Pre-Run Report Dec 2019

I was wanting to get out and see how my new tires would work in deeper snow as well as how the snow conditions were. I recruited a few members to go with me as it is not a great idea to go out by yourself especially In the snow. With John Vandergrift’s rig down for the count I invited him to ride shotgun with me. John arrived at my place a few minutes early with Cheryl and Ryan pulling in shortly behind. We got under way in short order with our dog barking at us from the window surely waking Casey up inside the house.

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Tonga Ridge Xmas Tree Run Dec 2019

Joe, Steve, Ken, Ryan and I all decided that we would meet up for breakfast at 7:30 AM in Monroe at the Buzz Inn. After breakfast we headed out to the trail to meet up with anyone else that planned to go. We got to the trestle around 9:10 or so and aired down. We waited until precisely 9:28 and everyone was asking what we were going to do and I said that since I was the leader that we shall go! We did a quick driver meeting and headed up the hill. It was just us 4 rigs at that time.

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Walker Valley Work Party Nov 2019

Well, it was the second Saturday of the month, so it must be time for a Walker Valley Work Party. (And it was!!!) This was a special one, because we made plans with Jim Cahill (from DNR) to repair and re-set the kiosk at the gate for our namesake Timber Tamer trails. As it turned out, we’d had about the driest early November on record with no rain at all since before Halloween. Of course, since we had trail work to do today, today was the day for that to change, so we had our more typical November all-day drizzle.

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Clam Shack Build Oct 2019

For the past few years Operation Shore Patrol has been held at the Tidelands Campground in Copalis Beach WA. Dave, the owner of the campground has been really good to us and accommodating our group to the point of breaking some of the campground rules that are normally in force. So it was when Dave asked if there was any way he could get some help with building a new clam shack for guests there were several people from the Rainer Ridge Rams and the Timber Tamers that said they would be happy too. A date was set for Oct 12th when everyone would converge on the campground.

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Operation Shore Patrol Sep 2019

Keep in mind – it’s the trip, it’s the beach, it’s the friends, it’s the shared meal, it’s helping make the beach a cleaner place, it’s the jokes, it’s the fun, it’s the leg-pulling, the sound of engines, the heritage of wheelers being wheelers together – Operation Shore Patrol is overall – THE EXPERIENCE!

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Jeepcast Trophy Challenge Support Sep 2019

Given a choice of a romantic dinner at Skippers on two for one fish and chips night or spending the day at JTC (Jeepcast Trophy Challenge)  Wendy chose to spend the day with me at JTC for our anniversary.  All kidding aside it is the spending time together that is important and I can’t think of anything I would rather do than spend time with family.  What an awesome day we had even if it was not a traditional anniversary.

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Gallagher Head Lake and Van Epps Pass Sep 2019

We scheduled this run a week prior and had 12 rigs signed up to go and ended up with 7 actually showing up. There were 3 meeting spots for this run. 7am at Bothell Shell station, where Travis in his red JKU and candidate Ken in his Tan TJ showed up to meet us. We then caravanned to North Bend to meet the rest of the crew, which was Moose and Mary in their TJ, Jon and Heidi in their JK, Curt and Wendy in their JKU. Hopping on the freeway we went… next stop Cle Elum to meet Chris in this Yellow XJ.

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Twin Lakes and Walker Valley Aug 2019

Twin Lakes:

Travis, Ken and Ryan and I decided on a whim to go up to Twin Lakes in the Mount Baker national forest. Not sure if this would be an official Tamer run, But Travis and We are Tamers and Ken is a candidate.

We met up at the Shell station in Marysville at exit 88 at 8am and then traveled the two and a half hours to Twin Lakes – practically the Canadian border.

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Idaho Back Country Route Jul 2019

While racing sailboats we use to say that the race was won or lost before you even left the dock.  Meaning preparation is extremely important.  In the case of a BDR (Backcountry Discovery Route) it is the same.  Preparation for an event like this takes a tremendous amount of time and research.  Where to stay and what routes to take even what BDR to run.

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Manastash July 2019

What better way to celebrate the birth of a nation than by practicing that freedom in the forest of the PNW. So it was that Cassidy, Melissa, and I planned to go camping at Riders Camp and perhaps do a little exploring of Manastash in the Jeep. The invitation to join us for all or any part of the planned 5 day excursion was sent to some friends and the Tamers which resulted in a few taking us up on the offer. So it was that early in the morning on 7/3 Melissa, Cassidy, and I left the house heading out to Riders camp in order to hopefully secure a good camp site big enough for everyone that said they were going to join us.

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Liberty June 2019

It had been about 19 months since the family and I were able to get away on a weekend camping trip. It was my fault really since I wanted to build the Jeep, but with that mostly done it was time to reap some of the rewards of that effort. So it was that Melissa, Alex, Cassidy and I left about 9am Friday for Liberty and the Williams Creek campground in an effort to secure a good camp site for the weekend, but it was not soon enough because when we got there we found just one spot that would work for all of the people we knew were on the way. We made the best of it and because we had great campground neighbors it all worked out in the end.

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Rig Check and 40th Birthday, May, 4 19

Our fine hosts the Tenney’s did their legendary thing with the weather – it being a beautiful spring afternoon in the woods north of Monroe. Ed claimed to have been doing a sun dance in the back yard days before – while also claiming no one wanted to see him doing that. (Ed – I may now have to go poke out my mind’s eye – thanks for that visual….)

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Reiter Work Party Apr 2019

The morning didn’t start out well for me…..I accidently changed the time on my alarm clock, one hour forward while setting the alarm to get up an O’Dark am on Saturday. Of course this caused my alarm clock to go off an hour early, which most of you know, is not a good thing for me! Just as I was about to go back to sleep, a HUGE Hail storm hit and rattled the house…..fine, I will just get up, since the universe didn’t want me to get my beauty rest!

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Hefty Haul Out Apr 2019

We started out getting there a bit late, about 9:15 am. Which if you know me is a bit early for me. Lol. Kevin with the Rainier Ridge Rams was quick to ask me who was bringing the fixings for the Lunch bar-b-que, as we had volunteered to do that with our club. I must have given him a deer in the head lights look and answered I don’t know? He just looked back and said.. Your not awake yet are you? Nope I was not awake yet. It took me about 15 minutes to get awake and moving and I assured Kevin that Mike our trusty cook was going to be there to cook up some hot dogs and hamburgers. It was cold and rainy and windy as we tried to get out flags and banners set up. Catch up with everyone and touch base and get signed up with DNR for our days duties.

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Walker Valley Jan 2019

It had been a while since Casey and I had been up to Walker Valley so we googled the time to get there and it showed about 90 minutes. It actually only took about an hour. So we got there early and found Shawn in his Teal jeep already there with 3 little ones running around have a great time. We got ourselves aired down hubs locked in and as we got ourselves ready others trickled in. We even got to chat a bit with our favorite DNR guy, Gary Bellows, as we waited. We ended up with 10 people in the parking lot with Dave on his way and meeting us a little later. Ed and Katie, Karl VP riding shotgun with Kurtis Messmer and his 3 little ones, Chris G in his new to him XJ, John in his (RocDoc), Travis B in his red 4 door JK, and candidates Marc C and Chris L. and of course Casey in her MissCreant, and me in my MissUnderstood.

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Hangover Run Group 1 Jan 2019

There were two groups for the Hangover Run for 2019—the “Big Dogs” and the rest of the folks.  The “Big Dogs” were the people who were foolish enough to get up too early after New Year’s Eve to try to be the first (or highest) up the mountain in the snow.  The rest of the folks were smarter than us, and took a more leisurely time about getting out of bed.

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