OCC's primary activities are safe and prepared OHV driving, trail maintenance, helping each other build our OHV rigs, socializing, camping, and fighting the OHV road closures. OCC is a close-knit group of people who enjoy the company of friends. Members and guests are always encouraged to bring their families to club events, "Wrench-a-thons" to repair or modify your rig, or to just learn by helping out others to get together when you can't make it to the trail.
Founded in Jan 1997, The Off-Camber Crawlers, Inc. (OCC) is a group of professional individuals, mostly from Washington, DC and its surrounding areas, who are interested in off-road driving and enjoying the great outdoors with friends.
We meet once a month at 6:30pm typically on the second Sunday of the month. Check our calendar for the next meeting or trail ride. We meet at Kilroy's in Springfield.
Regular Monthly meetings are held at Kilroy's in Springfield, VA (5250 Port Royal Rd, Springfield, VA 22151). The meetings are on the enclosed deck in the rear of the restaurant. Most folks drive around and park behind the shopping center and enter the deck from the back of the building. The meetings are typically held on the second Sunday of the month at 6:30pm, but we do move them around for holidays or venue conflicts, so be sure to check the calendar.
This year the 2013 OCC Spring Run to Rausch Creek proved to be quite an exclusive affair with only a few elite members being permitted (by their busy lives) to participate. There were 8 rigs in our parade.
OCC Member Participants included: > Josh Sprinkle -- 2008 JK with 4-inch lift and B/A tires > Wes Lunsford -- in the aforementioned JK > Melissa Burn -- in the aforementioned JK
Non-members included: < Dame Helen Jean Burn (Melissa's 87 yr old mother) -- in the aforementioned JK < Mr. Shelly Roden -- some kind of red YJ < Ms. Sherry Roden -- a 90-something Cherokee type < Paul -- some kind of red jeep, maybe another YJ < Brad and his son -- some kind of jeep with round headlights < An old man and teenage girl -- 2013 Gray Rubicon with 125 miles on it, worth at least $50K. < Jeff and his girlfriend Linda -- some kind of silver jeep with round headlights, stock, struggled a bit on green/blue trails < some other guy in a fancy new, nicely lifted pickup truck, who arrived late
THE REPORT PART: Josh, Wes and I only had the one Jeep so we needed to find someone else to ride with. The RC people recommended we ride with "Right Coast Jeeps" (RCJ) since we were looking for green trails and their mission in life is to introduce newbies and stock vehicles to the offroading life. Well, I was looking for green trails because I didn't want to kill my 87 yr old mother on her first offroad adventure. Josh really wanted to test out his recnt lift but he very patiently stuck to green for me and Dame HJ. In any case, of the non-OCC drivers I listed above, Shelly, Sherry and Paul are leaders of RCJ.
For those who care, we were on Trails A, E and H most of the time and we were out for about 6 hours. Any time we weren't on those trails, I don't know where we were. Josh got a spot in the lineup right behind the $50K brand new Rubi, and we watched it do really well. I'm not sure we would've been disappointed to see it suffer a little road rash, as pretty as it was.
A few of the stock jeeps had some trouble. The RCJ leaders cruised through, as did Josh and the $50K Rubi. Rausch Creek was crazy busy so we stopped more often for traffic jams than for real obstacles. Only one rig broke and it belongs to Sherry. she busted a control arm bracket but they managed to bungee it back together and she limped home under her own power. Very impressive! Driving back, the Parade became a Funeral Procession. We bailed out of RC at the property corner near Rt 209 and took roads back, which we've never done before, to keep an eye on the wounded Cherokee.
Of course you want to know how my Mom did: She had a blast! We weren't very far up the trail when the rock thunks and mud puddles started. Sitting in the front passenger seat so she had things to hang on to, she giggled and laughed like a crazy person. I'd been a little worried about her getting banged around (she didn't). Every time we got to an especially rough patch, Wes put his hand up to keep her head from banging into the door. Wasn't that nice?
As the day wore on, HJ got a little tired of sitting and waiting for things ("You spend more time waiting than driving!"), and her enthusiasm for being banged around dampened a bit. By the afternoon, she was giving Josh the hairy eye when he aimed for an obstacle. "You took the most difficult route on purpose!" "You drove fast through that puddle on purpose!" While she really enjoyed herself, she says she doesn't understand why anyone would do this for fun but she's super glad she went.
AND, we had dinner and peanut butter milkshakes at The Red Lion Cafe!
The End.
FINAL NOTE: There was a burn ban in place and, while some dastardly individuals insisted on having a huge campfire anyway, that fire was nowhere near Josh & Wes's tent or the OCC banner, which was proudly displayed.
The OCC Email Forum/List is truly the central vein of OCC. A substantial portion of the OCC community is our mailing list. This is where we meet and greet everyone. Questions are posted, answers are given. Trips are setup, meetings times coordinated. Technical questions are posted by newcomers and the old-timers provide years of experience.
Everyone is welcome, so please feel free to post any questions or responses on our list. This is an email list for the Off-Camber Crawlers off road club, you will be a guest for 6 months. Please use that time to decide if this club is right for you. At the end of the 6 months we hope you will have joined or declared your intention to join. If your 6 months pass and you have not made an attempt to join you will be removed from the list.
Prepping the YJ for a complete Monstaliner paint job.
I started on Saturday afternoon. With 3M scuff pads I sanded the front fenders, grill, hood and firewall. After a degreasing and a wipe down with M.E.K. I painted the inside surfaces with Grey Chassis Saver. Five hours later I applied a second coat. Sunday morning I stared to reassemble the front end parts I panted the day before. Peter Converse arrived as I was finishing the fenders and helped me get the hood on and aligned. We then stared to sand the rest of the body with the 3M pads. I had already painted the inside of the tub. That Chassis Saver was very hard to scuff up. The rest of the tub with the stock paint scuffed up very easily. Pizza for lunch was good. After the gloss was removed from all of the body surfaces we gave the entire Jeep a good degreasing. While it dried in the warm sun we headed to the Dollar Store to get some cheap paint brushes and microfiber rags. We also stopped for a cup of coffee. A thorough wipe down with M.E.K. and we started to paint the whole Jeep body inside and outside including the half doors. After we finished painting we pushed the Jeep back out into the sun to see the final base coat job. About 5 PM we headed home. Monday after work I touched up a few spots. Thank You Peter for the help all day!!
