It was a cool morning that Saturday. We had a good turn out – 14 rigs and 24 gung-ho wheelers. After Don Huddleston had a driver’s meeting, we headed out and did our own thing till everyone showed up. During this time we lost two rigs. Phil & passenger Don Mahon lost an injector on #1 cylinder. Mark Doughherty along with passenger Tim Kendall got the clutch too hot and had fuel delivery problems. Phil and Brad Austin left; and Mark and Tim found rides with others.
I was running about 45 mph and the next thing I know David is yelling Daddy-eeee!! I see we were about 30’ in the air and landed about 40’ out. It reminded me of the good old days. We hit hard, but every thing on my rig was ok, so we kept wheeling. Robert Jones was running up a dune with a knife edge on it, and he landed just about at the bottom of it. Needless to say, it did get our blood pumping.
One of Don’s friends was in full size Bronco on stock tires and locked in the rear and he did good. He kept up with the group, but kept losing the bead on the right front tire. He ended up putting the spare on.
David & Pat swapped rides. Now it was time for me to have fun. No matter what I did, Pat had a great time. I couldn’t shake her for any thing. At the end of the day, Richard Jurey, Ronnie & David, Mike Jones, Pat and myself were doing fast laps.
After about five laps, Mike stopped to take some pictures of his jeep at the top of a dune. We saw him at the bottom taking the pictures. We were doing about 50 mph when we come out of the turn and headed for Mike’s jeep. I gave my air horns a toot, and hit the brakes. We looked all around, but could not see Mike anywhere. So I eased over the top, there he was still trying to get out of the way. He said he heard my Jeep approaching, then he heard the horns. He just knew we were coming over. Ronnie and David said Mike tried to run but couldn’t, he hit the sand just rolling and running all at the same time. From what Ronnie & David told me, I reckon once a Marine always Marine. That never goes away.
A big thanks for the turn out. Lunch was good, seeing how I got out of a ticket for no mud flaps. That paid for my trip. I’ll try not to let 26 years go by before I go back.