by Jim Davis

The 2004 edition of the Syncro Safari took place in the beautiful San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado. The event included Syncronauts from near and far, socializing, 4-wheeling, a few repairs, and even campfire sing- a-longs. I ( Jim Davis) for one really enjoyed this event.

Just the Facts:

Where: In the San Juan Mountains in southwestern Colorado
When: August 8 th – 14 th, 2004
Who: 21 People, 9 Syncros, 2 dogs & 1 cat
What: A week of 4-wheeiling, camping & recreation with Syncronauts
Why: We’ve got Syncros, Colorado’s got trails!
W-schedule:
Sunday, Aug 8 th – Arrive, make camp, make friends
Monday, Aug 9 th – Engineer Pass
Tuesday, Aug 10 th – Free Day
Wednesday, Aug 11 th – Ophir Pass & Imogene Pass
Thursday, Aug 12 – Free Day
Friday, Aug 13 th – Cinnamon Pass & American Basin
Saturday, Aug 14 th – Break camp, Say goodbyes, depart

 

The San Juans are widely renowned for their scenery and 4-wheeling opportunities and were picked for just this reason. All the routes were well established and we could get information about them from several guides. Looking through 4-wheeling magazines (like “ 4 Wheel Drive & Sport Utility Magazine”, http://www.4wdandsportutility.com) that focus on trails and using your 4WD vehicle, one can easily find numerous articles featuring this area and even the particular trails we enjoyed.

The area we experienced ranged from Ouray to the North, Durango to the south, Telluride to the West and only part way toward Lake City to the East. In this region there are at least dozens (perhaps even a hundred) of 4WD trails to be explored and our group was treated to four of the scenic “pass routes” during our three days of 4-wheeling. These were Engineer Pass (12,800 ft), Ophir Pass (11,789 ft), Imogene Pass (13,114 ft), and Cinnamon Pass (12,640 ft). Imogene Pass is reputed to be the second highest pass route in the USA.

The event included Syncronauts from Canada and as far away as the Carolinas and Alaska with 21 people, two dogs, one cat and nine Syncros in attendance. We split the week up with three 4-wheeling days on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and had “free days” on Tuesday and Thursday. To read more about the 4-wheeling days, see the “Trails” pages. On the free days we made repairs, did laundry, rode bikes, fished, paddled around in Lake Molas, visited the Silverton Mining Museum, and even took naps too!

The 4-wheeling we did at this event and at other Syncro Safaris could best be described as “mild to moderate family friendly 4-wheeling”. While we challenged ourselves a bit and saw our Syncros do some things that are exciting, we didn’t bash any fenders or break any axles. We’re not that “hard-core” and on this event we didn’t even have anyone get stuck! Almost disappointedly, there was not a single use of our “snatch straps, come-a-longs, or Hi-Lift jacks. “Family friendly even means that small children and even an infant have attended Syncro Safari and gone on the 4-wheeling trails. All the trails we did are “designated” 4-wheeling routes and we never go “cross country” cutting tracks where there is no road. To do this would violate the ecological values set for Syncro Safari events.

All the attendees at the event were a pleasure to be around. This was a repeat Safari for 10 of us, while 11 people made “ Colorado ‘04” their very first Syncro Safari. I really enjoyed the company of both the veterans and the newbies and I think our group “clicked” pretty well. While the first impression one might have upon hearing about a Syncro Safari event is about 4-wheeling and adventure, Syncro Safari is just as much about having people “connect” as we spend time together. The size of the group has a lot to do with this and I think about 10 Syncros is the upper limit. In ’98 and ’99 we had 6 Syncros and in 2000 we grew to 12 limited mainly by the size of our campsite. With 12 Syncros and over 30 people there were just too many people to connect very well as a group. We certainly had fun in 2000, but a big part of a Syncro Safari event, for me, is personal connection time with individuals and families. Personally, I felt I hardly got to know anyone at the 2000 event. Another part of this “connection” at Syncro Safari is the duration of the trip. Our 98 trip was a “5 day weekend” and the Safari’s since then (including Colorado ’04) have been a week long over all with 5 days of Safari. This provides enough time to get to know the people you’re with, to have meals with them, to check out their vans, to spend some relaxation or recreation time together, and this really contributes to the sense of “Syncro Community” at Safari.

The weather we had during our week in the San Juans was absolutely spectacular! While nights were cool (just below freezing) the days were warm and typically hit highs in the upper 70’s (F). Almost every day was clear with deep blue skies, a slight breeze, and a few puffy little “cotton-ball” clouds contrasted their bright white against the blue backdrop. Tuesday we got a few real clouds and sprinkles on and off for less than an hour – just long enough to throw a few things into the vans and then get them back out again.

The week’s itinerary & our trip from southern California:
Our crew consisted of me Jim, Davis, my 16 year old son Matt and his friend Jeremie, who lives in Spokane, WA. This was the 4 th Syncro Safari for Matt and I and Jeremie’s first.

We got a late start on Saturday the 7 th and promptly found some traffic east of Los Angeles. By the time we were in the desert, our speed was up and we enjoyed a smooth cruise. Occasionally, under full load and full throttle there would be an odd vibrating sound that was a real concern. Starting out on a trip like this, that’s the last thing you want to hear! I turned the radio up and prayed for the best. By the time we left Kingman, AZ the sound was louder and more frequent and induced a sinking feeling in my stomach. A bearing? A differential? The transmission? All sorts of thoughts were going through my mind about the noise. Pressing on to Flagstaff, I’d have to attempt diagnosis there.

Sunday, August 8 th. A beautiful day started out in cool Flagstaff Arizona. I attempted to find out what was making the awful noise, but couldn’t determine any cause. We pressed on through more desert seeing interesting looking peaks, cliffs, canyons and mesas. We made a fun stop at “ Four Corners” looking at Native American crafts and taking pictures while straddling the four states of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona. The noise is getting worse & seems like it’s coming from everywhere under the van! From there on through Cortez, then Durango to our destination at Molas Lake. We arrived with the sun about a hand’s height above the tall cliffs that made up the horizon. We had to bypass the greetings I desired in order to set our tents up and equipment moved before sundown. I hurried Matt & Jeremie along and we finished setting up camp just as the sun disappeared.

Already at camp were Serge, Claire and the Syncro Chicks from Alberta, Steve & JoAnne Wacker of Grand Junction, Steve, Eric, and April Best from SC, Richard Jones from Boulder, Paul Connely from Frisco, CO and Bob Stevens from Salt Lake. Before long Dan and Danae Hays arrived from Juneau, Alaska, unfortunately without their Syncro. That evening we discussed plans for the next day and my stomach turned about that terrible noise my van was making. Tomorrow: Engineer Pass!

During the night, Sue Booth found Molas Lake and wisely decided to camp for the night near the campground entrance instead of attempting to find our group who occupied the most distant sites in the campground. Sue found us early Monday morning as we ate breakfast and readied ourselves for the 4-wheeling ahead. Dan and Danae were back at camp along with a Jeep and friend Woody who works at a nearby ranch. Dan and Woody know the area pretty well and lead the rest of our Syncros with the Jeep. To read about the day’s 4-wheeling see the Engineer Pass page.

During the Engineer Pass trip, we were discussing the slight noise from the Wacker’s van that might have been coming from a rear CV joint. There was talk about whether their van’s CV joint might have too much front/back play and be the cause of the noise. I decided to check this against my own van and wile under there, pulling on my axle I discovered the cause of my own terrible noise! The drive train protection bars under the van were rubbing against an exhaust header! What a relief to find out it wasn’t bearings or transmission or a differential! A simple bend in the bar made it rest against the exhaust tube and when the load on the engine made it torque, it pressed harder and the noise got louder.

Later Monday afternoon, back at Camp Syncro we took a closer look and set about repairs. We got a big screwdriver and used it to pry between the bars and the exhaust – no help. It just moved the engine! With a little more discussion, I decided the bars would come out for repair. Steve Wacker was a big help and he and I had the bars out in 10 minutes. Once out we could clearly see the bend in the bars. This had been done a long time before, but I had the transmission out to replace the clutch and the protection bars had not been replaced until just before the trip to Syncro Safari. Upon reinstallation of the transmission, it hung just differently enough to cause this rub.

Now, how to re-bend the bars? We laid them across a low spot in the ground between a couple rocks and I stood on it. No help. I jumped on it. No help. Repositioned, jumped some more. No help. Steve Best suggested that we drive a van onto it. Thinking it over, I couldn’t think of a better idea, so we carefully positioned the bars to support them on either side of the bend and Steve drove his van’s front tire onto the bar. No help, the tire just sort of “smooshed” around the bar. We broadened the support points under the bar so it would have a greater area to bend and drove Steve’s van onto it again. No help. These bars are strong!! Steve says we need to put the whole weight of the front of the van onto the bar, not just one tire. We get a hydraulic bottle jack and positioned Steve’s van above the bars. With the jack we begin lifting the van supported by the bar we wanted to bend. Steve’s van has both front wheels off the ground and the bar is still holding strong! Steve says we should climb on the front of the van to put some more weight on it. We do and then begin jumping up and down to put more pressure on the bar. CRACK!!! - was the sound we heard from under the van as one of the rocks supporting the bar broke. We release the jack and pull the bar out. Perfect. Straight as a ruler, like it had been professionally straightened in a shop! I couldn’t believe it. Steve’s South Carolina mechanic’s training had paid off with a perfect repair of my protection bar. Don’t believe it? We got it on video!
Quite a day for a Monday!

Tuesday was our first of two “non 4-wheeling” days. I spent most of it around camp relaxing a bit, and also helping to replace Paul Connely’s water pump along with Serge LaPlante. The Vanagon water pump bolts a re a bit hard to get to making this a more challenging task than it should be. Paul’s water pump bolts just won’t budge! Trying several tools and techniques still got us nowhere. These are Allen-head bolts and the wrenches we were using start to round out the sockets in the bolts. Serge suggests a trick he’d learned. Use a 12-point CV joint bolt wrench and drive it into the Allen head with a hammer. Once pounded into the bolt head, we were able to turn out the bolts without too much further trouble. Another useful tool was a “precious” from Serge. Similar to the special ring’s “precious” status for Lord of the Rings character Gollum, it seems Serge also has a few “precious” items. One is a hand made 13mm nut with a ¼” drive hole in the center. Claire and the kids think he’s obsessed, but we fellow Syncronauts understand. Serge, we’re brothers!

Wednesday was a long day occupied by Ophir and Imogene Passes. Steve and JoAnn Wacker needed to head home at the end of the day, so they broke camp in the morning and got a late start. The main group took it slow and they caught up to us by the time we reached Ophir Pass. Ophir pass is pretty much just a dirt road and I couldn’t really say we needed 4WD for it. It was great to see Steve & JoAnn again after so long. I’ve been with them on trips in Anza Borrego, Death Valley, Moab, and in the Sierras. It was sad that they had to cut the week short and head home, but not before reaching the “ high point” of the trip, cresting 13,114 ft Imogene pass. Check out the Ohpir Pass and Imogene Pass trail pages for descriptions of our Wednesday trip.

Thursday: Paddling in Molas Lake in an inflatable kayak, letting 16 year-olds Matt& Jeremie drive the Syncro on the Molas Lake campground road, seeing Serge ride his road bike crazy distances up crazy grades at crazy elevations (he’s a road bike lunatic), and doing laundry. In the afternoon we (the Davis & Laplante groups) made a trip up to Ouray and soak and swam in the Ouray Hot Springs. It’s sort of like a big public pool with several different sections with different water temperatures. The showers were great & worth the admission price alone! That evening Matt, Jeremie, and I accepted the invitation of Dan & Danae and had dinner with them and local friend Woody at the “Bar-D Chuck Wagon” in Durango. A corny, but fun place with good, hearty food, comedy, and live western music. Thanks Dan & Danae!

Friday was a great day to end our four-wheeling. Like the other days the weather was beautiful, but the midway lunch spot on our Cinnamon Pass trip was the beautiful American Basin. We took an especially long break this day, relaxing, eating a group lunch on a big flat rock, enjoying the scenery, enjoying each others company, talking about the week’s adventures, and talking of future Syncro Safaris. It was a perfect wrap-up trip for the week, and we parted company there with Richard Jones, who continued home through Lake City, to Boulder. For more about places we visited on Friday see the Cinnamon Pass page.

Our trip home beginning on Saturday the 14 th was a bit of an experience. I had hoped for a scenic route home, but the boys just didn’t understand what was required for an “early start”, so we took the direct route. Back through the 4-corners area and southwest across Arizona to Flagstaff. About 70 miles from our planned night’s stay in Flagstaff, I checked out the “Digitool” display and found that my battery voltage was quite low. Instead of about 13.5 to 14 volts while running, it was about 12.2volts. As we drove I kept an eye one it and it was dropping.

12.2....... 12.2...... 12.1...... 12.2...... 12.2...... 12.1...... 12.2...... 12.1...... 12.1...... 12.2...... 12.1...... 12.1...... 12.1...... 12.0…..

The rest of the way into Flagstaff (with the security of a town and a place to sleep) was agonizingly long, this hour seeming like half a day. By the time we were at out hotel, the voltage was down to about 11.6 Volts. Parked the van in a strategic location for repairs and for potential push start and shut the engine off a bit before sunset.

The boys toted our stuff to our room, and I checked out the van. “Must be a bad voltage regulator” – and I had a spare to replace it with. Within about 15 minutes the spare regulator was installed and … the voltage was even lower! AHHHH!! I guess I need a new alternator. In the hotel I checked out the Yellow Pages and found a Checker Auto Parts that had the alternator in stock and it was only about ½ mile away. Luckily the van started again and off I went. I got the rebuilt alternator and the guy there installed the fan & pulley from mine. I headed out to the van for a quick install, but I noticed the voltage regulator had Torx screws holding it in. Thinking ahead for easier voltage regulator replacement, I swapped my old slotted screws in and the Torx ones out. Upon putting the slotted screws in, I found that one of the screw holes in the alternator was stripped, and that the original screw was just hanging in there by the edge of a thread or two.

Back inside the store to exchange the new alternator, I find it’s their only one. Guys that were helpful moments ago just seemed indifferent now and implied that I must have stripped it, cause it was fine before. NOT! In the end, I get a larger screw of similar thread pitch and just muscle it in! I hated to do this, but “you gotta do what you gotta do” sometimes.

Now the store closes and I’m still installing the alternator. Now it’s dark out and they turn off some of the lights inside the store and it’s a bit dimmer at the van. Well, at least it’s not raining – ahhhh, spoke too soon. It begins to rain. Things are good though. I’m under the rear hatch, so I’m dry. My tool box is a few feet away under the eve of the store, so it’s dry. I thank God for a good place to work. However, just before the trip I installed a special bracket to keep rocks out of the engines v-belts. The bracket does not align really well with the alternator bracket so getting the bolt back through the pair is very difficult with the slight amount of leverage I can get on it. This could be very difficult I think to my self! My prayers are answered within moments when I tilt the alternator way over to the right (in a position I’ve never before seen an Vanagon’s alternator) exposing the bolt in a new way which made pushing it through MUCH easier. I thank God again and finish up the alternator installation. I head back to the hotel with the fresh alternator and have dinner with the boys. Pool closed though – high risk of lightning!

On Sunday we take an uneventful trip across the Arizona & California deserts toward home. Near Kingman we get off the main highway (40) and get on a frontage road that I figured might be part of old Route 66. This road had some of the greatest hills and dips ever and it was straight, so we could go pretty fast and get a great feeling of weightlessness as we crested the hills. After a few miles the road turned away from the highway, and before long the pavement ended. Hmmm, maybe not such a great side-route after all, and definitely not Route 66. Not wanting to double back I press on, and the boys get out the map and fire up the GPS. It appears that if we keep going on this dirt road, we can make it to pavement near the next freeway onramp. We keep going passing many dirt intersections & forks, not seeming to get any closer to the highway. We crest a few big hills and travel through a few deep gullies and I’m glad to be in a Syncro, although I hadn’t planned any 4-wheeling today. Eventually we do find pavement and our way back to Interstate 40.

Storm clouds on the horizon all around though, we saw lightning many times throughout the day from many directions as we traveled. Didn’t get more than a few sprinkles on us though until we neared Barstow. About 40 miles east of Barstow it began to RAIN HARD. SO hard the Syncro’s wipers couldn’t really keep up and it seemed as much water was behind the wiper blade as in front. Traffic begins to slow a bit, but still we’re moving right along. In Barstow the 40 merges into I15 and here’s where I expect traffic, with a lot of cars returning to southern California from Las Vegas. Fortunately for us (and unfortunately for thousands on the 15) the 15 is flooded in Barstow and only one lane of cars is moving through, so now significant amount of traffic is added to our route. As we continue the rain diminishes and by the time we’re home at the end of the day it’s just a sprinkle.

What a trip!!!

Thanks to all the Syncronauts who attended!