Paragon recap!!

[RalphXJ]

Ok, back from an interesting weekend!!

Got to the park around 8:30 on saturday. People were lined up all the back to road just to get in! The entire parking lot was full, about half the road in was packed on one side, and more people were still coming in!! We got all checked in and got our Jeeps thawed out(took almost an hour for them to warm up/thaw out!)

Went back to the staging area where there was already 300+ rigs lined up (I heard over 400 total). They had a DJ there, and a big table setup with the items for the raffle. At about 10:30 Kyle came up and filled everyone in on what was going on, and what his plans for the future were. It was basicly the same as he had posted on line, but he just wanted everyone to know that he plans to fight till the end, and he plans to reopen somewhere else if he losses his current location. He was fighting back tears the whole time, it was really sad to see/hear in person all the details straight from him.

After his speach, they had the raffle. We figured from the ticket numbers we all had, there were several thosand tickets sold($5 each, or 5 for $20)! Most of us just emptyed out our wallets! Brad won a Skyjacker Duffle bag.

After the raffle, it was trail ride time, they were WAY short on trail guides, so it just turned into a free for all. The group of us from NEC/HRJA/BLWA/PGH-Offroad all went out together. We had 7 rigs, which was just about right, we covered a ton of ground, and only had one wait for a repair! Thanks to gonecheenin for leading our group! We hit mostly Blue 1'2 and 2's, but with all the snow and ice, it was more then challenging for all of us!

When we got back to the staging area, we got to watch the PAP workers load up all the equiptment and start unloading the office, hopfully not the end of the park though!!

Brad and I talked about coming home last night, but descided we'd stay and wheel till noon today and then come home! Well a froozen truck, a busted fuel line spraying gas everywhere, and 2 dead batterys changed those plans! Once we got everything figure out it was noon so we headed back home!

It was a fun/sad trip to Paragon!!

Things learned this weekend:
- 2 bolts, finger tight are NOT enough to hold a transfercase on!
- Froozen brakes will cause a Jeep to slide off the trailer with no way of stoping it!
- A certain NEC member was crazy enough to lay in the snow for over an hour to rebuild a fuel pump, when we could have very easly towed him back out to the trailer!!
- Some people are crazy enough to wheel buggys with no tops/doors/windows/heaters in single digit temps!
- If the tree you are winching too is dead, just have the smallest guy in the group, push on it lightly, if it doesn't fall over, its good enough!
- All hotel rooms should have a bottle opener on the bathroom wall!

I'm sure everyone else that was there will have more to add. I'll have the few pictures I took online in the next day or so. Brad was on photography duty for the weekend, so he will have most of the pictures when he gets them online!!

Thanks again to Brad for hauling me out there and back, and to Gonecheenin for being the trail guide(did you tell Jay you rolled his CJ5 yet??? )

[SirFuego]

- All hotel rooms should have a bottle opener on the bathroom wall!

Haha, I noticed that in my room at the Comfort Inn, too. Do they expect people to be cracking open beer bottles right in the middle of pinching a loaf? Glad to hear everything went well. The group I was with had a blast, and it's so sad that Paragon is done.

[OverkillZJ]

Haha, I noticed that in my room at the Comfort Inn, too. Do they expect people to be cracking open beer bottles right in the middle of pinching a loaf? Glad to hear everything went well. The group I was with had a blast, and it's so sad that Paragon is done.

Ask Jeff, all I know is he went into the bathroom with a capped beer, and came out a few minutes later with a smile and a half empty sam adams

It is sad it's done, I'm just glad everyone had a great time to say farewell to it... I don't think the weekend could've gone much better for most people.

[avenged7foldhc]

[gonecheenin]

Just got into the house about 11pm



Jay was there when I dropped the 5 off so he got a first hand look at the second day damage from trail 43 (dent in the hood, mangled antenna, scuffed cowl paint)

I apologized 15 times and he finally told me shut up

No better guy in the world then Jaybird, and that 5 made me look like a damn professional or something I tell you, that rig is setup beautifully!!
Jay is the man, no doubt about it



Glad you guys were all OK with Me & my girls imprompto trial routes, it seemed to work out pretty good overall I thought


Mudforblood you are awesome, never saw a negative eleventy billion degree trail repair like that before ever!
I am impressed my friend

Had a great group of capable rigs and the people in them couldn't have been better to wheel/hang out with (you open buggy guys are just flat out hardcore!!! I give you guys all the credit I can for wheeling in this weather without anything to protect you but Carhart's!)
We were glad to be a part of all it!


Good finally meeting you in person RalphXJ, but you could have at least shook my hand before trying to run me over sliding sideways off your trailer

Till next time fella's.

[andrew2516]

x2...Sounds like you guys had a good time. I wish I could have made it...hopefully there will be a next time.

[RalphXJ]

jay, sorry I didn't shack your hand when I was backing the Jeep down, I thought you were going to help stop the Jeep, so I didn't want to distract you!! :ch:

Here are the pictures I threw together! Brad has the wheeling pictures:

Staging area:


The Parking lot FULL!


Staging area from the other side looking back:


The raffle with everyone standing around:

[avenged7foldhc]

<img src="http://www.schwabdesigns.com/jeep/paragon/Paragon_group.jpg">

hey, lets play find the FJ cruiser!.. i see 3 of em thats pretty neet

[RalphXJ]

hey, lets play find the FJ cruiser!.. i see 3 of em thats pretty neet

There were a bunch of them out there!!

CJs, YJs, TJs, XJs, ZJs, WJs, KJs, H1s, H2s, H3s, FJ Cruisers, Older FJ40s, FJ60, Buggys, S10s, Rangers, Full sized Chevys/fords/dodges, 1ton Mini van, Sami's, Yotas, Broncos, Blazers(one on Mog axles), it was all there...

You name it, if it has 4x4, we saw it!!! It was a very large range of rigs thsi weekend!

[OverkillZJ]

Aaron's right, it was an AMAZING turnout of every kind of offroad vehicle imaginable. It was a sad day, but Paragon went out with a bang. I've never seen so many full size trucks on the trails in my life, it was just cool. I think a pretty good number of people took their tow rigs on the trails since it was so cold; even the scenic routes proved a bit challenging with all fo the snow. I think the end of the line proved to be harder, all of us in the front / middle spun and turned snow to ice!

What a great time, thanks to all.

[gonecheenin]

Katey said to me "could you imagine what this would have been like if Paragon had closed on a warm weekend"


WOW, that would've been insane beyond belief!!!

[avenged7foldhc]

ah i did the image wrong :/ the very first pic he posted above theres 2 that you can see, and one thats like finding waldo :0) im sure theres more in the pic somewhere..

[notmYJ]

I am so mad that I couldn't make it... Even more mad, that I mwill never get to see that place. A sad day in the sport, indeed.

[SirFuego]

Here are some pics taken on Saturday (more to come for Sunday):
The 5 rigs

LowBudget's XJ

My ZJ

Bye Bye Paragon


See more here:
http://s7.photobucket.com/albums/y25...gon%2003Feb07/

[gonecheenin]

Sunday Milkman & I stopped right infront of you guys to watch that ZJ go through the mud ruts on trail 57

Thats funny right there

In fcat I think you guys came down Cherokee ridge right as we turned onto 57
that hill had a bit of a pucker factor in the snow!

Here are some pics taken on Saturday (more to come for Sunday):
The 5 rigs

LowBudget's XJ

My ZJ

Bye Bye Paragon


See more here:
http://s7.photobucket.com/albums/y25...gon%2003Feb07/

[OverkillZJ]

Great pics, wish we got more action shots, hell wish we made it to the trails Sunday but Brads Cummins decided not to start!

[SirFuego]

gonecheenin -- you were watching my ZJ? If I recall correctly the trail you are talking about, I think I just tried to straddle those ruts the entire time. Nothing too crazy. That hill definitely had a high pucker factor. I still have stock gearing and the YJ in front of me at 4.88s and a 4:1 tcase. I thought I gave him plenty of room (actually I couldn't see him, so I assumed he was already at the bottom of the hill) before I decended but I just barrelled down the hill -- absolutely nothing I could do except steer. Luckily the YJ picked up the pace before any major carnage happened.

overkill -- Sorry to hear about that. I saw you trying to jump that truck on our way out. I think you guys were the only rigs left in the parking lot when we left for the trails on Sunday.

[Alley]

Looks and Sounds like you guys had a great time, still sorry we missed it.

I've learned first hand just how tough snow can make things, We did a Connellsville run on Sunday and I couldn't even make it up the "easy" hill at the edge of the playground after like 5 attmepts.

I think Paragon would have made me a bit nervous!!

[RalphXJ]

I wish we could have wheeled sunday, but my Jeep had diffrent ideas, and then Brads truck didn't want to go either!!

It was freakishly cold, but I wouldn't have missed this event for the world!! This was the biggest event ever at Paragon. This was THE wheeling event on the east coast to attend!

Those who were there, wont soon forget!

[gonecheenin]

It was freakishly cold, but I wouldn't have missed this event for the world!! This was the biggest event ever at Paragon. This was THE wheeling event on the east coast to attend!

Those who were there, wont soon forget!

No doubt, it was worth going to just say you were there for it

we grabbed a couple times leader's too on the way out sunday with the write up in it

[gonecheenin]

gonecheenin -- you were watching my ZJ? If I recall correctly the trail you are talking about, I think I just tried to straddle those ruts the entire time. Nothing too crazy.

Yep we were in front of you in a Black CJ5 with a Yellow TJ right behind me

I was just watching it come through cause I wanted to see the suspension work (I'm a ZJ geek)

Those the 33 13.50 LTB's mounted on 15x8's?

they look like they fit your ZJ real well, I was afraid to put them on mine because I figured the 13.50 width wouldn't tuck up into the fender very well

I know the 34" LTB's on the CJ we were running were hooking up like MAD all day, but they were grooved and running at 8 PSI too which I'm sure helped alot in the snow covered rocks

[SirFuego]

Those the 33 13.50 LTB's mounted on 15x8's?

they look like they fit your ZJ real well, I was afraid to put them on mine because I figured the 13.50 width wouldn't tuck up into the fender very well

Nope, they are 31x11.5 LTBs on 15x8 ProComp Steelies with 3.75" backspacing. I gotta do some fender trimming because they did rub a bit when flexing. Thanks for the compliment on how they look I was surprised you "stopped to watch it" because the only suspension mods I have on it is a 2" BB, new shocks, and teraflex discos. My ZJ looks pretty stock with my BFG ATs on it, but the Super Swampers definitely give it a look more worthy of the trails.

[oros35]

Pictures
http://s16.photobucket.com/albums/b3...agon%202-3-07/

[gonecheenin]

Nope, they are 31x11.5 LTBs on 15x8 ProComp Steelies with 3.75" backspacing. I gotta do some fender trimming because they did rub a bit when flexing. Thanks for the compliment on how they look I was surprised you "stopped to watch it" because the only suspension mods I have on it is a 2" BB, new shocks, and teraflex discos. My ZJ looks pretty stock with my BFG ATs on it, but the Super Swampers definitely give it a look more worthy of the trails.

so the 13.50's would definitely be too wide

Them tires look real good on your rig no doubt

All I have on my 93' ZJ right now is a 2" BB and 31" Recap muds
But i do have a 4.5" lift, lockers, 4.56 gears, 231 T-case, and 33's at home waiting for installation

I'd have taken it this weekend for sure but the 242 t-case kept popping out of 4wd (in hi AND low) so i borrowed a friends CJ

[YZEATER]

i see mudforblood got a new bumper.