DAY 1 

Well around this time we heard on the CB that 2 other Hummers were at the other campground and thanks to the radios were on their way to catch up with us. Well it took a long time to get all 11 trucks through this spot and Josh, Mike, Sam and J-Dee in the lost 2 hummers caught up and joined the group. It was a great feeling to have them find us as it must of felt lonely not finding the group. So now we were one happy and lucky group of 13. 

Well while they were catching up we all had our first real challenge going through this rock hole spot. It was tough and took about 5 minutes a truck at least. When it came time for one of our leaders the Sweeneys to go through Star had got ahead and got the Video tape rolling. 
Pam was driving the truck and as she was coming out of the hole you heard a loud snap. Yes Star got it on video! Well it was a rear halfshaft so John W. backed his truck down and John S. used his winch to pull the truck out of the hole and they continued on to get the halfshaft fixed. 

BTW- Almost every truck had a winch and a few of them had a rear one also. Brandon had to have the most decked out truck with just about everything you can imagine on it. He was close to max. weight of 12k pounds. There were so many tricked out trucks I could do a whole web page for each truck. 

So while they were changing the halfshaft the rest of us were getting through the spot. Well it came my turn and almost everyone was having a hard time getting up out of the hole as on the way out the front tire runs into a rock that has to be climbed. You have to have a little speed to get over the rock or else the other tires just spin. I was sort of nervous as everyone is watching each person through and cheering them on. Well I was about to go and Tim from AMG comes over and ask if he could ride along. I yelled YES. Tim is the driving instructor for AMG as well as the famous movie star you see on the Driving Off-Road video you get when you buy a Hummer. I felt much better with him telling me what to do. Well we drop into the hole and with Tim telling me instructions I get over the rocks and start up the worst section and give it enough gas to make it up out of the hole on my first try. I felt 10 feet tall as I made it on my first try. I thanked Tim for the help and felt my confidence shoot up about 100%. It was a great feeling to make it the first time.  

Well Josh was behind me and as I stopped to video him I noticed he made it easy too. Then I learned Josh has been a hummer owner for quite a while and was no rookie. The last truck was Mike, Sam and Mike's dog J-Dee. They were doing good in the hole and coming out we heard this loud raspy noise that was proportional to engine speed. Well it turned out the Metal fan was hitting the fan shroud. Almost all the Hummers have plastic fans and now I see why. Well it was an easy fix to remove the bad piece and realign the shroud and we were on our way. Again I got it all on video and the noise sounded much worst than it was. 

We continued on and went over many rocks and narrow paths that left almost no room for the mirrors. Good thing they fold in. 
We reached the top of a hill area and it has a big long hole that the Hummers just fit into and can drive the length with no problem. Well this also can be taken with two wheels on top of the wall and it gets the truck in almost a roll over position as you drive along the length of the hole. So Josh and Mike M. decide to do it and it makes for some great pictures and video. Josh goes first and gets the front wheel 3-4 feet in the air and it looked cool. 
Well Mike goes next and he gets about the same amount of air with J-Dee barking watching him. 

So we finally break for lunch and it is then I realize I have a nice slice in my left rear tire. I realized before the big hole as I saw the gauge getting lower and people heard a hiss. But now we finally found the slice on the inside of the tire about a inch long. We decide to wait till we get to the camp spot that night to try to plug it. 

After a nice lunch we start up again after a little while come up upon a large rock area that had arrows painted on rocks to point people to stay on the trail. Probably from the Jeepers Jamboree that brings hundreds of jeeps through in a weekend. This was a nice spot to take a few pics as the front group was making its way through a tough little section. It was another good photo opportunity and we all made it with no problems. 

John S.  Mike S.  Brandon 

We continued on for a few more hours and had many rough sections as with the wide width of the Hummers we had to drive over many areas where Jeeps and other 4 WD's vehicles would have no problem. It was so exciting because you never knew what was ahead and  you would come around a corner and all of a sudden you have a hugh drop off to get down. 
There were endless sections of hugh rocks that we would drive down and over. We hit one section where the trail was so narrow that you scrapped both sides of the truck on the rockers. Midway through this section was a hugh root that stuck out ready to grab your door. Well I did not get over to the other side enough (rock very close) and the root put a small scratch and dent in my right front door. It was very small and is really the only body damage I got next to scratched up rocker panels which everyone got.  

We had left that morning around 9-9:30 and we finally got into camp at Buck Island Lake at around 7:30. It was a very long day and food and a nice sleeping bag never felt so good. John had his hot water shower going and many people took advantage of it. I remember Brandon telling his story of his shower. Since it was dark John had the shower rigged up to just shower behind a tree so you could be nude watching the lake as you took this wonderful shower. Well Brandon said about halfway through his shower he felt something on his leg and got a sudden shock. Well it was only a branch. Well it was funny when Brandon told it. 
he he  About 5 minutes after we got there Brandon, Scott, Les and Marshall were like a rapid deployment team. While two of them took the chain saw and cut up some of the down trees the other two were setting up this hugh military dome tent. In no time they had a nice fire going. John W and Mary are from our area and we have been on a few Hollister trips together so we always stuck together during the trip. After seeing Brandon's team we decided to camp next to these guys the next night. Well it was a mutual blessing as they did'nt have a gas stove so we all shared our stuff. We were quite impressed looking at all the food they brought as rumor has it Brandon never skimps on the food. I heard a story that at another Hummer outing they roasted a turkey in a hole in the ground. Well while we set up our tent and inflated our air mattress I noticed John and Mary did not and they sleep in the truck. How nice, well it is one of the many good things about the wagon version. 

Day 2 Trip Report 
Day 3 Trip Report 
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