This was the second year at the Dakota Challenge and other than having front axle U-joint fall apart, there were no major problems. Many of the tougher trails were closed due to heavy rains the week before but we still had fun. Once again, we had a great turnout from the club, including Jack, Tim, John, Steve, Val, and several others whom I can't remember but I'm sure will remind me when (and if!) they ever read this tripe!

This was the first year that we moved from the Fish N Fry to Whispering Pines, where we had a lot more room. One night the whole north end of the campground lost electricity. Since it gets chilly, and some of our crew were in tents, our resident electrician, Tim Miller decided to trace the source of this catastrophic failure. He wound up in the basement of the main building, couldn't get access to the main breaker box, so he did what any self respecting electrician or Jeeper would do. He hit the thing with his fist. Sparks flew, smoke came out and the lights came on! Thanks Tim!

The first trail was Full Size and the first obstacle provided more than a little entertainment as I about went belly up! This was so good that several photos make it into some magazines. (You really gotta click on this one!)

I'd like to personally thank Tim Sheldon for the extra helping of spaghetti he had the night before since I'm firmly convinced that had he not put on the extra two pounds, he would never have been able to hold me down while I put it in reverse and backed out of this technically gnarly maneuver!

After regaining my composure and changing my underwear, I became my usually cheerful self!

Jim ( " Thunder " ) from Missouri and his crew were some of the best drivers we had seen there (other than the Black Hills 4 Wheelers and our crew, of course.) Here Jim is between and rock and a hard place.

Jim trashed the sidewall on the rock and couldn't get the Jeep high enough to change the tire. Steve gladly obliged by snatching to a tree and pulling the Jeep up by the roll cage. You can see the winch cable off to the right. Ingenuity! Damn!

Now on to IceMan to redeem myself. Last year I had a trashed rear locker and needed some help on this trail (although I did make it to the top of the rock by myself - I just needed help getting off it!) The pucker factor is high since there's an 8 foot drop off and you need to place your tire in a little notch that you can't even see! Here one of the Missouri crew shows how it's done. The next two photos show how difficult this maneuver can be even with a very well built rig.

The last trail (boo, hiss!) was Rodeo. I groused about not going on any trail that was led by a Cherokee! " Won't be that tough, " said I. Ha! We did Tim's trail and did we have fun! I lost a front axle u joint early on (the c clip popped off in the campground the night before.) I found out when the cap let loose on Rodeo. No problem, had it fixed in less than 30 minutes. Steve ( " JeepMan " ) was on this with us and we had a great time.

This was a fun rock to climb. After we got over it, our nice 80 degree day clouded up, we heard a little thunder and damned if it didn't hail on us and rain like the devil!

There were a few puddles on this trail.

One of the magazine photographers decided to run their rent-a-car up on the ramp to see how well it would stack up against the other vehicles. Perhaps a little suspension work is in order!

Once again - the DTC was a kick!