 |
We all met at Pappy's Diner in Santa Maria then
convoyed out to the Dunes. Before anything else, we stopped to air down and took
a comfort break.
|
 |
On our way back into "the good stuff,"
Brett took some time for some bafoonery.
|
 |
John found us a good hill to play on to start the
day. As always, pictures don't do this stuff justice. This was a pretty steep
dune.
|
 |
John, Brett and Chad in the dunes.
|
 |
Justine didn't make it up her first attempt. Brett
passed her up to show her how it's done.
|
 |
Ira in his very capable Grand Cherokee. This was
our first outing with Ira and Chad. We're glad they're aboard!
|
 |
Brett took a steep line down this dune. This gives
you a good idea of how steep it was.
|
 |
Chad had a loose vacuum line, so he stopped quickly
to make a repair. He was back up and running in no time.
|
 |
Justine did a "toilet bowl" in this deep
basin before rolling back around for another climb up the bank.
|
 |
Justine coming down the same bank as Brett. This
is another good shot to show how steep it was.
|
 |
John shot back up the hill. Gotta watch all those
quads and dirt bikes out there!
|
 |
Brett taking another shot at the steep hill. He
had some trouble getting up there, but eventually he made it. (We teased him a
lot about it. I think he spent more time in reverse than any other gear! Don't
worry, Brett. Once you get your gears in, you'll be set!)
|
 |
Nice shot of Brett's rig with Justine's in the
foreground.
|
 |
The first "hero shot" of the day. Don't
they look great all lined up in a row like that?
|
 |
This was just too good to not put in! There's
nothing like yanking out a Toyota with your Jeep! This guy was buried to his rear
axle and just kept spinning the tires - as if it would help. It actually took
someone with a winch to pull him out.
|
 |
After a short break, we found some great washboards.
It took everyone a while to get brave and hit 'em hard. But after that, John showed
everyone else how to properly stuff your front axle.
|
 |
Ira shot across them and then did this great donut
as he turned around.
|
 |
Here's Ira catching some air on the washboards.
|
 |
Justine shot herself and the girls into low-earth-orbit
on her first pass. Check out that tire rub on the rear tire! Looks like it's time
for a body lift and/or some bigger flares!
|
 |
Almost completely off the ground!! This was followed
shortly by a hard landing. Chips and soda everywhere! But giggling, giddy girls inside!
|
 |
A really great hero shot off all the rigs together.
|
 |
Same shot, just with people. Print it out, y'all.
This one's a framer.
|
 |
Before we left the washboards, we all made a few more
passes. Chad grabbed some air on this one!
|
 |
Then Brett came around. It's hard to tell in this
picture, but he was almost completely unloaded. Washboards are fun!
|
 |
Justine and Ira made one final pass. Not nearly as
hard as the first time through. The girls didn't want to be wearing anymore food!
|
 |
One last hero shot before leaving the washboards.
|
 |
John decided at the last second he needed to make
one more pass. He pulled out all the stops on this one! (There were a lot of
other great shots of John beating the snot out of his rig, but this one and the
next two are the best, so the others didn't make the cut.)
|
 |
Ladies and gentlemen, that is how you
drive on washboards!
|
 |
John is barely on the ground in this shot. His
front tires are touching, but I don't think they're carrying much weight!
|
 |
After the washboards, we found another great spot
with some good steep stuff. John led the way up.
|
 |
This is where Brett ran into the most trouble.
This dune was particularly steep. He made several attempts to make it up, but to
no avail. Don't worry, Brett! You'll make it up there next time!!
|
 |
Chad took a slightly less steep line and made it
up no problem. With stock sized tires, he has no problems with gearing.
|
 |
After taking a slightly less steep way up, Brett
came back down the steep dune. You can really see how severe it is here.
|
 |
Just a nice shot of Brett, John and Chad's rigs.
|
 |
Brett did a little toilet bowl of his own and
slid his rear tires around the bank.
|
 |
Ira had no problems climbing the hill in his
Grand Cherokee. He jumped right up and joined the other guys at the top of
the dune.
|
 |
Justine swung around and traversed across the
crest of the dune to join the guys.
|
 |
Yet another hero shot. Nice one!
|
 |
Brett made another attempt to make it up the
steeper part of the dune.
|
 |
Katelyn got tired of not making it up the dune
and wanted to feel what it was actually like to make it to the top. So she
abandoned her dad and jumped in with John and Amanda. (Salt in the wound,
Brett!)
|
 |
After making fun of Brett for a while, we moved
on to another spot (and another comfort break!)
|
 |
After pulling into the rest stop for our break,
I couldn't resist taking this shot. Notice the reverse lights are on. Brett
tried to kill me with his Jeep so I couldn't provide evidence on the web!
|
 |
The next few shots are of our Jeep club logo
on some of the rigs. This one is Brett's. I put them in here because I
thought the guys might like them.
|
 |
John's rig.
|
 |
... and Chad's.
|
 |
While we were taking a break, the girls took
some time to play in the sand.
|
 |
Another good shot of the Jeeps together. The
restroom makes such a lovely backdrop to the photo. If only photos could
capture smell...
|
 |
The next few shots are of everyone's Jeep.
These (I think) are worthy of framing. Guys, if you need a higher-resolution
version, let me know! I scale these down so they take up less room on my
server. I have ultra-high resolution versions that make great prints!
|
 |
Chad's rig.
|
 |
Brett's rig.
|
 |
Ira's rig.
|
 |
Justine's rig.
|
 |
After our break, we hit some steep dunes
again. Chad wasn't about to let John have all the fun, so he hit the
top of this dune and launched himself and Jilian onto the other side of
the dune!
|
 |
It looks like Ira is about to high-center
here, but he made it up no problem. That Grand Cherokee is a very
capable machine, and Ira knows how to drive it. He never had a problem
the whole day.
|
 |
Justine cut the wheel right at the crest of
the dune to bring her tires off the ground.
|
 |
Here's John shootin' up like a bat out of
Hades!
|
 |
Brett was shooting a lot of sand up as he
climbed up...
|
 |
... but he made it!
|
 |
This is a nice shot with all the Jeeps and
the ocean in the background. I forgot to grab my telephoto lense before
being dropped off to take these shots, so I could't pull in any further.
|
 |
Same shot, just with some nice reflections
in the waves in the background.
|
 |
A good shot of the Jeeps with their people.
|
 |
I really wish I could have gotten a close
shot with Brett and John. Sorry, guys. It's still a good shot to show
how much fun we had!
|
 |
This shot shows some of the depth of the
dunes where we were.
|
 |
As Justine started to pull around to pick
me up, some of the girls started rolling down the dunes.
|
 |
More dune rolling!
|
 |
Cool shot of Justine's rig as she pulled
up to get me as the girls kept rolling down the dunes in the background.
|
 |
Another cool shot of Justine's Jeep as
she pulled up to get me. I got a sand shower on this one.
|
 |
After catching a ride back around to the
rest of the group, I ran down the dune to snap this shot looking up at all
the Jeeps lined up. Got lift?
|
 |
Same spot, different angle.
|
 |
Aspen got into the action and took a few
rolls down the hill. She's a smart one... she covered her face with her
arm to keep sand out of her mouth and eyes.
|
 |
Here's a shot for the grandparents!
|
 |
Justine and Ambrosia got into the action
and took a few rolls down the hill too. Check out Ambrosia's face!
|
 |
Justine about clobbered Aspen on this one!
She had to jump out of the way! Look at Justine's hair flying everywhere
and Ambrosia airborn as she bounced down.
|
 |
John gave it a shot too (after much begging
from Amanda!) He landed with a thud (and a groan) at the bottom of the dune!
|
 |
Rolling 10 or 12 times down a steep bank has
the tendency to make you very dizzy! Amanda took advantage of the
situation and dog-piled on her disoriented dad!
At this point, I had filled up my memory card in my camera. After this
we headed out. We aired up our tires at a gas station and headed home. This
was yet another outstanding adventure!!
|
