OTR Stoddard Valley

For those that couldn't make it out to Stoddard Valley and Calico, you missed a good one!!!
The following folks showed up:
Rich and Corky
DuWayne and Tina
John and Nova
Ric and Shadow
Mike and Laura
Joe P.

We had a couple of day trippers:
Russ on Saturday
Bill C and Jerome on Sunday

And a few guests:
Chad, Joanna and boys
Matt and Scott
Dan and his son

The weather was fantastic for most of the time. Nice warm days and cool nights.
On Saturday, we did Empire Strikes Back, Pucker Factor, Richie's Crack and Pumpkin Eater
Sunday - Calico. Up Duran and down Odessa followed by a bit of fun at the gate keeper at the bottom of Duran.
Rich got a chance to sort out his new buggy on Saturday. Unfortunately, he couldn't make the run on Sunday due to some brake issues with the buggy. Same thing for DuWayne. He had a DOA battery.
When we finished the run on Sunday we wandered up to the Gate Keeper at the bottom of Duran. John led off. When he got up to the nasty crack (the one most of us have fallen into (drivers side) at least once, his steering shaft decided it didn't want to stay coupled to the PS sector (steering box). This is about as odd ball as it gets. At failed at the rubber damper. Thankfully, Chad had rod, gloves and a welding helmet. We did the two batteries in series thing and John proceeded to weld the two pieces back together. Thanks Chad!
After the repair was completed, it was getting late so we decided to call it a day and head back to camp.
Thank you to everyone (especially Ric, Joanna and Laura) for a great happy hour on Saturday and Sunday nights.
Thanks for making it a great weekend everybody!!! Laura and I had a great time.
Mike