Trail Riding with JohnFal in Viet Nam

[csmith]

I had the good fortune to hook up with JohnFal again while in Viet Nam about two weeks ago. Had a day open up while in Saigon so I contacted John last minuet (Friday) to see if he was available on a Saturday and he graciously put together a mini convoy (two of his mutts, the one we drove and one driven by his friend Art and driver T-John's off road rig) and a day of trail riding through the country outside of Saigon. Once we got to the trails selected the night before via GPS John turned over the wheel to me and we proceeded to ride about 10 Klicks off road on some trails the likes of which I have not had the opportunity to drive a 151 on before. Additionally, this was the first time I have really driven a 151 on deep trails, mud, brush, lack of trail (most of my off roading occurs on the beach due to where we live) and I was so impressed with how these jeeps preform. I knew our little jeeps were awesome but putting one through the test confirms everything I thought to be true. Here are some photos, enjoy

PS: Before the photos the next day Sunday just about every 151 in Saigon was to convoy from District One to the Cu Chi Tunnel complex with a bunch of western tourist. There were to be 45 151's in the convoy, John invited me to ride in one of his 3 mutts put in the convoy but I had to travel to Hanoi that day and could not make it. Hopefully he will post some photos as I can only imagine what a convoy of 45 restored 151's would be like....

Easy trails


Getting deeper


And deeper!


Photo Op (me and John's jeeps)


Our Convoy, stopped to explore a small stream crossing ahead


Lunch Break, found a bit of shade and John cooked up some coffee and sandwiches!! John and his friend Art.


John, myself, Art


John, Art, and John's driver T


Back on the trail, a view from my drivers seat.


A shot to the rear


Thanks John for a day I will never forget!!! Now I am going to have to find some trails in the countryside of Va. Beach !!!

[mrdibbles]

Super cool.

[rickf]

Virginia rally next Labor day. Only a couple hours from you.

[johnfal]

Thanks for the nice write up Clell, I am very happy to hear that you enjoyed yourself but that is only the start of what I would like to think is a regular thing for whenever you are over here and have the time to go out with us. By the next time you come I think Art will have his own Jeep so we will going out more frequently. The sad thing about photo's is that they never give you the real impression of the terrain probably because we only get out to take photo's on the good bits. What did amaze me was that the route we took was plotted from google and the bulk of it I had never driven before. Some of the paths I selected from google only turned out to be single person wide foot paths through wooded areas where the only reference we had was the GPS but amazingly it got us through. Some areas were very wet with deep mud but by keeping the Jeep's speed nice and steady they just eased their way through them.

As you say the day after we we took part in a tourist convoy to Cu Chi taking one party there and bringing another party back. It was a good event and we had a police escort with guys on motorbikes to make sure everyone knew where to turn off and avoid getting lost. I do not at this stage really know how many Jeeps turn up. As Clell says there were supposed to be 45 plus. At one stop on the way I was able to count over 30 with some still following on behind. It was a good day out, I put in three Jeeps, Two for carrying tourists driven by me and my driver and Art my friend followed up in my offroad Jeep with his wife carrying all the spares I thought I might need including the coolbox with all the soft drinks. Art also had the job as our group photographer and I just received copies of the photo's last night so hopefully I will be in a position to post some soon.

Just as a follow up to the off road trip, my off road Jeep driven by Art was sounding a bit noisy before we went out, I put it down to the rear diff starting to whine. After the tourist run I sent it to my garage for a check and ended up having to replace the front shocks (the passenger side shock had broken) some bearings and bushings in the gearbox, the clutch thrust bearing and a front diff seal. This really surprised me as I did not think Clell's driving was that bad . Mind you with an all up repair cost of $120 including labour I cant complain. We did have a nice day, my only regret was that it was too short. Next time Clell we will go for longer and further and deeper into the country.

[rickf]

This may sound like a strange or out of place question but do you, or any of the club members over there, worry about running over unexploded ordnance? There have still got to be thousands of mines buried out in those jungles. Not to mention the odd forgotten Claymore.

Rick

[SEABEE62]

My initial thoughts as well.....makes me nervous ! Seabee

[csmith]

This may sound like a strange or out of place question but do you, or any of the club members over there, worry about running over unexploded ordnance? There have still got to be thousands of mines buried out in those jungles. Not to mention the odd forgotten Claymore.

Rick

John can speak to this better than I but I asked him about it, no one seems too worried much any more. He did say there are some places in the more rural area marked as dangerous with potential un-exploded ordnance, and everyone stays out of there. The trails we were on were actually roads that were shown on John's GPS, although they were mostly little used and often the size of a foot path. John laid out a set of trails the night before, some of which he had been on before and some not. So while we were off the beaten path, we really were on areas which are used to travel, never did we foray into the woods or fields much off the trail.

[johnfal]

On the subject of UXO's I tried to keep them for the reality tours we go on But seriously I would reckon that the bulk of the ordnance has been cleared as there is very little reports of anyone being killed by them in recent years. In fact the way I look at it the risk is very low compared to getting killed on the roads here. Yes I am aware that there will still be some lying around but the one thing about Vietnam is that no matter how deep you go in the jungle or how remote you think you are there will always be someone who will find you as they go about collecting orchids, fruit, wood or natural materials for cooking and arts and crafts etc. and they invariably will have their trusty steed the moto (small motorbike)with them. There are a couple of places where I have come across signs warning of mines, one was on the edge of a quarry that was being dug the other in a small copse of trees where you actually have to be stood in front of it to see it.

But as Clell quite rightly says I usually use existing tracks and trails visible on Google earth to plot my routes when I go out, even though they might only be motorcycle trails. However as I say in the 11 years I have been here I have never heard of anyone being killed off roading by UXO's nonetheless I accept that there is potentially a risk small though it is that some ordnance still exists either from the US or the VC. If you start worrying about these thing you would never go into the country, and there are a lot more things out there that can kill you than UXO's.

[rickf]

Answers my question. The ranges and surrounding areas here are loaded with unexploded rounds going back as far as 1918 when the base opened. My neighbor is a paraplegic and hunts from a six wheeled Argo buggy and we go all over out there behind the ranges. When it is your time................................