after taking the Pepsi challange after two trail rides, I can honestly say that I prefer the talkabouts. Besides the reasons Randoo mantioned.. They seem to transmit way clearer and further. Also, the talkabouts I use are just $35 a pair. Cmon! Ya can't beat that!

On a cleaner note, I took my Patriot to the car wash. Took a crap load of quarters and over an hour, but the body and engine are **** and span! I ran out of time before I could get to the tires and wheels! Might have to finish the job tomorrow.

Ill email a bunch of photos I took to Badlands when I get home tonight. I also need to mail some pics to Ghost Soldier. If your listening, Ghost, check your inbox Sat morning.

I'm not against the talkabouts. We have a pair that transmits something like 17 miles in open country, blue skies, and no wind! You actually need a license from the FCC to transmit with one. It, also, has the NWS All Hazards Weather Channel.

patman16 · Sep 27, 2008

looks like you guys had fun nice pics nice job i had no idea the pat was so capable

Randoo-N-CJ · Sep 27, 2008

patman16 said:
looks like you guys had fun nice pics nice job i had no idea the pat was so capable

Either did we (at least ME for sure!).

firemothjoe · Sep 28, 2008

firemothjoe said:
Ill do an experiment and set the talkabout on scan while transmitting from differant channels on the cb. Then vice versa. Ill get to the bottom of this!

Ok, experiment over. The Cb and Talkabouts won't talk to eachother under any circumstance. It was strange that channel 22 on the CB causes static on the talkabout when it is also on ch22. It is just static, unfortunatly, and does not work the other way around.

Randoo-N-CJ · Sep 28, 2008

firemothjoe said:
Ok, experiment over. The Cb and Talkabouts won't talk to eachother under any circumstance. It was strange that channel 22 on the CB causes static on the talkabout when it is also on ch22. It is just static, unfortunatly, and does not work the other way around.

Thanks for that info Joe. It tells me that if we get together again soon, I'll order that pair of Talkabouts for us to use. I can use those around the home here too. (the wife and I have caravaned our cars before and that would work great to keep in touch in traffic!)

firemothjoe · Sep 28, 2008

Yep I keep two in my center console for just that reason.

My third radio is kept in my hiking/survival bag. Did you know that 90% of all stranded hunters/hikers are within radio range of their rescuers?

Also, when you get your radios, be sure the batteries are all facing the same way when storing the radio when not in use for an extented period of time. This will prevent the "settings memory" from draining the batteries after after weeks without being used. If you get the small ones I linked to, use the belt clip to pry the bettery cover off. I had the radios for two years before I figured all that out!

Tri-state MK's trail ride: Badlands, IN 9/23

Randoo-N-CJ

Will H

firemothjoe

Randoo-N-CJ

firemothjoe

Will H

heckler

Will H

HoosierMud

Randoo-N-CJ

HoosierMud

Randoo-N-CJ

firemothjoe

firemothjoe

HoosierMud

patman16

Randoo-N-CJ

firemothjoe

Randoo-N-CJ

firemothjoe

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