My first Around the Sound Jeep Club Go Topless day was a few years back. We drove the CJ. Cindy and Jay were there too in the original Mudygirl.  My how things changed. The sleepy little event has grown to 164 registered jeeps and with some unregistered rigs that number could have been north of 180.
First to show was John in the stretch two door. Next was the Brady’s in Wendy’s grey JKU. I tried to pull up next to John but got in trouble. Not sure why because later another jeep parked next to John and they did not say anything. I am not sure who was next but Travis came in the Red Texas Jeep, Jon and Heidi in there wicked two door, Jeff in the pretty red TJ, Stephanie (possible candidate) in a cool yellow TJ Rubicon and finally Katie and Ed in there ultra-cool square lighter.
I volunteered to have John lead the group and we all filed in behind him. ASJ provided a map with a QR code that could be scanned for GPS. This was very cool. It did take us a little while to figure out how it worked but we did get it going. More about that later. After waiting for some time we pulled into line. The route was a little complex but when the GPS QR code route was working it worked well. The first stop was Mule where we all received a card for the poker run. Somehow John took a different route and came in to Mule the wrong direction. This left me to navigate for the lead Jeep which was now Stephaine. But we got back in line again and started off to our next stop. That is where John’s GPS turned Evil and tried to get him to go the wrong direction. Some barking on the radio and some quick changes of direction and he was back on track.  Since John’s GPS was doing its best to take him back to Mule, Wendy’s grey bus took the lead. As it turned out you have to tell the GPS that you have to go to the next mark. We drove through a very crowded Issaquah and down the Hobart road. We stopped at the Hobart store where there was at least another 50 jeeps. There was a long line and only one bucket but we were not in a big hurry. Back on the road again. The route that ASJ has you drive goes into the town of black diamond just to drive back out. Jeff claimed that this was a Timber Tamer turn around but that is not correct. We took the correct route as directed by ASJ but it was just odd. For the next way point the GPS took us to the wrong location. For reasons that will never be fully understood the GPS took us 7 miles in the wrong direction. So one official Tamer turn around. I later heard that many others had issues too. Of course Jeff and Ed had to point out several times that I went the wrong direction. All I heard was that they were volunteering to lead the next run. (all in good fun of course) At the turn around Jon and Heidi took the lead with Ed and Katie on sweep. A few times on the route we did hear from Rick and family. It turns out that they left a little late and were working to get caught up to us and they did right inside of the park gate.
We had lunch and told a few stories as Tamers do. Next was the Northwest Jeep Cast family feud. The Northwest Jeep cast was one of the major sponsors of the event. Being a friend to the show I was asked to join in their version of family feud. My team was Wendy and Jeff. I was up first. Name something that people do to there Jeeps that they think are cool but is not. Answer angry grill. We decided to play for it. We did get a few strikes but we did guess all top 5 answers. Round two, This time it was Wendy’s turn. Name something you have in arm’s length while driving your Jeep. Wendy answered makeup and it was the number one answer. Just kidding she answered CB. We did let the other team play.  They got 3 strikes and we were able to pull off the steel. It was now two zero. It was then Jeff’s turn and of course we won that round too. Out of 3 rounds we won all 3. Since Jeff was nice enough to join my team I let him go for the bonus round. Jeff did well and won a bag from Northridge.
We spent some more time sitting back with friends before heading back home.
I am looking forward to next year. Rumor has it that Heidi will be driving her Prius with a jeep sticker on the side. I personally think we should talk Gary into bringing the Super Sami. (most people don’t know that it is not a jeep anyways.) All in all a very good day. Like Expo this shows the power of holding an event that caters to the masses. It was a good opportunity to mix with wheelers who we don’t often have a chance to talk to.
Curt Brady
SN 69196
Former Timber Tamer VP
professional CJ7 bolt tightener / bolt replacer
Certified You tube Mechanic
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