Doe Lake Camping Trip
July 2001
<Click on any image to enlarge>
The private facility at Doe Lake is fast becoming a
favorite event each time we go there. Were
else can you get exclusive rights to a facility that offers so much for so
little? We’re talking private
camping next to a sandy bottom spring fed lake that includes a historic lodge
building that could house over 100 people easily.
Oh, and lets not forget the bath house with hot & cold showers, all
to ourselves. If you missed this
last trip don’t worry we’ve applied for this facility again in Nov. to host
our year end party.
Now on to the events coverage. Most of the campers pulled in on Friday night and were
welcomed with numerous thunderstorms throughout the night. These wet conditions put a stop to a campfire but that
didn’t stop people from gathering around another source of entertainment.
That’s right, the killer bug light.
Yep, some big boys bit the dust that night including one mother that went
up in smoke after several minutes of zapping.
Saturday morning came and mother nature held off the rains
until late that afternoon. The
previous rains made for some great trail riding.
No Dust!!! Not to mention
several low lying areas filled with water.
Big Ernie Prevedel took the point and led everyone on a meandering route
to the Bombing Range perimeter road. Along
the way a wrong turn led to some pretty tight areas and caused Big E’s ears to
bleed a little. Once we arrived at
the first, and worst hole on Perimeter Rd, it was clear we were gonna be here
awhile. Imagine a traffic accident
involving an overturned semi loaded with crates of butterscotch pudding.
Nice and creamy. When you
stepped into it you sank to your knees. Prime
mud. Only the biggest Jeeps
attempted at first searching for the proper line.
Big E said that there was a bypass if anyone was interested. About a half dozen elected to wait behind to take the
‘bypass’. Big E told everyone
to load up he was getting ready to take the ‘bypass’, only his ‘bypass’
was staying to the extreme left side of the road.
As you can tell from the picture of Shorty on this page, the bypass was a
little deep, but all came through just fine.
Time was taken to change two tires on Paul Worthman’s TJ after
unseating the beads on both of them. Remember,
low air pressure for rocks, high air pressure for mud.
The ride continued around and ended up at Blueberry hill for a short time
until the rain clouds moved in and all headed back to base camp.
That night somewhere in the neighborhood of eight turkeys
were fried up along with plenty of side dishes. There was so much food that there was plenty for sandwiches
the next day. A short meeting was
conducted in the lodge and then much to the surprise of Ernie & Beth, a
surprise party complete with anniversary cake and champagne was brought out to
celebrate 25 years of marriage. After
all the toasting a night ride was put together that involved some high speed
runs down pipeline road that had several rev limiters working overtime.
Sunday morning brought more great weather and a ride was
organized to the old railroad bed and Disappearing Creek off US 19. Once we got
there the only thing disappearing were bumpers and headlights as the water was
running high. Hard bottoms provided
excellent traction so no one was ever in trouble except when the high water ate
all of the fan blades on Big E’s YJ. Since
he had an auxiliary fan on the front he just switched that one on and away we
went. It was then that Lee Myers
got on the radio and asks the trail boss if we were gonna continue straight?
When there was mention of some big trees to climb over and a creek
crossing that had railroad timbers on each side, it didn’t take long to decide
we were pressing onward. The combination of damp swampy ground and downed trees criss-crossing
the trail made for some slow going. The real fun didn’t start until we got to “The Creek”
Imagine a creek with about a 24 inch ledge on each side and as wide as
the distance from the leading edge of the front tires to the trailing edge of
the rear tires on a YJ. Just as your rear tires dropped in, the fronts were
pinned against the other side. The
majority made it through until Jeff Priest, driving Ellen’s TJ (something
about cold ac) got caught up in a nasty way.
We haven’t had to pull so much winch cable in Florida in along time.
Both front wards and backwards, using snatch blocks and double line
pulls. He almost pulled a tree over
on him until Ellen spoke up and said that she really didn’t want a tree on her
Jeep. The remaining two Jeeps also
had to be winched through but different lines made their extractions much
easier. From there it was getting
late and we headed back to camp until Scott Montgomery demonstrated how to break
the rear u-joint straps and twist the axle tubes on his 4 cyl YJ.
That little chainsaw puts out some torque I tell you.
Camp was cleaned up and inspected by the caretakers who
said we had done the best job of any group attending. If you missed this trip, well I’m sorry, but like I said we
plan on going back at the end of the year so make plans now to attend
The
Ocala Jeep Club of Florida 
