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It's a Jeep Thing
Thanks to the Pike Press Newspaper, and Leslie A.
Willard, our club made the front page of Pittsfield's newspaper.. They
gave us permission to reprint Leslie's article.
Why would someone spend lots of time and money
putting winches, tow hooks, extra large tires on their Jeeps so they could
traverse rocks, creeks, and yes, mountains, risking injury to themselves
and their Jeep? It's a Jeep thing…you wouldn't understand.
Over 300 Jeep lovers came to Pike County last weekend
to participate in the 6th annual Land of Lincoln Jeep Jamboree. They filled
the area motels and enjoyed the beautiful weather and sights of the area.
"We had around 190 Jeeps on our trails this weekend," Tom Wombles,
president of the Two Rivers Jeep Club and organizer of the jamboree, said.
"We had to turn away that many more. It was a very successful weekend."
People from around the United States and Canada ventured through Pike
County. "This is beautiful country around here," Ron Baker from
Canada said. "We are starting a Jeep Jamboree and I came to observe…and
have fun." 
Some local residents partook of the festivities.
"We were looking into going to a Jeep Jamboree, and we decided to
try the one at our own backdoor," first-time jamboree attendant Julie
Coleman from Quincy said.
Pike County has 13 different trails with varying
levels of difficulties. On the Jeep Jamboree scale of one to ten, with
ten being the most difficult, the Pike County trails range from three
to ten and have a reputation for being challenging. Trail ratings change
with the weather. Rain or snow may make a trail more difficult. The weather
last weekend was dry and windy, but recent rains had created some good
mud holes.
The trails were run on both Friday and Saturday
with registration Thursday night. At registration, the jeeps are inspected
and the drivers sign up for the appropriate trails, depending upon the
equipment available on each Jeep. Each day began with a delicious breakfast
served by the Pittsfield Legion.
Friday morning, the drivers were given a welcome
speech. Drivers are asked to "tread lightly" for they will be
traveling on private property. After the short safety talk, Jeeps are
lined up behind their trail guides, and on their way.
Beginning drivers can sign up for Off-Road Driving
101. Here an experienced driver instructs new Jeepers on how to hill climb,
descend steep embankments, rock crawl, cross water, tree bump, etc. Safety
tips for the drivers, passengers, and vehicles are covered.
The guides lead the trails and directed them on
the more treacherous parts of the trails. "You learn to appreciate
your Jeep," Merlin Scott, one of the Driver 101 instructors said.
After riding the trails, the Jeepers returned to
meal sites for lunch. They then headed out for an afternoon of dust, mud,
rocks, creeks, and tree gazing. The scenery is breathtaking, and the trail
is invigorating. Not all your time is spent in the vehicle. At each difficult
crossing, jeepers grab their cameras, hop out and cheer the drivers on
as they try to cross. When it's their turn, they grit their teeth and
go for it. In the end, they stand in awe of the vehicle, as well as their
driving skills. "It's an addiction," Wombles said. "Once
you go trail riding, you're addicted."
The days ended with a hot meal and watching videos
from the day's ride. Meals were prepared by the Pittsfield Legion, Pittsfield
Fire Department Ladies Auxiliary, Quanada, Rockport 4H, as well as the
owners of the trails.
Rooster Tales from the Black Oak Run Trail
For those of you who are new, the Black Oak Run trail is guided by us
(Tough Nuts Team), Bob and Sandra Mikrut (Rooster), Steve and Linda Gambrill
(Chief), and their son John (Cowboy). Sporting our trail colors (ORANGE!),
we set up for registration on Thursday night at 5pm. Trailmaster O.R.
limited trail registration to 15 vehicles per day but as usual, a few
stragglers begged and bribed us to let them on. (I've noticed that it's
usually the women doing the begging and the guys doing the bribing.) We
ended up with about 20 vehicles each day for our 6-rated trail.
 We
were honored with the presence of several CBJ members on Friday including
Mikey, Cuddles, and Sparky. The morning ride went well with no major difficulties
to speak of. We avoided Winch Hill and the Washouts due to timeconstraints
and actually made it to lunch on time! At lunch, Jim and Kathy Carson
asked when they were going to have to put their Jeep in four-wheel drive.
Big Mistake! We unanimously elected them as our honorary trail guides
for the first section of our afternoon ride. If you've been on our trail,
you know that the first section of the afternoon involves stinky mud -
lots of it! When Jim and Kathy approached the mud pit, they tried in vain
to let someone else go first. Jim revved up and launched into the pit
before his abrupt stop just 10 feet through. Unable to move forward or
back, Kathy climbed out onto the hood to hook up their strap. After extracting
the Carson's from the bottomless pit, we told them that it might have
been a good time to use four- wheel drive! Several other Jeeps got stuck
and made for some great video footage. If you get a chance to see the
Jamboree video, you'll see Chief's graceful balancing act and near mud
bath, Tough Nuts running alongside Cuddles holding on to the tow strap
that wasn't needed, and several other Kodak moments. The rest of the afternoon
was a little slower than normal due to some mechanical difficulties with
a couple rigs. We had to park one Jeep that couldn't be fixed and several
others required expert technical assistance from our Mechanic-on-the-Spot
Mikey Keller. We ended up the day at Rollover Hill for those who wanted
to brave it. The trails were fairly dry and no one had a problem with
the hill.
Saturday morning we set out again with our group in tow. We weren't far
into the creek when we heard a distress call from tailgunner Rooster.
"Somebody get me a winch!" "I need a winch NOW!" Chief
shot back to the rear of the trail as the trained Fire Chief he is. He
arrived just in time to see Rooster's family bailing out of the sinking
Jeep. Seems Rooster didn't follow his own advice (now famous advice on
the Black Oak Trail) - When you're in the creek, make sure you follow
the guy in front of you. You never know where the holes are and if you
don't follow the same path, you may get sunk! (This is good advice as
long as the guy in front of you isn't swimming!) (Editorial comment: Kent
Martin learned this valuable lesson a few weeks ago, right Speedo?!?)
Anyway, Emory and Chief both put winch cables on Rooster and hauled him
back to dry land where Tough Nuts took over and strapped him back to the
barn. After 4 oil changes, Rooster was back on the trail, raring to go.
Our trail riders were a bit restless after seeing their Guide being towed
back for repairs so early in the day but Chief and Cowboy took over and
led them through the North trail with no problem. We covered a lot of
ground on Saturday morning including a couple brave-hearts who conquered
winch hill. The washouts are too badly eroded to tackle going in the forward
direction but we managed to run them in reverse for a change of pace.
The real fun for the morning was when we decided to try out the new Thunder
Run Trail that was just recently finished. We figure if our regular trail
is rated a 6, Thunder Run has to be at least an 8. We gave everyone the
option of bypassing the most difficult part but with white knuckles for
some, they all followed us! What a trail! The first part of the trail
is cut through a ravine so it is wet and rocky. It takes some nimble maneuvering
to make it through without any scrapes. We suffered our first 'body damage'
when our left rear fender flare got snagged on a tree and decided to jump
ship. At one point, our Jeep was laying so far over on one side that I
could touch the ground just inches from my seat. I don't ever remember
tipping that far over before without actually laying the Jeep in its side!
A few Jeeps got stuck and had to use winches and a comealong to get out
but everyone made it though with only minor problems. One guy pulled a
Rooster and knocked his windshield frame pretty good and another guys
lost a tail light. The nice thing was that the sense of accomplishment
was tremendous when you got through. We headed for lunch - right on time
again! After lunch, we loaded up to hit the trail again and realized we
had a fuel pump problem. Frank Smith jumped in to help out and took Durrell
to the auto store for a replacement. The rest of us headed toward the
mud pit for day #2. Jim and Laura Sorenson were our designated 'Trail
Leaders' through the mud pit on Saturday. (They were overheard commenting
at dinner the evening before that they wanted to transfer off our trail
because the mud pit looked too difficult. Ooops. Guess they were overheard
by the wrong person 'cause we nabbed them right after lunch and broke
the news to them.) Jim (a.k.a. Maui) handled trail leadership very well
although he didn't make it any further into the pit than the Carsons did
the day before. Emory gladly strapped them out before humiliating them
further by backing all the way through the mud pit and then driving all
the way through it again. It's amazing what a little speed and some good
lockers can do for you.
 The
rest of the afternoon was fairly uneventful for everyone except Cowboy
and Tough Nuts. After Durrell and Frank got the Scrambler running, they
tried to catch up and Durrell took the wrong approach to the mud pit.
When Frank strapped him out, he packed the radiator and starter full of
mud and had to abandon the vehicle for a couple hours. Cowboy suffered
the same fate and eventually had to give up on his rig too. Everyone else
made it through the rest of the trail and several headed to Rollover Hill
to cap off their day. Mad Brit was ecstatic to make it through Thunder
Run, through the Mud Pit and up Rollover Hill all under his own power!
His life is now compete! His son Shawn (Dirt Dog) has great plans for
Dad's Jeep including lockers, a lift, bigger tires, lower gears and removing
the doors!
In closing, we want to say a special thanks to our fellow Trail Guides
Bob and Sandra as well as our Trail Assistants Chief, Linda, and Cowboy
Gambrill. Without you guys helping out, Black Oak just wouldn't be the
same!
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