July 4-5 Ride fever

I started getting a bad fever a couple weeks ago. I told the boss I may need to take some time off on July 5th. They said no, I needed to be at work. Finally on the 3rd I said I will see you on the 6th. My plan was to meet Mr. Ed and Bev. at Buffalo Mtn. on thursday morning and ride for the day. I had talked Joyce in to going along too, it has been 11 months since she has been out riding.
We had planed to do some things around the house on the 4th. About 9:30 am she asked if anyone was riding, I said Ed and Bev was. She said why dont we leave on Wed and spend the night somewhere instead of getting up Early. I said fine with me. She then said we could ride some if I wanted to when we got there. I told her she better get packed up fast. By 10;30 we were loaded and headed south.
We arrived at Bearwallow about 1:45pm, unloaded and hit the trails by 2:10. Ed and Bev were out on the trails, we left them a note. We headed up 12, to 16 then 10, 11 back to 16, then 12, 15 and 14 back to the trailhead. we covered about 32 miles in 3 hrs. All the trails were open, some trees had been down in a few places but had all been cut to open the trails.
We loaded up and headed to Gilbert. I had called and got us a room at the Mountain Breeze. We stopped to check in with Ed and Bev and planned to meet for dinner and then Fireworks at the community center. After we checked in and showers we went to get Ed and Bev for dinner. I told them we could go to Man and eat at Keiths. After dinner we drove back to Gilbert and watched the Fireworks from the community center parking lot. There was a big crowd for the show.
We planned to meet for breakfast at 8am on thursday at McD's, then head to BM. We arrived about 9am unloaded quick and headed for the hills. We started out 15 to 20 stopped for Ed to clean his windshield at the mine entrance. then down 26,27,28,29 back 26, then up 47. Just past the under ground fire we found our first downed tree. Chainsaw took care of it quick. then on to 12 then 22 where we found the 2nd tree down. Plans was to go out 22 and 34 to 25 to 24. Just as we got almost to the road crossing on 25 we found the 3rd huge tree. We started cutting it when I got the saw stuck. We were about to give up when we were able to pull the log loose. The new winch on the RZR worked great. We tryed to start the saw and then no luck. We had to give up and back track to 12 , 11 and the 10 into Williamson for a late lunch. Trail 11 and 10 had several trees that had allready been cut out. When we arrived in town it started to storm. We said we would wait and see what happens after Lunch.
After lunch it started to rain, so we put on the rain gear and headed back to the trails. We were going to take the shortest route back, so we could beat the storms. We had to stop 4 times on 10 and 11 to move limbs from the trails. When we got to 12 we decided to take trail 52 back to the trailhead, It would be the fastest way. All in all it was great to get out and ride. A great time was had by all.



Ready to ride at Bearwallow.



Dinner in Man with Ed and Bev.



Fireworks at Gilbert



The failed attempt at clearing the trail.



Front door parking for lunch.

More pictures here

Nice pics & ride report, sportsman. Looked like fun.

Good report Jeff, never a bad meal at Starters. Good Call.

Very nice... Keith's, Starters and Fireworks...

Excellent report and pics. Your report is proof that listening to your wife can actually pay off. Thanks for sharing your ride with us!

Thanks for sharing -- glad you had a good time.

Enjoyed reading your ride report. Sounds like the four of you had a fun time.

Reading all the ride reports and looking at the pics is giving me that same fever. It's been way to long since the Red Rancher has been out of the garage.

Great ride report. Glad you all had a good time despite the heat.

It was hot as Hades around here from July 4 through this past Sunday.
I thought, well, one thing to be thankful for about the 100 degree heat is that it made 86 on Monday feel downright balmy!