Arlington, Wyoming

November 21, 2009

Trip leader was Rod Pepper

Trip report below by Rod Pepper

These photos contributed by Aaron Lenz

Click any photo to view larger image in new window

These photos contributed by Rod Pepper

Click any photo to view larger image in new window

These photos contributed by Joe Huston

Click any photo to view larger image in new window

These photos contributed by Chris Ladd

Click any photo to view larger image in new window

The Bow River Romp!

On November 21, 2009, 14 Club members and 2 guests, a total of 29 fun-seeking souls, in 13 rigs made the annual pilgrimage to Arlington, Wyoming for the traditional first snow bashing run of the year. We had clear, dry highways and beautiful weather for this year’s run. Our destination was the many roads and trails of the Medicine Bow River drainages in the Northern Snowy Range. RC4W members on this run were; Dewey Williams, Eric Brown, Scott Grimm, Joe Huston, Brian Kubal, Paul Bickerton, John Stone, Aaron Lenz, Howard Segal, Mike Jacob, Rod Pepper, Taylor Olsen, Chris Ladd and Sean Murphy. Our guests were Andy Heyd in his Suzuki Samurai and Carl Scott in his Jeep Cherokee.     This year we moved our off-load area farther up the road into a nice tree-protected open area. This is where the first casualty of the day occurred. While Aaron’s Samurai was warming up ON THE TRAILER, it broke a timing belt ! He was the only one, at the end of the day, to still have a full tank of gas! Since I had an empty seat, Aaron jumped in with me. I thought, “Cool, my very own personal shovel operator, cable dragger, communications (CB) director and gauge watcher!” All I had to do was drive fast and dodge trees!     The first few miles were uneventful. The snow was only about a foot deep. We just cruised in high range. At the Bow River turn off we pointed the hoods toward the high country and the big snow. Time for low range and high RPM’s ! But, not before an unusual break occurred on Brian’s Jeep, “Ugly Betty”. The gear shift stick broke (manual transmission!) We maneuvered his Jeep up next to my on-board welder and frazzed it up but apparently didn’t get a good “Scald” on it. It broke again shortly afterwards. We then dragged some scrap steel out of my welding bag and frazzed that sucker up to the level befitting that of the “Ugly Betty” image! It didn’t break again!     The snow got progressively deeper as we gained altitude and the group started getting spread out. Everyone’s engines and transmissions were taking a beating from the heat being generated by tougher than normal snow conditions. We were on the rev-limiter ALL day long. There was about an 8 in. crust on top of a couple feet of unpackable granular snow which was on top of a foot or two of old hardpack. The snow was also very different where the sun hit it and where it was shaded. In the sunny spots we could really hookup, float and accelerate. In the shaded areas it would slow us way down again!     We made it about 12-13 miles before turning around. The last mile or so saw most of the group turning around. John, Paul and I just had to have a go at the last section, a steep, uphill switchback with 4 ft. of snow on the level and a BIG drop-off. After that slugfest we were all on rationed fuel and forced to turn around. Every inch of forward progress had become a battle. It was dark by the time we got back to the Sand Lake turnoff. But, we weren’t done! Out of the darkness came a plethora of big, bright, off road lights. Yes, it was the infamous “Ride in the Dark Gang”! Not yet quite ready to stop having fun!     As everyone else headed for the trailers, Dewey, John, Paul and I roared off into the night towards Sand Lake to extract every last ounce of fun we could out of an outstanding day of snowbashing. We played until we had just barely enough gas to make it back to the trailers. About half of us met up again for dinner at Wingers in Laramie where our 15 hungry souls took over most of their back room! What a day! “Viva RC4W”!     Ride ‘Till Ya Can’t,            Rod