For Memorial Day weekend Anthony & I decided we needed to take a little break from our stresses and have some playtime. Anthony had heard of a 4-wheeling club called MIOBI (Make It of Break It) in Southern Iowa that sounded like the mini-vacation we needed. We loaded up Swamp Thing and made our way to the grounds just North of Albia.
I was surprised at how many people filled the campground. This was obviously not the small affair I had imagined.
On our first run through an area aptly named the Playground we discovered that Swamp Thing was not quite as up to the challenge as we had originally thought. We found that her carburetor had a tendency to flood on steep inclines. This was not a convenient problem to have when traipsing through a 400 acre former strip mine full of steep hills and rocks.
After we were pulled to level ground and gave Swamp Thing a chance to recover we attempted to climb the West side of an area called the Rock. Halfway up we encountered the same problem.
The break while Anthony operated on Swamp Thing gave me the chance to play around with my camera.
Once Swamp Thing was up and running again we decided that she would be better suited for running through the mud than climbing rock walls. We set off along a muddy forest trail not paying much attention to the twists and turns that we were taking. That would prove to be our undoing but also the beginning of an interesting adventure.
At the bottom of a steep gully Swamp Thing found a challenge she could not surpass. We were buried up to the bumpers in mud and not able to move more than an inch in any direction. MIOBI requires that every vehicle in the park be equipped with a working CB. Anthony hollered across the air waves for help but we didn't know our location. We tried to talk our would be rescuers through the path we had thought we had taken but it took them nearly two hours to find us. It seems that we had ventured down a seldom used dead end path that many didn't even know existed.
We were pulled out of the mud and backwards up the steep hill by two buggies strapped together.
As it was nearing dark (closing time for the park) we were told to follow the buggies to the campground. They had to go rescue another vehicle on the way so we were taken down a path meant more for buggies and rock crawlers than old, heavy and big 4-wheel drives. The buggies had to hook together again to pull us up another steep rocky incline before we once again entered the muddy forest.
The mud in this part of the forest was deep and that morning's rain had filled the deep ruts to their brim. A little ways down the path we slid in the mud into the wall of one of those ruts. The impact popped the bead off the passenger side tire. It was getting dark and we did not have a spare tire with us. There was nothing we could do to limp Swamp Thing to the campground so we accepted that we were there for the night and hitched a ride back to the Tahoe.
The hospitality back in the campground was amazing. We had people offering to help us in the morning, sharing their dinners and beer with us, and inviting us to enjoy fellowship and warmth by their campfires.
Early Sunday morning Anthony set out with several of his new friends and a borrowed trailer tire to perform their magic and rescue Swamp Thing. I was given the opportunity to sleep in (a rare occurrence) and read my book while snacking on our small supply of Lunchables. It took the boys from 6 am until 2 pm and working through a thunder storm to bring Swamp Thing back to the campground. During this time I watched with amusement as the tent across from me blew over sending several people scrambling out into the cold rain.
When they returned with the disabled truck we had another challenge to confront. How were we supposed to reseed the bead without running water? Anthony adapted with the only liquid we had left.... beer.
I watched with amusement as the beer foamed from the air filling the tire. In all my years around vehicle repairs I have never witnessed anything quite like this.
It worked like a charm though and we had Swamp Thing loaded on the trailer before 4:00.
I played around with my camera for a few more minutes while Anthony said his good-byes and then it was time to hit the road.
Swamp Thing has developed a few more issues since our little weekend jaunt, so it doesn't look like we will be taking her out again anytime soon. It was definitely a different experience that we both enjoyed despite all of our obstacles.
