By Quinn & Heather Thomas

Thanksgiving at Truckhaven. WOW! What can I say? We had a blast. We had a great turnout this year at Truckhaven and saw a lot of new faces. Heather and I drove out on Friday morning. We were only expecting a couple of people to met us at 5:45 am. To my surprise we had nine vehicles show up. Those included were: Heather and Myself, Dean, Dan, Tom, Jack, Jennifer, John Luck, Barbara Stevens and her son Bill, and visitors Vern and Marla. We all met at Green River Drive and drove out to Cabazon together. We had breakfast at Cabazon and then headed out to Indio for gas. After a brief gas stop we then headed for Truckhaven. The ride was uneventful as they usually are. Once we arrived at Truckhaven, we met up with Chris who was Staying in Borrego Springs, and coming out for the day. Once camp was set up, we all headed out for a run. The day started out a little slow. Vern had discovered something wrong with his Samurai. Vern found something wrong with the front end, and we didn’t leave for the run until around noon. Vern decided to try out the trails in two wheel drive. We took it easy for first hour so everyone could get used to the terrain. Then the fun Began! The goal was to have a good time for everyone; I tried to keep the run at a skill level for the group. During the run, I found some tight canyons and challenging obstacles for anyone interested. Last year Dean and I tried to get each other stuck. So this year we continued with the fun. After a few challenges we were having such a good time. Dean even invented a new game. He called this game "Stump The Chump". Each time the leader gets any vehicle stuck, the driver of that vehicle gets a point marked against him (or her). And if the leader gets stuck, he (or she) gets a point marked against him (or herself). Well it was darn hard to get Dean stuck. He only got stuck once, and only went around one canyon. We were just having a good time challenging ourselves. The rest of the day was a real good time. It was nice to see everyone have a good time on the run. It was nice seeing Barbara and Bill having a blast in their Jeep. They tried all of the challenges and had a great time. It was also nice seeing the return of John Luck and Jack to the trail. Jack was out in his recently re-powered Toyota (sporting a Vortec V6). I guess we call it Chevota now? Nice job on the CLEAN engine conversion Taco! After about five hours on the trail everybody decided we should head to camp before dark.

After everybody was done with dinner, we had a great campfire. The best part was when Barbara and Bill taught us some new campfire games. They were a blast. After we learned how to "go to the moon", figure out whether "two were up, or down, or one up and one down" and how to play "Raisins Raisins", we all retired for the evening. If you were there then you are probably laughing at the thought of "Raisins Raisins" or the "two up" game. Later that night Corey and Dana arrived sometime after I went to bed. I was told that it was about nine o’clock.

The next day we had four more vehicles show up. Andy and Pete showed up bright and early. And Brian in a Sami, along with Tom’s friend in a Sami, whose name I can't remember (Sorry). We went out and continued day two of "Stump the Chump". We had 13 vehicles on Saturday. We had a great trail ride all day and found lots of new challenges and canyons to carve. One of the most memorable parts of Saturday was at the very end. I found an old canyon that hadn't been used in a while (probably years). It was very off-camber and steep in parts. I had to really work at getting up this thing. If my locker had been working It probably would have been much easier. After I worked at it for a while, and knocked down some of the high spots, the new trail started to take its shape. Dean came up after me, and Tom after him. Then when we were up, Corey in his Toyota truck decided to give it a shot. After working at it for a while and deciding to back down, he got stuck on the way down. After trying to get unstuck, he decided to try up one more time. We spotted him up a different line and champion he became. Very impressive! Corey was almost at the top when he peeled the left front tire off the bead. He was so close to the top of that monstrosity of a climb! After we popped his tire back on the bead, Corey got going in no time. Here he needed only a small tug to get to the top. Great job Corey. Soon after everyone else finished playing, we headed back for camp. After dinner, we had another great campfire.

We watched motorcycle movies on Dean's T.V. at the campfire! We hooked it up on the hood of Jack’s truck. When the movies were over we played Barbara's games for the sake of all of the new people who were sharing the campfire. I wish that Barbara could have seen all the fun we had with Corey and Dana on "Raisins Raisins". It was a roll! We all laughed really hard. Are those who played, laughing as hard as I am right now just thinking about it? If you were there, don't tell anyone about the game so we can play it again at some future campfire. There were a lot of people from the club not at the fire that night. We will have fun for months with this one. Thanks Barbara and Bill.

The next morning we all packed up and started for home. I lost another alternator on the way home. I just replaced it three months ago. Oh well. I had to stop every hour and charge the battery for 15 minutes. Thank you Corey for all of the charges! And thank God for Optima Batteries. After the long ride home, I received a replacement alternator for the bad one which was under a life-time warranty. This was a great trip! Thanks to everyone for coming out and making this a very memorable trip. I look forward to next year at the same place and the same time! C-ya for now, Quinn "Macgyver" Thomas, and co-writer "Crash."

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