Ocotillo Wells

Written by Matt Osburn (Jan 98) Well, everyone's posted their say so on the event so I probably don't need to go into any details on anything. But here's my take anyway. My wife and I had one hell of a good time and were thoroughly exhausted by the time we had to go back to work. I guess all those really really late night BS sessions with Brad Kilby kinda shifted my clock and I had a rough time getting back to the norm.

Bud Boren's trail blazing was definitely a highlight. Just hope I can get those elves to do a little repair work on my Jeep when I need it. Guess that's one of the bennies when you're "BudMan!" Bud's wife took the helm for a little while at Truck Haven and did a damn good job. Of course, when your Jeep is set up like Bud's, it even makes him look good. Only thing is, on the high speed, rough trip back from Truck Haven, I kept hearing this faint sniveling coming from the rear that kept repeating "National"...."National".

Matt Brookins is one bitch'n guy. Matt's Jeep is one of those "don't judge a rig by it's paint job" kinda Jeeps. Rather than give him directions to camp, we were in the middle of a Turkey Hunt, so he just joins in and finds us when we find the guy that's hiding. How Cool! I can't wait till we can team up on Bud at his place this weekend. Oh, and don't drink the coffee!

That rolled over, rebuilt TJ of Brad's is a goat, in a good way. Brad's wife has way more huevos than I do for sure! Has anyone ever heard about his Jeep-L sticker? I like it! But I'll pass on the upside down sticker above it thank you very much! Hope I never earn one of those.

You guys gotta see Steve Friend's Jeep. Definitely a beast! Steve has one of the most innovative rack systems I've yet to see. Steve was our tour guide for a day. Showed us patience in a stuck for sure!

Bob Bill's Jeep is an immaculate 7. I heard Steve's friend ringing up the $s for him though. I wonder now if that Jeep will remain an icon of the past much longer. By the way Bob, get that woman a pooch!

The trip to Truck Haven could have only been topped by everyone being able to stay and make it. Oh well, guess Disney Land wins out. Go figure! ;-)

We look forward to hooking up with everyone again at Desert Safari. Got our registration forms in the mail today!

By the way, my Canyon City rack failed on me this weekend. Any of you that were considering it, hold off till I get with Canyon City on this. Until this weekend I would have sworn by the damn thing. But now, unless they come up with a "real fix", I've wasted over $300.