First let me echo the compliments to Jon, Rob and Scott for doing an excellent job on the class sessions. We had a good showing and a great weekend. I'll let Scott earn his trail boss points by posting the trip reports for the trails he led both days, but I'll mention the 101 group had a blast.

On Sunday the 10 remaining rigs split into two groups, Scott taking the slightly more 101 oriented group, and I took a few guys and gals looking to do just a little more. Our group consisted of

Charles Galpin - '94 D90 on 33's, Chip Wood passenger
Virgil Moore - XJ something on 35's
Dan & Beth Cubbage - 2000 Jeep XJ on 33's iirc
Brian McDonough - '06 Rubi LJ on 37's!

We went up trickle, up cobra (skipping the Corum section since Brian was wheeling for his second time - the first being Saturday), went down u-turn easy, up u-turn hard, then followed upper road out.

As we were coming off the mountain I got a call from Scott telling us about Howard's oil pan damage. Once back to camp I grabbed some oil and the trail welding kit in case it would be needed and Chip's battery and headed over to Cobra, but by the time we got there they were almost off the trail and the rtv sealant was holding. We followed the group back to camp, aired up and did some campsite cleanup and headed home.

Brian has a very nicely built up rig (lots of AEV stuff) but I must mention how well he did for a first timer. I know 37's helped him, but I have seen people with built rigs struggle (in other words the rig isn't everything) and he truly handled it well. He claims he scraped the underside once or twice but I think he was just saying that to make me feel better since I never saw or heard it once. Beth and Dan did great too, and I think the group was a good size and a well matched set of vehicles.

Again it was another great wheeling weekend, with great weather and a great time around the campfire too. Chip contributed most of the dinner both nights so a special thanks to him for that. I ate like a pig but i wasn't alone ;)

charles