| Newsletter November 10 , 2002 Frackville , Pa. |
| Hi Folks, Its 3:45am Sunday morning & as usual , Speedy Racer is UP & READY to GO!!!!!!!! HA! HA! But too early , so I put on my drawers & head down to the car wash to remove Saturday's crud & check out the Grizzly for today's Great Adventure. By 6:ooam I've got the Grizzly shined & looking new once again! HE! HE! I like to start the day all shiney! Jim Hudak is up & ready , so we ramble on over to Granny's & fill our bellies with some good grub. On returning to our rooms , we give Jeff ( Heavy J ) a wake up call & by 8:00 am the three of us are ready for another day on the trail. As I move the Speedball Express over to the rear of Motel 6 , I see some faces that I wasn't expecting! Brent & his Grizzly , Bryan & his Honda 250 Recon & Joe & his 250 Yamaha 4x4 Timberwolf , have decided to join us at the last minute. NO PROBLEM!! By 8:30am the six of us are heading down the alley to cross RT.# 61 & access the trails behind the school. Once on the power line , our merry group follows the trail behind the locals homes who live near the power line . Once past the homes ,we bear left & up the hill & dodge the semi's & cars as we cross I-81 to reach the north bound side of I-81. With only six ORV's the pace is modest , but steady & the miles click by pretty fast. Up & over mountain after mountain headed in the general direction of Minnersville, Pa. . As we traverse the side of this one mountain , I bear hard right & after 20 yards , signal for my fellow ORV fanatics to STOP!!!!!!!! A puzzled look comes across thier faces as I dismount & walk towards a clearing in the trail. What they DON'T realize is that a SHEER cliff that drops HUNDREDS of feet is only a few yards away!!!!!!!! Can you imagine some inexperienced ATV rider blasting down this trail & NOT know WHAT lies ahead?????? It would be UGLY!!!!!!!! |
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| My fellow Speedballs join me at the edge of the cliff & look down into the cavenous hole in the ground & there before them is WHAT made this HUGE HOLE in the mountainside! A VERY LARGE walking dragline! The walkers are among the largest of thier breed! The bucket on this drag line would scoop up half your house in ONE downward motion! After taking a few photos & quenching our thirst , time to get moving , since this is only a half day ride. Once back on the trail , I attempt to go south , but every which I go the monster dragline below us , has severed all the normal trails needed to access the valley below. So we retrace our path until I spot a trail that was spared by the dragline &our group descends into the valley. |