July RC

This weekend was great!! As the new guy I did not know what to expect however Saturday went like this. Watched W.E. Rock for a few hours then met up with Tico. Tico introduced me to some of the other members and the indoctrination began! First we watched Tony and Paul for a while do some crawling then on to my first black trail with Tico as my spotter. I was nervous yet excited and ready to learn! At the end of the trail I am sold! Tico, Paul and Tony really showed me alot and this club is awesome I feel like I have known these guys for years and they really took care of me out there showing me the ropes, explaining the trails and telling me about some gear that is really going to help out on the next meet up. I am sold on crawling and the Rock Raiders. This club is the best decision to the sport I have made yet, the advice and friendships I saw out there this weekend are second to none and I am looking forward to many more weekends and outtings just like this one. Next time I will make sure I can stay for the whole weekend, get on more trails and learn alot more!! So all in all I navigated my first black trail with Tico spotting got my first carnage--blew out a rear shock and am hooked on crawling. Some things that I was taught that will definitley be utilized in the future is the saying "drive it like you stole it" and that my sway bars disconnect for a reason!! Thanks for the outstanding weekend see everyone soon!!

Welcome, Welcome

I'm glad you enjoyed your first time out and like the rest of us are hooked on rocks. I wished we'd caught up to you guys a lil' sooner. It was great to meet you and look forward to Crawlin' with you on future rides.

I also had a first this weekend, I dragged the family out to RC this weekend figuring that we'd have a few members who were going to wheel on Sat and not spectate. After talking w/ Tico and making plans to hook up after W.E. Rock I cruised the staging area to latch on to a group of other rigs heading for the trails.

I met Troy and Jeff who had never been to RC and were anxious to to test their rigs and after finding out I'd made previous trips to RC elected me their guide for the day.

My 1st time there not following.

It being a beautiful there were a lot of rigs in the woods Sat and it was almost a parade, we got lucky when we went to follow #4 trail, there was a large group starting up that trail and we unknowingly got in the middle when one of their group lets us know "oops" well we just made a turn and went down the black that parallels trail C, I hopped out and Suzie drove getting a feel for rocks, and I scouted everyone through.

From there we headed for the "frog hole" just for a look see I felt it was too deep for us but on each trip to RC you should at least say hi to the frog, we did frog hole hill and played in the little pit near it.

On to the west side where we took #15 to the water hole, 1st Jeff stuck the nose of his TJ in to check the depth and backed out ,then Troy splashed around a bit in his CJ7 getting halfway through before also backing out, He gets kudos 'cause I thought he was going to get stuck. After witnessing Troy's attempt Jeff felt braver and tried a second pass getting just passed the first deep hole, a wider set of tires I think he'd have no problem. He climbed out on his hood and plugged his controller into his Warn 71800, after strapping the hook to a tree it pulled him through effortlessly. Having the support of Jeff's winch and watching their attempts I decided I'd have to try also while Suzie filmed I paddled straight across, Scott slept in his seat as Hannah got splashed with muddy water and enjoyed the ride with a passive ho hum expression.

We made an attempt to start down #20 to watch a couple of rock buggies play in Rock Creek but quickly retreated, while going along #11 trying to find a lees severe route to the creek Jeff's TJ started to overheat. His rad was plugged with the goop from the water hole. They splashed the radiator down with water from a creek we passed. While continuing to tour the west side Jeff's Jeep continued to run hot as we climbed along the power line I towed him just to let it cool down.
While in search of cleaner water to flush the rad better we hooked up with Tico's group and figured we'd pack it in for the day and follow them out.

Of course we had to stop to investigate trail "O" I followed Paul in as Tico spotted for us, Suzie looked on as I got to test out my new tire and gear combo.

I still have to work through the rocks but there is much less scraping and less smell of burning clutch.

I have to do a through check of my Jeep yet but there is no obvious breakage, but I did use my trailer spare on the way out and lost another tire on the way home.

Troy found out early that his T-Case lever was binding on his tunnel cover not allowing his CJ to go into 4Lo, we just unbolted the cover for the day and after getting back to the office he found his RF axle u-bolt had twisted and broke and his spring plate was bent.

Jeff's TJ developed that common problem of popping out of 4Lo that TJ's do and he plugged his radiator I think he left right form RC and washed it @ a car wash.

I learned a lot about guiding and had toooo much fun this Sat.

Scott

glad you all had fun, I'm kind of sad that I couldn't make it up their with all of you because of the jeep being still under construction. My jeep should be back together for the aug runs including the big dogs event. As a new person to wheeling keep in mind if you go by the saying "wheel it like you stole it" you better be familiar with the saying "you got to pay to play". Though I think Tony would be a better person to fill you in on that.

I am very impress with the writings here, everyone has expressed themselfs very well and As I read I can see the verbal pictures, great job!

I can't begin to tell you that this weekend was awesome! I never had so much dirt on my body, not even when I looked like I new what I was doing. I thank those members for the kind words, but as time continues, you will find that most of this membership is just as I, we are here for each other. When help is required, we are there. Think of it as big brother or big sister, yes, sister, our ladies are very knowledgeable and are not affraid to get dirty, some might even surprise you with how much they know both mechanically or trail related (I think they call it, "girl power") What ever it is, as president of this club I encourage it and look for more ladies that want to learn.

This weekend was more to support Eric Miller and his 921 Team, they performed very well, on both days, but unfortunately, Eric suffered points by not finishing one of the coursess but Jake the other team driver, picked up the pace and moved into 2nd place for his divission, GREAT JOB GUYS. I would like to take this moment to tell you guys something;
trail spotters are the back bone of any and all good off road drivers, competitive or not having said that, I want to give kevin; Ericks spotter a kudo, for the excellent job over this weekend. I also want to thank Paul Sobwick and Bill Gilbert for volunteering to help judge the event, Kathy Menegini, Tony, laurie, Randy, Scott and family, Tim Austin and his friend, Jason and his family, Chris, Brian, Jeff, and a host of others I can think of their names for your support and for meeting us on the trails. To some up this weekend the word Awesome is about all I will say, with the exception of the carnage we had Sunday; 2 tires got blown up coming out of Cristy Lake, one tire had a dry roted valve stem, one front YJ fender flair and one F250 Quad Deisel skit plate, that I know of.

Pictures have been send to you via the MeetUp site message system. However for the benefit of those who are not yet members, check this out;
http://www.imagestation.com/album/slideshow.html?id=2089775789

Thank you to all who participated this weekend. Urrraahh!
Oh I took over 6GB's worth of film, now the cutting and selection begins, be on the look out for the video soon...

I'm happy everyone had such a great time. I always do. I can't think of anything else I would rather do than bang on some big rocks,, Well maybe one thing,,, anyway.. I look forward to the next time Thanks to all
Paul