Paragon 3.1.03

Paragon was great! I don't know why no-one showed.....

My friend Jason came up with me. He has a TJ that's pretty stock right now, and I took my new (to me) FZJ80 up. 285 Truxus and a Slee skid plate are the sum total of mods currently.

Bad Mike showed to complain about his miss-located battery model 80, his inferiority complex over his small factory service manual, and the fact that his brakes were too small or something :o) He met us at the gas station, then turned around and went home. No wheelin' for him....

The only other Yoda guys that showed were Dan and Dave (sorry guys....I'm horrible with names, and I'm not sure I have you two straight. Let me know if I don't) They had a big BIG mini so we weren't going anywhere near their group :o) They told me they did real good and on one alternate obstacle (a 3' shelf) they were the only one to get up it unassisted.

We ended up in a mixed group of mainly j**ps, a ranger, and a Chevy truck. I of course was the only Cruiser spreading the 'one and true cruiser faith' to the poor heathens! There were exclamations during the day such as: "It comes with FACTORY lockers?!?" "How did you get up that hill?!?" "Why don't your tires spin in the snow like ours?!?" "But I've got ARBs....why am I having trouble?" and most importantly..... "I have a new found respect for Toyotas"

Overall, the day was a successful missionary event! :o)

Paragon itself was a tough day with the snow. There were DEEP frozen ruts everywhere and navigation was difficult because of this. Most of the hills were icy and this turned the “access” roads that lead to trails into obstacles. There was much use of the snatch strap. We actually were freeing many vehicles using a snatch strap with about 6-8 people pulling on the other end. In many cases, this was much easier than trying to maneuver a vehicle. We were running mostly stock trails that all gave us problems. Our main trail guide (we actually had two as a second guy came out just to get some wheeling in) pulled cable on himself and others about 8 times. We ran Chicken Run successfully. We did it backwards from what we did at CMCC. We went down the big hill instead of up it. I got the 80 through with a little carnage..... I lost my exhaust tip. Nothing big. I got a clothes hanger on the exhaust now :o) It was in the way anyway :o)

It was a great time!

I love wheelin in the snow. No....you can't go try those cool hard trails, but EVERYTHING tests you and your vehicles ability. It's just a different kind of wheeling.

Plus, the Paragon wilderness was an awesome sight with all the snow on the ground and fog for atmosphere! At the end of the day it started snowing in big flakes and it just made it better!

Chris Basehore TLCA# 4821
Shippensburg PA 74 FJ40; 84 FJ60; NEW 93 FZJ80! w/ diff locks!