Sunday, July 20, 2014

Rubicon 2014

For a really long time now my dad has been asking us to take him on the Rubicon. It was something he needed to cross off his bucket list. Call it a mid-life crisis along with the corvette and guns he just bought... 
We took him and my mom memorial weekend. The toyota truck Hubby has turned into a rock crawler is not very big. It has 4 seats but the back seat is more for like one person and a dog. Even that gets cramped. My dad decided he was going to take his 4-wheeler through the Rubicon. We were all a little worried but he actually made it through quite well! He was definitely hurting the next day though. 

Our trip started out a little rough. I don't know if we have ever made it to the trailhead without having some kind of mechanical issues. Good thing I'm married to the master macgyver!  We blew a turbo hose (I think). Hubby made his way down to home depot and bought as many hose clamps as he could find, put them all on the hose and it worked! 


While we were waiting for hubby my mom decided to take Ruby for a wild turkey hunt.... 


When we finally got close to the trail head it was pretty late so we searched for a good campsite. As we were getting ready to go to bed someone shined the flashlight down and saw this. Probably the biggest spider I have ever seen (minus tarantulas in cages). I hate hate hate spiders. I'm okay with little baby ones or daddy long legs. I think I dreamed all night about that thing coming in our tents. 

Here is what we looked like all loaded up ready to head in. 

The one and only Rod Lucas... #nosleevesallowed

I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking 







Sometimes someone on the trail up ahead will break down and then this happens... Lots of waiting until they either fix it or drag it off the trail. 



 On our second day we headed towards Rubicon Springs for a day trip. The trail was a lot harder than normal. We ended up puncturing a tire. Jacking up a truck in a pile of rocks isn't always the easiest. Good thing we had a spare! 





Rubicon Springs was really cool. It's almost like a mini town. They hold a lot of four-wheeling event there. 







My dad had some difficulty getting in... 


Ruby loved hanging out in the back with Grandma




My two favorite guys :)


 


 On the last morning Ruby did not want to get out of bed. She was ready to go home! 








We had the best weather I have ever had up there. It was super warm, almost too warm. There were also a million mosquitos and only one bottle of bug spray for 6 people... 
We all made it home with no major mechanical issues. Great success! I don't think my dad will be making a trip in there again anytime soon. He was sore for a week after. Glad he got to cross it off his bucket list though!