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Thread: A day to Remember

  1. #1
    Lifetime Member David Salem's Avatar
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    Default A day to Remember

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    As some of you may have heard we had some pretty serious rains in So Cal last winter. It was greatly needed as we were in a drought. We didn't really want that much rain in one storm as it ruined our shooting spot for the majority of the winter.
    Never seen it so bad and flooded in all the years I have been going there. This shot was taken on the last day of shooting there last year. I am a pretty good bad weather driver as I have been hunting my falcons in adverse and muddy weather conditions all of my adult life, but this was as about as bad as I can remember.

    Most sensible people had stopped traveling this road a few weeks earlier as it was a 300 yard one to two foot deep mud puddle. More like a crazy southern mud bog that you see on TV. We pulled up the the road and assed the ugly situation. I decided to go for it but my buddy Glenn wasn't as sure.
    The pedal to the metal in four wheel drive and 300 yards of hair raising driving got us into the shooting spot!! The shooting was ok but we both didn't really enjoy it that much as we both carried the sinking feeling in our gut that we had to somehow get back thru the same mud bogged road agin, and it was even worse after we screwed it up during the last pass.

    Soon enough we were leaving and stopped staring down the road from ****. Not much we could do except to "Hit it hard". This time was much worse and the water was so deep it was coming over the hood as all four wheels were throwing mud everywhere and the engine was screaming at 6000 rpm!!
    Half way thru the madness we started to slide into a revene and the truck slowed down to 2 mph as we were still screaming wide open throttle and all four wheels throwing mud everywhere. I could barely see as the windshield was covered in mud and the wipers could barely move the mud from my vision.
    Talk about your sphincter being tightened up

    We finally made it out of the bog and we both couldn't believe we didn't get stuck. We both agreed that if we had gotten stuck that there was no way a tow truck or even a tractor could have gotten my truck out and it probably would have sat there until spring!

    Shortly after this picture was taken at the carwash my truck started to run rough and by the time I got home she was almost dead. Over $1200.00 later and she was back on the road again. Water had flooded into the air filter and intake and caused a ton of havoc and ruined my new battery too.

    It's all about the shot though
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  2. #2
    Avian Moderator Randy Stout's Avatar
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    Might I suggest a boat next time?

    Great story, and glad you weren't stranded. Sorry about the truck however. As a serial Avalanche owner, I have always liked them, and am sorry they are no longer in production.

    You won't forget that day.

    Thanks for sharing the story and picture!

    Cheers

    Randy
    MY BPN ALBUMS

    "Tact is the art of making a point without making an enemy" Sir Isaac Newton

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    Lifetime Member gail bisson's Avatar
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    Haha! You really were not exaggerating when you told us this story. I am most impressed by the fact that you look so clean! Not even a drop of mud on your shoes!

  4. #4
    Lifetime Member David Salem's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Randy Stout View Post
    Might I suggest a boat next time?

    Great story, and glad you weren't stranded. Sorry about the truck however. As a serial Avalanche owner, I have always liked them, and am sorry they are no longer in production.

    You won't forget that day.

    Thanks for sharing the story and picture!

    Cheers

    Randy
    Randy,
    I just got rid of my avalanche a few weeks ago and bought a newer Chevy truck but it was a great truck with almost 300000 miles on it and no problems.

    Also I forgot to mention but you can only see a small part up front but this truck is bright red
    Come join me for a Custom Raptor Workshop starting this November 2019- January 2020.
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  5. #5
    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    Dave, whats the problem, perfect camo colour, sadly BMW don't do the same body colour.

  6. #6
    Lifetime Member Ákos Lumnitzer's Avatar
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    Man, glad you made it. All I could see is a mountain of mud, then realised there is a pick-up under it.


    You really need to have a snorkel fitted to the truck for that kind of driving!!!! Lucky you did not completely screw your engine with water!

    Not sure how much it would cost you for a snorkel fitted over there. In Oz it's about 6-700 bucks from memory, so not too bad. Saves you big time!

    And you need decent mud tyres for that kind of driving.

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