Frontier 4x4s have an annual Christmas Tree Run to go n' fetch trees. We all gathered at County Market at 9am and then headed out to get our trees.

We drove over MacDonald Pass and headed towards Elliston, stopping just short and heading left off the highway and into the snow.

We stopped to regroup. Some of us would take the "hard" route while others would take the plowed road.

The "hard" group - Myself, Mike Kelly, and one of Tyler Gordon's friends

Mike turned us up onto the narrow tree lined trail. It was a little tight.. I was brushing trees back in my Scout. I came around a corner to find Mike floundering a little! Whoops!

Unassisted, Mike made his way back to the trail and continued on. I was quick to NOT follow Mike's example.

My Scout, when I was taking pictures of Mike stuck..

It didn't take long before I got stuck tho'. I couldn't get the traction to make it up around this corner. Try and try, I just had a hard time with it.

Mike tried towing me, but it didn't do much help.. I had to back down a ways and get a better run at it.. but then I was off and running. Mike stayed behind to help the Chevy, and I continued on.

Hmmm.. it didn't take that long for me to get off the trail again! d'oh.
Mike was busy trying to help the Chevy pickup with a broken front hub. Don and Kathy Gordon were called in for help and they headed to meet the Chevy with a spare hub.

Still stuck

There I am with a shovel, trying to get myself out.. fun, isn't it?

Believe it or not, that's Michelle trying to sled down the hill.. the big ruts I had churned up didn't help her much!

After I got a little unstuck and made some progress, off I went again. This time a poor little tree took the brunt of my Scout. I kept trying to rock myself out. Michelle was in the passenger seat, looking at the door and then at me as the door dented in and then out as I scraped it against tree branches... in a mock voice I said, "Gee, Tom, why don't you paint your truck so it looks nice???" like so many have said to me. We laughed.

Mike to the rescue! A snatch block around the tree stump to the right of the photo, and a quick pull from the 8274, and my Scout was free and making headway.

I continued on and then drove a bit off the road (thanks to the snow and the locker) and found it hard to work the clutch. I had packed so much snow up in the trans tunnel it had pushed my exhaust over so it was directly under the clutch linkage. I had to change out the exhaust manifold "donut" gasket the next day.

I came around the corner onto the top of the hill we were climbing to find an open meadow covered in snow and drifts. Mike was working his way across this snow field, so I joined in.. and passed him! About this time, the Bronco blew a heater bypass hose .. :-(

Mike's having a little coolant problem...

I loaned Mike a few gallons of antifreeze and he was running again. Farther up the trail, he stopped and checked the coolant level..ooops, he got it in the face and my last gallon of Prestone went into the Bronco. ;-)

We finally arrived in "camp." But the Gordons hadn't shown up yet, and they were coming over the top where we had just come over. Mike n' I headed back up the trail to go find Don and Kathy. As we tried to make our way up the (now) opposite side of the snow field, we got into a race of sorts. We were both trying to get onto the "track" but neither of us would let the other in front. Mike would roll backwards and then punch it forwards just as I would. We would power ahead until our fenders (my drive rs, his passenger) were inches apart, and then we'd both push a little harder, then roll back and try it again. Both Mike and Loretta, and myself and Michelle were laughing. Loretta called over the CB, "It's a guy thing!" as Mike cried, "I can't let him get in front of me!" and I echoed the same battle cry.

Ultimately, Mike beat me. :-( He got in front and kept going up over the hill just in time to meet Don and Kathy. On his way back to camp, Mike gave me a little tug to get my Scout headed back the right direction. We finally arrived in camp around 3 or 4pm. After we'd eaten some chili n' such we remember.. neither Mike nor myself had collected any trees! d'oh! Everyone else had taken the easy route to camp and had long since collected their trees. Michelle and I quickly headed up to get our trees.

She insisted on cutting down her own tree!

We loaded our three trees into Tyler's friends' Chevy pickup and we headed for town on fumes.

I stopped at home to drop off the Scout and take mom's 68 Chevy pickup out to the Gordon's to get the trees. Mom neglected to tell me - if you put the Chevy 3-on-the-tree into Overdrive mode, you can't use Reverse. That's fine.. except the OD on/off swi tch is located on the floor.. and is suspiciously similar to the dimmer switch.. I found myself with the nose of the pickup right into someone's hedges when I went to make a 3pt turn. Michelle (poor frozen thing) and I had to walk just over a block to th e Gordon's to get Steve Slagle and Don Gordon to come lend a hand. The linkage was not bound up, but no one could figure out what the problem was. Finally Don just drug the Chevy's rear end around, I put it back into 1st, drove to Don's, loaded up the t rees, and headed straight home.. and then took the Scout to Godfathers for our traditional post-run pizza.