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On this page you will find event reviews like, four wheeling trips, show n' shines, Jeep Stuff acres party's, figure eight racing, etc. If you want to see the race Jeep's in action check out the
Tuff Truck Event Reviews page.  2003 EVENT REVIEWS THANKSGIVING LONG WEEKEND - October 2003
The first day we headed to Margaret Lake were we stopped for lunch. From there we continued towards Hunter Valley and then returned back Cabin Creek trail and then Meadow Creek back to camp. It was an awesome day, we arrived back to camp at 8:00pm as Ken had found a round about trail that was very muddy that got him stuck and broke a u-joint in his driveshaft. Lucky for the wonder winch I was able to pull him out and get us back to camp for some long overdue dinner.
Sunday we thought we'd head to the South Ghost for the day and take the riverbed trail. We took a few trails over to the South Ghost as Ken had decided to leave the rough riding Blazer at camp and enjoy the day on the quad. The trails were great and we let Tyler and Miriah do the last part of the trail on the quad so they were in 4 wheelin heaven. Again we were home at about 7pm and settled into a few drinks and dinner. All in all a very good weekend was had by all with no "oh my gosh" stories to tell.
SEPTEMBER LONG WEEKEND - September 2003
Saturday morning our gang of 13 trucks took the back trail to the bog which is always good for some variety. We made some pretty good time through the Meadow Creek part of the trail with no racing down the "runway" and no nose diving purple Jeeps (see July long update for that story). Its taking a little getting used to the fact that I am not driving "Miss" Behavin' Too on 38" Swampers and that in fact I have 32" tires and shouldn't take the same route as I used to. 45 minutes later a very very dirty Scott was able to remove my very stuck Tee-G from a big hole. Both Jeeps weighed a few hundred pounds more after that excursion but what's wheelin' if you don't get muddy. By the time we reached the bog everyone was still entact and having a great time, we took some time to say hello and moved on to take Meadow Creek back to camp. Some bad news lost us our buddy Chad that evening for the weekend, we were all sorry for your and Kara's loss. The evening was fairly mellow after receiving such bad news until our Hunter Valley buddies showed up with many laughs and a hungry Steve that grossed us all out by snacking on a June Bug for bucks. The next day the gang opted for Cow Lake, as we had kids on quads and a few just off-road registered trucks we took the trail across from camp to the trail head. This short portion of the trail took a while as we began to experience some difficulties as Dean's engine developed a small knock and Scott sprung an oil leak. Eventually we started the climb of the first hill, all was well until we started the decline of the rutted hill when Jimmy found himself on one front wheel hoping gravity would stay on his side. Up the hill in reverse went Super Tee-G and I to winch Jimmy back down. With some bad luck and a few winch sessions Jimmy ended up at the bottom of the hill but with a blown up rear diff and broken front axle. The rest of the trip would be a challenge as he would need to be towed up most of the hills. The next disaster was a golf ball sized hole in Mike's 44" Bogger. Super Tee-G made the trip up and down the trail a few times with ether, patch kit and finally a spare 44" tire from camp. By the 3rd trip of the Cowlake trail Super Tee-G was overheating plugged full of mud and had some serious starting and running issues. 4 hours later we limped her back to Mike and Cheryl and gang with the spare tire snuggly secured in the back of the Jeep. 12am and we headed for camp but by then Super Tee-G had been filled full of mud and goo water to prevent engine seizure and she was constantly overheating. We made it to Cow Lake and were able to use Chet's water extinguisher to clean out the rad as much as possible. We managed to make it back to camp by 1am to discover Kimmy and Scott had found a dirt bike rider wrapped around a tree and helped him get back to the gravelpit and get medical assistance. After their dilemma they headed back to camp to find our buddies from Hunter Valley waiting for the party to start. Nathan was kind enough to teach Kimmy how to "chug" three Smirnoff Ice in a matter of minutes by the time we got back to camp the Hunter Valley gang was gone, Kimmy was gooned and Kitten Mitten had been kidnapped! Monday we tried to head out on trail but Kimmy and Tee-G were overheating badly so we headed for home. A 53' trailer and I still needed to call a tow truck from Cochrane to get home!!! Lessons Learned that weekend...44's do fit stock Jeeps (in the back one at a time of course) Kitten Mitten will be rescued, planning has already commenced, Nathan cannot be trusted with my kids and booze :) even if they are over 18, bugs are edible cuz Choda's still alive....we think! Cow Lake can be completed in a mere 13 hours and AMA Gold memberships are the bomb! And most of all it sucks when I forget my camera cuz I missed out on some good photos to share with the website - sorry gang!
JULY LONG WEEKEND - July 2003
Saturday we headed towards Meadow Creek and the back trail to the bog. Everything was great Waiparous was quiet due to most folks not having a long weekend or attending the Highriders Challenge in Rocky. We were cruising along the open field having a bit of a open it up and have some fun when all of a sudden we came upon a ditch by the time I spotted the ditch it was too late to stop so I gave it a bit of gas, sailed through the air and bounced down for a rougher than tuff truck landing. By the time I got stopped and turned around Scott had already spotted the ditch and hit the binders hard. For one split second I saw the entire Jeep's roof as she hung in the air on the front axle debating whether or not to roll over or land back on all fours. Luckily gravity was on Scott's side and he kept the shiney side up. It was enough of a rough landing that one of the link bars lost its bolt and we needed to winch the Jeep partially over to reinstall. The rest of the trip we found ourselves with some breakage here and there, Cory the Big Toy Freak had broken and I had a release bearing pack it in and was only able to shift when I shut the vehicle off and shoved it in gear then restarted so a bunch of us headed back through four corners and lunitac lane while the others took Meadow Creek.  The next day we juggled the dogs and I hopped in with Scott and we travelled a many trails. There was just Ken on the Quad Chad, Scott and Kimmy's Jeep which was a great size group the rest of our camping buddies headed to Purty Rock for the day. All in all it was an awesome weekend even if Super Tee-G only enjoyed one day on trail.     MAY LONG WEEKEND - May 2003
 Saturday was the annual RMBW Poker Run and I was anxious to try out the new TJ. Kimmy was looking forward to the weekend also but was still a bit nervous from her endo the week before. We all drew our poker hands before we headed out for the day but weren't able to see what hand we had until we returned. We left camp in the morning and headed towards Cow Lake trail. It was a big group but a good day was had by all until we hit the meadow behind the gravel pit and many people got stuck. The worst stuck we had was Chet, it took 3 big trucks with winches snatchblocked to get him unstuck but not before his front diff was almost pulled out from under him. The last of the group didn't make it back until after 10:30 so we waited to do the poker run till Sunday. Lady luck was on my side yet again as I ended up with one of the winning hands!  Sunday we all split into smaller groups and headed out on seperate runs. Our group did the falls, and on the way back we took Meadow Creek. It was an outstanding day for everyone!    Later that evening we got into some yuck-a- flux but we'll save that story for another time. I was extremely happy with my new TJ and Ken quite liked his new quad! All and All another fantastic weekend was had! OOPS ROLL OVER - May 2003
A frantic Kimmy called us for help, all we got out of the conversation was "lost control in the ditch getting water inside" we didn't catch the flipped and Jeep filling with water part. When we arrived with tow rope to pull her from the ditch we were absolutely mortified to see her being pulled from the upside down wreck and soaked to the bone. I had the poor girl stripped down to nothing wrapped in blankets and jackets trying to prevent hypothermia before she was even 10 feet from the Jeep. A neighbor had heard the comotion of her alarm going off and approached the Jeep expecting to find no-one in it but to his surprise when he opened the door found Kimmy trapped. It scared the crap outta him when she grabbed him cuz he accidently dropped the door on her head, which incidentally was the only injury she sustained from the accident.   We raced home to get her warmed up and dressed and let the girls know at work she wouldn't be in. We also grabbed the trailer and bobcat as a recovery was now in order. Ken went back while I sat with Kimmy to make sure she didn't go into shock and to help warm her up slowly until Grandma was able to come and sit with her. By the time I got back the Jeep was out but the road had given way yet again and our bobcat was taking swimming lessons.  It took the neighbors John Deer to tug us out and it didn't seem to do too much damage to the unit having it under water for so long. As for Kimmy she recovered with a small headache and an "I'll never drive again" or at least for 24 hours :). I think it also aged me a few more years as it scared the bejeezus outta me. 
EASTER WHEELIN' - April 2003  Well...Easter Long weekend came and we decided to stay home and work on "Miss" Behavin' Too and get that big block installed. As we all know, all work and no play makes Ken a cranky, I mean dull boy! (Don't tell him I said so!). So Friday evening after spending all day helping customers and setting the big block, tranny and t-case in place we thought we go for a little evening tour through the swamp with my lil' Cherokee. After 5 minutes we realized that we were very very stuck. Ken grabbed "All Juiced Up" to tow the XJ out but when he thought we were on dry ground found that both of us were sinking before we could even move an inch. 4 hours and 13 chains later the Dually had both of us out. It was a long tug but the only solid ground was on the road so we stretched the chains across the field and had the dually inch us ahead bit by bit. That old work horse dually didn't even break a sweat! We continued through the weekend working away until Ken's son Tyler asked if he too could go for a ride through the swamp as he had missed out on Friday's events. So how could we say no? We had a few hours to kill before going to Grams and Granps for Turkey dinner. All was well, we had been sticking to the outside for about 15 minutes when all of a sudden we sunk.  Ken bravely hopped into "All Juiced Up" to come to my lil' Cherokee's rescue (not before Tyler retrieved our rubber boots...that boy is always prepared for wheelin...I think he sleeps in his rubber boots!)  Enough of that sissy enclosed leather filled fully loaded XJ, this time Tyler wanted to ride with his Daddy in the open top bogger mobile... what a mistake... It sure makes for one muddy 8 year old.  Luckily I wasn't too badly stuck so with a small tug I was out, we parked the toys and headed into town to fill our bellies. So we did manage to get some mudding in at the weekend, we had fun and out of it we got a new pressure washer on Monday to help clean up our kids, no we let Tyler have a shower in the house the washer is for the Jeeps!  2002 EVENT REVIEWS THANKSGIVING WHEELIN' - October 13, 2002  Well I have to say Thanksgiving weekend could have been better, in a lot of ways it sucked! I spent most of the weekend in front of the Computer transferring all the Jeep Stuff book keeping stuff into my "new" software as year end is quickly approaching. But Ken, Kimmy and myself did manage to break away for Sunday to visit our friends the Ground Pounders at the Ghost Airstrip. We were just going to tour around and visit friends camp to camp but at the last minute Ken decided we'd join them on what they said would be a girly run. We headed out in the luxurious Chickoree (that's a Cherokee owned by a chick  ) to see what the trails had in store and how my new Jeep worked. The plan was, if it was too bad we'd just turn around. I should have known this was going to turn into a bad day when my very awesome Timmy's French Vanilla Cappuccino landed on my lap burning my butt before we even left the city...Brave Christine hopped in with us and had a few close-ups with super dog Rex who just can't sit still while wheelin' or sitting between pretty girls! We had a few troubles climbing the first hill but with a bit of a run at it and some raw 4 litre power we made it to the top and continued on. The day was gorgeous and the trail ride was fun and fairly challenging for a stock Jeep. We did end up getting stuck once or twice but it was just a high centered thing which was fixed by the odd tug. As the afternoon ticked by we seemed to have to go down many hills. It was way too late to turn back now so we made the best of it skidding sometimes uncontrollably down the hills. The brakes sucked and so did the BF Goodrich all Terrain's; I'd take a Hankook T24 any day, if they still made them!   We were told a nasty hill was coming up so Russ was nice enough to lend us 2 of his chains. So he chained his rear and we chained our front. It was a kind of McGuiver thing as the chains were designed for 33's so bungees and mechanics wire came in handy. With some clinking and clanging we made it down, it was pretty touchy with the odd bounce of this bank and that bank but we hit the bottom safely and only had one mud flap totally mangled. Off came the chains and on we went. The hills seemed get steeper and steeper and I wondered what kind of girly trail this was,one of those wrassling mongo chick types I suppose, as even our seasoned four wheeler Ken was getting quite white knuckled. We all seemed to hold our breath as we headed down a fairly good hill bouncing from side to side avoiding trees by inches, then came a big drop and this sinking "the worse is yet to come" feeling passed over me. We picked up even more speed and the Jeep was totally out of control, there was dead silence in the Jeep until Ken said the Jeep had stalled and he was wrestling with the steering wheel trying desperately to make the corner and avoid the trees that seemed to have doubled in size. I was about to reach over and restart the Jeep and just then we all saw it at once... a group of Jeeps right at the corner STOPPED! Ken hit the horn... like they could go anywhere... in a moments notice he opted for a tree rather than 4 Jeeps...Ker-fricken-bang we came to a dead stop after what I am guessing was about a speed of 50 kms an hour.  Wow! A few bystanders that were watching in horror (owners of what would have been the first Jeep contacted) came rushing to us to make sure we were alright. Christine had some seatbelt burn and a stiff back, I jammed my knee into the dash trying to protect Rex who had joined me in the front and everyone else appeared to be fairly unscathed... except my precious Jeep. Sadly we were less than a kilometer from the road. In 15 years of wheelin' this was my first body damage, besides Rocky Mountain Pin striping (you know from the trees), damn it hurt - BAD!!  Luckily an awesome YJ came to our rescue and with the help of some hard working "newbee" wheelers we snatched the Jeep to a tree and pulled her back a few feet and fitted her with her jewelry, I mean chains, again!  Seven of us and one dog walked down, I should I say rode our butts down the rest of the way while Ken whooped and hollered as he flew down in the Jeep, bouncing from side to side, flinging a tire chain into the bush. Shiny side of the Jeep was still facing up though, thankfully.  We headed back to camp with the Jeep making some odd noises and settled in to a deep fried turkey dinner. Which was enjoyable till the little fella across from me that had been feeling a little under the weather tossed his cookies at the table, leaving me and my weak stomach begging to leave right away. I made it to Benchlands before copying him and experiencing dinner a second time. Sorry for the quick exit Pounder friends I really didn't want to share that as it could have turned nasty. Thanks again for the hospitality, dinner, tugs, chains and the Band-Aid for my Chickoree! For our second time out wheeling this year I'd be okay if we said it was our last...ever! The Jeep needs a hood, header panel, fan shroud, fog light and front grill. The bumper is probably straightenable as there are no kinks and we still need to find out what the awful acceleration noise is... don't follow me too closely ...just in case! It could have been much worse and considering the speed we hit the tree with I must say we came up on the winning end, if there is a winning end when you get in to an accident. In our case though we avoided the accident and experienced an "on purpose"! I'm needing a physiotherapist or is that a psychotherapist and the rest of the gang are looking for massages...even Rex! Ken even brought in the Jet tub yesterday in hopes to install it...maybe some good can come from this afterall! LOGAN'S PASS - August Long, 2002  Well this weekend we left the racers and the 4 wheelers at home and tried to get some honeymooning in. The weather sucked in Calgary and just 45 minutes West there was snow -brrr and yuck! So we headed South first thing Saturday morning. We crossed the U.S. border at 11 am and headed for Logan's Pass aka Going to the Sun Road. Ken had never been so we figured it was time he saw that wonderous countryside.  The weather was cloudy but at least there was no snow or rain. We assended the pass and saw some beautiful scenery. By the time we reached the Continental Divide we were shocked to see how the morning dew had turned into ice cyrstals on all the foilage. It was damn cold up there. But braving the cold was worth it as I spotted a Mountain Goat and he humored me while I took a few photos of him from the other side of the highway.  The clouds lifted right in front of our eyes and the trip down through the pass was glorious, sun shining and warm enough for no coat and mits!  On the other side of the Logan's Pass we visited a town called East Glacier, bought a couple of souveniers for the house and one for Ken's belly and headed for home back up and over the pass. By this time it was 4 o'clock and the clouds had lifted for our whole journey so Ken got to enjoy the grandeur of the Pass without the tips of the mountains being engulfed in clouds. Sadly we didn't cross the Canadian border till 6:30 and by that time not a single hotel room was available for us so we had to cancel our plans on Waterton and the Boat Ride for the following day and head for home instead. Note to self: No matter what, always decide where you will stay and pre-book a room just in case - no more playing it by ear! Even though our trip was cut short we did do something the following day that we never get to do since we opened the business - we sat on our butts all day and watched movies and ate junk food - ah the finer things in life - what a joy! Here's a few more pics from our trip....       CJA SHOW N' SHINE - July 20, 2002  Seems that July is packed full of washing and shining up the Jeeps as the Calgary Jeep Association has there annual Show n' Shine in July also. The venue is a wee bit too small for all the Jeeps that decided to participate. It would be awesome to combine this event with the RMBWA event as it would almost double the numbers as the CJA had about 70 entries and Ricky Bobs could easily hold all the 4X4's. We ventured out to the Bonavista Centre with all three Jeeps, the racers on the trailer and me driving the 4 wheeler. My new engine did its usual get hot and stay hot so we had to let it cool down a few times so we showed up late. This year they had the RTI ramp a tire pit and a Suzuki for beating and crushing. Clayton was ready to take Tim on again and it looked like at the ramp off he had beat him. To all of our surprise Tim beat Clayton by 2 degrees. Unfortunately they measured Clayton's wheel base after he ramped so the side that was measured had extended itself more than 3 inches - that's Clayton's story anyways... . But for anyone that has seen this giant slinky in action its a very believable story! We ended up with a bit of an afternoon shower which cooled everything down. Then we had the award and raffle prizes. Unfortunately we didn't stick around for the Suzuki crushing contest which I understand was pretty amazing until Clayton got high centered on the Suzuki. Good job CJA on organizing another successful event. I'd also like to give special thanks to Arron (Still Bully) for the use of his pictures as I somehow forgot my camera that day. Here's a few pics of his sweet Jeep ramping.Arron ramped a 1200...
 Amazingly the tire didn't come off the rim!  MR. & MRS. STUFF GET HITCHED - July 13, 2002  We have been getting quite a few inquires about the wedding from friends and customers wanting to see some pictures. Here's a few out of the hundreds I have. Special thanks to Theresa Huarte and Doug Kletke who spent the day taking video and photos for us. The day was a great success thanks to many people that helped out with the prep work and the day of the wedding. The party afterwards was great too, we had celebrities like Mac Daddy and Rescue Ranger in attendance and there was even a spotting of the famous 6-Pack race car driver Cordell Williamsen! Thanks to eveyone that came out and helped celebrate our special day. Also a big thanks to Vince and Karen d'Eon who took care of the bar, everyone that took pictures and gave me copies and everyone that brought very generous wonderful gifts. THANK YOU! I'd also like to thank Mom and Dad and all of our family and friends that busted their butts helping with wedding pre during and after wedding preparation - I know we couldn't have done it without you! And thanks to all those that drove across Canada, those who flew half way around the continent and those that drove a few minutes across the City to be with us on our very special day!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU EVERYONE!!   RMBWA SHOW N' SHINE - July 6, 2002  What an amazing day and turn out the Rocky Mountian Big Wheels Association had. I'm not a 100 % sure but I think the Association had about 100 entry's for this years event. Not only did they have 4 Wheel Parts bring the RTI ramp but this year there was a teeter totter built by Tim Garton and a dunk tank. Awards were given to the Ramp Champ, Teeter Totter Champ and People's Choice for the best of the show. Tim Dzaman walked away victorious again on the RTI ramp even though Clayton tried to give him a run for his money. I'm not sure who won the teeter totter competition but I do know who won people's choice as that plaque is hanging on my wall at home! All our hard work paid off and "Miss" Behavin' Too turned out real purty and managed to get a few votes in her favor. It was a really nice award to win as this Jeep has never won any trophies, the question now is, should she remain a pavement princess or will she end up in the bush. Along with the plaques the winners received a really nice Ricky Bob Raceland Denim shirt, which Ken keeps stealing on me! This venue was awesome and I hope we can have the Show N' Shine there again next year as we were treated well and given some great prizes too! Be sure and check out Ricky Bob Raceland as they have lots of KEWL toys and games there! Here's "Miss" Behavin' Too trying the teeter totter
 And now a turn for Still "Miss" Behavin'  Here's Ken and "All Juiced Up" on the ramp  The ramp off competition...Clayton  VS. Wolf359 - Tim....who takes Ramp Champ again!  JULY LONG WEEKEND - July 1, 2002  While everyone was off four wheelin' and camping in the glorious back country, Ken and I stayed at Jeep Stuff Acres and got the "Miss" Behavin' Too Jeep ready for paint, picked up some of my family from the airport as they have flown in from Ireland for the wedding, painted the Jeep, had a family BBQ and took the Monday off from working to go to Race City and bash around in the figure 8 cars. I offered my cousin Adam (age 22) to take my Eldorado out for the heat race to see how he liked being a race car driver. He did really well, had a great time and managed to pull off 3rd out of 5 cars. I hope its one of the highlights of his trip to Canada, the last time he came to visit I took him for a ride in the Still "Miss" Behavin' Tuff Truck Jeep and we kinda flipped on our side during the team relay race at Ground Pounder Daze! I took over the wheel for the main event as it tends to get a bit raunchy once you get all 11 cars together and I wanted his Mum and Dad to continue to talk to me for the rest of their vacation! Ken started off in 2nd position and I pulled 8th. As soon as the flag dropped there were some crashes and by the third lap I was securely holding on to 2nd behind Kris Richelhoff in Jamie's car. It was going well until I blew my passenger front tire - of course my Eldorado is front wheel drive so you can imagine the north track turns - good thing I have been working out!!! Well at the same time my tire blew Kris blew one of his tires but he opted to pull off and fix it which then bumped me into first place. Man there was a lot of debris on the track - I even got air when I hit Jimmy's bumper! I hung tight for another few laps in the lead with Ken right behind me in second. I was coming in to the second last turn on the last lap and the engine decided it was just way too hot and it just died. No amount of begging and cranking would get her to restart. After 24 grueling laps there I was just feet from the first place victory and had to settle for 4th. Yep I still ended with forth but the champion was Ken who even tried to push my dead car around the last half lap of the track after taking the checkered flag. At least one of the caddy's in the family took home the gold - way to go Ken! MAY LONG WEEKEND- May 17 - 20, 2002  We had a really good weekend as far as weather was concerned - it rained late at night or early in the morning while we were in bed. The rest of the time sunny and warm. This year we camped at the MS camp with the Rocky Mountain Big Wheels, we enjoyed ourselves so much last year we decided to camp there again and this year was even better! Lots of kids around the same age so they had an awesome time playing together. It was decided that we would do Leisure Creek Trail as a group for the poker run, we had about 13 trucks and 7 quads.  There weren't many problems or any breakage by lunch and things were going smoothly. Until I lost 4 wheel drive going up a curved iced slope and came down hard and fast just in time to lose the brakes too. Luckily I didn't fall off the cliff or ram into the Cherokee behind me - at least I try to repack hubs. I ended up with "jack" for a poker hand, three of them to be exact which was enough to give me the best poker hand, the cash and the trophy. The next day about 10 trucks and 2 quads headed off to the bog on our "May Long back way to the bog trail" everything was good till I noticed the caps missing off the axle joint on the drivers side.  So before we headed across the bog a new outer axle was swapped in. Guess what? The other hub was not put back together right either OOOOPS! I haven't been fired but I have learned my lesson - the apprentice always needs to have her work checked by the guru mechanic of 18 years! I wouldn't mind but I have been repacking my hubs for years and have never had this happen before!  Once the axle was in I was the last truck in our group to cross the soupiest worst bog that I have ever been in. I had made it to the other side when I lost engine back pressure as the goo was up to the doors and the engine slowly died as the exhaust was at least a foot under the goo. Too much mud packed in the starter so she wouldn't restart. Ken my knight in shining rain suit waided through waist high goo to hook me up to the White Knight where Robin and Theresa (my Knight in shining Blazer) winched my sorry stuck 4,300 pounds of unmovable Jeep out of the way. Thanks guys you saved me big time! Also thanks to all the drunks that advised me to help with the winching by spinning my tires... if she would have started I could have got myself out!! So after a few hours of tugging and winching out I came and a new starter was put on. Ken really was my hero of the weekend, fixing the Jeep each time she hiccuped in record time!  Then we cruised back to camp on Meadow creek trail - a 9 hour day that was great! Monday, Ken finally put the quad away and drove the Jeep and got a feel for the nasty binding I had been experiencing all weekend in the wheel. We headed down to the bog to take some pictures of what will need to be done for this years clean up and took Meadow Creek then Lost Knife back to camp in less than 2 hours. Awesome awesome weekend!   All that has to be done to the Jeep now that the weekend is over is tighten that steering box and umm repack the hubs! And hey no-one rear ended me this year! 2001 EVENT REVIEWS CAR #14 WINS! - November 3, 2001   Car #14 driven by both myself and Ken wins the 2001 Figure 8 Championship! For the first half of the figure 8 racing season Ken and I shared the driving of the Red and White Checkered Cadillac Seville. For the last few races we had built a black and white checkered Cadillac Eldorado for me to drive. Both of our boats are front wheel drive and handle amazingly well on the track.The season was tough as the competition was stiff but most all drivers had fun with the exception of one or two bad apples that make racing not so fun, but every sport seems to have those! Crashes and smashes were had by all and the drivers get better and better. Congrats to all the drivers for putting on an outstanding season of performances! A few of the cars will need to be retired but for the most part we will see most of them back again for the 2002 season and what a season that will be as we have 8 races this year. If you like Figure eight racing and would like to see more pics and check out the action then please visit our Figure Eight website. CJA SHOW N' SHINE - July 21, 2001  Unfortunately we had lots going on this day with the Police Auction first thing in the morning as we needed to find Kimmy a car. Then we headed over to the Show N' Shine in the "Miss" Behavin Too Jeep. They had a pretty good turnout and when we showed up people were being dunked in a dunk tank. Then came the ramp - wow this one looked like a ski jump - I think it was a 30 degree RTI ramp. The Calgary Jeep Association had made the ramp prior to the event and it turned out great. We hung around to see the White Knight crawl up and also Wolf359 - who out-flexed everyone AGAIN! Just as we were leaving we looked over to the ramp to see Tim's Hummer on its side - ah what stories can be told! Seems he had hopped out and tried to teeter totter it (just like he did at the RMBW Show N' Shine) but this ramp was much steeper and he ended up pushing it over on its side. The CJA show N' shine was packed with lots of good stuff to pass the time and we will definitely try to make a full day of it next year. In the mean time we had to head for home as we had a figure eight race that night at Race City. RMBWA SHOW N' SHINE - July 7, 2001  We pulled into the Deerfoot parking lot bright and early (10am) and proceeded to unload and finish shining up the Still "Miss" Behavin' Jeep and the "Miss" Behavin' Too Jeep. We did the usual social thing and slipped into the mall for lunch. After lunch the festivities began on the Articulation ramp. I took the "Miss" Behavin' Too Jeep up the ramp and scored quite poorly with a 764, 2 years ago with smaller tires she scored 864. Ken took the Still "Miss" Behavin' Jeep up the ramp and increased his articulation from 430 to a 566, we aired the tires down a bit and of course all the bouncing and jumping is probably loosening up the suspension. Tim Dzaman took the Ramp Champ plaque home as he was able to crawl all the way to the top and score over 1000. It was a good hot day and it was great to see some faces again that we hadn't seen in a year. HOLIDAYS - July 6 - 15, 2001  We took holidays the week of the Calgary Stampede and they were just as hectic as our everyday lives. Our holidays started with attending the Calgary Stampede on the Friday and enjoying a warm sunny day taking in our favorite attractions. I even stumbled upon a road sign that I just had to have which reads Jeep Parking Only all others will be towed gotta love it! We took in the Rocky Mountain Big Wheels 7th Annual Show N' Shine on the Saturday and from there headed to McLean Creek with "Miss" Behavin Too to do some wheeling. That night we hooked up with our off -roading buds, the little green Bug - Kris, a trike - Kyle, Jimmy's Chev Shortbox (congrats on the new 38's) along with his brothers, Mikey and Terry. Somehow we managed to get the diesel with the camper pulling the empty trailer over the berms (I took pics - let's hope they turn out). Once we settled in camp we headed out for a night run on Fisher West. It was a great run with no breakage. The next day we decided to brave Fisher East and that was awesome, no comments about being topless and not wanting to spin the tires and get covered in mud guys! We had a few problems at the end of the day with the Bug loosing steering and then the fuel pump packing it in, but it was a light tow and we got it out no problem. Jimmy wasn't so lucky as he braved a deep hole that was a bit too big for his new tires and ended up having a strange knock to his engine after being pulled out. That was our three things of bad luck and they all happened within an hour of each other. We did McLean trail the next day (the truck stayed at camp but the trike came with us) we did some great trails and each time we stopped on trail we seemed to find our way into the creeks to splash around and help cool us down. We also discovered it is possible for a Jeep YJ to hold a 16 year old, 6 year old, two adults and three medium sized dogs (good thing we leave the cat and chickens at home). We headed for home on Tuesday and performed a wee bit of first aid on the way home when Kimmy and I came across a casualty of the bush that had broken his ankle. Wednesday saw us down at Race City for Figure Eight Racing along with the Monster Truck Show which was fantastic. For more details on how the races were check out the Figure 8 Racing Website The rest of the week we spent working around the acreage getting various tasks done and then ended our holidays by helping best bud Kath celebrate her 30th at the Beaupre Hall. SWAMP BASH - June 23, 2001  I just wanted to thank everyone that came to our celebration, we had over 100 people, 3 dogs, one blow up man doll and far too many teenage girls with overactive hormones - Jimmy was Terry even there?? 10 trucks braved our swamp - Danny with his topless Willy's Jeep being the bravest dirtiest Jeep Geek I ever did see. Thanks to everyone that brought gifts as well, Sunday morning I wasn't so grateful for all the bottles of Baja I had gotten only because that nasty pink fluid did not want to stay in my body. Maybe it was the mix of the Baja Luna, wine and the peppermint "buddies" Robin and Theresa brought. We had an absolute awesome time, I hope we got the chance to visit with everyone, if we didn't we apologize. It was so much fun we need to plan another bog - I mean party! Casualties were low - Don found out the hard way that 195 lbs. of man should not dance on a 10 lb. plastic deck table. Luckily the deck broke his fall not the ground which is about 15 feet below the deck! I hope all that attended had a great time, and those that didn't hopefully you can make it to the next bash! POKER RUN - May 19, 2001  We had an awesome weekend with the Rocky Mountain Big Wheels at the MS camp. The gang woke up at 8am on Saturday and headed over to the make shift cook shack for the breakfast. At 10am we had a drivers meeting and pulled our first two cards. We loaded up in two separate groups and headed for the the Lost Knife trail. We had Al from Canadian 4X4 Magazine join us as he wanted to do a feature article on the Big Wheels. The day was fairly uneventful as the Lost Knife trail was very dry and not very challenging but we did get a snow storm during lunch which carried on through the afternoon. After the big group picture a few people headed off for their own trail ride as it was only 2pm and a couple of us headed to the bog. It had been decided at lunch when we lost a few players (thanks to being topless in the snow and freezing) that we would meet at camp at 5pm to pull our last 2 cards. We headed back to camp for the 5 o'clock meet and to pull a few more cards and have a well earned dinner. Our friend Al was the lucky one with a flush of diamonds and took home the 1st place trophy and a nice chunk of change! Congrats to all the winners! I have more pics of this event under the 4 Wheelin' Stuff section. MAY LONG WEEKEND - May 18 - 21, 2001  The rest of the weekend....It was an awesome weekend, as I mentioned above in the Poker Run review, we stayed with the Rocky Mountain Big Wheels at the MS camp (first time in 5 years we camped with this group) the Ground Pounders were really tight for room as they didn't get the Airstrip this year so we figured we try something new and we were glad we did as it was peaceful and everyone was hospitable and friendly, not to mention we had outhouses! First time we had ever brought the kids on a May long weekend but there were lots of tots the same age and I think the kids really enjoyed the May Long 4 Wheeling experience. It was a fabulous weekend and Ken's daughter Kimmy got to experience four wheeling for her first time as the driver. Dad tried to give her a few lessons on some of the washed out hills and ended up sitting her Jeep on the tail gate and all he could say was "quick get the camera were okay but we need pics of this!". We couldn't miss out on the annual midnight trail run - but it wasn't the same doing it at 7pm - amazing how dry all the trails were, at least we can say we did it! We ended the weekend with a trip to the Waiparous Falls on the Monday and the only bad luck our group of 4 had, was when Sheldon and Tomena hit an ice flow and sustained a wee bit of body damage, he took it surprisingly well. The only problems the Jeep had all weekend was that she kept overheating but the rad cap lost its seal and the rad was full of mud. Oh yeah and not to be different from last year I got rear ended AGAIN! This time no body damage as the truck was the same height and his bumper hit my hitch! All in all it was a successful fun filled weekend. I have a few more pics of this out under the 4 Wheelin' section. KEN FINISHES 1st PLACE - May 12, 2001  The first Figure Eight race of the year was held at Race City on a warm spring night and around 7 cars showed up for the mayhem! Early in the main race all the cars got into a tangle and Ken managed to steer clear and was able to lap his fellow competitors. The car wasn't in too bad of shape until the checkered flag was thrown for Ken and he did a victory lap and waved to the crowd - Jimmy didn't do the victory lap he stopped, so Jimmy's Caddy became our Caddy's hood ornament SWAP MEET - April 22, 2001  We attended a first annual Swap Meet at Folk Automotive on the 22nd of April. For the most part it was a warm and sunny day until 3:30 when got a bit of a rain storm. Most people packed up as the meet was ending at 4pm anyways. For Ken and I the day was very successful as we brought a trailer and truckload of goodies in to sell and ended up just bringing home 3/4 of a trailer with us. The best part of the event was like with every other event - - the Social aspect. Lots of 4 wheelin' friends were there to chat with a new friends were made as well. Marvin Anderson brought the Wild Thing Monster truck and also the Haywire Monster truck to have on display and draw the crowd. One of my lifelong goals were met that day as Sherry Anderson took me and Ken's son Tyler for a spin in the Haywire Monster Truck. It was absolutely amazing and I think everyone could hear my squeals of joy from blocks away. Next goal - to drive one! VARIOUS RACING EVENTS - Years gone by Found some other snap shots of us at mud bog competitions, ice races and whatever else we play at. I truly believe we were born to race but forced to work!  1988 Ford F150 4X4 Pickup As you can see we try our hands at all sorts of motorsports. Here's my old 1988 Ford F150 playing in the Crowsnest Pass Mud Bog.  1979 Jeep CJ7 Ground Pounder Daze, August 1997. I bought this, my first ever Jeep, Thursday before this event. So I guess you might say I test drove it through an obstacle course and down the drag strip!  Ice Racing Now this is a fun sport. We all pack into beaters once each year and head down 5 miles of frozen or thawed creek. There are usually 30 - 40 race cars and the winners take home a sweet amount of cash. This event is now being hosted by the World of F.E.A.R. race track in Fort MacLeod.  Ground Pounder Daze Waiting for my turn to try the sand drags! Be sure and check the 1985 Jeep CJ7 section to find out more about this Jeep. 2001 FIGURE 8 SEASON  This year we picked up a Cadillac Seville with front wheel drive, fuel injection and a big block, lets see how it goes. It was a mere investment and is pretty stylish too. After much discussion Ken and I decided that a Bobcat was in our future so we are going to share the Cadillac in order. 2000 FIGURE 8 SEASON  We did some racing with the mini cars at Fort MacLeod but mostly played at the races at Race City Motorpark. Ken used his supped up 350 small block in a Monte Carlo, this baby didn't handle near as well on the corners as the Camaro did but it held up until the last race where the engine was forced to the passenger side as far as it would go buy his nephew Jeff, you should see Jeff's car!I decided to try my hand at the Claimer Class, this was a class that allowed for 4 cylinder automatic cars to go play on the oval. My car was not so fast, but I would like to thank Allen & Sons for donating it to me for the season. After the one and only race on the oval where I tried to punch the gas pedal through the floor to make it go faster I decided to throw some door bars on it and play with the boys on the figure eight track. Well now, that was good, on the corners my front wheel drive Fiesta kicked ass! Come the straight-a-ways I could have ran faster than the car was capable of going. But I managed to block and spin as often as possible and even placed 5th out of 12 the first night. Everyone laughed at me when I pulled in with my mini car but they were pretty humble when all their buddies came down and started to tease them about how the gal in the little 4 cylinder yellow car spun them, bumped them and kicked their butts. I had raced with my head and used process of elimination to get the competition out of the way. The next race - me not so lucky - at the last minute a fellow racer (yep the one I am tangling with in the picture - Jimmy Shilson) came in front of the pack as the rest went behind and - kersmack - I ended up t-boning him and my engine came and visited me in the drivers compartment too. A few aches and pains, pats on the back and that car went back to Allen & Sons for recycling as it had seen its day (good thing it was the last race of the season). 1998/1999 RACE FIGURE 8 SEASON  Ken drove a full size Chevrolet Camaro totally checkered black and white with a snotty little 350 small block in it. He welded up the rear end and was usually just a blur as he ripped by.Unfortunately Ken got caught in a couple of dust storms at the World of F.E.A.R. and destroyed what was left of the battered body in the cross with his brother Bryan. I drove an 1981 Dodge Newport, she was large and safe but not as fast. Every time the track was wet the computer would crater on me and the old Newport would become a boggin obstacle to fellow racers. I managed to pull off a 1st place in her on my birthday but I think it was pure exhaustion that made me drive around all the bump and grinds as we had been on the road for 4 hours as we were in Foremost competing in a very rough Tuff Truck course where I had the Jeep over crushed cars and up on one wheel. Check out the World of F.E.A.R website for more info, their 2001 schedule and their rules and regs.    |
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