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What I learned at the Crawl

Cottontail

Three-De Off-Road
NAXJA Member
Location
Nashville, TN
  • Towing is way better than driving the trail rig
  • Hemi engines are thirsty
  • You can push the trail rig a little more when you don't have a 5 hour drive home in it
  • After 4 years of doing this trip I can pretty much budget my costs within about $20 of actual
  • The Lower Rock Garden is really fun when you decide to run the second third of it.
  • I think I'm getting better at spotting
  • Don't trust the weather reports from 5-7 days prior to arrival. It's bound to change
  • We have a cool group of people involved in this silly little Jeep club
 
• you get what you pay for with the cabin prices. (I've been in 3 different priced cabins)
• a 5 day trip, (3 full days on the trail) is very tiring! Was ready for vacation when I got home :)
• towing with a gooseneck is the way to go!
• my 12 valve with a tuner is WAY better than stock (last year)
• being a Trail Leader is/can be stressful
• 14 rigs in one group is WAY too many! (Rob had quite an audience to watch him change ball joints in lower rock garden)
• seeing yourself in action on 4k drone footage is awesome!
• recording jeeps with a drone is a blast!

(Google "Power Driven Diesel" or "AFC Live" for those that don't think there is a tuner for the mechanical 12 valve.):conceited
 
-If you aren't running cheater tires you're only cheating yourself.

-Always check to be sure your spare tire doesn't have a hole in it.

-Carry a portable air compressor.
 
-A screwdriver can be a tire plug, albeit temporary
- A winch controller does not like to be wound into the winch
- If you come alone, people feed you like a stray, which isn't a bad thing
- A Cherokee on 32's can follow a Glenn on 42's if you have the right mindset
- Andy Carter from Ironman 4x4 is a mountain goat
- I have something against tail lights
- Rain comes in sheets/walls
- I wish I had a motor home/RV
- Andy Bagwell's 4 year old daughter can talk anybody into doing anything
- I talk way too much
 
1) doing 2 parks in 10 days is awesome (AOP is great...even when slippery)
2) It's great when even our kids make friends with each other Maddie cried Saturday night when she knew we were leaving
3) when you're girlfriend who has never rock crawled ever and is all but terrified...decides to try driving the jeep herself...it makes you smile
4) when your son finally gets to finish ALL of LRG...it also makes you smile...it took him 3 Crawls!!
5) why is the rum always gone?
6) there's not much better of a feeling as when you only see folks 1 time a year...yet can talk and interact as though you see them every day. You folks are great!
7) Glen can come to a Crawl and not have serious damage
8) there are new kittens (well 1 this year) every year.
9) I don't care about how poor the area is, how much crime is there, how toothless some of the folks that are natives are...there's just something magical about Harlan, KY.
10) a bent driveshaft makes for chipped teeth.
 
I learned so much about my jeep and how to drive it on those trails(still lots more to learn)

steep hill climbs and off camber trails scare the shit out of me

Stay away from trails with horrible names like cliffhanger and profanity lol

driving the jeep across 5 states to go wheelin is definitely living on the edge (especially when your not sure if your going to make it home in time for work)

Kentucky is a breathtakingly beautiful state, minus all the meth trailers

33's and lockers are great but experience is key(realized that when i saw dirk walk through lower rock garden on 32's like nothin)

4 passengers is way to much weight.

In all I had a blast! I will come back next year but on a trailer and with less passengers, and some mud terrains, and will stay the whole time haha.
 
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steep hill climbs and off camber trails scare the shit out of me.

You get used to it. When I first started doing this it scared me some too. After 10 years of wheeling I went out to Colorado and rode some easy trails out there, let me tell ya, it's 100x worse out there. Around here there's trees to stop you. Out west, not so much.
 
- Andy Bagwell's 4 year old daughter can talk anybody into doing anything

Let me tell you, I moved her Hello Kitty chair before the BBQ. I'm certain that if her little legs could get high enough to reach my butt, she'd have kicked my ass. Don't mess with the Hello Kitty chair - EVER!

33's and lockers are great but experience is key(realized that when i saw dirk walk through lower rock garden on 32's like nothin)

Knowing your rig is key - and it just comes with getting it out there. Helps that I've driven parts of the rock garden for years. The first time I drove it, the first third was considerably harder than it is now and it took me 3 minutes longer to do just that part then it did for me to go to the second to last exit this year.
 
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You get used to it. When I first started doing this it scared me some too. After 10 years of wheeling I went out to Colorado and rode some easy trails out there, let me tell ya, it's 100x worse out there. Around here there's trees to stop you. Out west, not so much.

I feel that way about Moab. Sheer cliffs everywhere with no trees to help stop you. There was one point I thought I was going to die.
 
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5) why is the rum always gone?

I had a hand in that this year! :D

Let me tell you, I moved her Hello Kitty chair before the BBQ. I'm certain that if her little legs could get high enough to reach my butt, she'd have kicked my ass. Don't mess with the Hello Kitty chair - EVER!

She came storming over while I was loading supplies in the Jeep and shouted "Where's Dirk!?" My first reaction was "uh oh...."

What I learned:

1. The new cabin is pretty nice. It even has vent fans in the bathrooms!
2. Ball joints make a very annoying sound when you have to listen to them rattle over every rock for 3 days straight.
3. Shackles get really loud and also make annoying sounds when the bushings disappear.
4. My new steering, bumper, and winch all did great. Considering the only "testing" I did on the winch before hand was bumping it to make sure it had power.
5. Toyota shouldn't give me a button to turn off traction control if it isn't actually going to turn off the damn traction control.
6. I should have moved the truck and trailer out of the mud before loading up. It would have avoided discovering #5.
7. There's some good rum to be had in Florida.
 
-One day in Harlan isn't enough.
-Swimming at the hotel pool was much like doing the polar bear plunge - very cold!
-Thanks to Cody and Dan for hauling Jack and I around on Saturday.
-I missed Jason's candied bacon - that is some good stuff.
-Have a drone (thanks Andy!) at the Helipad makes for one superfantabulous picture.
-My XJ needs to be there next year
-I ran a trail I'd never run on my own - Killin' Time.
-Getting home at 2:30am Sunday morning sucks.
-The Crawl has a nice raffle - I wanted those headlights!
 
1. What you walked last year might make you pull cable this year.
2. Mason Jar is best done dry.
3. Rain makes getting back to camp difficult monsoon rain and lexan makes me glad my GF could look out her side while I was looking out my side to keep me in the center of the trail.
4. Trails not yet open are not always a good idea.
5. My GF can get out on my side pretty damn quick.
6. My Jeep can run well some times.
7. I might not have stickies but I have yet to have a flat on the trail. (Hope I didn't just jinx myself.)
8. Andy Carter is the man. Go buy his parts so he can afford to sponsor the crawl next yer.
9. Turning into a moving rocks with your steering can and will toast your trackbar and its mount.
10. Someday I will figure out how to wheel more trails in Harlan ther eis just no enough time in one week for all they have.....
 
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