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| Sierra Trek, CA - August 2001 | Short Cuts | ||||
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By: Kimber Rau
Edited by: Randy Wheeler
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| Kimber Rau taking on Winch Hill #1. |
A year's worth of meetings, organizing and planning for the 35th Annual Sierra Trek comes down to performance for any chairperson, myself included. This year, as in years past, I've volunteered to help stage the Friday Short Wheelbase run. Randy Burleson, my co-chair for the 2nd year, brought in his 7 volunteers and I provided 9. Together these volunteers have to keep 130+ rigs, drivers and passengers lined up in proper group order. The rigs are each inspected for the required equipment and to insure mechanical safety. There is a group of the volunteers that heat the water for coffee, tea, or chocolate and make sure that rolls are available for the breakfast binge while the other volunteers help with the vehicle inspections.
As with any large event, there are always last minute questions from the participants: "My group has been split up and we are spread over 3 different staging times, can you move us all into the same group?"... "This battery is held down by a bungy cord, is that ok?" or "My friend registered but was unable to come so he gave me his registration, is this ok?" There is usually a simple fix that we can make to help a rig pass inspection and we do all we can to accommodate the participants, but safety items are not overlooked or passed through. This is to protect all participants and spectators on the trail. As for registration, that's a simple name change on the paperwork. Switching groups is a matter of those who are staged at an early time, moving back to the later time or pulling over at a safe place along the trail and waiting for the late stagers to catch up. These are just a sampling of some of the things Randy and I have to make "official" decisions on.
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| Kimber Rau on Winch Hill #1 |
After all the rigs are on the trail and the gear is stowed back in the trailer for the next days work crew, the fun begins. Randy and I, along with a couple other 4x4wire.com staffers, then run the trail as "Trail Committee" which simply, because of a tradition we stupidly set a few years ago, seems to end up being "Drag Committee." While we drive the trail for the fun and challenge, along the way we stop to aid our 4-wheelin' comrades that haven't had the greatest of luck. Some trail repairs we assisted on this year included: a lost shackle (which happened to be on my '74 CJ5), a Chevy EFI ignition problem that persisted throughout the entire trail on the original "Drag Rig," shattered u-joints in two rigs (one happened to be in our own group from the 4x4Wire.com crew), a blown bead and a fuel pump with an attitude on an early Bronco. These were just the problems we encountered as "drag" (the term used for the last group of rigs, typically committee rigs that ensure that all vehicles make it off the trail safely).
While we started the trail at 8:30am Friday morning, we didn't get to main camp until 1:00am Saturday. After a quick meal of turkey and all the fixins (that the dinner crew kept warm for us) and a warm shower, we hit the sack for some much needed sleep. I had to get up a 6am along with my half of the volunteers to serve a continental breakfast for the masses.
When you consider that we didn't sleep Thursday night to insure that no one snuck into staging ahead of their time slot, it makes for a very long and tiring work-day (or days in my case). BUT IT IS ALWAYS REWARDING AND FUN. I meet new people each year and many remember my bright green CJ5 and its GRIDWNC license plate, or is it my sparkly personality they remember most??? I have been on several trails after Trek and people recognize me, or the Jeep, and say, "Hey, weren't you on Sierra Trek?" This always starts a great conversation and even leads to invites to do other trail runs. I find this to be one of the biggest reasons for me to come back the next year and do it all over again.
Hope to see you all next year!
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