Excellent weekend! Perfect weather and trails were in great condition!
Started off with a great seafood chowdown at my place with my family, Crossbones, Rubberhook, his son, and his friend Rob. Man they got some GOOOOOOD scallops in New Jersey!
Glad to see the usual crowd and great to have the new rides show up. Fernando, Scott, and Norman put on quite a show trying to tackle some major obstacles!
We had a good Scrambler group campsite set up next to Fernando's rig, and Kelly's crawfish etouffee and those other things that were kind of like rice sausages were incredibly good!
Lots of quality repairs going on...I don't know if Jeremy ever took a break from working on his throughout the weekend to keep it going. Then there's JC (Johnson, not Mules!) who Kurt aptly nicknamed "McGuyver." I see the picture above where he's holding the not-so-coveted hard-luck award, but man, what creative trailside and campsite repairs to keep his rig running! I always enjoy seeing JC at the runs. Norman put his fan into the radiator, but a quick trip to the store and he was back in business, with even a little more fan clearance. Les and I both bent our tie rods (and my drag link), but the NC Bug Control and Jeep Repair Company sprung into action with a cool idea that kept us both rolling along (THANKS guys!).
The VA crowd put in a good showing. Good to spend some time with Ted and Nick. Also VERY glad that Ted didn't put a hurtin on that sweet cj5. The last couple of years, John has had some bum luck (carb and ignition troubles) on the trails, but scored big at the raffle. This year his rig ran great, but not much raffle luck...I'll bet that next year he puts it all together for a double dip of luck on the trails and at the raffle! Sorry to hear of Robert's damage, but I'm sure he'll have that fixed up in no time (Hey Robert, did you blame the damage on Bob?
) Keep your eye out for Rusty's yellow scrambler...NICE. Truck rode with Jerry and his sons, and judging by how much mud they had, it looked like they rolled over into a giant mud puddle. My brother Nick and his wife Ginny came out with their TJ and rode in our group for their first-ever off-road ride on Saturday, and they had an excellent time (thanks for showing them such great hospitality!)
The NC gang is always fun to hang out with. Thanks for picking up those ceegars for me Eric! Sorry you couldn't hang around for the second day. I think you would have really liked those trails. Lee's brother Jamie absolutely rocked in his "new" Cherokee...I just hope he didn't make a convert out of Lee (Lee, you looked a little too comfortable sitting in that AC!
). Great to see Les again, as always.
Enjoyed meeting John M from Pa. Also enjoyed my annual talk with Rhinojr. Man, you are just brimming with great ideas!
OK, I've probably rambled on a little too much already. I really had a great time this past weekend and I think everybody else did too.
-Mike W
I would have rather been with you guys.... The wedding reception was dry...
but the company was good..... next year!