We had a fantastic turnout for our annual Run of Fools. Not only did we all camp together, but we had quite a few guests that made the event really special. Weather was perfect – mid 80′s to 90 and no wind. A mid-day Friday arrival seemed to be the norm and once people showed up, the wheeling began.

I offloaded SuperCJ on Friday afternoon, met up with the group on the trail, and within 10 minutes had blown an axle shaft. SuperCJ was the first of many breaks this trip.

Saturday’s trail run started off with a rather large group. Our plan was to head towards the phone booth and then straight north towards the casino. Jason tossed Party Barge into a huge hole near the phone booth play area prompting a healthy tug backwards to free him. We continued on through a few canyons until we reached a loose, rock strewn hill that snapped a u-joint on Kyle’s Cherokee. Unfortunately, this second axle break in as many days split our group in half. While many of us stayed and installed a spare axle in Kyle’s Cherokee, half the group moved on towards the casino.
Before long, the Federales (State Park Ranger) informed us that we had to stay on designated trails. He was polite enough, but I think we have been wheeling in this area longer than he has been alive.

With Kyle moving again, our group played follow the leader and wound through the canyons. As we headed up a notch with a particularly loose, rocky uphill exit, Ed decided it was time to grenade his ring and pinion. Break #3 in two days. To get him moving again, we pulled both front axle shafts and Simple Green became another camp fixture next to SuperCJ.

Well, we all made it back to camp and before long the splinter group showed up as well. We ended the day with a great pot luck dinner and lies by the campfire.

Our Sunday plans featured a Potato Stab race. This was a great idea by Richard and we all had a lot of fun and laughs. Lots of mid-game course changes produced a winning time of 53.8 seconds with Bob driving his Rubicon Unlimited and Tom stabbing the taters. Mike and Ed actually had the fastest course time of 48.66 seconds, but a 5 second penalty for hitting a tire put them in second place. Next year, we’ll likely add in the wet lap race and the rope & bucket game.