September 15 and 16th, 2007, Club Run & ADA Fundraiser

We Raised $3,701

ok I saw that on the the front page but wasn't sure if RC put money in for each person that paid, did they do that last year.

Last year we had a different arragement, this year they generously donated $180.00 to the club ($5.00 per driver registered for the ADA event) However, next year we will have another arrangement with the park. For now the plan is to continue with this event at the Park and make it a 2 day event, and the date for it has been selected as September 13th and 14th 2008. See web page under the ADA Page.

Do you think this will overlap the big dogs main jambo event again? I don't know how they schedule and if they try and select a similar weekend for their events but it would suck if they overlapped again next year. The ADA seems like a great event and well organized and the donations from sponsors was awesome, but aren't we missing out on a big chunk of the wheeling community scheduling it over one of the biggest northeast events all year? I'm sure there are many complications and other events at Rausch that conflict and it is no easy task planning an event like this, but I was just wondering if it was decided to plan over big dogs and use the ADA as an alternative or if there was an attempt at another date? Point is, it's an event I'd like to attend and I'm sure I'm not alone but Big Dogs only comes a few times a year and Rausch is always there. Great job on the event though this year, it seemed very successful and I hope it continues to grow!

Thanks Nick, I appreciate the comments and the concerns. I am sure that this will continue to be an issue in our circle. The reason I selected these dates is not because of big dogs off road event, GOD knows I would lobe to go too. But when planning an event that will repeat year after year, you want to select a targeted date that is consistant year after year. This way people can plan around that date. When the first date was selected, Big dog was not an issue, Almost every weekend in the month of september has other charity event planned of a function of some type, thus why I selected this time frame. So there are no confussions as to dates, I am planning well in advance now, organizing the 2008 starts now. Letters will go out to venders and the ball will roll.

Yes you are right, Big Dogs is a seasonal event and is sought out by many, but the ones that attend that event by the most part are going to be the big rigs and hard core folks, It's not an event to draw the adverage families we have in the club and the sorrounding area. If I have miss judge I will reconsider the date. I am all for popular opinion when supported by all members of at least 2/3 of the membership.

Sorry, got winded. I welcome these concerns and am willing to express opinions and accept advice. Already had several members make good recomendations for next year. Like posting some one at the gate with their vehicle and a sign advertising the event. A banner advertising the event for the tent. And in general advertising via the various boards on the off road network.

Thanks, for the input.

I strongly agree with Nick. Big Dogs is 4 times a year and always the same weekend so people look for it. You have a big misconception of the crowd at big dogs. they had 219 vehicles and only 60 were highly modified. That weekend in sept is their MAIN JAMBOREE. its the big event of the year and the last one of the year until next spring. It includes lots of prizes, music, a huge bonfire etc. Definitely an event not to be missed. Besides you can only wheel there 4 times a year. If I have to decide between our charity ride and Big Dogs the outcome will be the same next year. It will likely be the same for the 218 others that went to the big dogs event. that is a lot of rigs you could be missing out on! Yes I know it is for a good cause but with that in mind you might want to change the weekend so it can grow exponentially to the next level. If you are firm on your decision to keep it the same weekend as big dogs then I will likely never make the ADA ride. As for keeping it the same weekend every year I don't believe it holds a lot of water. I for one check the schedules and see whats out there each year and keep updating it. If I see a ride like the KGB cancer benefit ride then I put it on the schedule. even when they changed it this year I still knew. I like many others keep in touch with the wheeling community to see what is coming up. Put it on the RC web site and put a thread in all the club forums and you are good to go.

Rockn93YJ wrote:

I strongly agree with Nick. Big Dogs is 4 times a year and always the same weekend so people look for it. You have a big misconception of the crowd at big dogs. they had 219 vehicles and only 60 were highly modified. That weekend in sept is their MAIN JAMBOREE. its the big event of the year and the last one of the year until next spring. It includes lots of prizes, music, a huge bonfire etc. Definitely an event not to be missed. Besides you can only wheel there 4 times a year. If I have to decide between our charity ride and Big Dogs the outcome will be the same next year. It will likely be the same for the 218 others that went to the big dogs event. that is a lot of rigs you could be missing out on! Yes I know it is for a good cause but with that in mind you might want to change the weekend so it can grow exponentially to the next level. If you are firm on your decision to keep it the same weekend as big dogs then I will likely never make the ADA ride. As for keeping it the same weekend every year I don't believe it holds a lot of water. I for one check the schedules and see whats out there each year and keep updating it. If I see a ride like the KGB cancer benefit ride then I put it on the schedule. even when they changed it this year I still knew. I like many others keep in touch with the wheeling community to see what is coming up. Put it on the RC web site and put a thread in all the club forums and you are good to go.

Good point to ponder and thank you for the input as well. Maybe my thinking could be off key. As they say in the Military "Duley noted"

ADA Weekend Sept. 15th and 16th

By Paul Sobwick

First I would like to say thank you to everyone that made this past weekend a memorable experience.

Saturday
I was in Baltimore Early in the day conducting a few auctions with thoughts of the Rock Raiders dancing in my head, wishing I could be there smashing my XJ against a tree or trying to take a different line on the rock piles @ Tomb Stone, but here I was being responsible doing my Auctioneer stuff. I realized it wouldn't be long until I would be enjoying the pleasures of wheelin again. After all it had been an entire month since my last trip to Rausch and I needed a fix soon or I would go crazy.
Finally I reached Pine Grove about 6:30 p.m. and drove directly to where my jeep had been parked for the last 30 days(Gary's Auto Body) of exit 104. It wasn't getting fixed, just resting for the next time I could abuse it. I tried to start her up and she said NO WAY! After all I had mistreated her last time we where together and I owed my xj an apology, so Chris Lloyd came to my rescue with jumper cables and on the trailer we went.
Saturday evening was tuning out to be great fun as we all visited our hang out @ O'Neal's Pub where they where celebrating Halfway to St. Patrick's day party. Needless to say the morning wake-up call came much too early.

Rausch Creek @ 8 a.m.
Tico was organizing things for the raffle while a few of us lined up rigs for the trail ride. To save face I refuse to mention names and to protect the pride of the innocent. You all no who you are! Jeeps,Samurais and a monster Chevy Sonoma, total of eight of us headed out to concur the black/red trails. As always I like to find out what everyone is made of before we commit to some of the blacks I might want to take them on. Only a couple hundred yards from the staging area was the test grounds " Jotter's Way (Red) most of the rigs made it through but it gave me a chance to see who was locked and who wasn't. With a little help from all the drivers we where off and running to stair step and the by-pass around. We rode past the comp course directly to trail C and Took on trail 4, in my option, the toughest blue trail in the park where we experienced a lot of 3 wheel action and in some cases 2 wheels off the ground. I was heading the crew to trail #8 which is an awesome Black with multiple lines to take, but a group of 10 just made it in ahead of us so we took a right on C to head to the west property. Up E trail we went and then turned on trail 101 for a short cut to H, left down H past trail 11 heading to Stout. A tuff black trail that requires spots unless your familiar with every rock. This is the point where we started loosing some of our jeeps, Nester lost a front drive shaft,(oops no names) and the samurai meet its match and one of our Rubicons decided to wait this trail out. We all took lunch at Big Rocks and three out the group teamed up with a blue trail guide(no not a Smurf) a trail guide lead for blue trails and now we were down to four of us.
Off we rode down trail 11 to trail 20 where we found jeeps backing out because the trail was tougher than the anticipated. Great for us, wheelin up 20 to the face of Pitman Rock. I was first to approach the bottom side of pitman and on my second try up and over, others followed with termination not to be out done by a station wagon with an attitude,and climbed pitman rock( Great Job Guys). By this time in the day we where trying to head back towards the comp area to play a little but got side tracked for an attempt at squeeze rock on Crawler Ridge. I was the only one to attempt this feat, because I didn't care about body damage. Crawled up the ridge just fine and then laying the xj on it's side to attempt to squeeze through the rock was my limit. Backing down the ridge was almost as much fun as going up. We finish the day playing on the comp course and then returned to the staging area for the raffle & auction. What a great day.
Thanks to all for the thrills, good times and smiles that will be held forever.

Paul Sobwick



Paul Sobwick
Auctioneer, CAI, AARE, CES
Direct Line - (410) 707-6361

Great way to tell the tale, I am sorry my rig was out for the count, would of love to been there doing the do's. Here is my 2 cents worth;


What a weekend, Friday night driving after getting beat up with all the running around was tough on this old body. Luckily my son Max came with me on this trip and kept me company. There are such few time we spend a weekend truly together therefore I enjoyed our moments even if we argue a few time in the day. None the less we arrived and were greeted with that kind smile and hug. I must say the Comfort Inn has become like a second home to most of us.

Saturday July 15, 2005

http://picasaweb.google.com/JeepMarylandRockRaiders/2ndAnnualDiabetesFundRaiserOffRoadEvent/photo#s5112043828738011474

In the morning we ate breakfast and headed to the park. After checking in and chatting with several folks I had not seen for a while we decided to split into various groups. Nester took a group into the Blues and some light blacks, Tim took a group in the green trail as did Veronica and Patty, I took a group into the green and blues. As for my group we traveled on trial L3 an up the face on the clearing that leads you to the Comp Course, it was at the beginning that we took our first carnage; Alan while trying to climb the dirt trail his JK not being locked in the front broke the rear axles (Both of them) we did not know this until well after the event. Second carnage was Clarke, who has spend a significant amount of money to get his rig prepared for everything, but suffered the same fate only in the front Diff, his lock-rite did not engaged and he ended up spending most of the day at the stage area working on it. The rest of us continued to the West property since there were already too many people on the comp course. We decide to follow the pole line down to the play area, a nice pocket of dips and tucks as well as a puddle to get dirty in. We played there for a while and continued to trail 11 were we branched off onto trail 19 Green, not bad of a ride, but then everyone wanted a little more excitement. Excitement was provided, we parted the West property and headed back toward the comp course, while there we started at the back end and climbed some serious rocks and off camber spots. I had a little difficulty at first but managed to reach the top with out carnage, then follows Kim who at one point thought she was going on her side, it was fun to watch her navigate the climb challenge. She cleared and Jeff was next, he picked the right path and navigated the climb without much difficulty. Having cleared that section we moved into the regular comp area and like a show off I took the first bite of the course. While climbing the center of the horseshoe and getting to the top I had an off camber moment to my passenger side, needless to say my son Max was not to comfortable with, we decide to exit the vehicle and check our situation. Oh, what is that down there looks like a spring, that wasn’t there when I drove up! As I look towards my Jeep I noticed the sprint was missing, how the heck did that happened? Oh, look there is another 5150Beltstine busted on my right side. Now without a spring and the last busted shock on the opposing side I was in a pickle. Jay came over and offered a solution, as we high lifted the side Jeep we pushed back the spring and I drove off the hill. Pouting and doing the drive of shame I tailed back to the stage area and put the Jeep back in the trailer. With no adequate replacements, I decided to just leave the Jeep on the trailer.

Waiting for the return of my team, I began to chat with Clarke and see what was wrong. He thought he might have not put enough fluids in it when he put it together before the trip. But in actuality his locker springs were worn and not springing the actuator for the locker to work. Resulted in taking it to a local mechanic Tony (drives the caged XJ) also a friend of the club and has a shop 45 minutes from the park. Well, after an hour of sulking everyone began to return and we cleared the park early. With several hours before dinner, most of everyone rested and got ready for the evening meal. Paul, Gill, Nester and others decided to camp out while the rest of us did the Hotel, let’s face it; it’s hard to beat an argument of comfort, a soft warm bed with cushy pillows or a hard bed over cold ground and chilling breeze. I don’t know about you but the bed wins in my book.

Now most of you know that I am not in a habit of drinking, but the company I was with, the environment, the brotherly feeling just broke me down and I ordered a Real beer while we waited for dinner to be served. While it took about an hour to eat, I drank about 4 beers in which after dinner I didn’t feel any pain. But the next morning to be continued on Sunday’sstory.

Sunday Morning

GOD what a night! I didn’t wake up till ¼ to 7PM. I was running late, I jumped out of bed, yelling at poor Max to get dress and get going. Remember Max takes one hour to get ready for anything; every strand of hair has to be just right. The shirt just right and you know the rest, he was given 10 minutes to be out of the room. By 7:30 we cleared the room, packed the truck (oh yea!) all the stuff was in my room and needed to be staged at the park by 7:30 am. With the help of Jim Bowman and Greg Knoll I loaded the truck, gassed up, pickup our lunch and headed to the Stage area. Man I was feeling the happiness from the night before, cotton mouth and all. Rushing to set up the tents, the goody bags, the tables as well as the registrations and distribution of the shirts, took a toll. Thankfully the members present where more than helpful to assist. Together we got the set ups and the event on the way in time. But more impressive was the fact we got everyone on the trails on time too. Schedule to begin at 9:30 everyone was off and gone!

I can’t tell you what happened the rest of the day except for the fact that at the end of the day we had a lot of prizes to give away. Greg knoll took away most of the big ticket items, justly so, he bought 100 tickets and improved his odds greatly. He remembered what Randy did last year and this year he was not going to be under sold so to speak. Everyone had an equal chance to buy as many as they could. Tim also walked away with several good prizes and did Andy and Angie. In all everyone there had a grand time. The event was successful, we reached, no we excel over our goal of $3,000.00 and ended up with $3,701.00 to donate to the A.D.A. for those of you how wish to still contribute, you can send me a check or through Paypal send payment for it. We will be presenting the check to the A.D.A. on the first week of October, most likely on Friday place to be determined.

Hey, where are the other stories for the day?

Here are more pics from that day from Shyrl:
http://photosmart.hpphoto.com/FilmStripHome.aspx?JobID=b69c1279-e60d-4587-b2a1-e27a1f318df2&SKU=WalMart

Let me say this was my first time out with my own truck and had a blast. I'm hooked, now I need to get my own trailer to be able to go more often. I met some great people and enjoyed the camp out and bon fire. Also I want to say the guides did a great job and thanks to everyone who took pictures.

Mark

OK folks here is the video of the fundraiser enjoy:
Most likely there will be a second once I receive the photo CD form the trail rides I was unable to attend or film.

http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=1166118

Having coordinated the time and date for the check presentation, Only Scott Miles and I made it to the ADA Building. Scott was driving the United Investors Jeep as I was mine. The timing sucks! Mother nature dump a load of rain right on us, but it did not stop us from our goal. We took some pictures and I presented a check to the Associaiton for a total of $3900. This marks a huge and significant mark in our fund raising that could not have been accomplished with out the cooperation and assistance of all who participated. We are making a great stride in doubling our efforts and results. Our next year goal is to double this years results and I am sure we can accomplish this as we beign a new campaing in our 2008 fund raiser event. See the web page marked ADA for more details. Here is the slide presentation, with better music!

http://photoshow.comcast.net/watch/qJ2yV7SR

Nice presentation Tico!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry you were the only representation from MRR. We all need to do more and represent. $3900 is a very nice contribution and you should be proud..

I was reading the Pajeeps forum the other day and they were speaking about the two day event next year.. The word is getting out already!!!!


Great job!!!

Thanks I appreciate the comments.