My wife and I just got home from the 2014 Colorado Toyota Jamboree and it was a blast in every way! Seriously one of the best times I've had wheeling, meeting awesome new people, camping, and just down right having a killer time with everyone.
Thanks to Scott, Aaron, and everyone at Addicted to putting this event on. We'll surely be back next year.
So we pulled into camp on Thursday around midnight. Not to many people where there yet so I chatted with Aaron a little bit before setting up camp and getting ready for whatever lay ahead in the morning.
Woke up Friday morning and Nick (BigFishAllDay) arrived. We gathered up a small group of other guys and headed out around 9am to meet up with Jeremiah (Dirtco) at the trail head for Wheeler lake.
It felt like a group of longtime friends wheeling together very quickly. Jeremiah led the group as he was the only one that had run the trail before.
The scenery was absolutely incredible and the trail consisted of several large technical obstacles that put my manual transmission driving capabilities to the test. It proved extremely challenging.... my hand brake and clutch were not loving it but screw em I wanted to challenge myself and learn from some more experienced guys which I sure did.
Getting there:
Scenery:
I didn't get many wheeling pictures on this trail because the surrounding area seemed more important to capture at the time. Simply awesome.
______________
Saturday we ran Chinamans Gulch with mostly the same core group.
This trail was a non-stop beat down.
I'd picked up a lot of knowledge from the day before and really could feel a lot of work I've put in this last year starting to come together here. Even my wife continued to comment on the smoother transitions. However this trail put our skid plates to the test....over and over again.
Whale Rock:
Before this trip I had told my wife I wanted a crawl box but she'd never seen me struggle on the trail so felt like it was a waste of money.
On this trip she saw mine and numerous other 5-speed rigs struggle with the large technical obstacles. To keep rolling slowly, odd position holds and repositions/starts.
I was able to point out several crawl box equipped rigs and she quickly saw how much more control they had.
She told me on Chinaman's "I want that for you. You'll have more fun and it looks a lot safer and more under control" I felt like I should probably renew my vows at that moment!
So this rig will definitely be getting a Marlin Crawler short shifter and 4.70 Tacobox with triple sticks.
I will be running the rest of this season as is and begin the transformation this November.
There was a catch though.
I first have to get her a hairless sphynx cat. God they are ugly little bastards. She's wanted one for a long time and I've resisted.
But I swallowed my pride and within hours of returning home she registered for her chosen breeders waiting list. Oh the joys!
I've already chosen the name of Morpheus because they remind me of the Matrix, aliens, and other wackness.
Anywhoo more pictures will be rolling in soon!