You guys go on without me.

Waiting on you! Pick up the pace!

He’s on Craigslist.

Chris ended up not buying the Skylark because it needed too much cosmetic work. It looks pretty good from a distance but up close there are million little things here and there that would have to be fixed to make it a great car.

So went to pick up a desk from an artist’s house. Do you know Milford Thomas? Me neither but you should. Surely you’ve heard of Claire? Claire. You know, the movie by Milford Thomas about a Japanese folk tale? Well, you need to meet Milford Thomas, I guess. Apparently she’s a big fan. According to IMDBb Claire is “Loosely based on a Japanese fairytale, an elderly male couple on a farm in the 1920′s South find a little girl from the moon inside an ear of corn and raise her as their own.”

Next we went to see an old VW Beetle convertible but it too was in not-so-great condition so it didn’t come with us either.

Then we stopped at this no-name place on the side of the road next to a gas station and had an excellent BBQ sandwich, some fries, and some fried apple pie. Met a couple of nice ladies.

Then we stopped at Impatient Creations and talked briefly with a guy named Mark about the cars he had in front of his shop like this one, a Land Rover Defender 90 that’s had an LS2 engine swapped in producing over 400hp. There’s more about the Defender build here.

And finally we dropped by Barber.

The Dino they’re holding onto for me.

They had a couple of cars from the adjoining Porsche driving school out on the track.

This is what one of them looks like up close.

A Harley.

No, seriously it is.

Considering a rifle holster for when I have to ride down Boulevard.

A folding scooter.

Came home and checked out Nick’s latest addition to the fleet. 1983 SC.

The Facts:
Amateur chicken sexer D. Stevenson on FB commented on a picture of Ms. Mao that she looks more like a silkie rooster than a silkie hen.

The Rhode Islands laid eggs before any of the new chickens appeared in Coopertino.

The other two ones Guillermo sold me are hens because I get 4 eggs a day max. I haven’t expected 5 eggs because Senorita Mao was too young.

This morning I got out of bed during the crowing and right after the crowing stopped, Lady Mao came around the corner of the house from where the crowing sound originated.

Well that would explain Little Jerry’s poor egg production!

Reaction #2: “Indeed you have good ideas. Let’s execute them. Now where’s that leash?…”

Reaction #3: “You’re driving me crazy. Are we or aren’t we going for a walk?”

Reaction #4: “Not funny any more.”

But we did go on a walk.

Amen.

Before we set out from Atlanta, Chris makes some critical trail repairs. Front passenger side speaker isn’t working.

The 6 of us (Adam, Chris, Nick 2, myself, Boss (backseat driver), and Riley (co-pilot)) heading from Atlanta to Blairsville where we’ll meet up with Nick 1 and his Rover.

Assembled on the trail, more or less ready for action.

A base camp is established. From here we will carry out our mission. To include: keeping vehicles in one piece (two pieces max), making a fire, cooking hamburgers and hotdogs, etc.

Unfortunately we didn’t take a lot of pictures of the vehicles on the trail. Here Nick commands the Rover to climb up and over a spot where Chris’ Land Cruiser was temporarily stuck. This was the trickiest spot on the trails that we encountered. After a few attempts the Rover made it up and over and shot up the trail. Wish we had that part on video. It looked like a jumbo jet making a crash landing in the jungle. But everybody lived.

We didn’t get any video so here’s a rendition of the Jeep driving over the same obstacle.

The fancy footwork was all done with these shoes. The plain looking Goodyear Wrangler SR-A “on/offroad” tire. I was really impressed with the traction these gave. If it had been wet on the trail I’m sure it would be a totally different story though.

After the climb the brakes on the Land Cruiser started going soft. We noted some fluid on the ground back at the climb but weren’t sure what it was. Nor we too worried about it since the Cruiser leaks in several places. Who needs brakes anyway? 4-lo and the e-brake made it possible for Chris to descend. Here Chris tops off the brake fluid.

But by the time we reach the bottom the Hungry Hungry Hippo is hungry again for brake fluid.

The Jeep and Rover wait.

We decide the best plan of action is to get the Cruiser back to camp before dark so it can be worked on and, if necessary, we can get more parts for it the next day. Here the Jeep crawls up one of the final set of whoops for the day.

At camp Doctor Nick takes a shot at fixing the split brake line but the leak cannot be suppressed.

Time for dinner. Nick presses the “English Buffet” button on the Rover’s control console and out pops an assortment of condiments and sides for our burgers and hot dogs dinner. In 1999 the HSE version of this Rover came complete with both the English Buffet and Jeeves features with porters to actually place the food in your mouth without you having to do anything. Rover’s secretive “Baby Bird” technology for the 2000 model year which mechanically chewed the food for you never made it past marketing focus groups.

We had a roaring fire and Chris played some tunes on the guitar. All under the rising super moon.

The super moon. It wasn’t as big as I expected (Michael: “that’s what she said.”) but we had great clear skies. As the moon rose above the trees there was a single moonbeam focused at the far end of camp. That’s where this pic was taken from.

The next morning the Cruiser doesn’t look any different. We have a light breakfast, pack up camp, and decide to get the Cruiser down to the entrance of the park so Nick and Chris can go search for a replacement brake line in town.

Camping requires teamwork. Riley folds the rain fly while I fold up the tent.

He’s always looking for ways to help out.

Like last night when he pre-warmed my sleeping bag.

Making our way out.

Some wrenching.

Well there’s your problem. You gotta loose nut behind the wheel. Also that brake line is busted.

Why even have a hood on the cruiser if its always open? A bit more work and the Cruiser is ready for the ride home.

Boss is relieved.

Riley wants to be promoted to pilot.

So what important lesson have we learned about the trail? I don’t want to get into this brand or model is better than that one. That’s not useful conversation. None of us have one of those Calvin peeing on whatever brand decals on our vehicles. I think its clear what we should take away from this: no matter what vehicle you decide take on the trail, take some Toyota LandCruiser spare parts with you because somebody’s going to need them.

All in jest! All three vehicles did awesome. The Rover takes the cake as the best all-arounder. It slipped a little on its street tires in one or two places but made it over everything eventually and without assistance. It takes its occupants to the trail in comfort and holds its own once it gets there. The Jeep has the best approach and departure angles and greatest ride height with the 2.5″ lift, and probably the best wheelbase for these types of trails (lots of whoops and tighter turns though none of the vehicles high centered or ate tree). I prefer steady momentum to a heavy skinny pedal and the Jeep works admirably here. I put it in 4-lo, let off the clutch and it crawls up and over with hardly any input from the gas pedal. The Cruiser has classic rugged style in its favor and sped through everything it was pointed at. Despite its small brake line issue, it was really impressive on the trail.

Most importantly we all had an excellent time and everybody drove their vehicle home.