MrJim

As the youngest of 5 children, I was often referred to as the baby when my Mom talked about me. We were very close and I had just spoken to her only days before she suddenly ended up in the hospital with her organs shutting down one by one. I spoke to her as I headed to the airport right away and she had passed away before my flight from Seattle could arrive in Georgia. I was thankful that I was able to speak to her one last time, but this has been a devastating time for me. She was very impressed by NPORA and what a great group of people where involved. She retold the story of how you all fought to get my Pathfinder back to me after my divorce with pride. It would mean a lot to me to have as many members as possible say a few words in her memory at http://www.mclanefuneralservices.com/_mgxroot/page_10780.php You can read her obituary and leave a short message on her guestbook. She was a really great lady and a wonderful mother to all of us. Thanks Everyone! MrJim

I was disappointed to see that this year's run didn't happen. My truck is still in the shop and I had some medical issues I was dealing with. I appreciate everyone who tried to make it happen this year. It just wasn't meant to be for a variety of reasons. I hope that we can do it next year.

Hey Everyone! I have some unfortunate news to share that will sliightly affect this years MrJim Run. This run means alot to me and the effort that you all put into it really makes me proud every year. This year, I had a spinal surgery a few weeks ago and I was still determined to go, but I dont know if any of you have every tried to walk around with a hard neck brace on before, but I will tell you its not easy. I was coming down the stairs a few nights ago and I could not look down because of the neck brace. I missed a step completely and fell down a flight of stairs. I am really glad no cameras were around that day for you tube replays. Anyway, I tore my shoulder joint and so I dont see a way possible to go on the trails or sleep in a sleeping bag even over night until this heals. I really hope that the run does not lose momentum and that it will continue to go on for many years. I just won't be able to make it this year. I am asking that you guys make this the best run yet and take lots of videos to make me wish I had been there even more. Nothing would make me feel better. I am really sorry about my absense, but please show up in force and have a blast. Go for it! MrJim

Hi Everyone! I voted for Evans Creek! That place was pretty great, although many of us got some body damage there. Not me. Still, its a run that you have to be careful on for sure. Mr510 is finishing up on my Pathfinder and I hope to have it on the trails for this year's run. It may not have the front SAS done though. I would just be happy to see it with the new Infinity engine purring again. Its been a long time coming, but we have had a pretty nasty winter here. The sun is out now and hopefully we will get it wrapped up soon. MrJim

I think it is a great idea. My Pathy is still in the shop at Mr510's place, so its not good timing for me.

Definitely a factor. We need to start building a mailing list so I can to get everything coordinated. Send your mailing address to me on PM or you can email me directly at jimbennett007@yahoo.com

I will probably make it after Nov 1st and get things underway. Love the Nissan Joke on your posts.

Help me find a good supplier of custom made flags and maybe I can make that happen if the cost is not too crazy.

That has some good prospects. Flags are pretty spendy, but then standup figures are too. I also suggested possibly doing a giant poster that we could do the same thing with. What do you think? Shipping cost is going to be a factor to keeping this going and for seeing this reach it fullest potential. MrJim

Cool, that is one clear YES vote.

Well, it would fold down, just like the real me at night.

They come folded down to about a 1/4 size to begin with, but you are right. I want to see this go to as many places as possible and for that reason I would need it to be larger so everyone could sign it with a small note and their user name on NPORA. Maybe it could just be a poster of me with my Pathfinder and everyone could sign it one by one as it traveled. Then they could take a snap shot with it and post it on the site. I could track it on Facebook with map and daily blog. The "lifesize" standup looks like it would cost about $112, but shipping would be the main issue. I will pay for the creation of whatever we decide to do and then I will ship it to first member overseas somewhere. I think it would be good to start compiling a mailing list so some planning could be initiated. So, a large poster? What do you all think? Then we could see how creative the photos could get about how and where the photos are taken. I would pay to have it shipped back to USA once it has done a tour abroad. Hopefully, individual members can pay the postage to pass it along from one place to the next, except for the big shipments across the pond. What do you all think? MrJim

A friend came up with this idea to print a life sized photo of myself in my NPORA short and send it to one NPORA member across the globe for them to take photo in their town/country, sign/date the back, and forward to another NPORA member. It would be like the Flat Stanley Project, only it would be MrJim of NPORA. It would be fun to see how creative (but in a nice way) people could get with it. Here is the Flat Stanley website but it would be a larger stand-up image of me in NPORA shirt and hat. I am open to ideas on this. I could do a stand up photo of me in NPORA shirt and hat, or of the Pathfinder itself (not quite lifesize), etc. I think it could be a fun way to see our different members and where all we have members around the world. What do you think?

Its all good. I would be embarrassed if I had run out of gas or if my battery died. Instead, it is something crazy like my radiator exploding. It could have been allot worse. No body got hurt. My Pathy didn't get slammed off a cliff or crushed by boulders. The engine was already slated for rebuild and now its just gonna need a fresh radiator too. No worries. I had every conceivable tool and extra parts with me in case anyone needed assistance, but who would guess this would happen.

We barely made a rumble on the trails this year at the 3rd Annual MrJim Run. We met in Cle Elum and it was Silverton, with Mr510 riding along, and Enginerd on his maiden run with NPORA. We soon discovered that the trail head was permanently closed to all motorized vehicles, except snowmobiles. So, we loaded up again and headed west to Thorp. We headed into the trail, which was brutally rocky and dusty. The rocks were the type that love to gash your tires open. They were mostly 8" or so triangular sharp rocks and we were hitting them pretty fast and hard as we rushed to find a trail that allowed us to wheel. There were restrictions on most of the trail system. We were barely underway, maybe 25 minutes into the trail when I saw about 10 seconds of light steam, followed by a pretty significant explosion under the hood of my MrJim Pathy. When we checked, we saw that the entire upper portion of my radiator had literally been blown apart. It never overheated. It just exploded. We are thinking it was just its time (17 year old plastic housing). Anyway, that pretty much ended the run for me. Silverton towed me to the trail head and Enginerd gave me a lift to where my truck and trailer were, so I could come back and pick up the Pathfinder. Considering that the shop that was supposed to be doing a rebuild on it all month had not even done a pressure test on the cylinders yet, we opted to deliver it to Mr510's shop for him to possible to the rebuild instead. Anyway, it was definitely a short run for me this year. I have never had a mechanical failure on the trails in all the years I have had my Pathfinder, so I figure I was due. It will all work out for the better in the end, so no worries. Here are a couple of photos.

Finally wrapped everything up at 3:30am. Trying to get off the computer and get a little sleep. Need to get up at 6:50 to be able to meet the others in Issaquah by 8:30. I got a month's worth of projects done in last 24 hours. Gonna sleep good Sat night...

Is there just the two of us going? Starting to look like a bust.

Maybe I should just come up Saturday then? I am going to spend at least one night there. I worry that I won't be able to locate everyone once I arrive.

I will be coming in on Friday evening. Where can I find you guys? Jim

That is much like my situation. I am doing all I can to get things together to be at the run. The worse case scenario for the Pathfinder is that it might just be a little better off mechanically than it was a few weeks ago, but smoking and valve noise still there, since they hadn't yet started the actual rebuild, though I thought it was underway for weeks. Frustrating, but could be worse. I feel as though I personally have like 5% of my energy back so far. The Doctor told me I would be fine, and that it would just take a little time to get my strength back. Its disappointing to see all of the people dropping out this year. I know first hand how obstacles can keep popping up that could cause participants to fall the wayside. I am determined to make it and hope to see lots of NPORA members there. Good luck Mr 510. Hope to see you there. Jim

I had a bad week. The sump pump failed in my apt building, causing 3 floors of sewage to back-flow into my apt through my shower. I called my landlord for hours and she was taking her time getting me help and all the time I was fighting this flow with all my towels, clothes, blankets, etc. trying to keep it out of as much of my apt as I could. I kept it isolated to basically half my apt and I was literally covered with other people's sewage for hours. I basically ended up getting so sick that I wound up in the hospital from Tuesday morning until Friday. Its was really crappy and that is no pun intended. In that time, I missed a couple of deadlines on going to meet with mechanics about Pathfinder, so now I may have to have them just put the engine back to a running state and to make it past next week's run. They did some initial things to it while trying to see where biggest issues where in engine, like tighten down everything, change oil, run it a few times, etc. and they were asking for input from me, but I was laid up in hospital without my phone. It might be smoking a little at the run, but its still kicking. I will just get rebuild done afterwards. I will just trailer it up there with my F250. No Hummer escort this year. The F250 will tow it better than the Hummer did anyway. It has a 460 in it that was just rebuilt. Hey maybe we can pull the 460 and transmission, to pry into the Pathfinder.

Everyone cross your fingers for me that the current rebuild that is actively taking place at a shop in Everett will go as planned with no surprises. I am really excited to just have a fresh rebuild again and I am counting my nickels and dimes to make it happen.

You are turning it over to me next year? You always do a great job planning these things. I wish you would stay on. If you need more help from me or other, please just let me know what I can do. I appreciate the great runs you plan and each year has gotten better than the last. I do apologize for not being more involved. I have had medical issues still this year with some big things going on with my back still. It has slowed me down quite allot as I try to get it resolved. Things are much improved now vs where I was even at last year's run (on allot of pain meds then). I look forward to seeing everyone each year. It is the very thing I wanted for NPORA years ago when it was just a baby. I always thought it would be great to have annual events. I think it would be cool to have a serious meet where we can hire a band, have bon fires, competitions, truck show, how to classes, swap meets, all one day. My brother has some land at Big Lake and he has a Farm in Snohomish. Maybe we could see something like that rollout in 2012. Big Lake is just across the street literally from Walker Valley. So, how is that for some visionary ideas? Now, we just need a little money to start falling from the skies. I will go outside and wait....

The economy is definitely tanking for sure. Sometimes all you can do is pull back and make sure that you and yours are all taken care of. They just announced the closure the Kimberly Clark Paper Plant that is blocks from my house. That is nearly 1000 more people who will be out of work in this town. I wonder what is going to happen to their property. They own acres and acres of prime waterfront property in downtown Everett. It would be nice to look out there and actually see parks and low profile housing, businesses instead of the smoke stacks and giant production buildings. Maybe some good will come out of it eventually for the community and new opportunities will arise. Good luck. Hang in there. Things always get better...