Alapaha 0202

The Ocala Jeep Club of Florida

Following up on last year's exciting ride, the Ocala Jeep Club decided to pay the Alapaha River another visit last month. We decided to stay again at Mr. Wade Howell's farm in nearby Jennings, and the farmer graciously prepared for our arrival by flooding the notorious tank trap, rye field, and the mogul hills with thousands of gallons of aquifer water. Most folks made the Sunday day ride, and those who did stay the weekend did for from the comfort of the Days Inn. A few of us die-hards camped in the farm's oak hummock, and were graced with the most serene (read: COLD) and clear starry nights. We played on the farm Friday night, the grass overgrown mogul field made for very exciting climbs and drops. Tony Sommo, drawn irresistibly to the rye field, made crazy whirls in the dark with his headlights as he made donuts in the mud. The last stop was at the far end of the tank trap where we tested our mighty Jeeps against the shallow water....and got stuck.

Saturday's day ride concentrated on the downstream portion of the river. The river was dry.....very very dry......and it looked like we were going to make it all the way to Live Oak when we encountered a spring-fed hole in the river bed that was deeper than Jeff Priest's fenders (and my shorts). After a dinner of famous Camp Chili, complete with bits of potato and chunk beef from a stray can of beef stew, people started flowing in for the night ride. We decided to run upstream towards the Suwannee river - hoping for some of the deep water thrills that we had last year. The river was dry....very very dry....and as we quickly reached the exit point of the ride it looked like we were going to have an uneventful ride. That is, until we had to climb the high bank!

Many tried to climb the harder, root infested bank with throttle and momentum, but our rock-crawling heavy axles and low gears didn't fare too well in the sand. People began looking for another place to climb when Chuck Higgins launched his mighty mite CJ5 up the hill, bouncing over the holes and going fully airborne as he crested the top. Troy McCall tried to duplicate the feat with his 360-powered jeep, only to break a front stub axle and eventually climbed the hill on the end of a winch cable. Tony Sommo also tried, only to have a front axle u--joint explode....bad news for a fixed-hub TJ! By this time most folks had (chickened) moved to the other face of the bank which was thick in sugar sand. Most were able to power up the side of the face if they could make the sharp bend a the top and avoid a Chuck-Higgins-eating hole (that leg'll heal eventually, Chuck!). The Big Boys had to go straight up, which was good if they could avoid Brian Shipley's 40" Bogger-sized holes at the top. Tony's crippled TJ was dragged up the bank on the end of Scott Allen's so-hot-it-glowed straining Warn HS9500, and made it to the road where Brian's trailer awaited.

Sunday's ride followed the reverse route of the previous night ride, and was altogether a nice ride - if you could escape the constant whoopdedoos of the sand bed. This was eclipsed by the warm up events beforehand as folks played on the mogul hills and Tank Trap. The Trap, like most things muddy, looked deceptively dry and shallow, especially when Chuck's light CJ5 scuttled effortlessly from the deep to the shallow end. But once you break the hard top shell, its nothing but slick, frame sinking, baby-poo mud. After Ron Westcott and I were dragged out we all watched as Chuck, looking confident in his CJ5 and clean white T-shirt, announced "Hey Y'All Watch This" as he launched his CJ down the mouth of the Trap and towards the steep berm at the end. It looked like Chuck was going to pull another clean run until he hit the far end and we all watched as the CJ caught a rut and was thrown right towards the corner of the berm. In seeming slow motion the CJ went up, up, and over onto its rollcage lid. Thankfully nobody was hurt as Chuck cut himself and his newbie copilot Holly (isn't this what it's all about?) out of their belts, landing headfirst in the mud. As a good example of why the OJC has a mandatory safety list, the CJ's rollcage saved the occupants and the Jeep - with only minimal cosmetic damage to both. And thanks to the experience of those around and the available safety and extraction equipment we quickly had the CJ righted and pulled out of the Trap where it started up and was driven off the field.