Trip 10:  The Mud Weekend in Review
     
Date: Jan. 13,1996
Event: Mud Flat Races
Location: East end of Foster Reservoir, Sweethome, Oregon.
Host: PNW4WDA, Santiam 4WD, and a couple of others I don't recall.
Who: Bill and Nicole(17mo) Lewey, 93 Gran Cherokee and 3WD Yakima Racing 
Stroller.
Rules: No Camping, No ATVs or Motorcycles, No Alcohol, so what can you 
do? Anything else.
About 1000 other trucks.
     
9:35am arrive late at the meeting place (T&R Restaurant) but there isn't 
anyone waiting around so I take off to the lake.
10:10am arrive at the back of the line which turns out to be about 3 
miles long.
10:37am have gone about half a mile.  I park the Jeep and get the 
stroller out.
2.5 miles later we pay our $3 and get a warning about walking around.  
Obviously from the motor noises coming from within the compound I take a 
great respect in the warning.
     
What do you do?  
If you're walking around you try to stay on higher, drier ground.  It is 
there.  The mud flats are not completely flat.  The elevation range is 
about 8ft.  So the dry spots are about 2 ft higher than the mud but some 
of the holes these guys are going through are 6ft below the mud.
If you're driving around that is about all you do.  Drive around in loops 
defined by the hundreds of parked trucks and "omigod" cars.  You also 
wait a lot and cringe a lot when these lead foots decide to suddenly back 
up or head up the track you are going down.  Oh yeah, you can count on 
getting stuck as well.
If you are a man you  smoke cigarettes.  If you are an adolescent or a 
woman then you smoke cigars.  If you are a kid then you run around with 
no shirt and your pants hanging half way down your butt.  A lot of little 
butt crack running around.  If you are dog then you pick fights with 
other dogs and if you are cat you are probably sucking mud right now.  I 
kept a sharp look out for Jeff Foxworthy (comedian) if you catch my drift.
     
Mud Analysis
This stuff is all right.  It is kind of a sandy mud.  It gives way easily 
but there is a solid base underneath.  It isn't like the clay we have 
experienced on our past years trips.  There is always a place to put a tow 
truck if someone needs pulling.  Unless you get into a steeply sloped hole 
or get your frame hung up you can probably get through most of the stuff 
out there.  
     
The Trucks(?)
I would guess the number exceeded the hundreds of vehicles.  Here are 
some interesting notes.
Listed in the order seen.
Lots of  new Chevy and not so new Ford pickups. 
Lots of old Dodge pickups.
Lots of Jeeps of every model since 1946.  There were some very nice 
specimens of flat fenders, pickups, and wagons.  One interesting vehicle 
was a Ford Mutt radio "jeep." It had the breather kit so one could drive 
up to one's neck in water.  I saw lots of CJs but I guess I am biased.  
Another interesting Jeep was a 6WD Wrangler.  Yes, that is dual axles on 
a Wrangler that was stretched from behind the original axle to 
accommodate the second.  It was very impressive.
Big Blazers, Really Big Blazers, and Little Blazers that were big.  
Several Samurais that had jeep frames, V8s and of course big tires. 
Pro-like trucks: Only saw a couple.  One had military axles and 54" 
tractor tires but it ran like %$#*!  The other ran good but I couldn't 
get a look at it to see any detail.  
Omigods: Pinto, Caddilac with extra big tail fins, really cool and well 
done VW bug.  I took a close look at the bug. As near as I can figure it 
uses an old Willys jeep frame.  The V8 is in the front so the front seats 
were pushed back into the rear.  There was an extended tilt wheel I guess 
so a guy could get actually get in and out.  It wasn't really lifted more 
than needed and looked a lot like a VW with big tires all around.  
Another give away was the slotted trunk lid for the radiator air flow. 
Speaking of Volkswagens they were the 2WD of choice.  Plenty of those and 
sandrails.  One very nicely put together "Thing."  The Sandrails were 
like ice cubes on the kitchen floor out there.  Very slippery and out of 
control.  Actually they had pretty good control.  It just looked 
chaotic.  Speaking of chaos...the events.
     
Events
The only sort of organized thing happening were the drags.  You and some 
other guy just drove up to the line and when the xmas tree lit up you 
punched it.  There were no times or finish line from what I could see.  
There were no matches.  Stock Toyotas are no match for old 440 Dodges 
with posi.  In fact one Toyota made an impressive effort to cut the 
population by twenty people when he lost control about halfway down the 
course.  This track was about a hundred feet wide but some drivers still 
had a hard time playing inside the lines.
There was a trench where a lot of folks were getting stuck.  I got some 
video of that but not much.  Some highlights in this arena were things 
like a guy using a chain was seriously flexing another guys stout  class 
4 bumper/hitch.  Another guy was trying to use his winch as a snap 
strap.  Somebody told him that he was going to bust it and believe it or 
not just using the winch as designed worked great.
From the sounds of it there was another mud bog on the other side of the 
drag strip but there was not a safe way to get there.  Another draw back 
for not bringing the Jeep down.
As I said though people were just driving everywhere.  Trails were 
defined by the vehicles parked on dry land.
     
Facilities
Ambulance, plenty of portapotties, 2 food trailers parked next to each 
other and serving the same food, hot dogs, nachos, soda, candy.
     
Conclusions
We stayed until after 2 then I wanted to get a jump on the crowds.  
Nicole was quite interested in the activity.  She likes to watch busy 
things.  Overall I enjoyed it also.  It was very informal, everyone was 
friendly and in good spirits.  There was a lot of conversations going on. 
 The kind of camaraderie you experience while watching natural disasters. 
 Facts or rumors flow freely, opinions given with interjections like 
"OOH!, EW!, GEEZ!, DIDUSEETHAT!"   I would recommend driving a tall 
pickup or having a friend along with one and lots of food and lawn chairs 
in the back.  Getting there very early to park the pickup in a good spot. 
 Mud tires and tall rubber boots are a must.  If 4-wheelers had a 
Woodstock this event would be it.  I'll go back next year if someone has 
a pickup we can go in. ;-)