By: Heather (Double Nickel) Thomas

The day started off nice and peaceful. We met up with Dean, Clutch, and Tom with his wife Marilyn, on the Chapman/55 freeway on-ramp. Later down the road Mike Thomas joined us at the Weir Canyon on-ramp. The drive out to Tiffany’s was rather relaxing and enjoyable. When we pulled into the parking lot at Tiffany’s, we discovered that Ken was also behind us with his wife, Chris, and their daughter, Katelyn. Keith arrived at Tiffany’s prior to the rest of us. Therefore, he thoughtfully reserved a table for everyone. Thanks Keith!

After breakfast was served and eaten, we went across the bridge and obtained fuel. We then drove up Highway 138 to a small outcove where we aired down our tires and had a small drivers meeting. The driver meeting basically consisted of, "O.K. Lets go have fun!"

Since this was a lady’s run, all of the ladies were obligated to be up front. The order of the drivers were (from first to last) Heather, Marilyn, Chris, Dean, Clutch, Mike, and lastly Keith. I must tell you that Keith and Dean wanted to be up front with the girls very badly. So bad that they brought dresses. Keith actually went all out and had water filled balloons for substitute breasts. What a guy! Or should I say Gal? Anyhow thanks for the support!

We started on the trail full of enthusiasm and spunk. We were about three or four minutes into the first climb, when Dean shattered a hub. After removing a portion of the broken hub, and checking the other, Good Old Macgyver made magic with the duct tape and fixed the broken hub. Within an hour we were back on the trail. Of course Dean was forced to learn how to wheel again, since he didn’t have his front lockers to rely on. (Ha Ha!) Well I think that he had a lot of fun in "three wheel drive". The rest of the run was just beautiful! There were bright purple, yellow and blue flowers along the trail. Everything seemed to be in full bloom. The sky was full of wispy clouds, which were against a crisp blue sky. There was a nice breeze that was allowing us to stay cool. And a view that was so picture perfect, it could have been a Hollywood backdrop.

We stopped for lunch around one o’clock. While most of us were eating, others were attempting a steep hill climb just above us. Let me describe this hill for you. First it starts out as a 30 degree, loose gravel and sand type of a hill. At about mid-way it twists slightly to the right and has a rather large boulder acting as a 12 to 15 inch step. After the step, the hill inclines about 10 degrees and twists still more to the right. It later connects with the road that we came down on. The first to brave the hill was none other than Clutch. (Although, I don’t remember smelling one while he was attempting the hill climb). He tried to climb the hill about three times before he admitted defeat. However, he did a great job, and attained a distance just 10 feet short of the large rock step. Next to pursue the monstrosity was yours truly. Yes, I went for it too! Well, first I lined up at the bottom of the hill. Next I sized up the climb. And then I just went for it. On my first try I managed to attain a minus five feet from the great rock step. While I was up there I tried to get a better grip on the small rocks that were available to me. Alas, no avail. So I backed down the slightly twisty road. Back at the bottom I took a better look at the avenger above me. No more than 45 seconds passed when...... off I went again! As my Jeep bounced and tried desperately to grip the loose dirt beneath it, I thought for a second that my Husband might be on the ground behind me having a full cardiac arrest. Then I thought, "slow down before you hit that boulder"! Well, I made it to the step, which was actually more like a steep rock projection. However, my ‘97 Jeep, nor my newly developing skill, would get me over that rock on that day. Maybe next time. The last to try the nasty hill was Ken Krieger in his early Bronco. He, too, tried several times without avail. Although, he did make it about the same distance as Clutch. We all tried our best, and that’s what counts!

As we left the lunch spot, we took one last look at Disappointment Hill, and went on our way. The remainder of the trail was very pretty and very relaxing. At the end of the trail Tom, Marilyn, Clutch, and Mike decided that they wanted more wheeling. Tom headed them off onto another trail not far from Silverwood Lake. I haven’t heard how that run went yet, but I’m sure that it went well. Overall I thought that we all had a great time. For some reason this run was a bit more lax than the rest I’ve been on. We really didn’t watch the clock or worry too much about what time we got home. We just let time pass - just as sometimes, maybe it should.