1st outing of the season

[M & J]

I'm happy to say Black Betty performed flawlessly on her first trip out this year. No problems, everything worked, she drove well given she was parked about 6 months over winter.
We loaded our rail buggy and headed for a small camp ground and spent the weekend camping, riding and enjoying time withour fellow VW powered buggy owner friends. We setup camp a little after noon, and by 3 a storm rolled through and man did it make for some wicked trail riding. Mud, mud, mud. You got caked in mud just getting to the trails. We hill climb and ride in some 800 ft ridges and the normally easy climbs were slick and dicey making for some wild pedal to the metal ascents and hang on and hope you dont slide off the edge rides down. Our son came up fromMemphis to go with us and he'd never been in a rail buggy trail riding. He usually rides his 4 wheeler. There were several times i heard him hollar OH SH** and at least 1 F bomb he let slip out on one place where we were headed down a very steep, long and rocky washout. The little VW engine was screaming trying to keep us from dropping down the ridge like bomb out of conrtol. What a RUSH!!! Carefull use of steering brakes and clutch but we still ended up hooking a tree with the back tire leaving us hanging from our harnesses on our side but still on 4 wheels on the burm of the washout. His eyes were as big as silver dollars lol. A quick burnout in reverse gave me a little wiggle room and i was able to get off the tree enough to get going again. It was better than any roller coaster ride.
He couldnt believe his mid to late 50's mom and dad did this for fun. After that ride I let him take the buggy the rest of the weekend and me & Janie just chilled out under Betty's awning listening to music, enjoying some adult beverages and shooting the bull with our friends. What a wonderful 2 1/2 days. One highlight was some friends trailered in a 1963 Airstream they bought for $800. Really good shape, 16 footer with lots of charactor. They have big plans for that little jewel. Of course i gave them this website.
Betty did good, the buggy did really good. Nothing broke we just have to power wash the buggy to get it ready for the next time.
One thing - the self inflating air matress in the hide a bed began losing air. Its leaking around the built in pump. Its the valve im sure so theres no fixing. I need a source for a replacement mattress.

[moonlitcoyote]

Sounds like a lot of fun, it reminds me of times we had in Eddie's pick up climbing mountains off road while hunting.

[Froggy1936]

I use air mattresses from Walmart Cheap they are good for about 2 years then develope leaks They may have what you need I use a ciggarette lighter compressor to pump up and suck down  Frank

[Oz]

        

[M & J]

Here's some pictures from our weekend outing. Black Betty setup, a picture that shows in the distance of that sweet little Airstream trailer. Saturday morning with the fog and sun filtering through the ridges in the distance. My son got many, many more since my phone was used to deliver Pandora for music all day Saturday.

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Sounds like a blast!  Glad you had a great time!

Kev