The drive down to Hollister Saturday morning was a sort of misty fog, reminding us of some winters past, where others were not jealous of our California weather. - boy doesn't that sound like the start to some novel you snuggle up in bed with? Oh well, this isn't the type of group for that, so let's get to the grind. I was driving down to Hollister however, and it so happened to be a Saturday as well. There were patches of morning fog that was making it interesting. I left my house around 8, but had to run some errands (included picking up lunch and getting gas). On the way down, I stopped by Starbucks in Gilroy (for the record, there's a Starbucks off of 152 East, on the right hand side just past the Shell station there). By the way, there used to be a great little café in there, had great biscuits and gravy (that also had chunks of bacon in it). Anyways, as I was leaving, I saw Ellen driving in, apparently, there's also a Peet's in that area.
As I made the turn off 101 towards Hollister, I took a look at the time, and though I was going to be quite late. By the time I got to the top of the old obstacle course. Jim and the others were already there standing and chatting around. Chuck was under his vehicle doing some fix with the linkages. As I arrived, so did, Denny, then Ellen, then Connie.
Jim pulled together a quick driver's meeting to layout what was planned for the day. Most of us (me) was excited to drive the "wife's" Jeep again. I wasn't quite sure if my skills were back to par, which in some cases may be a good thing. I've always thought that this was a sport where being over confident gets you introuble.
We went into the old obstacle course, where there were others already playing around. The "field" was quite muddy (oh what fun - I hate mud). We did a small loop, I was heading for the Frame twister, as the group followed, but then noticed that there was some big Toyota, already playing in there (as it turned out, he wasn't playing, he was stuck - seemed kinda odd, considering it looked like he had a 6" lift with 35"+ tires - probably needs to take the clinic to match the driver's skills to the capabilities of the vehicle).
I then made a turn towards the Stair Steps. The mud had made it quite slippery, and my 32's with reduced knobs weren't much help. I did make it up by trying a couple of different lines. There were a few that then followed up this. I forgot to mention that there was quite a hole that was dug out at the bottom of the steps.
Once we were done playing there, it was off to the new Obstacle course. Most of us hadn't seen this before, so I was pretty excited to check it out. There were some whoops (I'll call it that), that allowed you to check your approach/departure/breakover angles. Next came a log climb, a descent with some rocks, and a mini rock garden. There was quite a few safe obstacles here, that we could probably use for the Clinic - we probably should consider putting this as part of the trail run.
Sat and talked at the end for a little bit - we were more or less ahead of schedule - so from there, we went to the ravine, where I watched a stock YJ be abused. Anyways, we got the great posing shots as usual with almost everyone attempting it (others were kind to let everyone who wanted to play do it, while the rest of us took shots or guided).
Next came the trek towards the rock quarry, where we once again played around and tested some of our skills some more at climbing steeper rocks and at points saw nothing but blue skies. Eventually we got tired and wanted to head down to lunch. At this point, Mike C.'s Rubi had some starting issues, where we had to try to jump it a couple of times before it was resessitated (I'm not sure if I spelled that right, I'll have to check with my other brain, but she's is still in bed this morning). Anyways, with the help of 4 of us, we got that thing started and headed back down to the top of the old O'course where we had lunch.
A plan was then hatched to do some trail riding. We went through some trails (I don't remember the names), but we did get to one point where it was steep and muddy. Ellen radio'd back and said that you might need lockers, this more or less stopped some of the others, but this didn't stop our YJ owner from trying. He was slipping and sliding all over, looking like a fish out of water. I drove through, made it to the top with the others, as we then came back down for the end of the ride.
It was a good day of playing around and getting re-aquainted with my Rig.
Thanks to Jim O. for putting this together and thanks to all those who showed up:
Book Keeping: Weather: Sunny, cool, slight breeze Trail Conditions: Some Mud, some hard packed dirt Who was there: (see list below) Name of trip: Superbowl4x4 The dates: 1/31/2009 The details: (see details above) Anyone do anything crazy to deserve a cowbell? Yes, but he's not in the club
(Tom this list is for you:) Denny Barb Connie W. JD Ellen Chuck & Linda Jim & Monica Gary * Mike C. Ed Lau.
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