Steve had been working really hard to get my Jeep re-built these past few weeks. When it was finished, I wanted to go Jeeping, really badly. So, I decided that I wanted to go to Calico. Steve made sure that everything was done by Friday night. We asked Oreo and Don to join us on this little excursion. My niece Justine also joined us. Don brought his son, Donny. We headed out of Orange around 7:30 p.m., made a few stops on the way so Steve could check things out on my Jeep. But wait, I am getting ahead of myself. Before we even left Steve broke my license plate holder while packing, casualty number 1.
We camped in the normal spot Friday evening just off Mule Canyon. We woke to a sunny breezy Saturday morning. Steve headed out in the direction of Odessa canyon, so he thought; instead we ended up at the Bismark Mines. We showed Don, Donny and Justine some of the old mines. We never made it to Odessa. Off towards Francis canyon. When Doran Canyon came into view the Tacoma Truck club was climbing up. Well not the whole club, but a few. We went around so we could crawl up the canyon. łMy idea.˛ After lunch, Steve went up. He had a little direction from Oreo. Was temporally delayed at the top where that damn pumpkin getter boulder always seems be in the way. Someone should move that darn rock.
Well, Steve did try to move it with his pumpkin, but it just wouldnšt give in. I was next. I headed up. No problems at first. About the middle of the canyon, and I do mean the middle of the canyon; I had gotten up on the rocks, but had to back back down because I wasnšt over to the right far enough. So I backed down. Had to give it another try. Well, I tried and I tried. And all of a sudden łSNAP!˛ (it was real loud). I broke my axle. Uh oh! I wonšt tell you about what was said at that point. Steve had to winch me up to the top. Then we had to jack up the rear, push in the axle, jack it back down, go a little bit further. Steve finally strapped me around to the bypass. Well, Oreo said he wanted to go through Doran. After all that he still wanted to go up Doran. Oreo made it up Doran but not without a little help of his winch. A little help is sort of an understatement. He was all over that canyon. I may have broke going up (and then had to be winched), but at least I didnšt have to be winched all the way up! After watching us go through Doran Don said nah, hešll wait until he puts his lift on.
The other worse thing about this trip was Steve forgot to bring my spare axles with us. I would like to give a big thanks to the Bogartšs for bringing out my spare axle. The only problem was Steve & Oreo couldnšt get all the broken pieces out. We had to have it towed anyways. On Monday when Steve went to replace the axle he found out that I didnšt only break my axle I exploded the thing. This is not the first time that Doran Canyon has claimed me; it is about the third time. Not that I havenšt ever gone up Doran without any problems, it just seems that I have more problems then not. So the moral of this story is that next month when we do Doran canyon I will most likely do the go around!
Casper
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