TCups Mountain Top

[CharlieDaTuna]

Tommy has been to my house on several occasions and had invited me up to his mountain retreat. Well today was the day. It’s only a little over an hour from me and I was really looking forward to going up there.

Anyhow, I drove that hour and after getting back into the mountain foothills my GPS got lost and we wound up about 3-4 miles back in the hills somewhere and in someone’s back yard.

I got on the trusty cell phone and called Tommy asking him where the hell I was. He said “not where yer supposed to be” and gave me some new directions and said he was waiting for me at the bottom of “his” mountain. I got turned around and started back down this mountain and all of a sudden my GPS recalculated and “re-found” itself and got me on the right track and led me right to Tommy.

Now I have this little light in the rear end B-2200 Mazda pick-up truck ya see. Tommy looks at me and my PU and asks “does this have 4 wheel drive?”  Ohh Ohh…. “No” as I and I get this funny feeling in the pit of my stomach. “Aw… you’ll make it” he says as he walks away and gets into his 4 wheel drive Subaru and off we go with me following him.

Now Tommy’s driveway is about 4.5 miles long (called Bear Paw Rd.) up this mountain.  All dirt, gravel, crush and run and stone, rough as a washboard, narrow as a balance beam, as crooked as a sidewinder rattler and fairly steep in some places. Did I mention rough? Now me and the Mazda are doin’ pretty good considering. The back end is jumping up and down like a Pogo Stick and all over the place. My truck drove 4.5 miles but my tires traveled at least 10 and my teeth are starting to hurt but we keep on keepn’ on.

And then I finally see it up on the right at about a 45 degree angle….Tommy’s place….at last.  I see Tommy go around this sharp bend and I’m not too far behind him. Now it becomes a very sharp curve, steep incline and very soft loose stone.  I lose traction totally for the first time. I tried several time to maneuver around to get some traction but it ain’t gonna happen. I finally back down to a fairly level area and get a good running start and just made it to the top. I’ll be damnned… I’m at Tommy’s house. What a ride. Disney ain’t got nothin’ on Tommy.

Now I’m here to tell you, it was worth every minute of that climb. It’s just as Tommy’s pictures depict. That is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen and I have been in a lot of places. Even though it was a pretty gloomy day with little to no sun and clouds all around us, every once in awhile it would blow out and you could see for miles. It’s like looking across the world. It’s one of those places that most people can only dream about and seen in pictures only. What a beautiful sight.

Anyhow. We had a good time and for the most part did a lot of talking and discussed a lot of different things and had a good time setting either on the deck or the screened in porch. Tommy made us a nice lunch and I’ll tell ya…. The guy can cook to as well as drive….lol…

Well I spent about 5 hours with Tommy up on that mountain and what a great time it was. Those people up on Walton’s Mountain (for those that remember the old TV series) ain’t got nothing’ on Tommy.

Tommy…. All I can say is thank you for the experience and you gracious hospitality my friend. I really did enjoy it.

Bob

[shadow]

Sound's like you had a great time Bob along with getting your spine, teeth and your truck adjusted hehehe. Ed

[TCups]

Bob:
Great to have you "up" to the mountain place.  Next time, put some extra weight in the back of the pick 'em up and bring Sherry.  I love Subaru's.  Can't beat the full time AWD, and it makes the 15 min ride up the "driveway" smooth and easy.  This morning, the clouds have burned off except for a few down below in the Green River Valley -- a bluebird day with everything fresh and green.  We really needed yesterday's rain.  It was great to visit with you again.

[leftcoast1]

Very nice view Tommy. I would take a picture out my back door but all you would see is a little grass and a 6' high chain link fence then the utility easement. Not much of a view I'd say.

[Big_Bill]

Hey Bob,

Sounds like Heaven, I hope !, a day on top of the world ! What a ride to the top, but anything worth wile, doesn't come easy !

The scary part of your account of your day, is, that you didn't mention the ride down ! lol

You boys down South have all the fun

[Dave1899]

Big_Bill - 7/27/2008  12:30 PM



Hey Bob,

...The scary part of your account of your day, is, that you didn't mention the ride down ! lol...

That's what I was thinking...LOL

David

[CharlieDaTuna]

Hey... I don't remember going down.      That parts all blanked out. I musta made it though and all I remember is pulling in the driveway when I got home and Sherry prying my hands offn' the steering wheel.    

[Timmyj1959@yahoo.com]

This thread is killin me!! :0  I know Roger wanted to go as well,, seems we both missed out on a GREAT time!! Of course I would not have spent the day "Interogating" Bob for all the info I could gather??LOL!! :p  I know,, next time,, Ill go pick Bob up in my big Heavy Truck,, we can bring some of his tools & have a "Tune Party"!! LOL!! What Ya say Bob??   :0   :p   Heck,, I can go pick up Gene,, put his metal lathe in the back of my truck,,, now thats enough poundage to get up that driveway no prob!!     Seriously,, glad Yall had Fun,,, I missed the first "Fun Shoot" at Genes,,, I said I would not miss the second one for the world,, I was there!! Man I will NEVER forget that FUN DAY!!! I will not miss the next time Tommy!! Tim.

[TCups]

Tim:
Just to make you feel better, I will throw in a couple of extra shots of what I set up this weekend.  The end elevation of the mountain house shows the wrap-around covered porch, screened porch and deck on end.  At the far corner of the rail on the deck is one of your targets.  The deck measures 36 ft long, so I have a perfect 10 M open air range if I set the target on the rail at one end and stand or sit at the other end.  The afternoon sun is mostly at your back shooting on the open deck.  Interestingly, the covered wrap-around porch on the side is 30 ft from the front rail to the door of the screened porch.  Swing the door open and stand or sit about 3 ft inside the screened porch and there is a second, perfect 10M range.  This one is covered and lighted, so I can even shoot there at night.  There is a ceiling fan in the screened porch if needed.  I put a log on the rail to set the target on and attached two baby spoon spinners as well.  Finally, the odd looking target that looks like some Hopi Indian glyph of the breast goddess is another log with the Gamo squirrel silhouette target screwed firmly on top, and a cross rail of treated pine to tack paper plate targets on, and with spoon spinners on the ends.  It sets atop the green metal box that is where the buried power line junction box for the property is.  If I walk to the back corner of the deck, it is 100 ft to the target.  If I walk out the screened porch to the covered walkway, I can get from about 20 to 25 yds from the target, again shooting under a covered roof it it happens to be raining.  And the whole set up means I am never more than a few steps from the fridge with the cold adult malt beverages.  Before I left, I sprayed the metal squirrel with some WD40 and bagged it with a freezer bag to weather proof it till I get back.  Nice place to shoot, or what?!  And we built the place before I ever had any notion I would be shooting air guns up there.  Air gunner''s heaven, I'd say.

[leftcoast1]

Hey Tommy,

 Easy on the salt in the wounds ther buddy. A lot of us city dwellers are drooling right now I'm sure. Thanks for the beautiful pics buddy.I gotta go wash out the salt and put on some bandages. lol