- Location
- Bakersfield, CA
We're all back from Moab now, and it's real good to hear all the comments about the good time everyone had. The Cherokee 20th Anniversary Celebration was successful beyond our expectations. Rigs rolled in through the weekend and by Monday Slickrock Campground was filled with XJ's. We had 175 vehicles registered, which easily makes this the largest gathering of XJ's and MJ's ever. Chewy and the Chigaco boys cooked up burgers for 150+ on Tuesday night, and it was a great time meeting old and new friends. Name tags helped everyone put faces to screen names, and I even saw Shawna there. Jeff Turner (XJeeper) did an excellent job of making sure there where trails for everyone, and a number of trails had to be added because of the great turnout.
Wednesday saw everyone out on the trails, and a few had a very late night. Beezil, OneTon and Jon Jacobs decided to do a night run on Upper Proving Grounds, leaving camp around 10:30 pm. They and a group of spectators didn't get back to camp until 4:30 am, with Sean's and Jon's rigs still at the last waterfall. OneHub (formerly OneTon) broke a hub and his winch, which was a problem on the winch mandatory last waterfall, especially since Jacobs didn't have a winch. On Thursday morning in camp a crowd gathered around a couple of basically stock XJ's that were getting stripped of doors and glass in preparation for the CO/CA Challenge. The teams and plenty of spectators then headed over for a rock race through the first section of a challenging trail not too far from town. Spectators enjoyed the team work, the tire smoke, and the general thrashing of two XJ's as each driver tried for the fastest time through the course. This was just too much fun for both drivers and spectators, with the CA team ending up with the fastest combined time. Thursday afternoon was the Show and Shine at the city park, and it was thrilling to see about 120 XJ's lined up on the grass. Grant and Carol Barclay with help from some of the CO folks served dogs and brats, and Jesse Rivers and the Sierra Chapter organized the show. Everyone had a good time visiting and checking out all of the rigs, with many very nicely done vehicles to look at. Vehicles were judged by a representative from each chapter, with three places awarded to the Best Built, Best Equiped, and Best Looking rigs, plus a Sleeper and a Judges Choice award.
Friday evening was the big dinner at the Moab Senior Center. Mil Thornton and a SoCal Chapter crew cooked and served dinner to about 275 people. We were priveleged to have the United Four Wheel Drive Associaction Board of Directors there for the evening, and Frank Noel from UFWDA gave a short presentation. Our group really came through, and Dan Riggs was able to present around 200 toys from our toy drive to a representative from the local Toys for Tots program. A donation of $1000 was also presented from
to the Utah Shared Access Alliance. Andy Fecko (CRASH) presented the Show and Shine Awards, then we gave out some fun awards. Led Lancos received the Best Spotter Award, Stephanie Bell the Most Improved Driver Award, and Andy Fecko got the Ugliest Rig Award. Sean "OneHub" Rose got the Bonehead Award for breaking his rig on a night run and having to stay out on the trail all night. This was particularly hard for Sean to receive because he had made the traditional trophy out of broken parts. A plaque was also presented to Mark Hinkley from ORGS for his continued and valuable support of . Plenty of good stuff was given out during the merchandise raffle, then the highlight of the evening was drawing the winning ticket for the Sweepstakes XJ. Mike Holder (Crunch) was the lucky winner, and it was very exciting because he was there to take posession of his built XJ. Saturday he took it out and ran Moab Rim Trail.
During the week there was the typical breakage of a few axle joints, rear axle shafts, and steering components, plus a couple of drivelines, hubs, and tires, but overall there was little breakage considering how many vehicles there were. Andy Fecko was kept busy many evenings in camp welding up various small proplems and projects. The vehicles were generally well prepared, possibly the result of the great technical advice on our forums. There were a few unlucky participants who experienced rollovers. Charles Stein and BJ Mcdonald (Beezil) laid them on their sides, and Greg Gavel (C-Rok) did a spectacular back flip onto his top, and they were all able to continue wheeling the rest of the week.
I'd like to thank the many people who put in time and hard work to make this event possible. Forgive me for not naming everyone, especially all of the trail leaders. Thanks to Dan Riggs who was co-coordinator, his creativity, ideas, and hard work helped to make this a class event. Heather and Kevin Wallace did a fabulous job with the Sweepstakes XJ, plus Heather worked on the event raffle and handled registration at the event, we couldn't have done it without her. Keith Orr did the pre-registrations, which was a large and time consuming task. Jeff Turner spent countless hours both before and at the event as our Trail Coordinator. Mike Gianonne took care of all the safety checks, which was a huge commitment on his part, and much appreciated. Adam Buzecky (Chewbaca) put together our get acquainted dinner on Tuesday, with help from cooks BJ Mcdonald, Sean Rose, Keven Patty, and others. Jesse Rivers, Andy Fecko, and the Sierra chapter did a great job with the Show and Shine, with a special thanks to the efforts put in by all the judges. Grant and Carol Barclay handled the food at the Show and Shine. Mil Thornton arranged and cooked for our dinner Friday night, with help from the many SoCal folks. Thanks to Don Woodard, Tom Roche, and Remi Rundzio for helping with anything that was needed, and the many who helped at the registration and trail sign up tables. I know I've left some people out here, but thanks to everyone who participated in some way to make the 20th Anniversary Celebration an overwhelming success.
Richard "Goatman" Gauthier
Event Coordinator
Past President
Wednesday saw everyone out on the trails, and a few had a very late night. Beezil, OneTon and Jon Jacobs decided to do a night run on Upper Proving Grounds, leaving camp around 10:30 pm. They and a group of spectators didn't get back to camp until 4:30 am, with Sean's and Jon's rigs still at the last waterfall. OneHub (formerly OneTon) broke a hub and his winch, which was a problem on the winch mandatory last waterfall, especially since Jacobs didn't have a winch. On Thursday morning in camp a crowd gathered around a couple of basically stock XJ's that were getting stripped of doors and glass in preparation for the CO/CA Challenge. The teams and plenty of spectators then headed over for a rock race through the first section of a challenging trail not too far from town. Spectators enjoyed the team work, the tire smoke, and the general thrashing of two XJ's as each driver tried for the fastest time through the course. This was just too much fun for both drivers and spectators, with the CA team ending up with the fastest combined time. Thursday afternoon was the Show and Shine at the city park, and it was thrilling to see about 120 XJ's lined up on the grass. Grant and Carol Barclay with help from some of the CO folks served dogs and brats, and Jesse Rivers and the Sierra Chapter organized the show. Everyone had a good time visiting and checking out all of the rigs, with many very nicely done vehicles to look at. Vehicles were judged by a representative from each chapter, with three places awarded to the Best Built, Best Equiped, and Best Looking rigs, plus a Sleeper and a Judges Choice award.
Friday evening was the big dinner at the Moab Senior Center. Mil Thornton and a SoCal Chapter crew cooked and served dinner to about 275 people. We were priveleged to have the United Four Wheel Drive Associaction Board of Directors there for the evening, and Frank Noel from UFWDA gave a short presentation. Our group really came through, and Dan Riggs was able to present around 200 toys from our toy drive to a representative from the local Toys for Tots program. A donation of $1000 was also presented from
to the Utah Shared Access Alliance. Andy Fecko (CRASH) presented the Show and Shine Awards, then we gave out some fun awards. Led Lancos received the Best Spotter Award, Stephanie Bell the Most Improved Driver Award, and Andy Fecko got the Ugliest Rig Award. Sean "OneHub" Rose got the Bonehead Award for breaking his rig on a night run and having to stay out on the trail all night. This was particularly hard for Sean to receive because he had made the traditional trophy out of broken parts. A plaque was also presented to Mark Hinkley from ORGS for his continued and valuable support of . Plenty of good stuff was given out during the merchandise raffle, then the highlight of the evening was drawing the winning ticket for the Sweepstakes XJ. Mike Holder (Crunch) was the lucky winner, and it was very exciting because he was there to take posession of his built XJ. Saturday he took it out and ran Moab Rim Trail.During the week there was the typical breakage of a few axle joints, rear axle shafts, and steering components, plus a couple of drivelines, hubs, and tires, but overall there was little breakage considering how many vehicles there were. Andy Fecko was kept busy many evenings in camp welding up various small proplems and projects. The vehicles were generally well prepared, possibly the result of the great technical advice on our
forums. There were a few unlucky participants who experienced rollovers. Charles Stein and BJ Mcdonald (Beezil) laid them on their sides, and Greg Gavel (C-Rok) did a spectacular back flip onto his top, and they were all able to continue wheeling the rest of the week.I'd like to thank the many people who put in time and hard work to make this event possible. Forgive me for not naming everyone, especially all of the trail leaders. Thanks to Dan Riggs who was co-coordinator, his creativity, ideas, and hard work helped to make this a class event. Heather and Kevin Wallace did a fabulous job with the Sweepstakes XJ, plus Heather worked on the event raffle and handled registration at the event, we couldn't have done it without her. Keith Orr did the pre-registrations, which was a large and time consuming task. Jeff Turner spent countless hours both before and at the event as our Trail Coordinator. Mike Gianonne took care of all the safety checks, which was a huge commitment on his part, and much appreciated. Adam Buzecky (Chewbaca) put together our get acquainted dinner on Tuesday, with help from cooks BJ Mcdonald, Sean Rose, Keven Patty, and others. Jesse Rivers, Andy Fecko, and the Sierra chapter did a great job with the Show and Shine, with a special thanks to the efforts put in by all the judges. Grant and Carol Barclay handled the food at the Show and Shine. Mil Thornton arranged and cooked for our dinner Friday night, with help from the many SoCal folks. Thanks to Don Woodard, Tom Roche, and Remi Rundzio for helping with anything that was needed, and the many who helped at the registration and trail sign up tables. I know I've left some people out here, but thanks to everyone who participated in some way to make the 20th Anniversary Celebration an overwhelming success.
Richard "Goatman" Gauthier
Event Coordinator
Past President
Last edited:
