Tierra del Sol, Salton Sea

First of all I'd like to thank the academy for not giving Brokeback mountain the best picture award.

That being said, another T.D.S. has come and gone. And as you might have guessed it was a tad dusty this year.

Tony F. and I started out on Thursday afternoon at 1:00PM, I have to apologize to Tony for being 2 minutes late (I'm getting more like T.P. everyday) we cruised out hitting very little traffic and arrived to find Richard, Kristen and Steve H. awaiting our arrival. Set up camp and took a quick run to the CRACK. Very few people were there, but some had set up chairs to wait for the mayhem to start. We headed back, had some dinner and headed back to the crack to see what trouble we could find.

After driving up small incline, hill, wall that I had done 3 times earlier for some reason I decided more speed was needed (bad idea) as I launched my rig into the air (it couldn't have been more then a foot or two) it came down with two large cracking sounds, one was the rear drive shaft snapping in half and the other was the right front universal joint that died in a cavelcade of sparks according to Tony F. from what I understand. Richie and I assessed the damage and he towed me back to camp to further check things out. To make a long story short a friend of mine had me bring the Jeep to his camp and 2 1/2 hours later I was back in business to the tune of no dollars and no cents or is that sence.

During my rebuilding efforts John C., Tom and Tommy, Joe, Joe and Joe P. along with (if I remember right) Jake and his dad showed up. We all headed to the crack again to watch the crazy people, got back to camp late and went to bed. Myself and Tony F. were awaken by a small earth quake that hit right about the time we were supposed to get up and line up (imagine the luck). The TDS folks ran us in the opposite direction (west bound) this year and they had a couple of harder sports then last year.

Tony F. and his new tires showed us the way on a couple of sections that Richard and I had to be winched up. About half way through we got a C.B. SOS from John C. that his JP wouldn't start, just cranked. I suggested that we just leave him behind and it serves him right for bringing a broken Jeep to the run but I was out voted (only by two) JUST Kidding, we all headed to his location and Joe P. came to the rescue and found the problem and fixed it (crack sensor if I remember right) and we were all back on our way. The rest of the trip was nice nothing out of the ordinary, and I still haven't seen the last check point.

After dinner we all headed to the raffle and sat around Tony P.'s vendor spot to listen for our number to be called. One of us didn't have to wait long, Richards number was the first number to get called and he came back with a 4" Fabtech lift kit. After the raffle we once again headed to the crack to watch the insane do what they do best, drink to much and drive to dumb.

Sunday a group of us hearded out for one last run before heading home. We headed to the phone booth some of the group opted to head back a little early and the rest of us headed up the mountain.

A fun weekend, dust galore, crazy windy a couple of times (have dust in every crack, yes every crack) beats watching reruns and mowing the lawn any day of the week. Feel free to chime in with your own details.

Keith