Redbird SRA - 10/8-9/16

[007]

Spent a fantastic weekend with oldjeeplady and mriplaybass. What a great couple of people…seriously. We camped side-by-side at Shakamak State Park in Jasonville, IN; then wheeled about 20mins south at Redbird State Recreational Area near Linton, IN.

Here’s a pic of my campsite. I loaded all 4 of my daughters (ages 2-19) in the CJ and loaded up my 5x8 trailer with gear and drove 2 hours to the campground. We got in around 9pm Friday night and they helped me setup camp.



We left for Redbird around 10-10:30 the next morning and wheeled until about 3-3:30 then headed back for an early supper and campfire. While we were there, I managed to center-bottom my Jeep a couple times on this hill, the last time I needed winched backwards off the hill.



When we got back to the campground, we sat around and talked about the Colorado trips and tossed around some ideas for more wheeling next spring. We also did a Facetime call with Posi for about 45mins which was a lot of fun.





We went back to Redbird on Sunday for 2-3 hours then, back to the campground to finish loading up and then headed home.

Here's some video from Saturday from my new Garmin VIRB Ultra 30. You might expand the video to see the data on the right.

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[gert]

Man thats sweet, you sure are in trouble with those girls of yours. Hold on tight

 

[Torxhead]

Thanks for that, keep trying to get up that hill.

 

[007]

Thanks for that, keep trying to get up that hill.

Oh I made it when I quit letting out of it at the top. If you watch the video it's the last bill going the other way.


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[mriplaybass]

We had a great time with 007 and his family. What a great bunch of kids! Great to see an entire family Jeeping together. We missed seeing his wife, but she had to work. Next spring, we will try to plan things so that she will be able to make it. Loved seeing her wheel the Jeep up the mountain in August!

Pulling 007 off the hill.








Some of the trails were a bit more challenging than we expected, as 007 found out when his front license plate didn’t quite make it over an obstacle. That’s one thing that I did right! Removed my front plate the first in the morning!






As 007 said, we did a video call to Posi, and had a ball reminiscing about our Colorado trip back in August. Posi also gave me a walk through of his shop, and some of the projects he has in the works. I will admit, I was a bit envious when I saw his new car lift in the background!




While sitting around the camp fire one night, 007's 2 year old was desperately trying to get my attention while 007 and I were talking. She wanted some stones that were on the ground so she could throw them at the fire. Finally, in a loud voice she says: "Grampa! two rocks!" We all looked at her, and the laughter erupted! Maybe I will have to change my screen name to "grampa2rocks"
The wheeling was great. Entirely different from what we experienced in Colorado. This was actually the first true off roading that I have done other than Colorado. What a difference! Squeezing between trees, steep hills where there are no rocks to aid in traction, mud, it was great!


We were driving along a trail which was only rated at the second level of difficulty, when a bit of mud on the side of the trail caught my eye. I veered left, flipped on the lockers and proceeded to attack what I thought was just some moderate mud. All that I remember is hearing my wife, oldjeeplady, say something to the effect of, "ARE YOU CRAZY!!" The Jeep began to slow down, lean to the left, and gradually sink.

RHORHO!

After just a short distance, forward progress ceased, and my left foot began to feel cold and wet! I guess the mud was just a little deeper than I thought it was!





Once the initial shock, and thought that maybe I bit off a little more than I could chew passed, I realized, this is what we built this Jeep for! OJL managed to climb out her door, and 007 managed to step over the mud and pull cable.




Eventually, ol’ “Chip” made his way out of the mud.







I was pleased just how well my Badlands winch performed! This weekend was the first real test of what it could do.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9PnGME5TJw

I know that we forgot to put something over the winch cable, but fortunately, everything was new.
We are already looking forward to getting together next spring.

 

[Torxhead]

That was quite a pull out of that mud pit there Bass, and you also did a great job of cleaning it out.

 

[jpeck71]

I'm going to have to try out Redbird. I've driven past there a few times and camped at that campground in the past too. Didn't have a Jeep then, however and have wondered about it since I did get my Jeep.

Jeremy

 

[Posi]

Excellent thread!
Looks like you guys had a great time.
Bass, you got into all right, and that winch did a great job pulling with a heavy load on it.
007, your girls have grown a lot since I've seen them 2 years ago. Good to see them all out with you.
And thanks so much for the facetime call, totally enjoyed chatting and seeing you guys, kinda made me feel like I was there.

 

[007]

I'm going to have to try out Redbird. I've driven past there a few times and camped at that campground in the past too. Didn't have a Jeep then, however and have wondered about it since I did get my Jeep.



Jeremy

Where do you live?


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[jpeck71]

Springfield, Il area so very central IL. Redbird would be a 4ish hour drive I think. I've been to the Badlands in Attica several times and that's a bit over 3 I think.

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[007]

Springfield, Il area so very central IL. Redbird would be a 4ish hour drive I think. I've been to the Badlands in Attica several times and that's a bit over 3 I think.

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Gotcha. We are thinking of Badlands or some place mriplaybass read about in northern IL for next spring.


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[jpeck71]

Keep me posted. I might be interested in joining you if you don't mind.

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[Belizean]

It's amazing how good the quality of those cameras has gotten in the last few years. That was some real sloppy mud you were in mriplaybass

 

[007]

It's amazing how good the quality of those cameras has gotten in the last few years. That was some real sloppy mud you were in mriplaybass

I have a GoPro Hero 4 Black and this new Garmin VIRB Ultra 30. I think the GoPro has better color, but the Garmin has VR, built-in telemetry, and the ability to connect ODBII if you have it. From everything I've read, and heard, the GoPro Hero 5 is a skip.

I would imagine that future firmware updates will strengthen the color saturation in the VIRB.


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[mriplaybass]

That was quite a pull out of that mud pit there Bass, and you also did a great job of cleaning it out.

Thanks Torx, after we got the Jeep up on the trailer to go home, I noticed what appeared to be wires hanging from the rear diff. All I could think of was that I tore the wires out of the Elocker. Up front, there appeared to be fishing line wound around the drivers side axle.
Monday morning when OJL and I were talking about it, she commented on what else we might find while cleaning it up. I told her that it didn't matter to me, as long as we didn't start finding body parts, not Jeep body,.................real body parts! I think I kind of freaked her out!
The wires and fishing line turned out to be nothing more than some thin vines and roots that were in the mud pit.

 

[mriplaybass]

Excellent thread!
Looks like you guys had a great time.
Bass, you got into all right, and that winch did a great job pulling with a heavy load on it.
007, your girls have grown a lot since I've seen them 2 years ago. Good to see them all out with you.
And thanks so much for the facetime call, totally enjoyed chatting and seeing you guys, kinda made me feel like I was there.

Thanks Posi, I was really impressed with the Badlands winch. Contrary to all the bad hype about the cheap Harbor Freight winches, it worked great! I was a bit apprehensive of my decision to use one, but it sure impressed me! This was the first time I used it since swamping it during our little romp at the mud hole in Colorado.

I too immensely enjoyed our facetime call. Might have to do another one sometime soon! Maybe someday we can find an off road area central to all of us to meet up for a few days.

Wish you would have been there. Every time I got that "look" in my eye, OJL would look at me and tell me that I didn't have to try to be Posi every time I saw something a bit more challenging than I should be attempting!

 

[mriplaybass]

I'm going to have to try out Redbird. I've driven past there a few times and camped at that campground in the past too. Didn't have a Jeep then, however and have wondered about it since I did get my Jeep.

Jeremy

Another off road area we have talked about is Cliff's insane terrain in Marseilles, IL. 007, OJL, and I will post when we all decide to do another Midwest trip.

 

[mriplaybass]

It's amazing how good the quality of those cameras has gotten in the last few years. That was some real sloppy mud you were in mriplaybass

Our videos were taken with our son's Gopro Hero 4. The family just bought OJL a Garmin VIRB for her birthday yesterday after looking at 007's. Looking forward to trying it out.

 

[jpeck71]

Another off road area we have talked about is Cliff's insane terrain in Marseilles, IL. 007, OJL, and I will post when we all decide to do another Midwest trip.

Please do. I remember looking at Cliff's back when I had my 2009 but I don't think they had enough information up for me to be able to tell if it was worth my trip up there. I just looked at their site and it looks like it would be worth a weekend trip there. They didn't used to have a trail map or any information about how big the place was.

Jeremy

 

[JR74CJ5]

lol you were mud plowing Bass!