Besides being our first run of the 2007 season, our annual Halloween run was accented with new engines, new motorhomes, new Jeeps, lots of trail repairs, and a rollover. Warm days (90 degrees) and nights topped off a great weekend of four-wheeling.

Mike debuted his new red TJ Rubicon, a beautiful rig with lots of upgrades from stock – beadlocks, supercharger, suspension lift, and other goodies. Mike was immediately impressed with the ride and off road performance. Lawana & Tom also debuted their new motorhome and a new engine in the CJ.

Many of our group arrived Friday morning which afforded them an early opportunity for wheeling. Unfortunately, a late afternoon full rollover on Glenn’s Hill left Ed’s TJ a little worse for wear. Besides the sheetmetal damage to Simple Green, Ed received a scalp wound. Liberal amounts of alcohol, both external and internal, cured the wounds.

Friday’s night run was lit by a full moon and a cool blue glow from the headlamps on Skip’s buggy. A couple low flying fighter jets added to the entertainment.

On Saturday morning, Rocky headed to town to get a broken rear track bar mount welded. When he returned, we headed down The Slide. Most of Saturday was spent blazing new trails. Various members led us into new areas that we had no business being in, which means we all had a good time. A new notch with a rocky uphill climb followed by a steep descent caused many seats to pucker. Rocky put in a full days work holding our rigs upright as we made the nasty right hand turn over the trail’s crest.

Sunday’s run started off with Mike leading. Suddenly, Mike popped an outer bead on his beadlocks. How does that happen? While Mike was putting on his spare, Andy repaired a 30 degree bend in his tie rod.

Not long after those repairs, Andy’s tie rod developed a 90 degree bend. After another fix, he and some others headed back to camp. The rest of us continued on under Mike’s lead until he popped another outer bead. Since he already had one flat, we put on Glenn’s spare and it was time to call it a day. Back in camp, we realized that the tire shop never clamped Mike’s tires into the locking ring. Guess he’ll be having a conversation with them.

This was a great test run for our big Thanksgiving event. We all found some bugs to work out. See you next trip.

Attendees: Rocky & Patti; Glenn & Karen; George & Sherry; Ed & Jeni; Skip & Joanie; Mike; Andy & Donna; Tom & Lawana; Ron & Donna; and Brian Vandehey