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: Salad, Pasta, Pizza, Bread & Soft drinks, or order direct from the menu. For Antonella’s to cover the cost of occupying the patio dining area, members are encouraged to enjoy the buffet dinner ($10) or menu items.
7:30 pm. Meeting Start
WELCOME and Board Reports
President – Terry: Terry noted he could not attend; Brian presided.
Vice President – Brian: Presided over Mtg.
Treasurer – Don: Reports ~$1.5K; Reports all active members are paid up. A few recent members have not paid dues or attended in the last year or 2. They are now inactive but are welcome to re-join.
Secretary – Paul: no reports
Members Attending (1 point) – Aaron, Alicia, Brad, Brian, Chris, Don, Eric, Gary, Lyle, Paul E, Paul H, Rahul, Randy, Roger, Ron, Tom K
Guests – Robert, Heidi & Eric, Steve (guests of Brad, Ron & ?)
Participation points – no reports
CLUB NEWS, ONGOING ACTIONS, & IDEAS
1) Brad & Joe will be teaming up to print our club business cards. Thank you guys! Cards should include:
1) Club Logo (scanned from the new club decal) 2) Our website: http://www.gettinoff4x4.com 3) QR coding with our website (available on VistaPrint.com) perhaps on the back side of the card
4) Our location: “San Jose, CA” 5) Our statement or tag-line (abbreviated) : “A friendly & family oriented club, open to all 4WD vehicles” 6) It is suggested we have a note about public land access, to help inform other wheelers we meet. Example: “Keep your right to access. We support sharetrails.org, cal4wheel.com, corva.org” ; this could go on the back side of the card if necessary.
2) Terry & Alane were Married July 26, Congratulations from everyone ! A number of club members attended the wedding. It was a very nice ceremony & reception, with a little humor in the vows too !
3) We did discuss where to send donations to organizations who help keep public lands & roads open to the public. Last year we gave to CAL4, BRC & CORVA. This year we added Friends of Tahoe, as a one-time donation to support their expense in litigating against Tahoe National forest for unjustly closing up to 800 mile of routes. Info at http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/land-use-issues/1773161-need-help-tahoe-group-lawsuit.html#post26441793. About $1100 will be split among the four organizations.
Since it’s an election year, individual members may consider giving to TrailPAC, http://thetrailpac.blogspot.com & http://www.thetrailpac.com. Don Amador set up this TrailPac* few years ago. He is ‘Lyin King’ on Pirate4X4 – Land Use. (PAC= Political Action Committee)
VEHICLE PAINS & PROJECTS UNDERWAY
1) Paul E – Cause of hum/vibration at 55-65 mph is not axle U-joint; but it needed replacement anyway. Could be tires, trans, etc; tbd.
(we did not get into other vehicle issues at this meeting)
RECENT RUNS & ‘Chances to Lock Axles’
1) August 15,16,17 (Fri, Sat, Sun) – Club BBQ Run: Niagara Rim. Arrive Friday or early Saturday morning; most camped Fri & Sat nights, at the OHV Campground: 38.310790, -119.890217. We ran Niagara Rim trail Saturday morning, had lunch on the trail, back to camp mid afternoon. We had a few incidents, needless to day, a few shown in the photos recently published: Paul E- locker on at off-camber spot; Steve – rollover onto passenger side; Tom K – rocker steps broken off (they have to come off sometime anyway); Brian – slipping down Heartbreak hill a few times.
We prepared a great BBQ dinner with Filet Mignon, Salmon, & Chicken (or bring meat of choice). After dinner we had the drawing for door prizes, resulting in quite a few “exchanges”. The wine bottles were exchanged to the maximum 3 times. Sunday morning we packed up for home. There were a few minor operational glitches, Brian & I discussed how to minimize them, and next year we will probably have an official sign-up sheet, which should help define how the event proceeds for everyone.
Run Requirements were: a) Bring an appetizer, side dish or dessert for about 8-10 people. Though more than 10 are attending, we always have leftovers so 8-10 is about right. Bring a few extra beverages to share.
b) Recommended minimum 33″ tires & one locker, c) Working CB radio d) Water, camping gear, food for breakfasts & lunches, tools, etc. e) $15 per adult (for BBQ Rib Eye steaks), $4 for campsite/night, & membership paid-up (excluding guests) f) Flying axes are not permitted in the campground area.
2) Mid-August – Your secretary talked about a family trip to Colorado, where (we) ran a few easy trails, high up in the Rockies near the towns of Montrose & Ouray. Vehicle Pain: We had the Neutral/Park Recall done on our grand cherokee at the Jeep dealer in February. But we found in August, the ‘fix’ prevented us from engaging 4LO ! ; “4WD Error(s)” galore. So we relied on 4HI-AWD, which works ok but we kept to easy trails. The dealer did fix it after the trip, after 2 attempts. Fortunately, no charge. This issue is all over the jeep forums.
UPCOMING RUNS (2 points)
September 13, THIS Saturday !! – Deer Valley (the open section). Entering from Hwy 4 side, at Hermit Valley Campground. Going are: Chris, Rahul, Paul, Alicia, Terry, Steve.
Hwy 4 Protocol:
Meet at 7:30 AM Grant line Road off I-205 in Tracy, at AM/PM Arco. and/or
meet at 9:15 AM Burger King parking lot in Angels Camp. and/or
meet at ~10:15 AM at the gas station near Arnold with the big parking lot (but better to meet In Tracy or Angels Camp) and/or
meet at noon??? Hermit Valley Campground.
October 3,4,5 CHANGE of VENUE ~Fri,Sat: Slick Rock & Sourgrass, or Rubicon(!) . (Mohave Rd. in reverse is on-hold)
Oct 14 – Next club meeting.
November 1 – Sourgrass Adopt-A-Trail Run, Hwy 4 Protocol.
Other suggestions: Places we’ve not been for quite some time and not closed (as Eldorado NF): Swamp Lake, Rubicon, Fordyce, Lassen Applegate, Barney Riley, Moab, and our persistent favorite: Barney Riley.
Winter season – 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 to do it.
8:30 pm – Meeting adjournment.
————————————————————————
SAVING OUR TRAILS (new=bold)
or should it be: ‘Trials for Trails’…?
Barrett Lake Jeep Trail:
I do not know if work on the ground has started on Barrett yet. In any case, plans are to re-open it no sooner than summer 2015. See previous month’s minutes for details, and read ENF’s plans and comments at:http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprd3792621.pdf. & http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprd3810733.pdfI think the next trail ENF may work on is Strawberry Pass. It should have received state OHV Trust funding to study it. No word on Deer Valley, Pardoe/Squaw Ridge, or Long Valley yet.
Check Blue Ribbon Coalition, Corva.org, Cal4wheel, and Pirate4x4 websites for the latest access news.