A group of us from southeast & south central Nebraska met up at the Tuttle Creek ORV Park in Kansas for a very hot weekend of wheeling, camping, swimming, and sweating. We had some minor breakage (Jeremy's tire & Zack's fan relay), but nothing serious. This was the first real outing for Matt & Jon since they bought the Sammy for $500. They treated it just like you'd expect a $500 rig to be treated.

The cast:

• Ben "Obi-Wan" Hollingsworth (me) - black YJ
• Matt Hickey & Jon Isaacson - olive drab Samurai
• Ethan & Bonnie Joy - blue TJ
• Jeremy - orange XJ
• Zack Duncan - red YJ
• Matt Hahn & family - red CJ-5

Most of the group came down Friday night & wheeled Saturday morning. I met up with them about lunchtime Saturday. Several of us had fun catching air on the ugly whoop.

Coming up onto the middle platteau from the north side, Jeremy managed to slice his right front tire on a rock. I secured him in place while Hickey plugged the tire & Zack aired it back up again. he then backed part way down & took an easier route up to the plateau, at which point he changed with my impact wrench.

We then went down into the shade and played by the culvert. Matt & Jon tried several times to drive the Sammy over the culvert, but with no lift and 30" tires, it just didn't have the breakover angle for it. I'm not sure why Matt Hahn thought he could make it when the Sammy couldn't...

A few short MPEG video clips:

While there, Zack noticed that his electric radiator fan relay had fried, allowing his engine to overheat and start steeming from his coolant overflow bottle. I donated the relay from my rock lights & some spare coolant I'd brought, which kept him going for the rest of the weekend.

While the rest of us were waiting for Zack's engine to cool down, Ethan, Jeremy, and I tested are suspension flex.

Ethan, Jeremy, and Matt/Jon decided to play submarine in the creek mouth down by the lake.

A few short MPEG video clips:

We then climbed Driveshaft, and Ethan cheated his way over the ledges at the very top. The world now knows your dirty little secret, Ethan!

We then headed back to the campground, and while the rest of us were cooling off in the lake, Jon & Zack tried unsuccessfully to circle the lake in the Sammy.

Bo & Luke -- I mean Jon & Matt -- had a little more fun doing burnouts on the boat ramp and testing the Sammy's aerodynamics before we headed back to the campground for dinner.

A few short MPEG video clips:

The next day, only the Duke boys, Zack, and myself went back to the park. I was pleasantly surprised with how well I was able to climb ledges that day. SOA and a rear LSD will get you far in that park. First, we played on the three sets of narrow ledges in the northwest corner of the park.

Jon tried to take an ATV trail out of a creek on the west end of the park before getting strapped out by Zack (who took an alternate route).

We then played on the big ledges for a while. I didn't make it up the route pictured, but I did make it up about eight feet to the left.

We wandered around for a little bit longer, hitting the culvert area, Woody's Lane, and the lake again before finally heading home around noon Sunday. It was a fun trip.

It always pays to go prepared, even to a relatively easily-accessible place like Tuttle Creek. Here's a list of the tools/parts that came in handy out on the trail on Saturday:

• snatch strap
• hi-lift jack
• tire plug kit
• full-size spare tire
• belt-driven air compressor, hose, and tire chuck
• tire pressure gauge
• pneumatic impact wrench
• 3/4" (lug nut) impact socket
• 18" breaker bar
• PB Blaster
• hammer
• 30A automotive relay
• gallon of engine coolant (50/50 mix)

Matt Hahn also took some photos on Saturday. They can be viewed here.

Another version of this page that contains links to high-res (1600x1200) photos, AVI format videos, and a few other photos that aren't on this page can be found here.