Adventures of the Three Amigo's…

Getting ready for the 5 th Annual Pig Run, I called Joe only to find out that he is in Iowa on business. I soon find out that he has not started the pig since the last years pig run (he suffers from (“too many cruiser syndrome”), but the pig will be ready to go as planned. Joe mentions he will be back in Los Angeles, Sunday evening and would call me Monday if he encountered any problems. I call and leave Adam a reminder message, and tentative schedule. With the week cruising by in anticipation of leaving Thursday night, I finish adding my additional storage boxes in the rear of the pig's front fenders, and another storage box underneath the front passenger floor board.

I fill up the Engel fridge with chunks of beef, slabs of bacon, a few eggs, and the essentials. Load all the tools, parts, and camping gear into the pig, pretty much the entire garage in anticipation of my first trip on the con!

Joe calls Wednesday evening to let me know that the pig has rumbled to life, but has fried the alternator charging diode. He is a little worried about finding the appropriate replacement in time, and I figure it's a standard component. The only way to get the alternator in time, is to have the unit repaired by a local automotive electric shop, back on schedule and should be ready to go by 6:00 pm Thursday evening.

Thursday arrives; I rush home, and call the guys to get rollin! Joe is way behind, and I tell him to get going, and he suggest that I leave and he will meet up with me in the morning. Since, I haven't been to the Rubicon it would be better if we cruised up together. After some discussion, Joe thinks he will be ready to go by 7:00 pm. As I finish loading the last few items, Adam calls with some more bad news. Adam, Mr. Newlywed and the misses have been planning this trip as part of their honeymoon, and have the pristine pig loaded ready to go! Adam mentions that his company needs him to fly out of state on Sunday morning, and will have to miss the run. He and his new wife are devastated, can you believe it, and well at least he has a wife that loves pigs!

After I say good bye to Adam, I get ready to check on Joe's situation, when it hits me really hard, Adam is our team microbrew master, and has a special brew on ice for the run. Now I really have a dilemma, what is a cruiser head to do………suddenly the phone rings and snaps me back to reality. Its Joe, and he is on the freeway by my house. Alright, I rush into the house, hug the kids, kiss the wife goodbye, and mention I'll see them on Monday as I'm out the door. Luckily, Joe had load enough of the suds for both of us!

I meet up with Joe on the freeway, and pulled out to take the lead and notice that Joe only has running lights. Since, it was just starting to turn dark, we pulled off the nearest off-ramp to fix the problem. Quick and simple fix, since a wire wasn't connected in the mad rush to get the alternator replaced. We quickly get back on the freeway trying to escape the city lights of Los Angeles . With the 454 big block in the lead we made it to the Sacramento basin, and I think we stopped at every gas station! A couple of hours later we passed Ice House resort, and for some reason we both missed the turn off to Loon Lake, due to both of us sleeping at the wheel. Quick stop to gain our bearings, we finally cruise into the spillway around 3:30 am.

Friday morning, the sun came up far to soon for me and despite the elevation it was rather warm, unable to sleep, I ventured out to find my other pig brethren! No one had arrived yet, so we moved the pigs to a prominent spot, which was on the other side of the spillway. With the sun & temperatures rising, we strung a tarp between the pigs, and grabbed some grub.

Finally, around 3:00 pm, we spotted another pig on the con! It was Mike Knor (55guy) in his very distinctive, and Rubicon ready pig, who was followed by Glen in his built FJ40 (Rock the Dog). Mike's brother, Dale (Splitpea) with his FJ40, had found a nice camping spot along Loon Lake . When we arrived we found our pig brethren wallowing in the moment, with Greg (twrecks) and the “Toyotasaurus Rex”, a sprung-over pig. We quickly grabbed a flat spot along the lake, set-up camp, and relaxed with some suds. A few moments later, Don arrives in the sick, rockwelled, pig, followed by Josh in his sprung over FJ55.

Relaxing by the lakeside and sipping on a refreshing mug of suds, everyone starts talking about a quick night run up to the granite slabs. I was still somewhat beat from the all night drive, so I decided to ride with Mike, along with Greg & Joe. The night run crew, which included Josh, his brother Scott, and their father Steve, aka “Dad” in their 55, Dale in his FJ40, Glenn & his daughter in their FJ40, and the rest of us in Mike's 55. It was such a blast!!!, the experience of 55 guy was just amazing, we cleared every part of the gatekeeper, and cruised all the way to the slabs with ease. Arriving just in time to watch the moon rise over the Con! Now it can't get any better than this, good friends, great weather and awesome wheeling! Dale then lead us out through the Gatekeeper bypass, which was a blast climbing the rock strewn hillside in the moonlight forest. Arriving back at camp, we find a couple more pigs have enter the sty, Nial with his really nice stock 55, and Warren & his girlfriend in their 55. Back to camp, cook up some tasty grub, and relaxed underneath the stars & watch the meteor shower! I mentioned to Joe that the Rubicon was quite rocky all the time, and he just smiled.

Its Saturday morning, and after the good night sleep, I consume some java, and start prepping the pig for its maiden voyage across the Rubicon. I start to reload my entire garage into the belly of the pig, Don came by to hold an impromptu drivers meeting, and everyone decided to wheel to the little sluice and then back to base camp. So glad I didn't have to haul the garage through the trail, now this is starting to get fun! Now, Joe rode with me as his 55 is way to nice to wheel on this trail

Bill & his wife, and their gaggle of offspring arrived in the 55, moments later, Patty driving her FJ80 & Rick, her husband in his nice blue FJ40. The final arriving in FJ40s roll into camp, including George, Dustin, Teapot, Mellonhead, Manwhore & his wife Swaycat. We also had a nice mini-pu driven by “sonofalandcruiser”, and Manny is his heep! (I probably left someone out, no insults intended as my brain is still burnt from lack of sleep).

After everyone quickly set-ups camp, we all prep our pigs for the jaunt through the con. We all meet at the spillway, air down the tires, arrange the Steiner Clan, and get rolling on the trail. A few moments into the trail the group arrives at the first obstacle, the “Gatekeeper”, which is a left hand turn through some big granite boulders.

Don cruises through the gatekeeper without realizing it is even there! Bill (BK) expertly navigates through the gatekeeper, and then its my turn to finally attempt the Rubicon trail. Now, for some reason the gatekeeper looked a lot more menacing in the daylight, than last night! I tried numerous times to cruise through the massive boulders, but I kept sliding into the same hole, going nowhere. While I was getting the pig rearranged for the hopeful final assault through the gate keeper, I inadvertently crush the passenger rear quarter panel, as the pig scratched, scraped its way through!

Next up is Josh and the family in his sprung over 55, was having a fair amount of difficulty, even though he drove through without issue the previous night. After a few attempts, and finally getting the pig through, it was Patty's turn in her unlocked FJ80! Patty makes some great attempts, and finally gets diff wedged in between the boulders, and Don aligns his pig with an evil grin on his face. Don pulls Patty's FJ80 through the wedged spot, and then across a few more boulders, until he remembers Patty's on the other end. Of course, Patty is laughing & gassing it all the way through, must run in the family! Greg and the mighty Toyotasaurus give the gate a few attempts, and then with some expert stacking Greg, Justin, Dustin, Mike and others pass through the gatekeeper.

As everyone is weaving and crawling their way through the massive boulders on the trail, suddenly the CB radio crackles, and Josh completes a slow-motion, passenger side flop, and I wonder what Dad was thinking! Everyone was ok, and a little push, and the pig was back-up with no damage. As I'm weaving through the large, tight boulders, I'm glad I listed to Joe, and removed my outer mirrors, before the granite did!

Everyone is cruising along & have a blast as we crossed over the granite slabs on our way to Ellis Creek for lunch. After lunch, we all headed towards Walker Hill, which is a rocky, narrow, incline climb across the mountain side. In this section of trail is a really tight squeeze between a granite shelf rock and the mountain side, and even in a pig it was a very tight fit, as I left my drug my left rear marker light along the granite face. With careful spotting, we got Patty's FJ80 and Greg's Toyotasaurus through, and started to move farther up the trail. A few moments later, the CB crackles to life again, and this time Bill (BK) Steiner (Sp?) flopped his pig on its driver's side! Witnesses mentioned that as Bill was starting to tip over, the 2F reacting to the heavy skinny pedal, hopefully trying to drive out of it, but, the mighty beast was going over! A quick tug, and Bill's pig is back up on its tires. Simultaneously, as Patty is negotiating some large boulders, the FJ80 hops the wrong way, crunching the two driver side doors including the B-pillar. Everyone finally gathers at the Little Sluice to have a late afternoon snack, and watch the Darwinian challenged, Homo sapiens trying to conquer the large boulders in the Little Sluice. After a while, I take a walk over to Spider Lake for some pictures, and then load up for the return trip. As usual the return trip goes by quick and is uneventful, and every one is off the trail with minimal damage.

Once back in camp, we settled down for a nice grilled steak, spuds, and some adult beverages. Just after the sun had set, we began setting up the Specter Off Road sponsored raffle, accepting prize donations from the various cruiserheads, and selling quite a few raffle tickets. The kids had a great time choosing the winning raffle tickets and their eyes were wide in anticipation of the next prize. All proceeds from the raffle are being donated to “Friends of the Rubicon”, which would not of been possible without the ongoing generosity of Marv & Kay Specter.

This years raffle also included a special prize, which was donated by PVCruisers specifically for all attending pig owners! Pig owners were wallowing in the opportunity to win a brand new reproduction rear tailgate glass weatherstrip. With this raffle limited to Pig owners only, the odds were excellent with a one in seven chance of scoring this highly sought after item.

With the evening raffle coming to an end, Manny redeemed himself in true cruiser fashion when he produced an unexpected treat – Ice Cream Cones for desert! Everyone sat around devouring this gourmet treat while enjoying the camp fire, and watching the passing meteor shower.

Sunday morning, everyone lined up for a group photo, and everyone said their goodbyes until next year. .

See you next year for the 6 th Annual Pig Run, which will be held in August, at Deer Valley , Ca.

See you on the trail

Evan FJ55-100

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