Here I am Wednesday finishing up the lettering Ann made using her Cricut machine. We’ll see if they hold up!

On Thursday we loaded up for our six-hour drive to the west side of the state for Summer Convention. This weekend was very much a test weekend, for the motorhome, for the race jeep, for the trailer carrying the race jeep, etc. And, it didn’t take long for us to run into a problem. When I attempted to hook the trailer to the back of the motorhome, I discovered the hitch and ball did not sit low enough, so when I hooked up the trailer, it was sitting at too much of an angle. Arghhhh! Since we planned to take the truck anyway (just in case we had a problem), we just hooked the trailer to the truck, which Ann drove.

Race jeep loaded and ready for the road.

We arrived early to get a good camping spot and to get through the tech inspection. An old jeep friend Mike Julsrud was manning the clipboard, so it was great to catch up with him. Many ears ago we raced against each other in the 20 and under class, called the “Under the Hill Gang”; these days, we are “way over the Hill Gang”, lol.

On Friday morning, following the 8am driver’s meeting, Ann accompanied me and other racers on a parade lap of the obstacle and cross country courses. It’s a nice way for folks to tour the courses together, get a sense of where to drive, and a great community event. One concern bubbled up during our drive, the engine got a little hotter than it should have. One suggestion was that the timing might need to shift slightly, so I’ll give that a try. The good news is that, during my first run, the temp stayed where it should.

Me at the driver’s meeting with Betty Page and Lizzy in tow. The dogs came with us this weekend and, to our surprise and relief, were really well behaved!

As we waited for the parade lap to begin, Diana Stafford photo bombed us in the Stafford’s race jeep.

Here we are starting the parade lap on the obstacle course. This course was more wide open than the cross country course, which is where the jeeps went next. That truck in front of us wasn’t racing; it was just taking the opportunity to tour the track.

In this first video that Ann took, we were on the obstacle course, I was puttering along in 2nd gear, low range, but the video makes it seem like I was going faster:

Here’s a second video Ann shot just a few seconds later: Continue reading →