Eh, she’s a little rough, but filed the worst. It’ll be ready for tomorrow.
Some of the rigs today
KungFooMASTA
El Stupido
Seconds before the birf went boom!
This photo proves you can go wheeling at Tuttle after dark. All it takes is a broken Tie rod end at Rockrash garden, 2 active Tornado warnings in the area (with one touchdown within a few miles) and having parts show up to fix it so it could be removed from Tuttle riiiiggghhht at dark. Photo is of us working to guide him first off the rock he broke on, then figuring out which way to get out, up or down, now that the storm had passed and the once dry rocks were now covered with mud and water, with streams of water flowing everywhere. He ended up backing 75 yards in tight rocks (with us hand-moving many out of the way, sorry future wheelers if we made it a little easier), finding enough room to turn it around, then driving up the first mostly slimy dirt trail we go to out of the garden, which was about another 75 yards down, maybe more).
So, we are in the elite fraternity of those who’ve gotten to wheel Tuttle at night
. We had the blessing of the park ranger who knew our situation and understood why we couldn’t get it out before dark (tornado). They were as concerned with us getting it off the property as us being safe (which they did check on) and told us to do what we had to to get it the hell out. 
More pics and vids to follow…
Suffice it to say, great weekend.
Thanks to 665.0coupe for riding with us Friday, KungFooMASTA for wheeling (and the parts). We will not be going Sunday so xr-nut sorry we couldn’t make it work, and Wades_76_cj7 hope the family thing was fun. Hope to se y’all on another wheeling trip, hopefully it’s as adventurous as this one without all the potential loss of life
KungFooMASTA
El Stupido
Sorry I didnt get to wheel with you yesterday I figured we would cross paths out there but never seen any of you besides at the parking lot. Curtism didnt want to ruin his brand new transmission that had something wrong with it so he stopped after about an hour. Me and Mark went back out for about an hour and the black clouds rolled in and I said lets head back to the parking lot. Curtis and Mark decided to head home so I did the same. Ive been caught out there before in downpours and didnt want to make my girlfriend hate wheeling any more than she already does.
I didn’t take many pics at all. I will post the few I did.
Mark on Falsetto Lane. He was dealing with a short in his throttle body that when he hit a bump it would stall out then after that would stick at 2000rpm.
Mark going down the trail out of the rock garden
Curtism going up the easy part of the ledges it was his girlfriends first time out and she wasn’t having it. Neither was his bruce jenner.
Mark somewhere
Rolling out right before the storm rolled in.
I didn’t take many pics at all. I will post the few I did.
Mark on Falsetto Lane. He was dealing with a short in his throttle body that when he hit a bump it would stall out then after that would stick at 2000rpm.
Mark going down the trail out of the rock garden
Curtism going up the easy part of the ledges it was his girlfriends first time out and she wasn’t having it. Neither was his bruce jenner.
Mark somewhere
Rolling out right before the storm rolled in.
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KungFooMASTA
El Stupido
665.0coupe which one were you? I am terrible with names when I meet people especially when I am overwhelmed with a bunch of new people at once.
My son wants to know if we could get pictures with him in the buggy. I know Ross was taking pictures or vidya when we came up the rock garden my son really wants that.
My son wants to know if we could get pictures with him in the buggy. I know Ross was taking pictures or vidya when we came up the rock garden my son really wants that.
I can get the pics/vids from Ross and whomever took them and pass them along. One of the reasons I stop and try to get those myself is I can show the kids and get them excited for a hot, dusty, noisy, and bouncy off road trip. Sometimes the little ones forget the fun and only remember the complaints.
KungFooMASTA
El Stupido
I ran out of gas on the way home. It used and 1/8 of a tank from Salina to McPherson running 75. At McPherson I still had a quarter tank so I figured I got plenty to make it to Hutch has was 4.39 there. I was 10 miles from hutch and the fuel light came on. 5 miles later it cut out going up a hill. I didn’t bring gas cans because I didn’t want them stolen with the price if fuel. So I unhooked the return line on the buggy and used my spicy v8 bottle and put 4 bottles in the Denali and made it into hutch. Lesson Learned E10 sucks. Always buy ethanol free when you can.
KungFooMASTA
El Stupido
My son loved it. His last trip to SMORR in the big jeep he hated it because he was so small he couldn’t see out. His only complaint was stopping so much he just wanted to wheel wheel wheel and I dont blame him. I remember when I was a kid and my parents and their friends stopping every 15minutes for a beer break. It was easier for me we rode fourwheelers we could just jump off. My boy hated climbing in and out and strapping up and out every time with the buggy it gets tiring.
I can understand that. We had the black Cherokee that was open/open so when I was in front I’m in the habit of stopping periodically to gather everyone back up. The guys in the GC on 31” boggers have only been off-road one other time so we’d have to stop and coach them too. And yes, stopping for the suds…
KungFooMASTA
El Stupido
You guys wheeling today?
I wish. After the storms and the post-storm nighttime “wheeling “ everyone was pretty spent.
KungFooMASTA
El Stupido
I agree. Nice sig picture! I should change mine. Im working on the jeep in my sig right now but tomorrow it will be gone. Im sad about it but I just dont use it anymore since I got the buggy. I think I will use the Rubicon more with the kids being able to ride easy trails in it.
665.0coupe
Red Skull Member
I was the guy riding shotgun in the black YJ. Grey t-shirt and jeans.
KungFooMASTA
El Stupido
Oh ok I remember you now but don’t remember your name sorry. Like I said im bad with names. I do remember the guy with the big Chevys name Skeet. Lol With a name like that its easy to remember.
KungFooMASTA I'm currently loading the videos from this weekend. The channel the above video is hosted at will have the rest of them if the boy wants to see them or show his friends. I'll post your other ones here as they load.
xr-nut
GROUP W BENCH
Man I'm bummed I couldn't make it down. There is video proof that folks on here actually wheel 
We got a lot done on the clinic and the car show happened despite the quick shower saturday at noon. My boys nova was on the poster and mailers, plus t-shirts as one of the two featured cars. Thats pretty cool.
Next time you all get together out here I will for sure come along.
We got a lot done on the clinic and the car show happened despite the quick shower saturday at noon. My boys nova was on the poster and mailers, plus t-shirts as one of the two featured cars. Thats pretty cool.
Next time you all get together out here I will for sure come along.
My wife didn't make the car show, got outvoted by our kids who wanted to go swimming instead because it was hotMan I'm bummed I couldn't make it down. There is video proof that folks on here actually wheel
We got a lot done on the clinic and the car show happened despite the quick shower saturday at noon. My boys nova was on the poster and mailers, plus t-shirts as one of the two featured cars. Thats pretty cool.
Next time you all get together out here I will for sure come along.
Looks like a pretty cool setting for a show, gonna put it on the calendar for next year and see if we can attend
.When I get a chance I'll go into detail on Tornado Saturday and our 'opportunity' to night wheel at Tuttle
So, I've got time to relay our weekend story, especially the Saturday evening part, which probably belongs in the fail thread
665.0coupe showed up to ride with us Friday morning. We (most) all finally got out there around 9am and took a little tour. KungFooMASTA got there around 9:30 as another of our group got out there so we headed back to the parking area. Took a cruise around the park hitting most of it stopping too much for KungFooMASTA 's son 'cuz we're old and someone had to stop to piss or get a beer (yes, I know the two are related). I agree with his boy as I'd rather wheel more than we do but I know who I'm travelling with. At the obstacle where KungFooMASTA got the wheels up pic is where I shattered my Birfield.
Here's what remained of it. Fucked the long shaft birf splines up too, first time I've done that. I went back to the campground to change it and KungFooMASTA stayed out wheeling and 665.0coupe rode with one of our group until 7? or so I think. I got the joint changed and was ready for the next day. Thanks Dave for bringing me a spare Birf, can't have too many of those
665.0coupe showed up to ride with us Friday morning. We (most) all finally got out there around 9am and took a little tour. KungFooMASTA got there around 9:30 as another of our group got out there so we headed back to the parking area. Took a cruise around the park hitting most of it stopping too much for KungFooMASTA 's son 'cuz we're old and someone had to stop to piss or get a beer (yes, I know the two are related). I agree with his boy as I'd rather wheel more than we do but I know who I'm travelling with. At the obstacle where KungFooMASTA got the wheels up pic is where I shattered my Birfield.
Here's what remained of it. Fucked the long shaft birf splines up too, first time I've done that. I went back to the campground to change it and KungFooMASTA stayed out wheeling and 665.0coupe rode with one of our group until 7? or so I think. I got the joint changed and was ready for the next day. Thanks Dave for bringing me a spare Birf, can't have too many of those
Next day we get out there around 9:30, KungFooMASTA left his rig and trailer at my camp so he didn't have to pull it all the way home. We never really did wheel together Saturday, some of his buds came and between us breaking stuff and him waiting on his group we couldn't seem to get our paths to cross. Guess we're going to have to try it again.
Early in the afternoon the YJ broke the passenger shaft off in the carrier and he couldn't retrieve it with the magnet so he rode the rest of the day with Skeeter in his Silverado. Then I thought I broke a birf, but after a trip to the parking area and jacking it up whatever was sloppy seemed to not be (could still be a birf, or a locker, not sure). Somewhere along the line the TJ lost a track bar bolt, found the bolt but no nut (that's what was wrong when I left the parking area the last time I saw you KungFooMASTA. We found a nut between all the rigs that just happened to be floating around and kept wheeling. We spent some time out on The Ledges, when it started clouding up we thought we'd make one pass through Rockrash Garden before we left. Around that time KungFooMASTA text and said he was pulling out due to the rain heading this way.
Right then is when everything went to shit. One of our group (first gen Grand on 31" boggers) got separated. Their radio chose then to shit the bed, and they didn't have cell service. We realized we lost him right before entering Rockrash, but he knew where we were headed so we went up the approach to the garden's ledge, thinking we'd all take a whack at it once while he was catching up to us then leave because it was clouding up quickly. I was leading up until about 10 minutes before, but the Silverado led up the garden. Right before getting to the ledge he snapped a tie rod (lifted with 35's, but factory IFS on drop brackets). Wheels pointing at each other. Fuck #1. Then my phone blows up. It was Skeeter's GF. Guy in the GC doesn't have my number, only Skeeter's. Skeet broke his phone the day before so he can't receive calls. So, his GF relayed to me that the guy's in the GC finally got reception, but they popped a bead. So, TJ guy takes my jack and compressor and goes out to find them. Mind you, GC guys have never been here and we've only been there a couple of times so it's going to be tough to locate them. Fuck #2. 2 minutes after the TJ takes off, all our working phones blow up with an active tornado warning. Hear sirens from Randolph and Olsburg which is east of the area about 5 miles. At least I think it was both towns because we had sirens in stereo. Oh, did I mention that a couple of the wimmenfolk and their kids are at Fancy Creek at that time, and my wife and some of my kids are down in Manhattan?
To recap: one of our group is lost with a flat and we don't have direct communication. One is broken in one of the worst spots to get out of in the park with something that heavy and immobile. And there's a FUCKING TORNADO (which we later found out touched down within a couple of miles according to the local radio) possibly bearing down on all of us.
Some of this may have been God's hand at work because some of this may have been for the best. A couple minutes before the warning I talked to my wife about getting some parts at O'reillys to fix Skeet's steering. She was just leaving Manhattan with 3/4 of my kids (one was with me). She had just gotten them and was getting ready to head back when the sirens went off. I told her to stay put until we knew more. To finish her part of the story, she rode out the tornado (which went through parts of Manhattan (I think, could have been straight-line winds, I know there was one on the ground just east of town spotted according to the radio somewhere in this mess) in the cooler at the Hy-Vee store. Safest place she could have been probably. Had Skeeter's truck not broke she may have drove right through the path just as it was coming through.
The guy in the black Cherokee had unhooked his truck from the trailer to run and get a spare if needed for the GC with the flat, he just got done with dollying down when the warning came across. He loaded up the women and children who were with us and took off south and west as he had the radio on and heard it wasn't quite here yet (but knew it was heading SSE) and we weren't certain how well the vault toilet would hold up. He got them out of there. They were safe. Our wives/GFs/kids who were out at the campground text and told us that they were heading for the new shower house that apparently used 365,000# of 'crete to install. So we figured they were safe.
(Side note: one of the reasons why I told everyone that the vault toilets and the shower houses 'could' be a good shelter is that there was a tornado warning earlier in the week and we didn't know where to go. One of the camp hosts told us that "while we aren't allowed to advise campers where to go in a storm, if we are here when it happens we are heading for a toilet or shower". Then they told me how much reinforced concrete was in them, which is where I got that little fact)
That just leaves us: broken Chevy and lost GC with a blown tire. The GC guys fixed themselves, as when the clouds went funny and the wind started gusting, they hit the 'fuck it' button and drove into the parking area on the flat. Couple minutes later the TJ showed up after not finding them, but seeing the weather change decided they needed to head back. We all crowded around (not in) the vault toilet (fucker stank pretty good, figured if we were a couple of feet from the door and if we say the 'nado bearing down we could hop in quick). Starts absolutely downpouring, cow pissing on a flat rock, cats and dogs, biblical-type rain and wind. Everyone using my phone for contact as I'm the only one who had everyone's number and had reception. Call my wife, tell her to get moving up here as soon as the storm passed. Finally blows over in about 45 minutes. One problem solved.
While were waiting on parts, one of the park rangers swings through. One of our crew talks to them and explains the situation. Told them parts are coming as soon as the warning is over in Manhattan. They told us to fix it and get it out of there even though they knew it would be after dark. Wife show up about 7 minutes after sundown. Get tie rod assembly put together, throw it on the truck just about the time it gets full-on dark. So now we get to night-wheel the garden, right after a rain, water streaming down into it, everything wet and/or covered in mud, basically stock lifted Chevy. Sweet!
Our plan initially was to throw a winch cable on him and 'assist' him driving up and out on his own. After a couple of tries of that we decided that with everything wet and muddy it wasn't happening without breaking shit we had no hope of fixing. So, we get to help him back down about 100yds of rock and boulder-strewn trail. Sweet!
That was only slightly less difficult than going up. Ended up physically moving about 10-12 rocks by hand that were not going to let this truck pass, each of which were no smaller than 18" diameter, a couple of which were 40" plus on the long side. If you've ever tried to grab hold of a wet, muddy rock of that size and move it 3-10 FEET you know our pain.
Got him backed out of the worst part of the garden, found a way to turn him around, and took the first trail that didn't have a rock ledge on it out of there (if you've been down there its the one that switches back 2-3 times coming out of Rockrash going to the west, about the 4th one down on that side of the ravine)., One thing his truck does well is damp/muddy dirt, he just drove right out of it. Anti-climactic I know. By this time it's about 10:30 at night, we're all soaked to the bone and muddy. Me and him have to drive back to the campground, him with no taillights, me with one headlight that is tarp strapped in. Made it back to the campground in one piece, only to discover the power was out back there and none of us brought a genset.
Doesn't end here for all of our group. Guy in the YJ slipped and fell hard of a big rock while we were trying to get the Chevy out of there, thinks he broke a rib. One of our group take him back to town while we are still recovering the Chevy. When he gets there he finds out his reservation got fucked up and they already rented his room and threw his stuff out. When he tried to reserve another at another motel, they took his money and when he got there they told him that room didn't exist. They gave him a cancellation notice, he figures it will be weeks if at all that he gets a refund. Of course, he never went to the hospital and slept the night in TJ jeep's CC Super Duty.
TJ driver and his wife ordered food around 12:30 from a late-open place who delivered, paid for it and waited. Never got it, called around 2am. They said it was delivered and hung up on them. They stayed up another hour, still no food, and no refund.
I can honestly say that this is a trip we won't soon forget.
Early in the afternoon the YJ broke the passenger shaft off in the carrier and he couldn't retrieve it with the magnet so he rode the rest of the day with Skeeter in his Silverado. Then I thought I broke a birf, but after a trip to the parking area and jacking it up whatever was sloppy seemed to not be (could still be a birf, or a locker, not sure). Somewhere along the line the TJ lost a track bar bolt, found the bolt but no nut (that's what was wrong when I left the parking area the last time I saw you KungFooMASTA. We found a nut between all the rigs that just happened to be floating around and kept wheeling. We spent some time out on The Ledges, when it started clouding up we thought we'd make one pass through Rockrash Garden before we left. Around that time KungFooMASTA text and said he was pulling out due to the rain heading this way.
Right then is when everything went to shit. One of our group (first gen Grand on 31" boggers) got separated. Their radio chose then to shit the bed, and they didn't have cell service. We realized we lost him right before entering Rockrash, but he knew where we were headed so we went up the approach to the garden's ledge, thinking we'd all take a whack at it once while he was catching up to us then leave because it was clouding up quickly. I was leading up until about 10 minutes before, but the Silverado led up the garden. Right before getting to the ledge he snapped a tie rod (lifted with 35's, but factory IFS on drop brackets). Wheels pointing at each other. Fuck #1. Then my phone blows up. It was Skeeter's GF. Guy in the GC doesn't have my number, only Skeeter's. Skeet broke his phone the day before so he can't receive calls. So, his GF relayed to me that the guy's in the GC finally got reception, but they popped a bead. So, TJ guy takes my jack and compressor and goes out to find them. Mind you, GC guys have never been here and we've only been there a couple of times so it's going to be tough to locate them. Fuck #2. 2 minutes after the TJ takes off, all our working phones blow up with an active tornado warning. Hear sirens from Randolph and Olsburg which is east of the area about 5 miles. At least I think it was both towns because we had sirens in stereo. Oh, did I mention that a couple of the wimmenfolk and their kids are at Fancy Creek at that time, and my wife and some of my kids are down in Manhattan?
To recap: one of our group is lost with a flat and we don't have direct communication. One is broken in one of the worst spots to get out of in the park with something that heavy and immobile. And there's a FUCKING TORNADO (which we later found out touched down within a couple of miles according to the local radio) possibly bearing down on all of us.
Some of this may have been God's hand at work because some of this may have been for the best. A couple minutes before the warning I talked to my wife about getting some parts at O'reillys to fix Skeet's steering. She was just leaving Manhattan with 3/4 of my kids (one was with me). She had just gotten them and was getting ready to head back when the sirens went off. I told her to stay put until we knew more. To finish her part of the story, she rode out the tornado (which went through parts of Manhattan (I think, could have been straight-line winds, I know there was one on the ground just east of town spotted according to the radio somewhere in this mess) in the cooler at the Hy-Vee store. Safest place she could have been probably. Had Skeeter's truck not broke she may have drove right through the path just as it was coming through.
The guy in the black Cherokee had unhooked his truck from the trailer to run and get a spare if needed for the GC with the flat, he just got done with dollying down when the warning came across. He loaded up the women and children who were with us and took off south and west as he had the radio on and heard it wasn't quite here yet (but knew it was heading SSE) and we weren't certain how well the vault toilet would hold up. He got them out of there. They were safe. Our wives/GFs/kids who were out at the campground text and told us that they were heading for the new shower house that apparently used 365,000# of 'crete to install. So we figured they were safe.
(Side note: one of the reasons why I told everyone that the vault toilets and the shower houses 'could' be a good shelter is that there was a tornado warning earlier in the week and we didn't know where to go. One of the camp hosts told us that "while we aren't allowed to advise campers where to go in a storm, if we are here when it happens we are heading for a toilet or shower". Then they told me how much reinforced concrete was in them, which is where I got that little fact)
That just leaves us: broken Chevy and lost GC with a blown tire. The GC guys fixed themselves, as when the clouds went funny and the wind started gusting, they hit the 'fuck it' button and drove into the parking area on the flat. Couple minutes later the TJ showed up after not finding them, but seeing the weather change decided they needed to head back. We all crowded around (not in) the vault toilet (fucker stank pretty good, figured if we were a couple of feet from the door and if we say the 'nado bearing down we could hop in quick). Starts absolutely downpouring, cow pissing on a flat rock, cats and dogs, biblical-type rain and wind. Everyone using my phone for contact as I'm the only one who had everyone's number and had reception. Call my wife, tell her to get moving up here as soon as the storm passed. Finally blows over in about 45 minutes. One problem solved.
While were waiting on parts, one of the park rangers swings through. One of our crew talks to them and explains the situation. Told them parts are coming as soon as the warning is over in Manhattan. They told us to fix it and get it out of there even though they knew it would be after dark. Wife show up about 7 minutes after sundown. Get tie rod assembly put together, throw it on the truck just about the time it gets full-on dark. So now we get to night-wheel the garden, right after a rain, water streaming down into it, everything wet and/or covered in mud, basically stock lifted Chevy. Sweet!
Our plan initially was to throw a winch cable on him and 'assist' him driving up and out on his own. After a couple of tries of that we decided that with everything wet and muddy it wasn't happening without breaking shit we had no hope of fixing. So, we get to help him back down about 100yds of rock and boulder-strewn trail. Sweet!
That was only slightly less difficult than going up. Ended up physically moving about 10-12 rocks by hand that were not going to let this truck pass, each of which were no smaller than 18" diameter, a couple of which were 40" plus on the long side. If you've ever tried to grab hold of a wet, muddy rock of that size and move it 3-10 FEET you know our pain.
Got him backed out of the worst part of the garden, found a way to turn him around, and took the first trail that didn't have a rock ledge on it out of there (if you've been down there its the one that switches back 2-3 times coming out of Rockrash going to the west, about the 4th one down on that side of the ravine)., One thing his truck does well is damp/muddy dirt, he just drove right out of it. Anti-climactic I know. By this time it's about 10:30 at night, we're all soaked to the bone and muddy. Me and him have to drive back to the campground, him with no taillights, me with one headlight that is tarp strapped in. Made it back to the campground in one piece, only to discover the power was out back there and none of us brought a genset.
Doesn't end here for all of our group. Guy in the YJ slipped and fell hard of a big rock while we were trying to get the Chevy out of there, thinks he broke a rib. One of our group take him back to town while we are still recovering the Chevy. When he gets there he finds out his reservation got fucked up and they already rented his room and threw his stuff out. When he tried to reserve another at another motel, they took his money and when he got there they told him that room didn't exist. They gave him a cancellation notice, he figures it will be weeks if at all that he gets a refund. Of course, he never went to the hospital and slept the night in TJ jeep's CC Super Duty.
TJ driver and his wife ordered food around 12:30 from a late-open place who delivered, paid for it and waited. Never got it, called around 2am. They said it was delivered and hung up on them. They stayed up another hour, still no food, and no refund.
I can honestly say that this is a trip we won't soon forget.
chaplinfj60
Well-known member
crazy fuckers took all your guys money wow not just one person, but 3 of you insane
For about 5 hours there, if it could go wrong, it did. Ah well, could have turned out way worse. If it had, there'd be no one left to tell the story.
665.0coupe
Red Skull Member
Wow, I really wanted to come back out Saturday, but now I'm kinda glad I didn't make it
We got into a sketchy situation in the YJ after you left to fix your birfiled. The group ended up on top of the hill south of the flats. We separated from the other guys and decided to go down a steep trail with a decent ledge in the middle. We ended up to far to the left side of the trail when we went over the ledge so the left side tire went in a hole while the right side was up on the edge. We both thought the jeep was going to front flip over the right corner. We were trying to get the other guys on the radio to come tie onto the back corner but they apparently got stuck and couldn't come help. We had to inch forward about 2 feet before the back end started to come down. It probably took 5 minutes of creeping forward waiting for it to flip, but it seemed like forever.
We got into a sketchy situation in the YJ after you left to fix your birfiled. The group ended up on top of the hill south of the flats. We separated from the other guys and decided to go down a steep trail with a decent ledge in the middle. We ended up to far to the left side of the trail when we went over the ledge so the left side tire went in a hole while the right side was up on the edge. We both thought the jeep was going to front flip over the right corner. We were trying to get the other guys on the radio to come tie onto the back corner but they apparently got stuck and couldn't come help. We had to inch forward about 2 feet before the back end started to come down. It probably took 5 minutes of creeping forward waiting for it to flip, but it seemed like forever.
I think we decided our radio game needs to changeWow, I really wanted to come back out Saturday, but now I'm kinda glad I didn't make it
We got into a sketchy situation in the YJ after you left to fix your birfiled. The group ended up on top of the hill south of the flats. We separated from the other guys and decided to go down a steep trail with a decent ledge in the middle. We ended up to far to the left side of the trail when we went over the ledge so the left side tire went in a hole while the right side was up on the edge. We both thought the jeep was going to front flip over the right corner. We were trying to get the other guys on the radio to come tie onto the back corner but they apparently got stuck and couldn't come help. We had to inch forward about 2 feet before the back end started to come down. It probably took 5 minutes of creeping forward waiting for it to flip, but it seemed like forever.
Glad you guys ended up rubber side down!665.0coupe
Red Skull Member
Yeah, I think you guys need to get some GMRS radios. My HAM radio is modified to transmit on GRMS frequencies. That combined with a couple cheap Baofeng's makes it easy to have a couple spares for people who don't have a radio. I bet the Baofeng's could have made it back to your wife at camp also. Midland makes some GMRS mobile radios that are pretty popular.I think we decided our radio game needs to change
I'm for it, but it's hard to get a bunch of libertarian-in-every-way minded people (who are also cheap) to agree on anything
. Marine bands are pretty common in our area for coyote hunting, that's probably the direction I could get everyone to go. For now I'm just going to buy another 4 pack of those cheap-ass radios that I got for $40 and pass them out to everyone. Range isn't a ton better in that terrain than a CB (assuming the CB is working correctly, which clearly some weren't) but it is better. Across a place like Tuttle or MIOBI where we go a couple of times a year they work OK. At least they are portable enough to walk it to the top of the nearest hill.
Honestly though, the Baofeng is cheap enough that perhaps I can sell that on them. Some places we've been or want to go still require a CB and having 2 fixed radios in a small rig kinda sucks for useable space.