I know this isn't an official run, but I thought I would give the club a run report anyhow...

Our run began on Friday morning with a meeting at the All J Products shop in Riverside. When we arrived, Quinn and Steve had just finished loading their motor home and they were ready to pull out. Steve was pulling his TJ with the motor home, Quinn was driving Heather's TJ, and we were in Redman's CJ. We hit the highway and had a very uneventful (the best kind!) drive to Truckhaven. We arrived at Truckhaven around 12 noon, and I was amazed at the amount of vehicles that were already there. I could tell this was going to be a fun run!

After setting up camp, we headed over to register and wait in the safety inspection line. This process wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Tierra Del Sol was very well prepared and had plenty of officials on hand to perform the inspections. After registering, we helped Quinn and Steve setup their booth in the vendor display area.

We were then free to drive around and see some of the vehicles in attendance. There were vehicles of all kinds, from stock Wranglers and Cherokees, to full-blown custom Snipers. After checking out the cars and playing on some of the rails around camp, we hit the tent and rested up for the big day.

When we woke up on Saturday morning, I couldn't believe how many vehicles had arrived throughout the night. I estimate that there were probably 1500 4-wheel drives in the Truckhaven area for this run. Not all of the vehicles had registered for the trail ride, as some opted to travel their own trails for the day; but word was there were over 1000 vehicles registered for the run. As we headed over to get in line for the run, we found approximately 700-800 cars already ahead of us. Apparently people had been lining up since midnight! At first I was skeptical about attending a run with so many vehicles, but after driving all the way to Truckhaven, I was ready for some wheelin'!

The run started as scheduled at 8:00 am. We drove up the wash (toward Highway 86), turned left, and headed along the highway for approximately 1.5 miles. It was fun to see the reaction of people on the highway as they drove by a line of approximately 1000 vehicles caravanning to the trail!

We then turned left toward the heart of Truckhaven. As we made this turn, Tierra Del Sol had officials positioned to divide the line of vehicles up. The officials sent some vehicles farther down the highway before letting them turn in toward the trail. This seemed to help relieve congestion on the trail.

The trail was well marked with green flags for easy obstacles and bypasses, red flags for difficult trails that required lockers, and blue flags for difficult trails that required lockers and might cause vehicle body damage. Naturally we were hunting for the blue flags! For the first few obstacles we took the green flag bypasses and worked our way up in line. By not waiting behind 500 cars to climb one hill, we were able to work our way into a smaller pack of vehicles. We found that this was a really fun way to run this trail. The Tierra Del Sol Club allowed the drivers on the trail to "break-off" into their own packs at any time. They wanted everyone to have a good time, not just drive in one big single-file line.

The first difficult obstacle that we encountered was a typical Truckhaven obstacle. It was a winding pass, through a narrow canyon that was very uneven. If you have never been to Truckhaven, I don't know how else to describe it. The trails there require the most flex and articulation of any single trail that I have personally traveled. Some trails may have one or two spots that require good articulation, but Truckhaven has the most uneven terrain. If you have been to Truckhaven you know what I mean. We managed to make it through the obstacle without a problem, thanks to the new ARB's and Claws that we had installed on Redman's CJ the week before.

We continued on the trail, encountering many exciting and challenging obstacles. Some were easier than others, but all difficult obstacles were monitored by officials at all times.

The part of the Tierra Del Sol run that I enjoyed the most was getting the chance to meet new people. With some waiting time at each obstacle you were able to get out of your vehicle and mingle with the other wheelers. It was fun to exchange stories and compare vehicles with people from all over Southern California.
We finished out the trail and headed back toward camp. We arrived back at camp at approximately 2 p.m. We ate some lunch and hit the tent for a nap before the big raffle.

The raffle started promptly at 7 p.m., and the first prize up was a brand new Atlas II transfer case! They called the ticket number and nobody answered. After waiting a few minutes they "burned" the ticket and drew a new number, much to the delight of the crowd. The raffle seemed to last forever, as prize after prize was given away. Unfortunately, nobody from the Dirt Devils won anything. After the raffle, we once again headed for the tent and called it a night.

The next morning we left early trying to beat the very dark clouds on the horizon; unfortunately, we got caught in a downpour for most of the drive home. I told Redman to buy that new soft top!

Next year I would like to see the Dirt Devil's represented at this run. I encountered several people on the trail who expressed an interest in joining a four-wheel drive club; they just didn't know how to go about it. Even though it is a very large run, it would be a good chance to show the other wheelers from Southern California what "4-wheelin' the Dirt Devils way" is all about (and possibly recruit some new members)!

Until next time,
Michael "Redman Jr." Yarbrough