| We usually don't run Wentworth
Springs Road because it is such a long, dusty road. Besides, I live in
Pollock, which is really close to the Ice House Road exit on US 50. Anyhow,
we blazed down Wentworth Springs Road in our 3 vehicle caravan, with Bobby
"Ivan Stewart" Roggy leading the way. We arrived at Uncle Tom's Cabin
and stopped for some refreshments. Mark bought a T-Shirt, and we hung out
for a while and chit-chatted. We discussed how far we would travel that
night, before we called it a night. We decided to aim for Spider Lake,
where the rest of our gang was already camping. We motored on down the
dusty dirt road till we ended up on Ice House Rd. From there, we backtracked
to Robb's Resort, so we could load up on Ice and Beer. They were closed,
but since we have connections, Dale hooked us up anyhow. ;)
After we were all loaded
up with fresh ice and whatnot, we haul bootie for Loon Lake. We got there
in no time, and locked em in, aired down, and hit the trail. It was pretty
dark now, I don't know what time it was. Mark decided to ride in Bobby's
rig for a while. When we approached Ellis Creek, Bobby popped a bead.
We quickly jacked up the rig, and got him up and running. For some reason,
Mark had taken off his seat belt, and then fell asleep while Bobby and
I were fixing the tire. When we took off, Bobby wasn't aware that Mark
was not belted in, and as soon as the Commando leaned to Mark's side, out
Mark went! We all jumped out of our rigs, to asess Mark's damage. It didn't
look good, and Mark was hootin' and hollerin' pretty bad. I decided I would
take him down to Marshall Hospital in the Jeep, and Kelly and Bob could
continue on... I would catch up to them.
We loaded Mark into the
Jeep, and I headed back to the hospital. Marshall Hospital is quite a ways
away, so poor Mark had to sit there and take the jarring bumps till we
got to pavement. Once we got to pavement, it was about an hour's drive
to the hospital. I took him into Emergency, and they took him in immediately.
They patched him up with a sling, and some pain pills, and we were on our
way back!
We got back to the trailhead
at sunrise, and motored on in. I expected to catch up to Bob and Kelly,
and the rest of the crew at Spider Lake. We made really good time on the
trail, with no troubles at all. When we got to Spider Lake, John Pardi
was there, and he told me that the Pirate clan had left for the Springs
about an hour earlier. So we motored on toward Buck Island. We ended up
catching the rest of the gang on the Slabs in between Spider and Buck Island.
We all had elected not to run the "Chute" since we our main objective here
was to make it to the Springs in one piece.
Kelly and I switched back
rigs, right before we arrived at Buck Island. The mechanics station was
already up and ready for business, even though we were way ahead of the
Jamboree (they leave Loon Lake at 8:00am.) Grady from the Lake Tahoe Hi
Los was playing on a big boulder (incentally the local newspaper took a
photo of him on that rock) and I was tempted to join him, but we were on
a mission.
We stopped at the Lake
briefly, and washed up a bit, and then motored on to the Springs. Mark's
arm was still hurting him, so I just kept feeding him beers to keep
him quiet. He didn't put up too much protest, and happily sucked down
his barley pops.
We arrived at the Springs
around noon and headed over to our camp which was already staked out
and setup thanks to Bob coming in a few days earlier and paying in advance
for it. The rest of the day was spent hanging out, and relaxing after
a long, looooooong night/day for Mark and I, since we had been
driving all night and day with zero sleep.
Friday rolled around,
and everything was great. Once again, the day was spent hanging out,
partying down, and meeting up with all of our friends we have met over
the years of running the rocks, and of course lots of people we have
met on the internet! We had a great dinner that night, and the night's
activities mostly consisted of hanging out at the campfire, and lots
of beer....
Saturday. Ahhhh Saturday.
The big day for the raffles, and of course, the infamous Saturday night
Par-Tay! Every year we usually crash the party wearing "Togas"
(ahhh the high school and college days re-visited) and chanting "To-Ga!
To-Ga! To-GAHHH!!!!" - you get the picture.
Around noon, "Camp
Master" Dan announced that he and Jack had spoken to a camera crew
who was up on the trail shooting some film for the T.V. show "Real
T.V." Apparently they wanted to get some killer footage, and wanted
to know who could provide it for them. Of course, the Pirates were MORE
than willing to get it on for them!!! That explains all of the photos
in this trail report - The film crew video taped us doing a famous "Pirate
Stack." The pictures to the left are worth a thousand words! Needless
to say, the film crew was pretty blown away with our craziness (stupidity)
and very happy with the wild footage. They said we would be on the air
in October or November, and they would get back to me with an exact
airing date.
The Saturday night party
was wild, to say the least... I didn't win anything in the raffle though,
and niether did anyone in our club. Oh well, next year. We danced and
partied it up all night, until the band (The California Cowboys) quit
playing. We all stumbled back to our camp for the night. Unfortunately
Kelly ended up falling down and messing up her knee on the way back
to camp. The next day she was really hurting and not able to even walk.
Sunday was a rough day
for most of us, since we had so much fun the night before. I personally
swore I would never drink again, like I do every year on Jamboree. We
slowly packed everything up, and cleared out of camp for the long ride
home. While the Jamboree heads out of the Springs and up Cadillac Hill,
we elected to go backwards and head back out the way we came in (we
do that every year, it's much faster) because of the gridlock that occurs
on Cadillac Hill. The trip out was a slow, and jarring trip, thanks
to an incredible hangover.
We finally made it to
Loon Lake, and aired up, and headed home (I hate the drive home!) What
a wild weekend it turned out to be... Great wheelin, got filmed for
a TV show, great food, and great friends... Unfortunately, Mark and
Kelly both sustained body damage to themselves, and Kelly is going to
have to get surgery on her knee. Even though she hurt her knee, she
still had a great time, and can't wait till next year's event!
-Lance Clifford, Pirates of the Rubicon Vice President and Webmaster.
|
We decided to walk around and wait for Bobby to show up. We had a few drinks,
and checked out all the goodies the vendors had on display. We ran into
a lot of people that we have met previously on the trail. Then Mark saw
Bobby roll into town. Being the savage Pirate that he is, he pulled up
next to my rig, but instead of parking like a normal human being, be parked
up on top of my rig!
People
began to gather around the rigs and click off a bunch of pictures. I knew
then and there that this was going to be a really wild and fun weekend!
We hung out in Georgetown for about another hour before we headed for the
hills.....
