Fall Texas Spur Jeep Jamboree.
Fall Texas Spur Jeep Jamboree.
Thread Starter
JK Super Freak
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 1,467
Likes: 0
From: Central Texas
OK, since you guys will only view and not comment; I'll post my views of the event and maybe a pic or two. Most of the pics will still be over on the Lone Star State thread.
Anyway, I had a pretty good time. I met some really nice folks, didn't break anything, and did some stuff I had never done before. And I won a Cobra CB in the drawing. This was my first Jamboree, so I had little idea of what to expect. After we registered and picked up our t-shirts, we had to sign up for the trails. They had red, orange, yellow, blue, green, and white groups. I was under the impression that this meant easy, medium, and difficult trails. Nope. They told me that all groups would be running the same exact trails, but in different orders. At this point, I started to get a bit concerned. I had actually driven there unlike a lot of folks who towed their rig. I didn't really want to go on any 8, 9, or 10 rated trails. More on this later. I had met a fellow from GA who was staying at my motel, so we headed back into town for a bite to eat.
We showed up while it was still dark for breakfast, but it was about 30 minutes late. Everybody lined up in their various groups. I was in Orange and they told us that white was going to run with us because a bunch of people had dropped out due to Hurricane Ike. We had about a 7 mile drive to the ranch and the last 3 miles were on a very dusty dirt road. The first trail we took was called Hunter's and I soon realized that it was at least a 6 or 7 difficulty. The first obstacle was a straight up 2" high ledge. I hadn't used my lockers for over 6 months, so I kinda forgot how to engage them. I finally got them locked, and it took me 3 tries with burning rubber to climb on on the ledge. We did Homestead and Watch Mtn. and had lunch. By this time I was almost in shock. These were much tougher trails than I was expecting. Some of the climbs seemed almost straight up and some descents straight down. I thought I was going to hit the front bumper, but I never did. The off camber spots made me feel like I needed to lean over to compensate for the angle because I felt like we were going to tip over. What I did do is scrape the rear about a dozen or more times. The tailpipes now look nothing like they did when I arrived. There were a few difficult spot that had spotters (or trail guides) where they didn't seem to know what they were doing. There were also lots of places where I felt we could have used a spotter, but didn't have one. It was hard to watch what line the Jeep in front of you took because you had to pay so much attention to what you were doing and going. At one point, I almost drove off a 10" drop for this reason. Luckily, I stopped and got out to check, and saw the line was way over to the left and not straight ahead where the drop-off was. Very seldom did we have easier routes to take, but there were a few. Some of the folks I talked to, had been on 15 or more Jamborees and said this one had spots that were just as difficult as the Rubicon, if not more so. I feel proud to have managed it with out having to be strapped or towed and not breaking down. I did get a lot of scrapes and scratches om all 6 sides. Would I do it again? Hell yeah!
Anyway, I had a pretty good time. I met some really nice folks, didn't break anything, and did some stuff I had never done before. And I won a Cobra CB in the drawing. This was my first Jamboree, so I had little idea of what to expect. After we registered and picked up our t-shirts, we had to sign up for the trails. They had red, orange, yellow, blue, green, and white groups. I was under the impression that this meant easy, medium, and difficult trails. Nope. They told me that all groups would be running the same exact trails, but in different orders. At this point, I started to get a bit concerned. I had actually driven there unlike a lot of folks who towed their rig. I didn't really want to go on any 8, 9, or 10 rated trails. More on this later. I had met a fellow from GA who was staying at my motel, so we headed back into town for a bite to eat.
We showed up while it was still dark for breakfast, but it was about 30 minutes late. Everybody lined up in their various groups. I was in Orange and they told us that white was going to run with us because a bunch of people had dropped out due to Hurricane Ike. We had about a 7 mile drive to the ranch and the last 3 miles were on a very dusty dirt road. The first trail we took was called Hunter's and I soon realized that it was at least a 6 or 7 difficulty. The first obstacle was a straight up 2" high ledge. I hadn't used my lockers for over 6 months, so I kinda forgot how to engage them. I finally got them locked, and it took me 3 tries with burning rubber to climb on on the ledge. We did Homestead and Watch Mtn. and had lunch. By this time I was almost in shock. These were much tougher trails than I was expecting. Some of the climbs seemed almost straight up and some descents straight down. I thought I was going to hit the front bumper, but I never did. The off camber spots made me feel like I needed to lean over to compensate for the angle because I felt like we were going to tip over. What I did do is scrape the rear about a dozen or more times. The tailpipes now look nothing like they did when I arrived. There were a few difficult spot that had spotters (or trail guides) where they didn't seem to know what they were doing. There were also lots of places where I felt we could have used a spotter, but didn't have one. It was hard to watch what line the Jeep in front of you took because you had to pay so much attention to what you were doing and going. At one point, I almost drove off a 10" drop for this reason. Luckily, I stopped and got out to check, and saw the line was way over to the left and not straight ahead where the drop-off was. Very seldom did we have easier routes to take, but there were a few. Some of the folks I talked to, had been on 15 or more Jamborees and said this one had spots that were just as difficult as the Rubicon, if not more so. I feel proud to have managed it with out having to be strapped or towed and not breaking down. I did get a lot of scrapes and scratches om all 6 sides. Would I do it again? Hell yeah!
