Virginia Steel Soldiers Rally 2009

[wvhillbilly]

To All SS attending to Virginia Rally: It is with much regret that I inform all of you that due to relocation to a new house, as well as multiple illness's in my family, that we are unable to bring Kathy's Kountry to Graves Mountain in a few weeks. To all: Please accept our apologies. It's amazing how things change in just a few weeks.....Jeff And Kathy

On June 1, we moved to a new house closer to work. In late June, my 82 y/o Dad had a heart attack. He's recovered nicely. Plus there have been some other medical issues with my immediate family that require attention that presented themselves around July 4th. With all this going on, Kathy has been
forced to eliminate her performing engagements for a couple of months. I hope no SS are offended. See ya....

 

[CGarbee]

To All SS attending to Virginia Rally: It is with much regret that I inform all of you that due to relocation to a new house, as well as multiple illness's in my family, that we are unable to bring Kathy's Kountry to Graves Mountain in a few weeks. To all: Please accept our apologies. It's amazing how things change in just a few weeks.....Jeff And Kathy

On June 1, we moved to a new house closer to work. In late June, my 82 y/o Dad had a heart attack. He's recovered nicely. Plus there have been some other medical issues with my immediate family that require attention that presented themselves around July 4th. With all this going on, Kathy has been
forced to eliminate her performing engagements for a couple of months. I hope no SS are offended. See ya....

Sorry to hear this. Good to hear that your Dad is doing better though. Get him healed up and put next year's trailrides/rally on the calendar. We'll be gathering next year at the same place, same weekend (Labor Day), we'll just have more trails and stuff to do...

Take care.

 

[maddawg308]

Tried sending a PM to mangus580 to ask him to put a link on the front page to the sign-up page about the VA rally, just like there are links to the signup pages for the GA rally and the Rausch Creek rally, but so far he hasn't responded. Hopefully when he gets some time, I know he is very busy...

Cabell said that he and a couple others will be headed up to Graves this weekend to do some work there, as will I the weekend of Aug 22-23. We're going to get some trees trimmed for the bigger trucks, and do some work on the mud bog as well so the boggers can get their trucks dirty.

About 3 weeks to go!

 

[cranetruck]

Tried sending a PM to mangus580 to ask him to put a link on the front page to the sign-up page about the VA rally, just like there are links to the signup pages for the GA rally and the Rausch Creek rally, but so far he hasn't responded. Hopefully when he gets some time, I know he is very busy...
......
About 3 weeks to go!

Glad you did Mike, I was wondering about that also.

Haven't worked much on the 8x8 lately, started to remove the torque rods, but had trouble getting the tapered pins out. The torque rods have "lubed for life" ball and socket joints (one for each of the 12 rods) and are now stiff enough to keep the axles/wheels from following the ground properly. There is a separate thread on this.
Anyway, I haven't driven the truck enough to feel comfy about a road trip yet, so it doesn't look like I'll make it anywhere this year either. It all boils down to finances really, so without the bucks, everything slows to a crawl.
My son is back from CA now and looking for work, which is hard to find here in the boonies.

Wish I was in a better position to help my fellow Virginians with this rally...

 

[sgtshuker]

how much gound clearence should a vehical have for the trails

 

[CGarbee]

how much gound clearence should a vehical have for the trails

I don't know of any stock MV that would have a ground clearance issue... I've been using a CUCV (Chevy pickup) for trail maintence so far. Got a couple of spots that I haven't taken it yet, but ground clearance wasn't an issue...

Do you have a specific vehicle that you are thinking about bringing, or just wondering in general?


I'll be in Syria this Friday (8/14) through Sunday (8/16). M215 is planning on joining me on Sat AM. We'll be removing some treas that will pose a clearance problem for taller vehicles (drove under them in the Chevy, but they would take out my XM813's cab...).

 

[sgtshuker]

I am driving a '98 ford explored with stock suspension

 

[M215]

VA Rally

Hello SS,
Spent the early part of the day with CGarbee trail clearing, wait until you guys check out the ridge trail. The sight of a convoy of MVs on these trails is going to be great. Ran the trail with our old Jeep Cherokee w/o any problems.

CGarbee mentioned some of us (including myself) have been a little slow sending in registrations, kind of hard for him to make final plans.

Less than 3 wks to go.

Karl

 

[Orionspath]

Virginia Rally....5 September - 7 September..It's Time to Go and DRIVE........

Lost my last post, so here we go again.....
Departure - 0500hrs. Saturday September 5th, Ocean View, Delaware to
Arrival - 1100hrs. in Syria, Virginia. C. Garbee advises everthing is on! My return trip to the Virginia Mountains after spending the Summer at Atlantic Beaches and VFW 7234. Looking forward to a 6 hour drive to include routes:
Rt. 404W, Rt. 113W,Rt. 13W ,Rt. 50W, I-495N, I-66W, Rt. 17S, Rt. 211W, Rt. 522S, Rt. 231SW to Graves Mountain Lodge......

Some pictures from my trip east on June 6, 2009 to Delaware.......
Keep the momentum moving forward. Looking forward to picking up a few of you along the way in Delaware (who is that on Redden Road) and Maryland....

Pete

 

[peecook]

anyone from Richmond/Hampton Roads/NC driving up Thursday morning?

 

[Orionspath]

CONVOY From S.E. Va.......

anyone from Richmond/Hampton Roads/NC driving up Thursday morning?

Check further back on this thread, I saw late last night that personnel were driving up from that area.....

 

[Orionspath]

My intended path to the rally. leaving at 0500 from Delaware, arriving @ 1200hrs Syria, Virginia.......

 

[Orionspath]

Sorry Guys, must of sprung a few parts trying to copy that map to the thread....Any one heading west for this event from Maryland? Sharpen those grease pencils and write the directions on your windscreen.........

 

[maddawg308]

Getting close, guys - I have to make it down to Graves this weekend to do a little trail maintenance and work on the mud pit. Have a call into Cabell to arrange.

Will try and keep this thread BTT at all times to keep it visible to most lookers on the site.

Can't wait!

 

[CGarbee]

A couple more things to add...

Right now, we have about five ladies comming, so if your spouse is concerned that they will be the only one, they wont be...

In addition to all the stuff we have at the Lodge (pool, hiking trails, horseback riding, etc.), there are a bunch of antique shops, historic sites, etc. not far away as well as the annual "Taste of the Mountains" festival in the town of Madison (county seat) and the annaul tractor pulls at the county fairgrounds. I have access to a Suburban if folks want to use it to run into town, up on Skyline Drive, Luray Caverns, etc. (especially if they don't want to join us on the trails...).

I'll also have the big screen set up in the picnic pavilion so that we can watch movies (bring your DVD's) and/or the football/baseball games (we have directTV at the shelter...).


Remember that you can email me the registration forms and pay when you arrive...

 

[maddawg308]

Maybe we should send a few larger MVs down to the tractor pulls to try them out!

Cabell, might there be a possibility that I can leave a trailer there onsite for a few days after the rally until I can pick it up? AMGeneral is towing two trailers there for me, and I can only tow one back home after the rally is over.

 

[CGarbee]

Plenty of room to store stuff for a while...
I need to pull up the link for the tractor pull and post it. It'd be fun to put the XM813 in.

Don't forget that we have plenty of room in case anyone wants to bring stuff for sale/trade.

 

[pctrans]

If anyone has any "desires", I plan on bringing some accessories: cargo covers, bows, troopseats, tool kits, "new" 5-ton rims (HEMTT style), etc. If you want to place an order, or request pricing, contact me at pandctrans@gmail.com. A lot of my stuff can be found in the classified section.

 

[AMGeneral]

Ok,It looks as if I may only make it up for part of a day(Fri or Sat,not sure yet), to deliver Maddawg's 2 trailers and hang out for a while.Do I need to print out and mail the registration if i'm not gonna stay overnight?

 

[CGarbee]

Ok,It looks as if I may only make it up for part of a day(Fri or Sat,not sure yet), to deliver Maddawg's 2 trailers and hang out for a while.Do I need to print out and mail the registration if i'm not gonna stay overnight?

It would help me keep track of who is comming/arrival ETA if you could fill it out and email it to me...but if not, I can have you fill out one when you arrive...