Gallery of Photos & Newsletter for April 16th !

With fair skies & good weather predicted , the Speedball's head out for a day of FUN & head north towards Hazelton, Pa. The trails are littered with downed trees from last winters severe ice storms & ducking & pushing away tree tops now at ground level was the norm for the next 25 miles. Every so often , we had to dismount & cut 6" size trees that totally blocked our path at times. It slowed our progress , but didn't dampen the spirits of the Speedball's one little bit!

After buzzing up & down quite a few mountains , our newest members were rewarded by this GRAND sight! The Hazelton, Pa. train tunnel! These folks have never seen a sight like this on the trail before! NOW it's time to enter this deep & dark hole in the earth & dodge the numerous tiny waterfalls that sprinkle our atver's . I advise these first timers to lift their feet towards the far end or you WILL GET YOUR FEET WET!!! LOL!

SPEEDBALL's in Hazelton, Pa. train tunnel.

Mike Yucha leads the atver's out of the train tunnel.

Joe & Susuki King Quad follow Randy 's Brute Force

Randy & his 750 V-Twin 4x4 Brute Force LOVES the water!

Lee & 700 Kawasaki 4x4 has a BLAST making waves!

Speedball's clear a tree from the trail.

Speedball's check out the valley below from HUGE rock!

This is the front of this HUGE ROCK!

Speedball's check out all the fallen trees from last winter.

After posing for a few photos , time to head towards the AC/DC coal banks in Shenandoah, Pa. Mike Yucha & Lee have to leave early , so we wave good-bye to our trail buddies & head off to see WHO will tempt fate & buzz up & down a few coal banks???????

As I lead the others in from the back side & roll over the last knoll & the HUGE coal banks come into view , I flick the 4x4 button above my thumb throttle on my 750 Kawasaki V-Twin 4x4 Brute Force & slowly approach the coal banks . These folks have NEVER seen hills like this , so when I drop the hammer & BLAST UP the face of this HUGE coal bank , I can here is the background" Holly SH-T !!!! What's he doing?????????? LMAO!

As I am perched at the top & peering down at the small specks below , I can see them shaking their heads in utter disbelief!!!!! LOL! Before long , Brian leads the other Speedball's to the top by the round about & EASY way & they to peer down & wonder out loud IF they to could conquer these HUGE coal banks??????

With a little encouragement & coaching about the DO's & DON'T's of these types of hillclimbs, more than one Speedball gets up the courage & slides to the bottom & gets READY for their first attempt!!!! LOL!

Lee who left us earlier & rejoined us after my first run at the coal bank , was the first to get up the courage & BLASTS towards the top like a rocket ship launching towards the moon! " YAOOOOOOOO! " Lee screams as he reaches the top & celebrates his victory of the HILL! LOL! Not long after Heavy " J " & Randy also get up the nerve & launch up the face of this hill & celebrate their personal victories with high fives & YAHOOOOOOO's !

Lee BLASTS towards the top like a rocketship! LOL!

HEAVY " J " has some fun also!!!! VAROOOOOOM! LIFT OFF!

Randy & his Kawasaki Brute Force V-Twin 4x4 is feeling frisky as well! LOL!

After buzzing up & down a few more times & the letting Richard & his 700 EFI Polaris jump & bump a few rollers & smaller hill climbs, I ask the atver's IF they still want to ride some more??????? Silly question! LOL! So off we go towards Ashland & points BEYOND!!!!

The miles click off fast & within an hour or so and a few mountains later , the Speedball's are perched atop a TALL coal bank peering into the depths of the MOON . Randy is the first to descend into the pit & before long is waving from an island.

Randy waves HI from an island far below! It's really a call for HELP!

WHAT we thought was a normal gesture , was really a cry for HELP! His NEW Brute Force with ONLY 200 miles had broken a tie rod & it's front end was twisted at a weird angle! OOOOOOPS! Time for the Speedball's to perform some quick trail repairs to get this wound atv back to Frackville. WHAT do we do????????

A year or so ago , I helped Joe trail fix the same exact problem on his Yamaha Kodiak , so before long all hands pitched in & started to make needed repairs. With a few turns of the wrenches , bangs from a small sledge hammer & one severly twisted & tight stretchy maintaining downward pressure on the loose tie rod knuckle, the Brute Force was deemed trail worthy & the slow trex back to Motel was underway.

The pace was modest at best , just in case our trail fix failed. No sense on taking a chance & getting Randy hurt! After a quick pit stop for something cool & refreshing in Mt. Carmel , we rattle back towards Frackville, Pa. taking the easiest path possible to lessen the chances a reoccurance of tie rod failure . It was getting dark fast & before too long all I could see was headlights dancing in the dark behind my Brute Force as mile after mile clicked off on my odometer.

With Lady Luck & the Man upstairs both keeping a watchful eye out for the Speedball's , Randy & his wounded atv made it safely back to Motel 6 at around 9:30PM. All in all it was a GREAT day with GREAT people & everyone made it home SAFE , except for a few cases of severe BABOON AS- !!!!! LOL! WE covered 103 miles in thirteen hours & had a BLAST! hope to see more of you folks for our next GREAT ADVENTURE !!!!! Your AARP atv buddy!

SPEEDY RACER