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Story by,
| Rubicon Media Run '99
I flipped off my gymnastics coaching hat and flipped on my administrator hat. Took care of some business over the counter. Took a quick run around to shut the business down for a long weekend and I was off. Now, I flipped on my 4-wheeling hat... well sort of. I got in a hurry and left it behind. It was 8:00pm. 5 hours of driving ahead of me, but first I had to pick up my co-pilot. Found my co-pilot at his home, waiting for me. Steve Maguire loaded his stuff into one backpack. How'd he do that? We tied that in my TJ along with a cooler full of juice and water. Ok, I'll admit it. One six pack too. Thanx, Steve. We had to pack light, because with three of us, it was tight! Steve is a Mt. Shasta 4x4 shop owner and has photography experience, so he was a perfect co-pilot. He's a good mechanic, too. Needed that later.
It was now 8:30pm. We stopped at the store to get food for Jake. The California Association of Four Wheel Drive Clubs (CA4WDC) was feeding the rest of us on this trip. All but Jake, that is. He has his own cuisine. "Cell phone! Where;s the cell phone?" Back to Steve's place and with a quick run thru the house, Steve is convinced he buried it in the backpack. OK. Now we are really off. It's 9:00 pm. Down Interstate 5 we fly, with no windows and a noisy, vibrating top that doesn't fit too well. No matter how much work you do on the rig, new tops just dont fit well on a once, hard-rolled rig. My rig has much to still be done. Future article, maybe. It's chilly. No problem. Further south it will warm up. Later, the chill was gone. Cold had settled in it's place. We swore further south, that it would warm up. I won't mention the dinner we stopped for. It sent me flying into the all-night Denny's restroom many miles later. Got more gas, hours later with the needle flirting below empty. The cold was gone! Shivering had settled in its place. The soft half doors came out! The rest of the night went better. At 2:00 am we arrived at the hotel in Placerville. Awesome! A warm shower and 3 hours of sleep were ahead of us. Hmm... something smells like a skunk. JAAAKE ! |
We had a drivers/media meeting scheduled for 6:30am Fri. morning in
Placervielle, California. This meant we had to leave Thursday night from
Mt.Shasta, California; one of the most beautiful places on earth. Then, it was
off to the Rubicon Trail; one of the other most beautiful, yet treahcerous,
places in the world. Both of these mountain areas are brutal on climbers. One
takes it toll on mountain climbers and the other on off- road enthusiasts. More
on that later. 
Oh yeah! I forgot to introduce my leader on this excursion. The
third passenger...Jake! Jake is very wise for his age. He contemplates often.
I'm sure he has solved all the world's problems by now. He just hasn't fessed
up, because he likes to watch us make fools of ourselves. Besides, if everyone
knew he was smart, they may not rub his belly. Jake runs the trails behind and
in front of my TJ just to make me laugh about how much easier it would be to
just walk. He checks the depth of each water crossing by lying down in them.
Me? I'm just humble ol' George.
