It began early Thursday morning and I had about 3 hours to get
everything to fit in the disco 2. Meredith had finally made up her
mind late on Wednesday night that here and the kids would join me. At
about noon all was packed inside, on the rack, and below the kids
feet. With the new Engel fridge packed full we headed out of town and
thankfully within an hour both kids were down for their afternoon
knapp. The next 4.5 hours breezed by with the excitement of barnwell
ahead.
Finally arriving at the gate at about 6:00 PM we checked in with the
guard and headed to camp Maybe. It was still light enough out for
Meredith to get a peak at what she was in for.
After arriving outside of Camp Maybe I decided to take a stroll into
camp to see where everyone was set up and a spot that would work for
us. Our expanding effort definitely helped and there were spots for
a lot of people and tents.
With the help of Doug, who my family now loves, the tent was up and
most everything was unpacked, the quick disconnects were disconnected
and I was off for a quick night run with both HLRC and TR's. On that
first night, while parked either on tough hills or for the flat that
one of the guys had up front, I met at least 6 new people and we
discussed each others rigs and new additions. I believe that Trey
was the main helper on the tire change. When I got back my wife let
me know that Doug fed her and that she liked the salmon, which I have
to say was really good. She had stayed back to get the kids set up in
the tent and I think that she wanted to be able to see the trails for
her first runs. That night I stayed up for a while at the camp fire
and had some discussion with Sam and the others.
Friday morning we got moving a little late with the kids and did miss
the first trail runs but I believe we headed out for some runs with
Chapman, Trey & Mel, Clay, and Doug. We got into the good stuff right
off the bat and all my wife could say is, "cars aren't suppose to got
up and down hills and rocks like that," and all my 2.5 year old
daughter could say was, "go daddy go". My son, Ethan, is more like
me, always concerned about safety but he had a good time.
This was my fourth visit to Barnwell and I work through some of the
trails with previous experience, mostly damage experience. Clives
Rivine is one of those places due to a ruined Dussling slider and the
other is Politician where I changed the shape of my safari guard
front bumper and skid plate. As we were standing at the bottom of
Politicial looking at the rock ledge on the right, which I hit on my
first visit to barnwell, we heard a loud pop and then a little later
another loud pop. Turns out it was Clays truck, I haven't heard if it
was the axles or diff but he didn't get to do much after that point.
My wife and I had intended to participate in the obstacle course and
blind fold course but missed the times. That night we made some more
runs and headed back to the camp fire. Mike Law, Texas Rover kids
organizer, had a flash light walk with the kids. Before the walk they
painted tire tread on the yellow SCARR shirts that the kids got and
Mike was so excited that my son wanted the Charlie Brown horizontal
tread all the way around and my daughter got the angle tread up here
back. They turned out really cool and I think a lot of people got the
treads on their shirts. We made the flashlight walk and the kids
really enjoyed it.
It wasn't long when I looked around and the HLRC was gone but soon
found out that they were trying to get Clay's truck up on the trailer
that he had brought. It was interesting but they got it on.
I don't think that we went to bed until 1 or 2 am that night but was
able to get out of bed and be lined up for the trail run Saturday
morning. I think this was the best morning because it flowed really
well. Matt Blackwell was up in front of us and Sam a few cars ahead
of him. We made it back to the pavilion just in time for lunch.
After lunch it was time for a bio break and as I passed by Doug I
told him we had to hit the clubhouse and that we would be back to
line up. When everyone got done we headed back out to the pavilion
and everyone was gone, which kind of pissed me off. Not at Doug but
just in General. When we caught up to the group there were too many
trucks for one group so we split up. I have to thank Stacy for the
spotting in Clydes Rivine for I only added some sap to my roof rack.
The rest of Saturday was very enjoyable and I think the group picture
is going to come out good. The raffle was exciting and for a few
moments I thought to myself, "maybe this is my year to win again" the
power tank would have looked nice mounted next to my engel but it
wasn't to be. I had my tickets and Eric the Red's but no luck for
either of us. At the end of the raffle they handed out goodie bags
for the kids and then handed out tickets for a small raffle for the
kids. My wife came over to me while I was talking and said that both
of them won hats. She said that my daughters face just lit up when
she realized she had won something. That evening we did some very
fun trail runs and got to turn all the lights on which is always fun
considering the cost. My wife was very surprised at what these trucks
will do but she kept warning me of boulders in the way, I would just
reply, "I am going over that one".
The next morning we got everything packed up, amazingly, and headed
back home with Trey, Mel, Doug, Clay, and Eli. We had a nice meal in
Gladewater and the lady their gave the kids stuffed animals which
made my daughters day. The rest of the drive home was concentration
on staying awake but we all made it.
It was another great time, Land Rover, the Best Hobby by far
Chris Crouch
Read Meredith's Story
5090 Richmond Ave. #313 
