Hello to all and hope all is well in your IH world. Summer was definitely to short, IH events included the Heartland International show and a wheelin' trip to Ft. Scott, KS @ Kansas Rocks.

I made it up to the Sonic on Friday night for the Heartland Show, to find numerous Scouts and a fire rig. Discussed our upcoming event with members.

I have been working on my rig as time permits, kind of funny how Jana seems to take up quite a bit more time than I thought she ever could. Time has allowed to get my motor, tranny & transfer case installed. Currently working on coil spring set up for front end. Included cutting frame & installing new sub frame with coil buckets & building 4 links. Enough about my saga, lets talk about some wheeling.

I borrowed a buddy of mine's rig and headed to Kansas. I knew the axles were good (they used to be mine), I was worried about the carburetor though. It worked great except for the unknown vapor lock. With the aid of some fuel from Darrin in a Mt. Dew bottle, we were good the whole weekend. We arrived at Lake Frances, just outside of Fort Scott on Friday afternoon to find Richard Thrasher already there. We discussed sleeping amenities with the owner and decided to bunk up in what he called an apartment. It worked well for 5 adults, a teenager and a 2 year old. George, Kim & Brandi Barwick were prepared to really rough it, tent, generator & A/C, but they decided they could stay with us in the apartment.

Trails ranged from green, blue, black rated trails. Green being easiest, black hardest. We meandered around the main loop (green) then started with some blues. Tight trails but nice climbs, some loose rock. Tim Gilpin kept with Richard Thrasher most of the morning. The group ended up split. Nathan & Carrie Ziet, Barwick's, Branch's, Darrin & Holly & Binder Bird Brian made up the second group. We got into some pretty tight stuff, Binder bird retreated to save paint. We then found some black rated trails. Good stuff, ledges off camber and even tighter fender bashing trees. George attempted a large slab rock that was steep, tall & off camber. After a folded over exhaust tip, a front axle that couldn't take any more and failed to stay in one piece, needless to say he got to retain the chicken.

We met back up with the rest of the group for lunch. A nice covered pavilion with a kids playground next to it was a great sit for lunch. After lunch we headed across the road to a 4x4 playground, which included a rock garden, tilt table, some large concrete culvert and a mogul section to really test flex of your vehicle.