These were all taken with my cell phone...
A pair of noteworthy trucks! Matt's (Jacket) 2006 Tacoma and Gary's (RoundOut) 2003 Tundra:
The Scorpion Lair...actually it was the Crab Cakes and Appletinis Lair. Those crab cakes were tasty!
I don't know what the
O I II means but I know a bucket of California Rolls when I see it!
That tall bottle is a very fine Colorado whiskey. The gentleman presenting it is your 2008 Expedition Trophy champion :wavey:. He may be modest here, but I could swear I heard he's gonna ask his wife to put burgundy velvet piping around the event banner, so it looks more stately when he's wearing it :elkgrin: .
Martyn on the tap. I suspect that bucket picture was taken the morning after this picture LOL.
I cannot thank enough all the people who put time and effort in to organizing all this! Andrew mentioned you guys start planning the next year's event as soon as the current event finishes...whew.
Everyone who offered food and drink for Happy Hour also deserves a big thanks...after all, that's the most stressful event LOL. Those steaks provided by AT on Monday really hit the spot as well, and honestly after Saturday night, every night was happy hour! I had a great time hanging out with everyone who came by the NY/CAN campfire, and with everyone on the north overland trip...all that was missing was the rest of the crew! BTW you guys better all be cooking "low fat" next year because I think I gained weight LOL.
The net and seating arrangement for the lectures was great! My favorites were Martin's tire clinic and Andrew's navigation talk. The HAM lecture became more of a forum when it turned out everyone there but two people had licenses, and I recall a few people had some pretty funny advice for traveling through South America
. I really enjoyed the lectures...and I felt lucky to be in Team B, sitting through lectures on Sunday morning LOL. Ed (?) or Andrew, could you please post the name of the first aid booklet you guys were showing during that lecture?
I think we used every piece of recovery equipment we brought--even the jack stands--during events or out of necessity. It was an awesome learning experience, and I'm hoping to pass on what I learned to the guys and girls here in CO. FWIW I have a tire or two that'll work great for practicing tire repairs...I'll pick up a pink knife ASAP LOL!
Celestial count for the trip was a couple dozen shooting stars, three or four planets, and one nebula...if the wind wakes you up at 2:30am when you're sleeping outside, cover your eyes with the binoculars.
There was a lot of campfire BSing...Lance's rig is now the Raging Blue Lemming, and apparently Gary has a squirrel suit at home. Also noted around the fire, don't go messing about with the overlanding community, as we all carry shovels.
Wednesday morning, two of our company went missing. Not so notable that they were missing, but that they had no map, radio or compass, little water, and one was wearing little more than long johns. What happens in the desert, stays in the desert! LOL...we're just glad you guys made it back safe.
Gary won the closed course event. The person who turned in the fastest time on the closed course was actually trying
not to hammer on Gary's truck (note no air time!), but also has a rich history of speeding tickets.
eepwall:
I met so many great people, made a whole bunch of friends I hope to see sooner rather than later, and found a lot of people who really do set the bar that much higher!
May all your roads be "well-established", and your camp arrivals always be "around noon" .
Up Yerrrrrrrs!
-Sean