This was the weekend that almost didn't happen...and after going on the hunt I wonder if I shouldn't have ignored the omens leading up to it. It started on Friday. I was out early to run my normal weekend errands so I could go on the hunt. One of the tasks of the day was to be the removal of the noisy and rattling rear sway bar on the Jeep. As I pulled my Dakota into the driveway I smelled anti-freeze and discovered that my truck was bleeding coolant profusely from the front of the engine block....it looked like I had a bad freeze plug...oh joy! That repair will have to wait for another day.

So the truck is now dead in the driveway as I proceed to prep the Jeep for the All-Day. I get the Jeep up on jack stands and proceed to remove the rear tires and remove the noisy and useless sway bar......only to discover that I had been driving the Jeep for four months with BROKEN LEAF SPRINGS....AAARRRRGGGHHHHHH! SO.... I locate some replacement springs and run across town to get them. I was fortunate to have a friend open his shop on Saturday morning and assist me with the installation of the new springs......just in time to get my naviguesser and start the hunt late and unofficial.

Steve and I started from the Cajon Summit. We had an initial bearing that ended up being drawn literally right through the hide location. We drove the bearing up 395 to Ridgecrest, 178 into the lower Sequoia National Monument, 190 through the SNM to the Tule Indian Reservation where we took a nice off-road drive through a giant redwood forest...where the T wasn't hid. We had a good idea the T was further north in the Sequoia Nat Forest at a place on the map called Blue Ridge, where a radio site was located. On the way there we got side tracked onto a forest road that had many low tree branches. On the way up this trail it was getting dark. On the way back down it was even darker. I hit a low hanging branch on the way back to the main road (190) and severed the antenna from the mast. I didn't have the parts necessary to rig the antenna, and with Steve's point-of-no-return time approaching, we had to pack-up and head home. All-in-all it was a good day with a disappointing end.

Mike K6SNE