2008 Ladies Day Run - 12 July 2008

By Lisa

Even though Mother Nature drenched Pittsfield and the surrounding areas of our trails a few weeks prior to our event, we still ended up with a great turnout of club members (female and male) ready to tackle any obstacle that came their way.

Designated trails assigned for this event; County Line, Ridge Rambler and Suzy's Knob. Despite the additional rain showers that hit our trailing areas the night before; Suzy's Knob had 7 jeeps sign up to tackle its trails, along with the assistance of our Trail Leaders, John Toumbs and Mark Tweedell. Ridge Rambler; guided by Hamer Tate and John Hubner took on the remaining 16 jeeps.

The sun was shining brightly as our convoy of jeeps drove to our chosen site. After our driver's meeting and airing down the tires, we were ready for fun. Due to the previous day's rain conditions, our trail leaders decided we would take the obstacles easy and just enjoy the day with as little breakage as possible. Warn's Revenge would be the first obstacle that we tackle. Instead of going up the waterfall, we came down the waterfall. Not too bad, considering all the muddy areas we had to track through. Some spots just needed a little more pedal to the metal to get up, but coming down was not a problem at all.

As we drove through the creek bed, (that was higher than I had ever seen) we spotted the Knob which couldn't be attempted, due to a huge downed tree in the path of the backside. That would be on the list for removal on the next Trail building. As we crepted through the creek, the water seemed to become a bit deeper than usual. Our trail leader, John Toumbs, started to drive in, just to test the waters (so to speak) and before we knew it, his jeep had sunk deep into the sandy water. So deep, that his tires were completely submerged. Jim pulled our jeep close to his so that we could hook up our tow strap. As we backed up to pull their jeep free, our tires started sinking deep into the sandy water too. With the help from a new JK, another tow strap and some additional pulling and tugging, we finally had Toumbs and Catt out of the muddy creek waters.

The day went by fairly fast. More down trees brought out the chain saw to remove debris to clear a trail for us to travel further on. Up hills, down hills, through muddy and slippery sections, we all got a chance to either assist or be assisted in having a tow strap yank us out of a wet and muddy spot. Some of us even ended up getting mud baths. Just ask Mark Tweedell. He got totally drenched with muddy creek water after Toumbs pulled his jeep out of slippery creek bed incline.

As we found our way to more trail riding, the skies started looking a little dark. Our fellow JK rig had a GPS on board and informed our group that heavy rain showers were on their way. By this time it was around 3pm and we all elected to call it a day. As we all said our farewells, I thanked our group and trail guides for coming out and making this event a success and looked forward to seeing everyone next year.

As we drove back into town, the rain started falling. Just a little trickle at first, then a downpour. Since we didn't have the top on and the drivers' side had fabricated metal over the top section, the passenger got a little drenched. As many of you know, I compete in R-rock, so Jim never gets to drive his jeep anymore. Even though this was a Ladies Day Event, I compromised and let Jim do the driving. The passenger, you see was me. Which was okay, because I just wrapped myself with the tarp we had from the back of the jeep and held on till we made it back to the Pike Motel. Wet and muddy, I still felt content from our day of trailing fun.

We met up with Mark and Chris Schumacher at the VFW around 6:45 and waited for additional jeeps to arrive for a drive to our Nite at the Movies. Due to a previous engagement for my R-rock competition in Hannibal the next day, Mark and Chris agreed to lead our fellow jeeps to the Drive In Theatre.

Another event gone by and I can't wait till next year. I have the bug for Jeeping and Rock climbing. It's in my bones. I enjoy it and I hope everyone had as much fun as I did. I need to give thanks to our land -owners for letting us trail on their land. Our trail guides for always stepping up and giving us their time to enjoy a day of trailing. Thanks to all of my fellow TRJC members that came out for this event, even though the rising cost of fuel has become unbearable. I hope to see you all next year.

Till then, keep it on all fours.

Lisa