The SoCal Big Bear run this weekend (August 22-25, 2002) was a blast!! We had about 50 trucks at the highwater mark Saturday morning. I got to meet tons of new members, and chill with old ones. Lots of great wheeling and great times were had by all.

This weekend was somewhat special for me, as Big Bear last August was my first trail run with TTORA. God my truck has been beat to all hell since then…

Here’s a quick rundown of the weekend:

Thursday

I drove up to Temecula to meet up with Corey, Rick (Ripper), and Sam at Texas Lil’s for some T&A and steak. No pics of waitresses - sorry. Afterwards. Sam peeled off, and the rest of us made our way up to Lyle’s house in San Bernardino. Lyle graciously provided couch and floor space for us to crash on, as well as some dope desert racing and rock crawling videos.

Friday

The crew wakes the heck up and Lyle busts out the mad phat breakfast spread. We saddle up and head up the mountains with John (SoCal kid) and his girl, who have joined us for the drive.

We get to camp, set up, then run the Gold mountain and John Bull trails. The NorCal contingent has arrived in camp by the time we get back.

Much drinking and hilarity ensue.

Saturday

We drive out to IHOP in Big Bear Village for breakfast and to meet up with the rest of the participants. We have about 30 Tacoma’s clogging the IHOP parking lot. After breakfast we head to camp with our new larger crew.

The staff gives a quick pep talk to the drivers of the 50 trucks!!! We split off into 4 groups - 2 advanced, and 2 begginer/intermediate groups.

I ended up in an advanced group with Lyle, Anthony, BigBadBob, Scott in the older Toy, John, and Michael (Inspector Gadgets). We cruise Holcomb creek and have a blast, until Scott’s distributor cap on his 22RE eats it. John tows Scott back to civilization, while the rest of us end up running Holcomb the other direction. We meet both of the easy groups (who seem to have become bored with Gold Mountain and now desperately try to avoid body damage on Holcomb).

After running Holcomb backwards, we return to camp, drink a beer or two, chow down on chips and Salsa, then get back on the trail and run John Bull again. There’s a crew of 11 jeeps coming off of the trail while we are waiting to start, so our evening run is turned into a night run.

We return to camp, and I cruised around between the different groups of people cooking dinner cuz I’m a cheap bastard and don’t want to cook. I sampled some delicious lasagna and garlic bread courtesay of Todd and Katie , Tri-tip from Mike Ross, beer from somewhere, Chex mix from Opposite Boy, etc… Opposite Boy brought the atomic death chex mix, which had this interesting creeper spice to it - you didn’t taste it initially, but 10 seconds later and BAM the habaneros in the hotsauce kicked in. I stole the bag and munched on it, enjoying the burning sensation and torturing innocent bystanders by offering them handfuls.

I retire somewhat early, as I’ve been wheeling all day and I need my beauty rest, and apparently end up sleeping through World War III, according to witness counts Sunday morning. I guess the fireballs were out of control.

Sunday

We pack up and head out. I spent a while airing up and cleaning the windows, then jumped in Big Bear lake to clean the dust and dirt off before heading home to San Diego.

Damage report for me this trip

• Two busted turn signals in front after turning the tupperware part of my bumper inside out on some rocks
• Small dent in passenger side rear bed
• Knocked drain plug bolt on transfer case loose, so fluid is now sprayed on the underside of my truck. Looks like it’s time to do the 30,000 mile service 2000 miles
  early.
• Random scratches - whaaaa