[go4x4club] May 13 Meeting Minutes

2012-2013 Officers: President: Terry, VP: Brian B, Treasurer: Don, Secretary: Paul E.
Meeting Time & Location: Every 2nd Tuesday at 7, Antonella’s Ristorante (patio area), 1701 Park Avenue, San Jose , CA 95126 (408) 279-4922.
Website http://www.gettinoff4x4.com

7:00 pm. Buffet Dinner $10. Salad, Pasta, Pizza, Bread & Soft drinks, or order directly from the menu. To help Antonella’s cover the cost of using the patio area, members are encouraged to enjoy the buffet dinner or a menu item.

7:30 pm. Meeting Start

This was an interesting meeting….rated PG-13, or something…

WELCOME and Board Reports

President – Terry: Terry noted he would be away, so Brian presided. Terry noted these business items, which Brian & members accomplished:

BOD elections. No additional nominations were made at the meeting, not a one. As the current board was nominated last month, they were also duly re-elected at the meeting by voice vote.
Two long-time guests are now eligible for membership: Tom K (TJ) and Marco A (4Runner). Each attended the adopt-a-trail for their 2nd trail run, and each has attended at least 3 meetings. Since Tom requested membership, he was subsequently voted-in by the current members. Congratulations Tom ! Marco was not present, hopefully we’ll see him next month.

Vice President – Brian: Brain did a fine job of presiding at the meeting. See notes throughout the minutes.

Treasurer – Don: Reports ~$570 in account.

Secretary – Paul: No special reports other than on a few items henceforth.

Members Attending (1 point): Aaron, Alicia, Brian, Chris, Don, Eric, Gary, Mario, Matt, Paul E, Paul H, Rahul, Roger, Ron.

Tim, our guy with a fleet of XJs, was in attendance. Great to see you, Tim ! He mentioned his red XJ made the cover of a new book called “Jeep Cherokee XJ 1984-2001: Advanced Performance Modifications” by Eric Zappe. Congrats on that one!

Guests – There were a few wives/girlfriends/family members in attendance.

Participation points: No announcement.

GENERAL NEWS, ACTIONS & IDEAS

a) We officially re-agreed(?) to ask Brad to print business cards for the club, next time he attends. Probably can print about 200 cards for less than $50; or perhaps Vista Print?. The vendor he chose has our new logo digital artwork. The card will have, at a minimum: 1) Our logo, 2) Our website 3) A digital ‘QR’ tag to reach our website (see http://www.qrstuff.com/ or similar), 4) Ppen to suggestions…one idea is to say we support fair & open access to public lands, and reference websites: Sharetrails.org, Cal4wheel.org, and/or Corva.org. We should also show we are ambassadors for public land access.

b) Annual Dues collected due at June meeting, $60 per member/family. New members purchase a T-shirt & Decals for $20.

c) Rumor was it was somehow telegraphed that our club member Gena was no longer invited to attend ! This is false. Though Gena was not present, the membership re-voted in favor of Gena’s still-valid full membership to the club. He is welcome back anytime, hope to see him soon.

d) Brian asked if there any other special business. Indeed there was, comments regarding the club’s name. Chris mentioned he would like the club to consider a name change sometime in the future. About 3 or 4 others had exactly the same thoughts, and your secretary too. Most others were silent (or perhaps aghast?) with the proposal.

It was noted that the club’s name goes way back into the ‘early days’, nearly 20 years (!) and that tradition is strong, so changing the club name will be hard, and that’s a reasonable assertion. The main reason cited to consider a name change was, it’s been “awkward” for some to tell friends, family and/or co-workers about the club and its full name. Of course, changing the club name kind-of obsoletes our investments in t-shirts, decals, jackets, by-laws, etc.

During the discussion, a few members presented the inevitable yet very un-official and un-sanctioned GO 4×4 Club ‘Salute’, if you will…(thank goodness it’s not a handshake!), thus somewhat proving the point of the potential awkwardness of the club’s name. This is worthy of future discussion and forethought, so perhaps we can discuss this at the BBQ run. Well maybe not, if there’s children around. OK, ’nuff said.

VEHICLE PAINS & PROJECTS

Don – The rig is at Tom’s & Gary’s for a full IFS rebuild. Lots of steering, suspension & driveline parts to be replaced, but way cheaper than a full new SAS (Solid Axle Swap). Should be ready for next run to Slick Rock.
Mario – Sold his Ford Super-Duty also ! What’s with selling all the Super Dutys recently?? answer: not being used enough…
Someone (Eric?) – Got a new driveshaft at Southbay Driveline for $600 and a new battery. I wrote down it was Eric but somehow that seems incorrect; who was it again?
Aaron – Just acquired a “new” 1974 Ford Bronco ! He’s either going to build it up for himself, or fix it up and flip it. He got it for a great price, it will need work to make it street & trail worthy. Other good new is he found a substantial leak in the exhaust header of the CJ, which was, in part at least, causing smog to fail. So smog passed now, by a hair. Toyota : clutch issue, fixed?

RECENT RUNS & ‘Chances to Lock Axles’

April 26 – Adopt-A-Trail – Sourgrass, Hwy 4. Terry reports the adopt-a-trail run went well. They spent most of the time digging trenches to get water off the trail. 5 rigs attended: Ron, Eric, Tom K., Marco, and Terry & Alane. Weather was cool in the mid 40’s, otherwise a nice day. There was up to 3-4″ of fresh snow on parts of the trail. All had a good time. Ron reported on the run too: He noted they cleared several puddles, and the creek crossing was fairly low.

Tom K mentioned he took his Grand Cherokee on some fire roads recently to explore around. (I forget to note where it was you went, sorry).

Alicia noted that Joe had gone to Moab for Easter Jeep Safari. Near the end of the week, officials said they were short a Run Leader, so Joe volunteered to fill that vacancy. What trail..? tbd.

UPCOMING RUNS (2 points)

May 31 – Slick Rock, then perhaps the 1st few miles of Deer Valley, from Hwy 4 side. Brain polled who would be going and 8+ members raised their hands*. There are a few options for those going:
1) Run Slick Rock on Saturday, and if there’s time, the back-side of Coral Hollow, and return home the same day,
2) Run Slick Rock Saturday, then head east on Hwy 4 to trailhead & campground at the start of Deer Valley route. Stay overnight, camping, then run the 1st few miles of Deer Valley Sunday am, in & out, and return home Sunday afternoon. Though Eldorado National Forest website says 19E01 (old:09N83) Deer Valley/Clover Valley is still “Closed behind County gate”, it was said the south part of the route is actually open.

June 21-22 Niagara (“Aragain”) Rim pre-run, Hwy 108.

July 12 Hollister (too hot in summer?) or TBD.

August 15,16,17 – Club BBQ Run: Aragain Rim, up .

CB Tune-Up and Swap Meet – Terry & Tom to determine best day. If you have 4×4 stuff to sell or a CB & antenna to fix or tune-up, this is a good time.

Other run suggestions: places we’ve not been for a long time, and not closed (as is Eldorado NF): Swamp Lake, Rubicon, Fordyce, Lassen Applegate, Barney Riley, Moab.

Barney Riley was discussed among a few members, but was noted the hot springs are not accessible from Barney Riley trail anymore – we can’t drive across the river any more (what a bunch of spoil sports!). Though you can access the hot springs from routes on the northwest side of the Carson river.

8:30 pm – Meeting adjournment.

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SAVING OUR TRAILS (new=bold)

Barrett Lake Jeep Trail:
After the lawsuit from PEER last year, and the subsequent truce between litigants, Eldorado National Forest (ENF) has put together a plan make the required changes to the trail. Work should begin this July. The trail could be ready by 2015. It appears it will take many 100’s of thousands of federal & OHV trust fund dollars to make the trail changes. It is amazing all the behind-the-scenes work & expense required to re-open these trails to the public: large additional reports & plans written by ENF for environmental compliance, volunteers, pro-access groups & the county of Eldorado, etc, and of course the actual ground work by contractors. Even the recent plans made are under attack by the only opposition, PEER, who is already complaining to ENF about their remediation plans…unbelievable! It really makes true the motto ‘Freedom Isn’t Free’. To help understand this, read ENF’s plans and comments at: http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprd3792621.pdf

I think the next trail ENF will work on is Strawberry Pass, they applied and should receive state OHV Trust funding to study it. No word on Deer Valley or Pardoe/Squaw Ridge yet.

Clear Creek (old Cal 4 “Molina Ghost Run” locations)
See: http://cal4wheel.com/access-issues/central-california-access-issues/508-subcommittee-to-hold-hearings-on-clear-creek-bill

Glamis:
Some good news for Imperial Sand Dunes in So Cal (a.k.a. ‘Glamis’). A generally positive court ruling for potential renewed OHV access to this long restricted area. See BRC article: http://www.sharetrails.org/news/2014/04/04/epic-decision-portends-new-balance-re-opening-dunes-glamis In possible retribution(?), PEER/CBD a day later, apparently notified BLM of their intent to sue them on grounds of inadequate record-keeping of ESA animal populations there.

Utah:
Just a few days ago: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/05/10/blm-protest-targets-off-limits-atv-trail-on-public-land-in-utah/

Check BRC (sharetrails.org), Corva.org (‘News’), and Cal4wheel, Pirate4x4 websites for more access news.

(*no, not with the un-sanctioned club salute, thank goodness)