mdmf007 wrote:Jungo - Sulfur road was a breeze, we drove a ford taurus, F550, and a kenworth tractor on it with no problems. I could do 75 in the fords, and 60 in the KW the entire way. Did you leave from the north west side of Winny right by the Volley ball field? I thought Jungo was in the best condition that I have seen in years. There are other oads that intersect Jungo from the south like from Lovelock, or Ryepatch, were you on one of those?
later
First off let me post one of my favorite lines: Almost everytime I compromise, I get screwed.
I can say that Jungo was in pretty good shape this year. The real problem was my last minute preparation and using borrowed equipment. Long trips have a way of highlighting shortcomings in gear and that's what this came down to. My X-Terra is an offroad edition, it can handle Jungo without fuss. The pain in the ass was the Coleman pop-up camper we borrowed from my girlfriend's brother as my old Jungo-proof trailer wasn't big enough for two people. The damn thing had problems galore. The trailer hitch pin broke allowing the trailer to come off the ball, before I could get everything stopped the trailer rammed the back of the X-Terra and the trailer ball ended up being rammed through the front wall of the camper. Also both safety chains failed...and yes I had them connected properly, the chain was not suitable to be used as safety chain. I've already posted about the Jungo flat, then there was the canvas that ripped during the windstorm, and the little problem of the thing swaying back and forth like a palm tree in a hurricane if you got above 70 mph. In short it was the road trip from hell.
Lessons learned: Never assume anything about equipment that you don't own or know intimately. I will NEVER, EVER and I do mean ever own or use a pop-up camper again. I will run the strongest safety chains or cables I can get away with. Grade 8 bolts are mandatory. And that's just the top of the list, my girlfriend and I sat down post-event and did a full evaluation of what worked, what didn't. Needless to say I'm making a lot of changes before 2008. A LOT of changes.
Final score: Kinetic: 9, Jungo Road: 3.
And yes I left Winnemucca by the volley ball courts at the North end of the river bridge. For all the troubles though, I really love that road. The views are breathtaking in spots, and if you really want to feel like you're on an epic trip, that road will do the trick.
