Well I guess its time I get my stuff together and post my review and link my pictures up.
Well I was one of the unlucky people who had to work on Friday, so after fighting rush hour traffic from Santa Ana to Corona. I got to get home and pack the rest of the stuff in the jeep up, swing by the store to get some last minute supplies and some distilled water and I was on my way. I had made plans with Sequoia to meet up at the bottom of the Cajon pass and then caravan the rest of the way out there. After having a run in with another XJ in the parking lot (I don’t think we ever got your name if you are on the board) of Wendy’s we were on the road again. By this time it was getting close to 8pm and we were not even really going yet. At this point we found out that my handheld CB was not working at all, but Sequoia just so happened to have a spare CB with him. We had a few detours on the way, I'll let Sequoia explain those, but by 1am we pulled into Goff's. We had some minor issues finding the gate, but after a few laps around the place we got in and set up camp.
The 5:30 am wake up call was a rough one. That’s all I’m going to say about that. It was cold, I was tired and it was cold. We rounded up the jeeps and headed out to the AVI casino. We picked up Curt on the freeway on the way to Avi, which was cool. We picked up a few more XJ's out at the gas station at the Avi casino. We met up a 0.0 mile and then had our drivers meeting and were on our way. The first day we saw the best of the plant life the desert has to offer. I have seen colors and flowers that I have never seen anywhere in the desert before. If you have the patience to go through all of my pictures you'll know exactly what I’m talking about. The first day ended with no problems at all. We even got a light shower on our way back to Goff's at the end of the day. We were treated to a lecture by Dennis as soon as we reached the school house. He sure does know a lot about the area and the history. I made a rush to my tent to put on the rain fly since it was still raining lightly. Of course just after I get the fly on, the rain stops.... We then all sat down to an awesome potluck. We had everything from Mike's Salmon spread to Igor's (sp) Beef Curry. Everything was VERY tasty and there was all sorts of food, I do not think a single person walked away hungry. Corey got the fire started at the fire ring and we sat and talked about past runs (took cheap shots at the fellow members who were not there to defend themselves.....uh forget you read that) We called it a night and headed to the tents.
Sunday morning was not quite as harsh as the prior one, the slave driver (Andy) let us sleep in until 7:30 or so. We got on the old Route 66 and headed down the road to Fenner to gas up and get back on the trail. The gas station at Fenner was really interesting. For those of you who have never been there before, it’s almost worth the trip alone. This gas station is in the middle of nothing, charges $3.00 a gallon for the cheap stuff and has close to 12 full size fish tanks full of odd fish inside the quickie mart. Something about it is just very wrong. So after topping off we were back on the road. This day I do not recall seeing quite the plant life as the previous day, but the scenic beauty was unmatched. The canyons, the mountains, the valleys, you just could not beat it. Afton canyon was so awesome Sequoia and I am talking about planning a run up there to explore the area better. We parted ways down the road after a group shot and an exit meeting.
All in all this was a trip I will never forget. To be honest I do not know how much longer you'll be able to do this run. Every year it seems we lose more and more of our desert as it gets closed and taken away from us. I guess I just consider myself lucky to be able to go out and do this with a great bunch of people while I had the chance. I have my pictures and my memories.
I would like to personally thank Andy for leading the run. He did a great job and gave a great tour. I would also like to thank Jeff and his lovely wife Denise (I think that was her name) as well as Igor (sp) and his family. Jeff and Igor came out in KJ's and had to put up with a whole bunch of good hearted ribbing all weekend long. I would also like to thank Sequoia for the use of his CB (sorry about the mud and water in it!!)
I'm sure I’ll add / edit this down the road, but it’s a good start. I started to type this in word and realized I had 3 pages before long and really cut it apart and left out 75% of the stuff.
You can view my photo album of this trip at...
http://virtualpimp.org/ipw-web/gallery/album05
enjoy!
-Scott
