Gas Line Exploration/Overnighter Trip Report 3/16 - 3/17/2013
Author: Trent Shue
Day One
RedMuttonChops and Heidi, and Skyehunter and his 9yo son, Hunter had planned to run up the Gasline road from New River past Table Mesa as far north as they were comfortable doing and camp somewhere toward Sheep Bridge. My plan was simply to take the Seven Springs Road and head toward Sheep Bridge and do some camping with my 7yo grandson, Brendan. Running FR18 to “Red Creek” ( I had mistakenly referred to it as Tangle Creek) was in the back of my mind, but I didn’t want to go in there alone. We merged our plans and ended up running the Gasline from New River up to Table Mesa. I generally don’t like to run solo, but if I do, I stay on the more travelled roads. We crossed over to the east side of I-17 and took FR41 to Seven Springs Road with FR18 being our target.
We stopped at a nice place along the river off of 41 and had some lunch, while the boys played in the water. The day continued in a pretty uneventful way. When we made it to FR18, Skyehunter looked at his computer and was concerned about where FR18 ends. It does not appear to go anywhere close to the river. I was pretty sure that it did. But I didn’t push it, it was not that important to me. So, we pitched that idea and decided to just head to the bridge and see if there was a closer approach. There wasn’t. So we decided to camp near the bridge.
Finding a camping spot was very iffy. We found one that would have worked south of the bridge, but was too far away from the river. Skyehunter scouted out a sand bar on the beach right across from the cliffs, so we all headed down to the sand. Everything was working well. I had used too much fuel getting there, but I had enough to get me out, and that was about as much drama as we had all day. We backed into our spot and set up camp. I was in 2wd. I decided to move the truck forward a couple of feet and it started to dig into the sand. I didn’t push it at that point. I heard a little knock as I started to move forward. I let off of the gas. I didn’t really try to push it. I got out, locked the hubs and put it in 4wd and moved it forward out of the hole. I still heard the knock, but I thought it was just not properly engaged and shut it down. I didn’t think too much about it.
Skyehunter treated us to some home brew that hit the spot! The boys were almost as busy as Skyehunter’s dog, Copper, an OCD bird dog. Heidi took charge and kept the boys within earshot, but they were almost zero maintenance. We had a nice time trying to keep a fire lit. I went to bed when Skyehunter brought out the whiskey.
Day Two
We woke up, fixed breakfast and broke camp. Heidi spotted an otter working across the river near the cliffs. Pretty cool to see that in the wild! We watched him for a while, but he was still quite a distance away.
We decided to head home together down Seven Springs Rd. I needed to be home with Brendan by 2PM for the birthday celebration my wife had planned for me with my daughters and my four grandchildren.
What happened next is really inexplicable.
I fired it up and started to pull out and the knock was still there. Checked all the levers, everything looked good. I had a stinkin’ suspicion that I had broken a tooth in the transmission. This happened to me with first gear in my first car, a 65 MGB. (When I was 16, and I liked to hear the tires chirp.) I learned to live with it. But this knocking was much more serious, and I’m 34 miles from pavement at I-17. The first stretch, climbing up from the beach is very bouldery and would be tough to strap up. I figured I needed to get it up to the main road on my own power… if I could. The knocking was pretty overwhelming climbing out. But it made it. We parked it on an old concrete slab and tried to diagnose it. We thought it may be a broken birf. Skye opened up a hub and all we found was birf soup. Everything in the front-end was still working.
Tried several short 50 yard runs to diagnose. The noise happened in H4, L4 and H2 positions and in each gear. I finally decided that I needed to try and get it as far as it could go on its own power up the hill. With it banging like a chimpanzee we eased it up the hill with me in the sling. We made it about a quarter mile and finally BANG! I got on the CB and broadcast “We are done”. Red pulled me to the next landing area and we strategized how to get it home.
Skye tried his HAM to no avail. Then he and went ahead with Heidi and tried to find a spot where there was phone signal. About a mile ahead they found a place. They managed to get ahold of LandCruiserPhil and he said that the trailer we could use was in use by Mountaincruiser to move his new fleet. Skye also talked to OB1 who provided some moral support. It’s always good to hear a familiar voice on the phone.
Plan B, call home and have one of my son-in-laws drive my truck up with a rental trailer. This quickly morphed into Plan C, just bring my truck and my tow bar. After about what seemed like 20 tries, we were able to get the message through and my son-in-law, Richard headed toward Seven Springs in my truck, about 45 miles from my house. We figured we would meet him near Seven Springs.
We continued to strap to the 24 with Red pulling most of this stretch. When we hit 24 we switched tow vehicles. The 60 pulled the 40 much easier than the Fourrunner . Weight and momentum difference, I suppose. The last stretch of road to Seven Springs has some big hills and a few hairpin turns. It was pretty rough on the brakes. Red and Heidi went ahead and stopped approaching vehicles to let us keep moving. It worked well for me to stay to the driver side so Skye could see the strap. I only ran it over once. The only problem was that my ability to brake was diminishing and I was starting to smell the brakes burning.
As we approached Seven Springs, we spotted Richard in my Titan, we pulled over and bolted up the tow bar as the brakes smoked profusely for about 10 minutes. Skye led us out as I took what can only be thought of for me as “The Ride of Shame”. Sitting in my cruiser all the way home to make sure that it steered OK and that it didn’t pop into gear, again. We stayed together going about 35mph to the 101 and Cave Creek. I really felt lucky that it all worked out so well.
We pulled into the home cul-de-sac around 5:30pm and I was greeted by all the people who are the most important in my life and a Guinness Stout, courtesy of Richard! What a feeling! I missed the birthday party, actually it was cancelled. When I got home, I did manage to roll around the floor with my younger grandchildren for quite a while and appreciate what is most important in life. Who could ask for more than that?
It’s the luckiest feeling in the world to know when you are in trouble that so many people have your back, and that people really care about your well-being. The company I had on this trip was the absolute best and I am forever in your debt.
RedMuttonChops and Heidi, and Skyehunter and his 9yo son, Hunter had planned to run up the Gasline road from New River past Table Mesa as far north as they were comfortable doing and camp somewhere toward Sheep Bridge. My plan was simply to take the Seven Springs Road and head toward Sheep Bridge and do some camping with my 7yo grandson, Brendan. Running FR18 to “Red Creek” ( I had mistakenly referred to it as Tangle Creek) was in the back of my mind, but I didn’t want to go in there alone. We merged our plans and ended up running the Gasline from New River up to Table Mesa. I generally don’t like to run solo, but if I do, I stay on the more travelled roads. We crossed over to the east side of I-17 and took FR41 to Seven Springs Road with FR18 being our target.
We stopped at a nice place along the river off of 41 and had some lunch, while the boys played in the water. The day continued in a pretty uneventful way. When we made it to FR18, Skyehunter looked at his computer and was concerned about where FR18 ends. It does not appear to go anywhere close to the river. I was pretty sure that it did. But I didn’t push it, it was not that important to me. So, we pitched that idea and decided to just head to the bridge and see if there was a closer approach. There wasn’t. So we decided to camp near the bridge.
Finding a camping spot was very iffy. We found one that would have worked south of the bridge, but was too far away from the river. Skyehunter scouted out a sand bar on the beach right across from the cliffs, so we all headed down to the sand. Everything was working well. I had used too much fuel getting there, but I had enough to get me out, and that was about as much drama as we had all day. We backed into our spot and set up camp. I was in 2wd. I decided to move the truck forward a couple of feet and it started to dig into the sand. I didn’t push it at that point. I heard a little knock as I started to move forward. I let off of the gas. I didn’t really try to push it. I got out, locked the hubs and put it in 4wd and moved it forward out of the hole. I still heard the knock, but I thought it was just not properly engaged and shut it down. I didn’t think too much about it.
Skyehunter treated us to some home brew that hit the spot! The boys were almost as busy as Skyehunter’s dog, Copper, an OCD bird dog. Heidi took charge and kept the boys within earshot, but they were almost zero maintenance. We had a nice time trying to keep a fire lit. I went to bed when Skyehunter brought out the whiskey.
Day Two
We woke up, fixed breakfast and broke camp. Heidi spotted an otter working across the river near the cliffs. Pretty cool to see that in the wild! We watched him for a while, but he was still quite a distance away.
We decided to head home together down Seven Springs Rd. I needed to be home with Brendan by 2PM for the birthday celebration my wife had planned for me with my daughters and my four grandchildren.
What happened next is really inexplicable.
I fired it up and started to pull out and the knock was still there. Checked all the levers, everything looked good. I had a stinkin’ suspicion that I had broken a tooth in the transmission. This happened to me with first gear in my first car, a 65 MGB. (When I was 16, and I liked to hear the tires chirp.) I learned to live with it. But this knocking was much more serious, and I’m 34 miles from pavement at I-17. The first stretch, climbing up from the beach is very bouldery and would be tough to strap up. I figured I needed to get it up to the main road on my own power… if I could. The knocking was pretty overwhelming climbing out. But it made it. We parked it on an old concrete slab and tried to diagnose it. We thought it may be a broken birf. Skye opened up a hub and all we found was birf soup. Everything in the front-end was still working.
Tried several short 50 yard runs to diagnose. The noise happened in H4, L4 and H2 positions and in each gear. I finally decided that I needed to try and get it as far as it could go on its own power up the hill. With it banging like a chimpanzee we eased it up the hill with me in the sling. We made it about a quarter mile and finally BANG! I got on the CB and broadcast “We are done”. Red pulled me to the next landing area and we strategized how to get it home.
Skye tried his HAM to no avail. Then he and went ahead with Heidi and tried to find a spot where there was phone signal. About a mile ahead they found a place. They managed to get ahold of LandCruiserPhil and he said that the trailer we could use was in use by Mountaincruiser to move his new fleet. Skye also talked to OB1 who provided some moral support. It’s always good to hear a familiar voice on the phone.
Plan B, call home and have one of my son-in-laws drive my truck up with a rental trailer. This quickly morphed into Plan C, just bring my truck and my tow bar. After about what seemed like 20 tries, we were able to get the message through and my son-in-law, Richard headed toward Seven Springs in my truck, about 45 miles from my house. We figured we would meet him near Seven Springs.
We continued to strap to the 24 with Red pulling most of this stretch. When we hit 24 we switched tow vehicles. The 60 pulled the 40 much easier than the Fourrunner . Weight and momentum difference, I suppose. The last stretch of road to Seven Springs has some big hills and a few hairpin turns. It was pretty rough on the brakes. Red and Heidi went ahead and stopped approaching vehicles to let us keep moving. It worked well for me to stay to the driver side so Skye could see the strap. I only ran it over once. The only problem was that my ability to brake was diminishing and I was starting to smell the brakes burning.
As we approached Seven Springs, we spotted Richard in my Titan, we pulled over and bolted up the tow bar as the brakes smoked profusely for about 10 minutes. Skye led us out as I took what can only be thought of for me as “The Ride of Shame”. Sitting in my cruiser all the way home to make sure that it steered OK and that it didn’t pop into gear, again. We stayed together going about 35mph to the 101 and Cave Creek. I really felt lucky that it all worked out so well.
We pulled into the home cul-de-sac around 5:30pm and I was greeted by all the people who are the most important in my life and a Guinness Stout, courtesy of Richard! What a feeling! I missed the birthday party, actually it was cancelled. When I got home, I did manage to roll around the floor with my younger grandchildren for quite a while and appreciate what is most important in life. Who could ask for more than that?
It’s the luckiest feeling in the world to know when you are in trouble that so many people have your back, and that people really care about your well-being. The company I had on this trip was the absolute best and I am forever in your debt.
