Johnson Valley "Goatfest" 2010

[Desert Dog]

Thanks for setting this up Richard; Henry and I both agree that this was a real kick-ass event.

On Saturday, Richard had Cal (the owner of his old XJ) guide an advanced "full body rig" run. After-Shock was originally planned, but the group seemed to want more of a challenge so the guide decided to run us up Turkey claw. The group was almost all XJs, which decided to duck out of the trail halfway through after an XJ rolled. But your local guys from Infectious and Highroad decided to keep going on our own. We got a little lost and ran part of SOS before it got too ugly, and backtracked our way back to our trail and finished it up with ease. That evening, Richard took the Bakersfield guys from Infectious, Highroad, and the Trailblazers over to Chocolate Thunder to have some fun. Richard and the crew cooked up hundreds of burgers to feed the hungry masses that night. Richard lost his power steering pump, the Toyota in the group had problems getting his ARBs to function so was done for the trip so had to ride out Sunday as passengers, and I lost a bead on 1 tire and a valve stem on another (which luckily I was able to fix).

On Sunday, Richard decided to lead our group up the Hammers. We ran up Sledgehammer and down lower Jack. I made sure I represented Infectious by putting a sticker on the mailbox. I lost another valve stem in Sledgehammer canyon and another member of our group sliced the sidewall on his Goodyear MTR. Beadlocks are definitely in my future. My Rubicrawler performed awesome in this environment, one of the best things I have done to my Jeep.

On the way home, while driving through Barstow, a rear wheel CAME OFF THE JEEP . One of the rear wheel spacers came undone (looked like it wasnt torqued) and the wheel departed the jeep while stopping at a red light. Richard helped me get everything back together and we made it back to Bako by dinner time. The wheel spacers are going in the trash ASAP and I will have my rear rotors drilled for 5x5.5".

This was a great trip. Our rockers and skid plates have lots of reminders from this weekend. Once again, thanks for setting this up Richard - you da man!!!

Here is a vid I made with some of the action.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfz9K6NlLqY

[Desert Dog]

some pics too;
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[Desert Dog]

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[TheBigDogg]

nice Vid and Pics Chris, a couple more things to fix and I am ready!!!

[Bert338]

good job Chris

[munepit]

Sweet Vid!! I need to build a smaller rig! Looked like fun, But I would have been scared shitless!! I need that!!

[Desert Dog]

Don't forget to turn up the volume and listen to Henry's comments at the end of the video. I think Jeremy has some competition.

[Goatman]

Glad you guys made it out there. Had a good time on the run on Sunday.

I was late getting out there, didn't get there until after dark on Fri. We did our traditional Fri night run up Sledgehammer, then went over and ran Chocolate Thunder, then ran Backdoor. Sat we ran Hwy 19, 20, 21 and then Fissure Mtn Trail and then down Sledge and back to camp, then took some folks over and ran Chocolate Thunder before heading back to cook dinner. Sun we were all Bakersfield folks and we ran up Sledge to the mailbox and then down Jack North, and we got back in camp around 12:30.

Always a great time in JV. Other than some tire issues, I didn't see any breakage from Bakersfield people.........well, other than Jack from the Trailblazers. He broke his CJ Thurs on Spooners, broke a D44 CTM u-joint and the axle yokes, popped the ball joint off, and screwed up his power steering pump, and broke his winch cable.

[Desert Dog]

I was surprised that I was able to get through the weekend without touching the body on that big-ol JK. I am sure that having the ability to go REALLY SLOOOOOOW had something to do with that.

Once again, fun time, thanks for setting it up Richard.

[Goatman]

You can do a lot of wheeling at JV without body damage if you stay focused. Certain spots are potential gotcha's though, have to be real careful.