Killington Jeep Jamboree 2010

Just got back from the Killington Jeep Jamboree for 2010 yesterday. We got back kind of late and I had a lot to do to get myself in order for traveling to the Dallas area for work so I didn't get to post this then or download the pictures from my camera yet. I honestly did not take a ton of pictures because we spent most of both days driving and moving rather than waiting for people to clear obstacles.

On Thursday I got up early and drove to my brother's house where we went shopping for the weekend. We had managed to get the trails only version of the trip because I got up really early on the day we were supposed to register. We bought food for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks each day. After that we had to drive to my nephew's work so he could pick up his check. From there we drove up 93 to meet up with a few more drivers and grab a quick bite to eat at the Burger King there. We met Sean, Rob and Carol and headed up to 89 where we met up with the rest of the convoy traveling with us. That was Dave, Michal, Lindsay, Dan and Sue. We were supposed to have Carl with us but his Jeep had troubles and he had to drive up solo. We made it to the lodge by about 3pm and then waited for tech inspection and trail registration.  Things went much more smoothly than the first two years. You could register and sign up for trails right after completing tech inspection and things went quickly. There were no long lines.  We signed up for a new trail called Chateguay on Friday and for Saturday we were doing 5 Corners.  We went down the street for dinner where I had a decent pulled pork sandwich. After that we got settled in the room and everyone came over for a few beers.

Friday's trails were very good at the beginning but a bit before lunch they got very dull and stayed that way the rest of the day. No one got stuck in the early going and we even had a stock 4 door JK X on street tires that managed to clear the trails with some help spotting.  The weather was odd and overcast and humid and it spit rain during lunch but after that it did not get happen to thunderstorm like they were expecting and we got in mostly unscathed. The trail guide was good but the trail needed to have one more interesting technical section that took a while to get through after lunch. It really turned into mainly dirt road driving.

Saturday was my 3rd time on 5 Corners trail. Wendell was the guide again and he changed up the trail again. We spent the whole day on the move. The section we entered on the trail with was incredibly fun and even the areas that were rather dull dirt road he made fun by taking us up the sides of the trail and such to get more technical as we went along. I was able to line up directly behind him and was there all day. Wendell's been wheeling for 60 years he said and it showed. I learned a lot by watching him. We managed to see a red deer and a moose on the trails though I think I'm the only one who saw both.  We would have had no carnage on the trail but one guy opted to do a water crossing that no one else tried and it was fairly deep which caused him to melt the wiring on his electric engine fan.  That caused him to start to overheat but we were able to get him out of the trails. After the run I went to the fire station to get cleaned off and air up.  It was the first day of wheeling I had no rain whatsoever and it was the first time he was able to take a group through all the trails he wanted to for 5 Corners he said.

Both days everyone came over for drinks after the trails. We met up on Sunday morning and went as a group to Blanche and Bill's Pancake House again and had breakfast before finally hitting the road and getting home, which I did at about 3pm.  From there I had to get ready for departure to Dallas.  All in all it was a great weekend. I should point out the other carnage on the weekend was my brother's left front universal joint which kept him off his trail for day 2 and Carol's Jeep had some stalling issues which kept her from driving the trails both days though she did get to drive with Michal for a bit of day 2.  Other than that we managed very little damage though I scratched my leg fairly bad on day one.

I will post the pictures as soon as I can though they are few.  Hopefully on Friday of this week.