Ok, I know you all want details, so here goes:
We had a total of ten rigs this year - one less than last years meet, but at least this year all could move under their own power, and all made it there before the last day of the meet. We had at least 6-7 rigs on every run. LJ20's were SERIOUSLY under-represented though - we had five LJ10's (including three that were bone stock), 2 LJ80's, one LJ20, my LJ81, and Ruby's (VERY NICE) SJ413K.
The "fixing of the exhaust" Kyler refers to is yesterday afternoon when he and his dad drove the LJ81, and the exhaust manifold cracked, or so we think. It definitely got louder!
Pics are coming soon, as soon I get them downloaded. We ran some real 4WD trails yesterday, not terribly hard, but you did need 4WD.
We had my LJ10 and LJ81, Smuz and Alice brought Mouser and Wilson, Kris (Deimos) and Kyler brought his LJ10, Aaron (Ruby) and his wife Roseanne came in their SJ413K, Rick and Glen Friesen came with their ToyZuki LJ80, as well as Glen's fiance Natasha (Congratulations!!!), and their roommate, whose name escapes me right now. We also had John (Suzy) and Roxy in their LJ80V, IdahoPaul with wife Crystal and son Brandon, with their A14 powered LJ10, and Jeff, Becky, and Connor showed up late Saturday morning with the lone LJ20. Oh yes, Steve Illman and his wife Cindy came up Saturday night in their Tracker to drool over the LJ's as well. Steve doesn't have an LJ of his own, yet...
Interestingly enough, the stock rigs really embarrased the built rigs this weekend (and really impressed a group of Jeeps!). IdahoPaul's Datsun carb had a bad accelerator pump, Mouser was overheating and spent most of the weekend at camp, and Rick and Glen's LJ80 was having both problems. Idahopaul stayed at camp, Mouser gave it a try but the heat turned him around fairly quickly, and The Friesen LJ80 almost made it up Rear End Hill before needing a rest. Deimos' LJ10 had clutch issues, but was a lot of fun running around camp in, but the other two stock LJ10's (mine and Wilson), along with Suzy's LJ80, my LJ81, and Ruby's Sj413K made it over the 321 and 319 trails, and up Rear End Hill to Crystal Mountain Lookout without a glitch. The look on the Jeepers faces was priceless! I will say they were a good group of guys though, they were camped across from us and we chatted a bit in camp.
After heading back to camp, eating lunch, and meeting Jeff and the LJ20, we headed up to Hole In The Rock (not an official name yet, but everyone calls it that), then headed up the 334 trail. This trail was tough on Memorial Day weekend, but it was also very muddy then, and it should have been easier this weekend. It was a lot easier, but there were some very deep ruts in places from the dried mud, including one spot that appeared to have dry mud until I drove over it. Well, under that "dry mud" was about 3 inches of water and another 8 inches of wet goo. I was able to back up a bit, but that just packed mud into my tailpipe until I hit the hard pack, which prompty bent my tailpipe under. We bent the tail pipe back, but I had lost most of my power, and hills that used to be easy in 2nd or 3rd gear, I now labored to get up in 1st. On one hill the engine completely bogged out, and A few of the guys had to push me up the last bit. Luckily, just after that hill the tailpipe spit out a half-baked mud turd, and it ran normally again.
That was the worst vehicle carnage of the weekend, though we kept the Cle Elum Urgent Care clinic busy. Idahopaul arrived Friday evening with something in his eye, and it got worse overnight, so they headed down to get what turned out to be a metal sliver removed, with something that too closely resembled a dremel tool. Saturday evening, Deimos Jr was climbing some rocks and fell, hitting his head, and so off he and dad went, to get checked out. The diagnosis was a possible concussion, so dad had had to do the "wake him every hour" routine that night. Other than that, it was just bug bites and sunburn.
My biggest oops was leaving the dash plaques at home (it's a good thing Deimos picked up the shirts from the printer on his way up!), so I'll be mailing them out to y'all tomorrow. I saw lots of people taking lots of pictures, and we got a few ourselves, so let's show 'em off!!!!