L.W.(=?iso-8859-1?Q?=DFill?=) Hughes III

Thanks for explaining what a Welshman means, is not always what he
writes.
God Bless America, ßill O|||||||O
mailto:-------------------- http://www.----------.com/

mabar wrote:
>
> And others of us live vicariously through you.
>
> Tom

mabar

:)




"L.W. (ßill) ------ III" <----------@***.net> wrote in message
news:40B0190A.4411787D@***.net...
> Thanks for explaining what a Welshman means, is not always what he
> writes.
> God Bless America, ßill O|||||||O
> mailto:-------------------- http://www.----------.com/
>
> mabar wrote:
> >
> > And others of us live vicariously through you.
> >
> > Tom

mabar

:)




"L.W. (ßill) ------ III" <----------@***.net> wrote in message
news:40B0190A.4411787D@***.net...
> Thanks for explaining what a Welshman means, is not always what he
> writes.
> God Bless America, ßill O|||||||O
> mailto:-------------------- http://www.----------.com/
>
> mabar wrote:
> >
> > And others of us live vicariously through you.
> >
> > Tom

mabar

:)




"L.W. (ßill) ------ III" <----------@***.net> wrote in message
news:40B0190A.4411787D@***.net...
> Thanks for explaining what a Welshman means, is not always what he
> writes.
> God Bless America, ßill O|||||||O
> mailto:-------------------- http://www.----------.com/
>
> mabar wrote:
> >
> > And others of us live vicariously through you.
> >
> > Tom

mabar

:)




"L.W. (ßill) ------ III" <----------@***.net> wrote in message
news:40B0190A.4411787D@***.net...
> Thanks for explaining what a Welshman means, is not always what he
> writes.
> God Bless America, ßill O|||||||O
> mailto:-------------------- http://www.----------.com/
>
> mabar wrote:
> >
> > And others of us live vicariously through you.
> >
> > Tom

Mike Romain

Well we got back ok... Not quite in one piece, but with most of the
pieces....

I was setting up my driving lights for highway aim Saturday when I
realized I didn't have any headlights... Crap, so I check the 4 year
old dimmer switch, sure enough, seized up. I take a hammer to it, nope
it ain't clickin'. Get new one, put it in it, works. Go to set up
lights just before leaving again and no lights again! Double crap! So
I look at the dimmer plug and the sockets are gone. Rotted right out.
Cut wires and twist for low beams. All Right, lets get out of here!

What a weekend! We got away about 8 PM Sat. It was almost zero
visibility at times on the highway when it wasn't bright daylight from
the lightning, Jo and Steve had a couple kids along, running in a
Cherokee and almost bailed for the night about a third the way there,
but stuck it out. It was just insane! 90 kph or 55 mph tops, lower for
most of the drive. (This is on a highway where the slow lane runs at 70
mph or 110+ kph normally)

As we are getting to the bush area, the rain almost stops and the
puddles are empty. 'Great', I say, 'we went far enough north to miss
the rain' as my wife slaps me in the shoulder. LOL! Ya right, it
caught up and stayed with us. Mother Nature has a warped sense of humor
sometimes....

We come to a causeway across a Ducks Unlimited sponsored marsh and, oh,
oh, I think, the 3' high culvert is washed out. Get out and check, and
it's ok, solid bottom. Turns out the beavers dammed the culverts.
Nasty wash out damage in a bird nesting area though.

So it is raining harder and harder and I notice one wiper, my side is
wiping strange places... My wife noticed too and commented. I said I
hop it holds 'till we get there... It up and jammed just as we found a
hunt camp to stay the night in. The windshield frame gave up. Crappy
aftermarket one split at the hole from flex and let the linkage jam up.

So next day I tear into it and brace it and lose the spring clip
putting it back together. I heard a perfect pinball machine tick tick
ding as the clip goes down the defroster duct.... So I steal a clip
from my choke fast idle rod and it lasts 10 minutes. Oh well, I still
had it manually working on my side in the rain after I unhooked the
linkage.

So it rained some more on Sunday, then we had some thunderstorms. We
did a bit of wheeling across the bush roads over to a lake we camp at
lots. There were 15 tents in there! The loggers have just plain ruined
the area. This lake used to be 6 hours from where we came into the bush
and 4 hours from the other end and now it's 45 minutes from one side and
a mini van can make it. But this time that side is closed because the
loggers crushed another Ducks Unlimited sponsored marsh's causeway with
a 10' high culvert and water level control dam. The MNR has the road
posted closed to motor traffic so even if we could winch our way across
the ravine, it would be a 'bad' idea. Closed is closed. There were a
bunch of ATV's that went across that are giving them a bad impression
according to the MNR guy I talked to on Tues.. That kind of BS gets
areas closed!!!!

We were going to go on another firewood run in the evening to have a
fire and marshmallows, etc., but it decided to really rain hard, so we
didn't.

We did a pile of hikes down to the marsh during the day and nights. The
marsh noises at night are wild! The frogs were in full symphony with
the bull frogs playing bass and the big Barred Owls were yapping/howling
away. They are extremely loud and one person in our party said he was
out with others that though they were hearing coyotes when they heard
the owls. I can believe it.

We saw lots of fresh tracks (did I mention it was raining, so tracks
wash out fast) moose, deer, fawn, raccoon, what really looked like big
cat, (palm sized tracks with no claws showing, so not dog) fresh beaver
cuttings, and bird. We only physically saw a porcupine, a big old
ground hog, a couple foxes in the marsh at night caught in a spot light,
and a ruffed grouse I tagged driving by and walked/sneaked through the
woods, back with the young girls so they could see it in person. They
did then it took off with a roar scaring them good! LOL! The Blue
herons were longer distance and the red wing black birds were everywhere
squawking at us and chasing Herons away from their nests.

Got up Monday to some more rain. The TJ folks had to get back, so they
left fairly early.

Steve and I and the kids are going to go out on a run when I check my
new hub to see how it's doing.

LOL! SOB! Two bolts are snapped and the rest of the studs and bolts
are just plain gone!!! What is it with these things? I even used some
studs because I heard they were better and used loctite on
everything....

So I just hand pulled it off and tossed the hub in the back and we went
on another run anyway with me in 2 WD and ended up on a winter built
skidder run.

These are mud roads with brush and ice filling the holes as they make
them for the trucks to run in the winter only. Come thaw and you can
have 6' or deeper holes covered by a bit of muddy brush. (snapped a
shock pin on one a couple years ago. Bottom dropped out fast.)

Man that organic mud sure can turn a mud tire into a slick in a hurry!
LOL! I had 'fun' trying to get across one log bridge and up the creek
bank. It was one of those slick hills with a funky bridge that could
end up with a Jeep rubber side up. The bridge was made for a skidder
with 6' high tires and chain cleats on. Steve followed along in a
Cherokee with no problem in 4x4....

That is the only place we got any photos. Steve had a full camera with
only a couple left and Jason had dead batteries with no charger along.
(we have inverters)

If Steve can forward the photos to me I will put them up and post a
link.

So it's just pissing rain and I am staring to see bottomless pits in the
road so figure it's a good time to turn around while I am still moving.
I didn't feel like winching in a thunderstorm.

We got back and they packed up in the rain to leave. My wife and I
stayed until Tuesday when they called for clearing. Driving with a
manual wiper is no fun.

So Tuesday morning and some trucks show up from the local works dept.
Apparently the loggers phoned in saying they can't cross the washout in
the marsh and these guys are trying to figure out who's fault the
environmental damage is and what is needed to fix it.

If the loggers caused the culvert collapse, they are liable for the fix
and the damage.

The workers thought they saw back hoe tracks and asked us if we had seen
any and I said nope and we had bee all across. No track either, we were
down at the marsh a lot on short hikes. It is a neat place, especially
at night.

Then a conservation officer showed up and I talked with him a bit and
pointed out the second high water bypass culvert nicely dammed up and
water wash across the top of the road and the lack of any dirt piles
from back hoe work over on the main culvert. He agreed that nature was
to 'blame' for it. They will call in the local trapper to clean out the
beaver. He is a 'nuisance' beaver affecting the forestry access road.

I don't know what that means for the clean up though.... A large bird
breeding area was damaged. We saw lots of Red Wing Black Birds, Great
Blue Herons and Ducks of many varieties nesting in there.

So I asked the MNR guy about the weather (no radio coverage in there)
hoping for clearing for my drive home (one manual wiper only) and he
laughs saying they are calling for flood warnings that day and
recommends I get that rain x stuff at a store 100 miles down the road or
at the other store 50 miles through the woods the other way. LOL!!!!

I got freaking lucky. Had some low cloud/heavy mist for the dirt run
out
and the first 50 miles, then it didn't start raining again seriously
until I was 20 miles from home.

Oh, did I mention it rained all freaking weekend?
;-)

Had a fun time, met some nice new folks and I think everyone enjoyed
themselves.

Mike


Mike Romain wrote:
>
> My wife and I are heading off into the Canadian bush for a few days.
> Have a couple with TJ coming and Steve and Jo are joining us.
>
> I don't have a working camera, maybe the others do. If we get photos I
> will post the link.
>
> Mike
> 86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00
> 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

Mike Romain

Well we got back ok... Not quite in one piece, but with most of the
pieces....

I was setting up my driving lights for highway aim Saturday when I
realized I didn't have any headlights... Crap, so I check the 4 year
old dimmer switch, sure enough, seized up. I take a hammer to it, nope
it ain't clickin'. Get new one, put it in it, works. Go to set up
lights just before leaving again and no lights again! Double crap! So
I look at the dimmer plug and the sockets are gone. Rotted right out.
Cut wires and twist for low beams. All Right, lets get out of here!

What a weekend! We got away about 8 PM Sat. It was almost zero
visibility at times on the highway when it wasn't bright daylight from
the lightning, Jo and Steve had a couple kids along, running in a
Cherokee and almost bailed for the night about a third the way there,
but stuck it out. It was just insane! 90 kph or 55 mph tops, lower for
most of the drive. (This is on a highway where the slow lane runs at 70
mph or 110+ kph normally)

As we are getting to the bush area, the rain almost stops and the
puddles are empty. 'Great', I say, 'we went far enough north to miss
the rain' as my wife slaps me in the shoulder. LOL! Ya right, it
caught up and stayed with us. Mother Nature has a warped sense of humor
sometimes....

We come to a causeway across a Ducks Unlimited sponsored marsh and, oh,
oh, I think, the 3' high culvert is washed out. Get out and check, and
it's ok, solid bottom. Turns out the beavers dammed the culverts.
Nasty wash out damage in a bird nesting area though.

So it is raining harder and harder and I notice one wiper, my side is
wiping strange places... My wife noticed too and commented. I said I
hop it holds 'till we get there... It up and jammed just as we found a
hunt camp to stay the night in. The windshield frame gave up. Crappy
aftermarket one split at the hole from flex and let the linkage jam up.

So next day I tear into it and brace it and lose the spring clip
putting it back together. I heard a perfect pinball machine tick tick
ding as the clip goes down the defroster duct.... So I steal a clip
from my choke fast idle rod and it lasts 10 minutes. Oh well, I still
had it manually working on my side in the rain after I unhooked the
linkage.

So it rained some more on Sunday, then we had some thunderstorms. We
did a bit of wheeling across the bush roads over to a lake we camp at
lots. There were 15 tents in there! The loggers have just plain ruined
the area. This lake used to be 6 hours from where we came into the bush
and 4 hours from the other end and now it's 45 minutes from one side and
a mini van can make it. But this time that side is closed because the
loggers crushed another Ducks Unlimited sponsored marsh's causeway with
a 10' high culvert and water level control dam. The MNR has the road
posted closed to motor traffic so even if we could winch our way across
the ravine, it would be a 'bad' idea. Closed is closed. There were a
bunch of ATV's that went across that are giving them a bad impression
according to the MNR guy I talked to on Tues.. That kind of BS gets
areas closed!!!!

We were going to go on another firewood run in the evening to have a
fire and marshmallows, etc., but it decided to really rain hard, so we
didn't.

We did a pile of hikes down to the marsh during the day and nights. The
marsh noises at night are wild! The frogs were in full symphony with
the bull frogs playing bass and the big Barred Owls were yapping/howling
away. They are extremely loud and one person in our party said he was
out with others that though they were hearing coyotes when they heard
the owls. I can believe it.

We saw lots of fresh tracks (did I mention it was raining, so tracks
wash out fast) moose, deer, fawn, raccoon, what really looked like big
cat, (palm sized tracks with no claws showing, so not dog) fresh beaver
cuttings, and bird. We only physically saw a porcupine, a big old
ground hog, a couple foxes in the marsh at night caught in a spot light,
and a ruffed grouse I tagged driving by and walked/sneaked through the
woods, back with the young girls so they could see it in person. They
did then it took off with a roar scaring them good! LOL! The Blue
herons were longer distance and the red wing black birds were everywhere
squawking at us and chasing Herons away from their nests.

Got up Monday to some more rain. The TJ folks had to get back, so they
left fairly early.

Steve and I and the kids are going to go out on a run when I check my
new hub to see how it's doing.

LOL! SOB! Two bolts are snapped and the rest of the studs and bolts
are just plain gone!!! What is it with these things? I even used some
studs because I heard they were better and used loctite on
everything....

So I just hand pulled it off and tossed the hub in the back and we went
on another run anyway with me in 2 WD and ended up on a winter built
skidder run.

These are mud roads with brush and ice filling the holes as they make
them for the trucks to run in the winter only. Come thaw and you can
have 6' or deeper holes covered by a bit of muddy brush. (snapped a
shock pin on one a couple years ago. Bottom dropped out fast.)

Man that organic mud sure can turn a mud tire into a slick in a hurry!
LOL! I had 'fun' trying to get across one log bridge and up the creek
bank. It was one of those slick hills with a funky bridge that could
end up with a Jeep rubber side up. The bridge was made for a skidder
with 6' high tires and chain cleats on. Steve followed along in a
Cherokee with no problem in 4x4....

That is the only place we got any photos. Steve had a full camera with
only a couple left and Jason had dead batteries with no charger along.
(we have inverters)

If Steve can forward the photos to me I will put them up and post a
link.

So it's just pissing rain and I am staring to see bottomless pits in the
road so figure it's a good time to turn around while I am still moving.
I didn't feel like winching in a thunderstorm.

We got back and they packed up in the rain to leave. My wife and I
stayed until Tuesday when they called for clearing. Driving with a
manual wiper is no fun.

So Tuesday morning and some trucks show up from the local works dept.
Apparently the loggers phoned in saying they can't cross the washout in
the marsh and these guys are trying to figure out who's fault the
environmental damage is and what is needed to fix it.

If the loggers caused the culvert collapse, they are liable for the fix
and the damage.

The workers thought they saw back hoe tracks and asked us if we had seen
any and I said nope and we had bee all across. No track either, we were
down at the marsh a lot on short hikes. It is a neat place, especially
at night.

Then a conservation officer showed up and I talked with him a bit and
pointed out the second high water bypass culvert nicely dammed up and
water wash across the top of the road and the lack of any dirt piles
from back hoe work over on the main culvert. He agreed that nature was
to 'blame' for it. They will call in the local trapper to clean out the
beaver. He is a 'nuisance' beaver affecting the forestry access road.

I don't know what that means for the clean up though.... A large bird
breeding area was damaged. We saw lots of Red Wing Black Birds, Great
Blue Herons and Ducks of many varieties nesting in there.

So I asked the MNR guy about the weather (no radio coverage in there)
hoping for clearing for my drive home (one manual wiper only) and he
laughs saying they are calling for flood warnings that day and
recommends I get that rain x stuff at a store 100 miles down the road or
at the other store 50 miles through the woods the other way. LOL!!!!

I got freaking lucky. Had some low cloud/heavy mist for the dirt run
out
and the first 50 miles, then it didn't start raining again seriously
until I was 20 miles from home.

Oh, did I mention it rained all freaking weekend?
;-)

Had a fun time, met some nice new folks and I think everyone enjoyed
themselves.

Mike


Mike Romain wrote:
>
> My wife and I are heading off into the Canadian bush for a few days.
> Have a couple with TJ coming and Steve and Jo are joining us.
>
> I don't have a working camera, maybe the others do. If we get photos I
> will post the link.
>
> Mike
> 86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00
> 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

Mike Romain

Well we got back ok... Not quite in one piece, but with most of the
pieces....

I was setting up my driving lights for highway aim Saturday when I
realized I didn't have any headlights... Crap, so I check the 4 year
old dimmer switch, sure enough, seized up. I take a hammer to it, nope
it ain't clickin'. Get new one, put it in it, works. Go to set up
lights just before leaving again and no lights again! Double crap! So
I look at the dimmer plug and the sockets are gone. Rotted right out.
Cut wires and twist for low beams. All Right, lets get out of here!

What a weekend! We got away about 8 PM Sat. It was almost zero
visibility at times on the highway when it wasn't bright daylight from
the lightning, Jo and Steve had a couple kids along, running in a
Cherokee and almost bailed for the night about a third the way there,
but stuck it out. It was just insane! 90 kph or 55 mph tops, lower for
most of the drive. (This is on a highway where the slow lane runs at 70
mph or 110+ kph normally)

As we are getting to the bush area, the rain almost stops and the
puddles are empty. 'Great', I say, 'we went far enough north to miss
the rain' as my wife slaps me in the shoulder. LOL! Ya right, it
caught up and stayed with us. Mother Nature has a warped sense of humor
sometimes....

We come to a causeway across a Ducks Unlimited sponsored marsh and, oh,
oh, I think, the 3' high culvert is washed out. Get out and check, and
it's ok, solid bottom. Turns out the beavers dammed the culverts.
Nasty wash out damage in a bird nesting area though.

So it is raining harder and harder and I notice one wiper, my side is
wiping strange places... My wife noticed too and commented. I said I
hop it holds 'till we get there... It up and jammed just as we found a
hunt camp to stay the night in. The windshield frame gave up. Crappy
aftermarket one split at the hole from flex and let the linkage jam up.

So next day I tear into it and brace it and lose the spring clip
putting it back together. I heard a perfect pinball machine tick tick
ding as the clip goes down the defroster duct.... So I steal a clip
from my choke fast idle rod and it lasts 10 minutes. Oh well, I still
had it manually working on my side in the rain after I unhooked the
linkage.

So it rained some more on Sunday, then we had some thunderstorms. We
did a bit of wheeling across the bush roads over to a lake we camp at
lots. There were 15 tents in there! The loggers have just plain ruined
the area. This lake used to be 6 hours from where we came into the bush
and 4 hours from the other end and now it's 45 minutes from one side and
a mini van can make it. But this time that side is closed because the
loggers crushed another Ducks Unlimited sponsored marsh's causeway with
a 10' high culvert and water level control dam. The MNR has the road
posted closed to motor traffic so even if we could winch our way across
the ravine, it would be a 'bad' idea. Closed is closed. There were a
bunch of ATV's that went across that are giving them a bad impression
according to the MNR guy I talked to on Tues.. That kind of BS gets
areas closed!!!!

We were going to go on another firewood run in the evening to have a
fire and marshmallows, etc., but it decided to really rain hard, so we
didn't.

We did a pile of hikes down to the marsh during the day and nights. The
marsh noises at night are wild! The frogs were in full symphony with
the bull frogs playing bass and the big Barred Owls were yapping/howling
away. They are extremely loud and one person in our party said he was
out with others that though they were hearing coyotes when they heard
the owls. I can believe it.

We saw lots of fresh tracks (did I mention it was raining, so tracks
wash out fast) moose, deer, fawn, raccoon, what really looked like big
cat, (palm sized tracks with no claws showing, so not dog) fresh beaver
cuttings, and bird. We only physically saw a porcupine, a big old
ground hog, a couple foxes in the marsh at night caught in a spot light,
and a ruffed grouse I tagged driving by and walked/sneaked through the
woods, back with the young girls so they could see it in person. They
did then it took off with a roar scaring them good! LOL! The Blue
herons were longer distance and the red wing black birds were everywhere
squawking at us and chasing Herons away from their nests.

Got up Monday to some more rain. The TJ folks had to get back, so they
left fairly early.

Steve and I and the kids are going to go out on a run when I check my
new hub to see how it's doing.

LOL! SOB! Two bolts are snapped and the rest of the studs and bolts
are just plain gone!!! What is it with these things? I even used some
studs because I heard they were better and used loctite on
everything....

So I just hand pulled it off and tossed the hub in the back and we went
on another run anyway with me in 2 WD and ended up on a winter built
skidder run.

These are mud roads with brush and ice filling the holes as they make
them for the trucks to run in the winter only. Come thaw and you can
have 6' or deeper holes covered by a bit of muddy brush. (snapped a
shock pin on one a couple years ago. Bottom dropped out fast.)

Man that organic mud sure can turn a mud tire into a slick in a hurry!
LOL! I had 'fun' trying to get across one log bridge and up the creek
bank. It was one of those slick hills with a funky bridge that could
end up with a Jeep rubber side up. The bridge was made for a skidder
with 6' high tires and chain cleats on. Steve followed along in a
Cherokee with no problem in 4x4....

That is the only place we got any photos. Steve had a full camera with
only a couple left and Jason had dead batteries with no charger along.
(we have inverters)

If Steve can forward the photos to me I will put them up and post a
link.

So it's just pissing rain and I am staring to see bottomless pits in the
road so figure it's a good time to turn around while I am still moving.
I didn't feel like winching in a thunderstorm.

We got back and they packed up in the rain to leave. My wife and I
stayed until Tuesday when they called for clearing. Driving with a
manual wiper is no fun.

So Tuesday morning and some trucks show up from the local works dept.
Apparently the loggers phoned in saying they can't cross the washout in
the marsh and these guys are trying to figure out who's fault the
environmental damage is and what is needed to fix it.

If the loggers caused the culvert collapse, they are liable for the fix
and the damage.

The workers thought they saw back hoe tracks and asked us if we had seen
any and I said nope and we had bee all across. No track either, we were
down at the marsh a lot on short hikes. It is a neat place, especially
at night.

Then a conservation officer showed up and I talked with him a bit and
pointed out the second high water bypass culvert nicely dammed up and
water wash across the top of the road and the lack of any dirt piles
from back hoe work over on the main culvert. He agreed that nature was
to 'blame' for it. They will call in the local trapper to clean out the
beaver. He is a 'nuisance' beaver affecting the forestry access road.

I don't know what that means for the clean up though.... A large bird
breeding area was damaged. We saw lots of Red Wing Black Birds, Great
Blue Herons and Ducks of many varieties nesting in there.

So I asked the MNR guy about the weather (no radio coverage in there)
hoping for clearing for my drive home (one manual wiper only) and he
laughs saying they are calling for flood warnings that day and
recommends I get that rain x stuff at a store 100 miles down the road or
at the other store 50 miles through the woods the other way. LOL!!!!

I got freaking lucky. Had some low cloud/heavy mist for the dirt run
out
and the first 50 miles, then it didn't start raining again seriously
until I was 20 miles from home.

Oh, did I mention it rained all freaking weekend?
;-)

Had a fun time, met some nice new folks and I think everyone enjoyed
themselves.

Mike


Mike Romain wrote:
>
> My wife and I are heading off into the Canadian bush for a few days.
> Have a couple with TJ coming and Steve and Jo are joining us.
>
> I don't have a working camera, maybe the others do. If we get photos I
> will post the link.
>
> Mike
> 86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00
> 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

Mike Romain

Well we got back ok... Not quite in one piece, but with most of the
pieces....

I was setting up my driving lights for highway aim Saturday when I
realized I didn't have any headlights... Crap, so I check the 4 year
old dimmer switch, sure enough, seized up. I take a hammer to it, nope
it ain't clickin'. Get new one, put it in it, works. Go to set up
lights just before leaving again and no lights again! Double crap! So
I look at the dimmer plug and the sockets are gone. Rotted right out.
Cut wires and twist for low beams. All Right, lets get out of here!

What a weekend! We got away about 8 PM Sat. It was almost zero
visibility at times on the highway when it wasn't bright daylight from
the lightning, Jo and Steve had a couple kids along, running in a
Cherokee and almost bailed for the night about a third the way there,
but stuck it out. It was just insane! 90 kph or 55 mph tops, lower for
most of the drive. (This is on a highway where the slow lane runs at 70
mph or 110+ kph normally)

As we are getting to the bush area, the rain almost stops and the
puddles are empty. 'Great', I say, 'we went far enough north to miss
the rain' as my wife slaps me in the shoulder. LOL! Ya right, it
caught up and stayed with us. Mother Nature has a warped sense of humor
sometimes....

We come to a causeway across a Ducks Unlimited sponsored marsh and, oh,
oh, I think, the 3' high culvert is washed out. Get out and check, and
it's ok, solid bottom. Turns out the beavers dammed the culverts.
Nasty wash out damage in a bird nesting area though.

So it is raining harder and harder and I notice one wiper, my side is
wiping strange places... My wife noticed too and commented. I said I
hop it holds 'till we get there... It up and jammed just as we found a
hunt camp to stay the night in. The windshield frame gave up. Crappy
aftermarket one split at the hole from flex and let the linkage jam up.

So next day I tear into it and brace it and lose the spring clip
putting it back together. I heard a perfect pinball machine tick tick
ding as the clip goes down the defroster duct.... So I steal a clip
from my choke fast idle rod and it lasts 10 minutes. Oh well, I still
had it manually working on my side in the rain after I unhooked the
linkage.

So it rained some more on Sunday, then we had some thunderstorms. We
did a bit of wheeling across the bush roads over to a lake we camp at
lots. There were 15 tents in there! The loggers have just plain ruined
the area. This lake used to be 6 hours from where we came into the bush
and 4 hours from the other end and now it's 45 minutes from one side and
a mini van can make it. But this time that side is closed because the
loggers crushed another Ducks Unlimited sponsored marsh's causeway with
a 10' high culvert and water level control dam. The MNR has the road
posted closed to motor traffic so even if we could winch our way across
the ravine, it would be a 'bad' idea. Closed is closed. There were a
bunch of ATV's that went across that are giving them a bad impression
according to the MNR guy I talked to on Tues.. That kind of BS gets
areas closed!!!!

We were going to go on another firewood run in the evening to have a
fire and marshmallows, etc., but it decided to really rain hard, so we
didn't.

We did a pile of hikes down to the marsh during the day and nights. The
marsh noises at night are wild! The frogs were in full symphony with
the bull frogs playing bass and the big Barred Owls were yapping/howling
away. They are extremely loud and one person in our party said he was
out with others that though they were hearing coyotes when they heard
the owls. I can believe it.

We saw lots of fresh tracks (did I mention it was raining, so tracks
wash out fast) moose, deer, fawn, raccoon, what really looked like big
cat, (palm sized tracks with no claws showing, so not dog) fresh beaver
cuttings, and bird. We only physically saw a porcupine, a big old
ground hog, a couple foxes in the marsh at night caught in a spot light,
and a ruffed grouse I tagged driving by and walked/sneaked through the
woods, back with the young girls so they could see it in person. They
did then it took off with a roar scaring them good! LOL! The Blue
herons were longer distance and the red wing black birds were everywhere
squawking at us and chasing Herons away from their nests.

Got up Monday to some more rain. The TJ folks had to get back, so they
left fairly early.

Steve and I and the kids are going to go out on a run when I check my
new hub to see how it's doing.

LOL! SOB! Two bolts are snapped and the rest of the studs and bolts
are just plain gone!!! What is it with these things? I even used some
studs because I heard they were better and used loctite on
everything....

So I just hand pulled it off and tossed the hub in the back and we went
on another run anyway with me in 2 WD and ended up on a winter built
skidder run.

These are mud roads with brush and ice filling the holes as they make
them for the trucks to run in the winter only. Come thaw and you can
have 6' or deeper holes covered by a bit of muddy brush. (snapped a
shock pin on one a couple years ago. Bottom dropped out fast.)

Man that organic mud sure can turn a mud tire into a slick in a hurry!
LOL! I had 'fun' trying to get across one log bridge and up the creek
bank. It was one of those slick hills with a funky bridge that could
end up with a Jeep rubber side up. The bridge was made for a skidder
with 6' high tires and chain cleats on. Steve followed along in a
Cherokee with no problem in 4x4....

That is the only place we got any photos. Steve had a full camera with
only a couple left and Jason had dead batteries with no charger along.
(we have inverters)

If Steve can forward the photos to me I will put them up and post a
link.

So it's just pissing rain and I am staring to see bottomless pits in the
road so figure it's a good time to turn around while I am still moving.
I didn't feel like winching in a thunderstorm.

We got back and they packed up in the rain to leave. My wife and I
stayed until Tuesday when they called for clearing. Driving with a
manual wiper is no fun.

So Tuesday morning and some trucks show up from the local works dept.
Apparently the loggers phoned in saying they can't cross the washout in
the marsh and these guys are trying to figure out who's fault the
environmental damage is and what is needed to fix it.

If the loggers caused the culvert collapse, they are liable for the fix
and the damage.

The workers thought they saw back hoe tracks and asked us if we had seen
any and I said nope and we had bee all across. No track either, we were
down at the marsh a lot on short hikes. It is a neat place, especially
at night.

Then a conservation officer showed up and I talked with him a bit and
pointed out the second high water bypass culvert nicely dammed up and
water wash across the top of the road and the lack of any dirt piles
from back hoe work over on the main culvert. He agreed that nature was
to 'blame' for it. They will call in the local trapper to clean out the
beaver. He is a 'nuisance' beaver affecting the forestry access road.

I don't know what that means for the clean up though.... A large bird
breeding area was damaged. We saw lots of Red Wing Black Birds, Great
Blue Herons and Ducks of many varieties nesting in there.

So I asked the MNR guy about the weather (no radio coverage in there)
hoping for clearing for my drive home (one manual wiper only) and he
laughs saying they are calling for flood warnings that day and
recommends I get that rain x stuff at a store 100 miles down the road or
at the other store 50 miles through the woods the other way. LOL!!!!

I got freaking lucky. Had some low cloud/heavy mist for the dirt run
out
and the first 50 miles, then it didn't start raining again seriously
until I was 20 miles from home.

Oh, did I mention it rained all freaking weekend?
;-)

Had a fun time, met some nice new folks and I think everyone enjoyed
themselves.

Mike


Mike Romain wrote:
>
> My wife and I are heading off into the Canadian bush for a few days.
> Have a couple with TJ coming and Steve and Jo are joining us.
>
> I don't have a working camera, maybe the others do. If we get photos I
> will post the link.
>
> Mike
> 86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00
> 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

L.W.(=?iso-8859-1?Q?=DFill?=) Hughes III

Thanks.
God Bless America, ßill O|||||||O
mailto:-------------------- http://www.----------.com/

Mike Romain wrote:
>
> Well we got back ok... Not quite in one piece, but with most of the
> pieces....
>
> I was setting up my driving lights for highway aim Saturday when I
> realized I didn't have any headlights... Crap, so I check the 4 year
> old dimmer switch, sure enough, seized up. I take a hammer to it, nope
> it ain't clickin'. Get new one, put it in it, works. Go to set up
> lights just before leaving again and no lights again! Double crap! So
> I look at the dimmer plug and the sockets are gone. Rotted right out.
> Cut wires and twist for low beams. All Right, lets get out of here!
>
> What a weekend! We got away about 8 PM Sat. It was almost zero
> visibility at times on the highway when it wasn't bright daylight from
> the lightning, Jo and Steve had a couple kids along, running in a
> Cherokee and almost bailed for the night about a third the way there,
> but stuck it out. It was just insane! 90 kph or 55 mph tops, lower for
> most of the drive. (This is on a highway where the slow lane runs at 70
> mph or 110+ kph normally)
>
> As we are getting to the bush area, the rain almost stops and the
> puddles are empty. 'Great', I say, 'we went far enough north to miss
> the rain' as my wife slaps me in the shoulder. LOL! Ya right, it
> caught up and stayed with us. Mother Nature has a warped sense of humor
> sometimes....
>
> We come to a causeway across a Ducks Unlimited sponsored marsh and, oh,
> oh, I think, the 3' high culvert is washed out. Get out and check, and
> it's ok, solid bottom. Turns out the beavers dammed the culverts.
> Nasty wash out damage in a bird nesting area though.
>
> So it is raining harder and harder and I notice one wiper, my side is
> wiping strange places... My wife noticed too and commented. I said I
> hop it holds 'till we get there... It up and jammed just as we found a
> hunt camp to stay the night in. The windshield frame gave up. Crappy
> aftermarket one split at the hole from flex and let the linkage jam up.
>
> So next day I tear into it and brace it and lose the spring clip
> putting it back together. I heard a perfect pinball machine tick tick
> ding as the clip goes down the defroster duct.... So I steal a clip
> from my choke fast idle rod and it lasts 10 minutes. Oh well, I still
> had it manually working on my side in the rain after I unhooked the
> linkage.
>
> So it rained some more on Sunday, then we had some thunderstorms. We
> did a bit of wheeling across the bush roads over to a lake we camp at
> lots. There were 15 tents in there! The loggers have just plain ruined
> the area. This lake used to be 6 hours from where we came into the bush
> and 4 hours from the other end and now it's 45 minutes from one side and
> a mini van can make it. But this time that side is closed because the
> loggers crushed another Ducks Unlimited sponsored marsh's causeway with
> a 10' high culvert and water level control dam. The MNR has the road
> posted closed to motor traffic so even if we could winch our way across
> the ravine, it would be a 'bad' idea. Closed is closed. There were a
> bunch of ATV's that went across that are giving them a bad impression
> according to the MNR guy I talked to on Tues.. That kind of BS gets
> areas closed!!!!
>
> We were going to go on another firewood run in the evening to have a
> fire and marshmallows, etc., but it decided to really rain hard, so we
> didn't.
>
> We did a pile of hikes down to the marsh during the day and nights. The
> marsh noises at night are wild! The frogs were in full symphony with
> the bull frogs playing bass and the big Barred Owls were yapping/howling
> away. They are extremely loud and one person in our party said he was
> out with others that though they were hearing coyotes when they heard
> the owls. I can believe it.
>
> We saw lots of fresh tracks (did I mention it was raining, so tracks
> wash out fast) moose, deer, fawn, raccoon, what really looked like big
> cat, (palm sized tracks with no claws showing, so not dog) fresh beaver
> cuttings, and bird. We only physically saw a porcupine, a big old
> ground hog, a couple foxes in the marsh at night caught in a spot light,
> and a ruffed grouse I tagged driving by and walked/sneaked through the
> woods, back with the young girls so they could see it in person. They
> did then it took off with a roar scaring them good! LOL! The Blue
> herons were longer distance and the red wing black birds were everywhere
> squawking at us and chasing Herons away from their nests.
>
> Got up Monday to some more rain. The TJ folks had to get back, so they
> left fairly early.
>
> Steve and I and the kids are going to go out on a run when I check my
> new hub to see how it's doing.
>
> LOL! SOB! Two bolts are snapped and the rest of the studs and bolts
> are just plain gone!!! What is it with these things? I even used some
> studs because I heard they were better and used loctite on
> everything....
>
> So I just hand pulled it off and tossed the hub in the back and we went
> on another run anyway with me in 2 WD and ended up on a winter built
> skidder run.
>
> These are mud roads with brush and ice filling the holes as they make
> them for the trucks to run in the winter only. Come thaw and you can
> have 6' or deeper holes covered by a bit of muddy brush. (snapped a
> shock pin on one a couple years ago. Bottom dropped out fast.)
>
> Man that organic mud sure can turn a mud tire into a slick in a hurry!
> LOL! I had 'fun' trying to get across one log bridge and up the creek
> bank. It was one of those slick hills with a funky bridge that could
> end up with a Jeep rubber side up. The bridge was made for a skidder
> with 6' high tires and chain cleats on. Steve followed along in a
> Cherokee with no problem in 4x4....
>
> That is the only place we got any photos. Steve had a full camera with
> only a couple left and Jason had dead batteries with no charger along.
> (we have inverters)
>
> If Steve can forward the photos to me I will put them up and post a
> link.
>
> So it's just pissing rain and I am staring to see bottomless pits in the
> road so figure it's a good time to turn around while I am still moving.
> I didn't feel like winching in a thunderstorm.
>
> We got back and they packed up in the rain to leave. My wife and I
> stayed until Tuesday when they called for clearing. Driving with a
> manual wiper is no fun.
>
> So Tuesday morning and some trucks show up from the local works dept.
> Apparently the loggers phoned in saying they can't cross the washout in
> the marsh and these guys are trying to figure out who's fault the
> environmental damage is and what is needed to fix it.
>
> If the loggers caused the culvert collapse, they are liable for the fix
> and the damage.
>
> The workers thought they saw back hoe tracks and asked us if we had seen
> any and I said nope and we had bee all across. No track either, we were
> down at the marsh a lot on short hikes. It is a neat place, especially
> at night.
>
> Then a conservation officer showed up and I talked with him a bit and
> pointed out the second high water bypass culvert nicely dammed up and
> water wash across the top of the road and the lack of any dirt piles
> from back hoe work over on the main culvert. He agreed that nature was
> to 'blame' for it. They will call in the local trapper to clean out the
> beaver. He is a 'nuisance' beaver affecting the forestry access road.
>
> I don't know what that means for the clean up though.... A large bird
> breeding area was damaged. We saw lots of Red Wing Black Birds, Great
> Blue Herons and Ducks of many varieties nesting in there.
>
> So I asked the MNR guy about the weather (no radio coverage in there)
> hoping for clearing for my drive home (one manual wiper only) and he
> laughs saying they are calling for flood warnings that day and
> recommends I get that rain x stuff at a store 100 miles down the road or
> at the other store 50 miles through the woods the other way. LOL!!!!
>
> I got freaking lucky. Had some low cloud/heavy mist for the dirt run
> out
> and the first 50 miles, then it didn't start raining again seriously
> until I was 20 miles from home.
>
> Oh, did I mention it rained all freaking weekend?
> ;-)
>
> Had a fun time, met some nice new folks and I think everyone enjoyed
> themselves.
>
> Mike