Ohio Fall Colors - Oct 19th, 2019

Gents and Ladies,

A little write up of the 2019 Ohio Fall Colors Run.

Thanks to everyone who attended or tried to attend.

We had 8 flatfenders and a 1954 M38a1 that slipped into the mix.  16 or so people attended.  The weather was ideal.  Mid 50's to 70ies with no rain.  Trail Roads were dry.  Leaves had started to turn and we had some color this year. 

We started the trip on Albright Rd.  The water was low in the ford and the hill climb was pretty easy with the dry conditions.  It still would have been advisable to fold the windshields, so they did not risk damage.

We then headed for Lady Run Rd.  This was the area we had the most challenges with last year.  This year we drove down it as opposed to trying to climb it.  The photo of John's 1951 into the hill happened on Lady Run.  Other than that we all made it through with no major issues.

Then out of the blue there was a call for trail clinic to deal with a lost clutch return spring.  John saved the day and produced a spare spring.

We drove then to the old Church for lunch and then up the creek road towards the old clear cut.  There was some difficulty climbing  to the top and somewhere along the climb Steve's 1946 fried its voltage regulator.  It did not come back to life after being tapped on with Ruff's "magic hammer", so Steve ran the rest of the trip on his Optima battery.  There was an opportunity for someone to test the depth of a little mud.  Two vehicles made attempts and both had to be strapped.

The climb to clear cut over look turn around was steep but the dry conditions really helped - Must have been Lady luck this year the 4 wives on the trip.  We stop there for a goup picture.  From there we headed back to the church and we let the new guys lead us down.  It was noted that the DJ that had been converter to 4-wheel drive with a Dana 25 had a clacking noise coming from its Dana 25.  But it still ran in 4 wheel and we were miles from the trailers, so the decision was made to just drive it.  From the church we headed up to Miller's Rd. 

Millers Rd. starts as a creek and then becomes a natural gas access road.  It is a pretty good road, but the big hill has some ruts. Most of the group stayed to the left side.  A few of us went to the right and gearing made short work of it.  Halfway up the hill one of the Cj2A's ran out of gas and had to be refueled.  At the top of the hill the DJ's Dana25 locked up.  The solution was to pull the drive flanges and tape up the open holes to keep dirt out of the bearings.

From there, we headed to the upper section of Lady Run above the gate keeper hill.  At one point we had pull the DJ up part of a hill that was impassable without working four wheel drive.  That strapping operation was a little odd.  But we got through it.  After that, it was evident that backtracking Albright Rd. was out of the plan.  We headed to the hard surface road to return to the starting point.

All together we were out about 7 hours. About 90% of what we traveled was unmaintained roads, some better than others.  We only encountered one group of Razor drivers during the trip. 

It was great to get together with old friend and make some new ones.  It was also great to see some younger people with old Jeeps!

God willing, we will be back next year on the third weekend in October.  October 17, 2020.  You can never tell what you are in for on this trip.  If it has been wet, it can be a big challenge.  If it rains, it can be a winch fest.