Here's a few pics... I wish I had taken more. I enjoyed myself except for the rain Friday night:
The weather did not dampen the mood at all!
Speak for yourself on that one! I was sleeping in the back of the HEMTT and I didn't notice the rain until it woke me up when it soaked through my sleeping bag. Boots, socks, jacket... Everything soaked. This was not 'sprinkles' but a fairly heavy, drenching rain. At 3am, as I sat in the cab, wet, freezing by butt off, the debate in my mind was, "Plan A: Fire up the HEMTT and GTFO of here" vs. "Plan B: Am I too tired to complete Plan A?" Once the sun came up and I dried out by the fire, I felt better and was glad I stayed. I left Saturday afternoon as I promised dinner with my wife. She wants to be there next time.
This was pretty much the HEMTT's first 'public outing' and it performed perfectly. I was totally paranoid about rocks chewing up my expensive XZL tires, since the simple act of pulling over on a dirt shoulder to let traffic pass and then driving back onto the pavement left some scarring a while back, but after careful inspection, the trail ride did not do any damage. The HEMTT's next outing is the Chino "Planes of Fame" Airshow.
It was great to finally connect names with faces... FastNova, ProspectorGM, Blendmaster, NovacaineFix, Hillbilly Willy, Gripy, John and the fellas from Those Military Guys, and everyone else I'm forgetting to mention here! See you guys at the next one if not sooner.
Jon