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Shoe Creek/CrabTree Falls
August 28th, 2004
So it was time for another
trip to good ol' Shoe Creek. We were all looking forward to this
trip...as a matter of fact, Vic and Dale had been counting down for
weeks! Surprisingly enough, as many times as we have been there, we
had no good GPS track logs for Shoe Creek...only a few scattered
waypoints, so that was one of our goals. Another was to explore a
side trail that T.O.W. had told us about and that The OffCamber
Crawlers had taken just prior to Camp Jeep.
So, Jen and I packed up the Jeeps and headed out to Charlottesville
to meet everyone. On the way out, I noticed a unmarked 5-0 speed
checking everyone. I can't say how...it's illegal here in VA to own
such devices.
Anyway we get to C-ville
right about 8 on the dot. Allen was waiting for us and Dale wasn't
(plus we hadn't heard from him). He didn't show up until about
8:40...here's why:
That unmarked 5-0 tagged him for doing 80 in a 65 as well as gave
him a ticket for his window tinting. There's a lot more to the
story, but I'll let Dale tell it...since it happened to him. Suffice
it to say that this cop was hardcore. It's a funny story.
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The Story of the Hardcore Trooper |
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There I was, inverted, on the Ho Chi Minh
trail, up to my knees in grenade pins...err, sorry wrong story.
Anyway, so I was on my way to the Waffle
House...I left my coffee on the counter top, I had to take a
dump and I was hungry...to meet the FM2CD posse for the trail.
It happened!!! Sometimes you have uncertainty they will not
follow, not this time, as soon as I saw him I knew I was busted,
no questions. After the obligatory how do and do you know why I
stopped you stuff he started asking strange questions, for
instance can you roll your window up half way, and can you roll
your back window down half way. I wasn't sure what to make of
that, but I would soon find out. He came back with an odd
looking tool with a glass shade, tested my window tint and
stated my back windows were showing like 1% of light and I would
need a ticket for that. Thank you very much. Then the phone
rang, it was Steve, he'd have to wait a moment. The speeding
ticket, since I slowed down a bit when I passed, would be
written for 80 in a 65. Over 80 would have been reckless driving
in Virginia and many additional fines to boot. Boy was he nice
or what. The Trooper went back to his car and started to write
the ticket. I called Steve, "Yo, got lights sitting on my
bumper, gonna be late." Steve, "Dude, that sucks!!!" In my rear
view I noticed a truck pull up behind him. A woman got out and
was looking a bit frantic, I thought to myself, "Will this be my
lucky day. Is there an emergency down the road the trooper needs
to go to. Is there a 20 car pile up, decapitation, mutilation,
fire." I wasn't hoping for those things, because I would
definitely not want to have anyone hurt, but anything would do
so I would not get two tickets. The Trooper sent her back to her
car to wait and continued calmly writing my tickets. No call on
the radio, no peel out with a wave, nothing. The Trooper came
back to my window with the tickets. He explained there are no
points on my license for the sunshade...whatever dude. I signed
them, and then he asked an odd question, "You wouldn't happen to
have any medical training? The gentleman that pulled up is
having a heart attack." Unknown to him I was Search and Rescue
in the Navy, I do have a bit of medical training, but I would be
unable to help a man having a heart attack, the only thing I
could do besides trying to keep him calm would be to administer
CPR if needed, besides I was late for a trail ride, so the
answer was no. Then it hit me as he walked away, the trooper sat
calmly writing my tickets as a man was having a heart attack
behind him, I did not see a call on the radio, and he didn't get
out to see how he was doing until after he was done with me. He
clearly finished my tickets and took his time explaining them.
That is one cold SOB. |
Anyway, we had a pretty good turnout, six Jeeps. We all left C-ville
at around 9 and made our way to the trail. We went in on the
northside entrance, which takes you past Crabtree falls and up to
the Appalachian Trail. Here's all of us aired down and about to set
the running order. From front to back in the picture that's me (in
Jens Jeep), Dale, Jen (in my Jeep), Vic, Allen and Trevor.
We took most of our pictures just after crossing the AT. There was a
nice section of the trail for some poser shots, so we made sure to
get pics of everybody.
Me (again, in Jens Jeep)
Trevor (who's finally talking about lifting that thing so he can fit
those 33's right)
...and of course, Dale showing (drumroll please) MONSTOR FLEX ON THE
STOCKER!!!
Vic & family (Kristy, Christopher and Sarah)
Allen & Sandy
Jen (in my Jeep)
From there we continued down the trail...hitting some fun stuff
along the way...like this:
Then we hit the obstacle that I saw back in May and vowed to take on
our next trip. It's actually about 50 feet off the main
trail...making it totally optional. You can sort of see the start of
it in this pic.
Basically, there's a huge rock on one side, a tree on the other and
a series of medium sized boulders in the middle...needless to say, I
was the only one with enough balls (or lacking the brains...not sure
which) to go over it. Ended up tearing up the soft top on the tree
getting through it (damn trees)...oh well...time to upgrade. There's
a vid of my first attempt at it, but it's like 50MB. I'll see if I
can edit and shrink it down...it includes me snapping...'cause
everybody was barking out spotting instructions at once. I had to
tell them all to shut the F up and let Dale spot me.
After that, we continued down and started up the side trail. We got
a little ways in and stopped for lunch...we had barely finished when
it started raining. So we pushed on in the rain. The side trail was
fun, no real obstacles...just nice rough forest road. After coming
out of the side trail I ended up misjudging an easy obstacle in the
rain and got hung up on the front diff.
Trevor had to strap me out.
That was about it, we hit the little hill climb and got a track into
the rock garden for later reference....
Trail damage - aside for the soft top on the TJ, Vic busted one
front shock and bent the other...I suspect it was the extensions he
had...
After the ride, Vic's Jeep has been dubbed with the first ever FM2CD
VA nickname...someone cue Blue Oyster Cult please...
Clicky
With a purposeful
grimace and a terrible sound
He pulls the spitting high tension wires down
Helpless people on a subway train
Scream bug-eyed as he looks in on them
He picks up a bus and he throws it back down
As he wades through the buildings toward the center of town
Oh No! They say he's got to go....
GO! GO! GODZILLA!
Oh No! There goes Tokyo...
GO! GO! GODZILLA!
Seriously, the thing is a
beast...nice work Vic!
Once again, FM2CD has left the trail!
That's all for now...
Rock On!
Steve
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