The Big Ride Revealed!...

Welcome today's guest Blogger to the Manhut Blog... Big Loo!
 
Well the day came for the "BIG RIDE" and it was one of the most beautiful, sunny days so far. Sounds good?...You bet your ass is was. 35-38 degrees and no snow and ice...at least by the ManHut. Up the mountain was a different story. With exception to one of our brethren Quadster, The B-man who had taken ill and  was not able to ride along, The Weave, Bobo and myself gathered in my driveway to warm up the Quads and go over a mental checklist of items to bring.......Water?..Check!, Rope?..Check!..Bow Saw? Check!...Chainsaw?.....Food?.... Check!...(My wife "our very own Lady Quaster packed me some PB&J sandwiches Ain't she grand). Check Check...Check Check Check and on and on until we were satisfied we had everything we needed. Hell, we we're only going on a 3-hour tour. Oh Shit!!.....I seemed to remember what happened to that last bunch that went on a tour. MaryAnn was always my favorite....but that's another story. I would like to mention before going on that for all the environmentalists out there, is that the Bow saw and chainsaw is for emergencies only or to move a felled dead tree. We DO NOT cut down tree's to make a path!!  Ok, enough said about that.
 
This trip will be the second run up to Broken Pines and High Point for Bobo and myself, but the first time on a Quad for the Weave. He and Brad actually walked up it........Naaa what a waste!!. Points after "High Point" to "Lou's Watering Hole" remains a mystery other than Longs & Lat's that I had planned for us. What terrain we would encounter was anyone's guess at that point. So we made our way up to High Point and asked the Weave to break-out that trusty GPS since all my coordinates is in Longs and Lat's.... Yea right!!.No sooner than he got a satellite signal the dam thing went blank.........Why you ask?? Good question....DEAD BATTERIES!!..We all looked at each other and had a few laughs, but that didn't dampen our moods because we were so focused to make this trip. Beside, you really don't know dick until you get up there and see for yourselves.
 
Our start was short as we ventures forward and came to a sudden drop-off on all sides. A little backtracking and inching down the slopes, thru fallen tree's and over boulders we continued on out way. Move forward a little, stop, get off and move fallen logs, limbs, branches etc. Get back and keep going. and going and going. Sure wish we had those energizer bunny's...Sorry Weave, couldn't help myself with that one. One thing is certain: When riding the mountains, once you feel like you have it down and don't respect the machine, your dust!!!..Did I mention Beautiful scenery, sunny weather?...We continued on and since we didn't have GPS, I used the old way of sight triangularization. Get two fixed points, making yours the third and keep track of your movement. Works every time. Anyway, we all came up to what we thought was a house in the woods. A house?? No way, we we're to far in for that. Bobo was point man and went ahead to check things out. The Weave and I we're moving the last fallen tree limb and we were soon to follow. When Weave and I approached, Bobo was sitting in what was to be a lean-two having a smoke break. What a find that was because we now knew there we're paths somewhere that we could take advantage of. We hung out a bit, Bobo was crowned "King of the Mountain" on that hugh bolder and then we went on our way. We found the path and instead of trying to get to "Lou's Watering Hole" we decided that since B-man wasn't with us, we would just check it out the trails and next time when all of the Quadsters are present, we would all make the journey to the watering hole together. Somehow it just wouldn't have been the same without the B-man.
 
Well, by know we're into the ride for a few hours. I looked at my gas gauge a saw 1/2 tank.. I said to myself....SELF, if this is true, I'm reaching a point of no return since I left the house full. We agreed to head back the way we came. Now we all know that the woods look totally different when you turn around so we had another challenge ahead of us. We moved so much shit our of our way, weaved in and out so many times your head would spin, and went up and down the mountain side that you could very easily get turned around... Well, we didn't of course, not the experience Quadsters that we are. We may have had to back up a bit but for the most part we we're dead nut's on track out as it was on the way in. Amazin I guess. Well both Bobo and the Weave had commitments to do so we didn't stop in at the ManHut to pound our chest and complement each other for being the "Masters of the Universe", that phrase was taken from a movie, so we said our so longs by the ManHut and Quaded ourselves home. Take a look at the pics attached and it should give you an idea of the ride we had. Once we all make it to and back from "Lou's Watering Hole", B-man has our next ride in the works already. can't wait for that one too.
 
Until next time and always remember- Live to ride, ride to live.
By: Big Lou