THE TWO JEEPS HEAD DOWN TO BARTOW. It’s 6:30am and we are ready to head out the door. Another day of Jeeping is just what you need to unwind after a week of work. Randy will be in the 2007 JK and I will take the 1995 YJ. We gassed up and got geared to go; today we will meet up with my Son and his Wife and all 4 grandkids. They took the van to keep all the kid related items and food and water and I made the slow haul down the road. 60mph is about the top speed in the 2.5L YJ with 33s and stock gears. She does fine in low range and off road, so I have just lived with it. That by the way is 60 when going downhill with a tail wind. Uphill and we are down to 4th or 3rd and 45mph. We made it in about an hour and a half. The Clear Springs Ranch is home to the Jeepin with Judd event each year. This is a yearly fund raiser that benefits the Polk County sheriffs’ charities. It is held on private property but the club had permission to be there for the day. The Orlando Jeep Club leads the trails each year. They travel around exploring good routs though the 19,000 acres finding the track that provides a good amount of Jeeping fun. Today we had the chance to see what it looks like in late summer. It was hot but a beautiful day to ride around in the tall lush green grass. In some places the grass was so high that it was hard to see where Randy was standing. The drivers meeting was a 9AM with the waivers signed and inspections done, we headed out to see Pine Run. So just what are we doing out here today? First off, it’s the club’s August trail ride. One of the things that drew us to the Orlando Jeep Club was that they were about trail rides. No supper shinny glitz, just Jeeps ready to explore the Orlando area in a family friendly group. This day when they asked who would lead I raised my hand to lead a somewhat stock friendly ride. No crazy stuff, just some small hills, shallow water, and a tad bit of mud. Pine run was overrun with tall weeds and fallen trees. I opted to take the ride backwards and not use the GPS. We had 2 new Gladiators for the ride and took that opportunity to test the departure angles. A few recoveries on hill tops and mud holes, but they did well. Street tires with no lift and a 30day tag. We had some fun and before we knew it we were out of the run and heading to Gator Run. No gators insight but the lakes was up pretty high so some of the trail was bypassed. We made a turn to a new area that ran down the edge of the river till we found Abigail’s tree. (See story on Ghost Hill from last February.) After a quick recap of the story we drove right under the ghost tree and headed down to the side of one of the many small ponds. The ruts were deep and the mud was soft. “Stay to the top or you will get stuck.” Some tried to make it through and had to be pulled out. My son got to do a recovery and pulled one up and out. This is another good reason to ride with a club. Getting stuck way out in the sticks with no help can be a bummer. Time to head back to camp for lunch so we took a quick ride down though a creek that caused a issue with one of the Jeeps. His battery died right after the crossing and would not jump start. We ended up towing him back to camp and Clay took him to a local auto parts place. The battery was completely dead. End of life for that, but an easy fix. The new battery was installed and lunch was finished so off we went. The afternoon ride took us down to the south part where we could make a cool water crossing with a hard gravel base about 18 or so inched under. A favorite spot to take some great shots of the caravan traveling across the edge an old wash out. Not today, gate after gate hampered our path. The last gate was roped, chained, Bail wired, and bob wired shut. You shall not pass… We then headed around to the Mud fish run to cross the creek and climb the ditch bank. No mud fish today but some flying tires. The place had been washed out causing some steep banks. Just the kind of fun Jeeps are looking for. From there we headed to the sand pit for some runs around the bowl, no recoveries needed. By now it was 3:30 so we headed back and prepped for the ride home. When we arrived I did find that at some point the rear drivers tire had gotten a good size groove carved through the lugs. We will have to change that out with the spare for now. With two muddy Jeeps in the driveway it was time for dinner. Over all it was a good day and we all had fun. Anyone see the Giraffe? What is next? … Richloam in September and them something we don’t know up in Citrus. For more info on the Jeep Club feel free to visit. http://www.orlandojeepclub.com
3 Comments
10/27/2022 07:06:04 pm
Color later ahead home. Wind focus field yeah.
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11/5/2022 11:29:46 am
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11/9/2022 01:41:02 am
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Matt N RandyJeep Enthusiast, Pastor, Photographer, Artist, A husband and wife team that loves going out and seeing God's Creations. Archives
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