Steve (dad) and Steven (son) showed up in a lifted T-100 with a solid axle swap low 5:1 axle ratio and 40 inch tires.

Mike also showed up with a restored flat fender Jeep with all the military bells and whistles including the fording kit.  Mike also has a new 4 door jeep he would like to use some on the trails.

The Christmas party was discussed.  A good time was had by all.  A total of 7 showed for the party.  The club provided two turkeys and a honey-baked ham.  Warren deep fried both turkeys.  We had great side dishes including dressing, mashed potatoes, and gravy.  We were also lucky enough to have an apple cobbler with home made ice cream for desert.  Then there was the gift exchange.  A little excitement occurred after the first round of polite opening, when the stealing started.  There were a few stares across the table.  By the end everyone seemed to leave happy.  There were a bunch of stories shared and even a little wheeling video was reviewed.

Turns out we forgot to discuss the run the group made with the H1 Psycho squad during the meeting much.  But this was a fun run.  Joe and Erik ended up making it a day trip, while Addie, Addie, Warren, Chrishan, and the kids were there for Saturday evening too.  The Addies were the true die-hards and stayed Sunday to shoot guns and play some more.  On Saturday, we ran White Mountain.  The trail was in pretty good shape, with most of the fire damage just at the end of the trail.  We had a pretty large group of Hummer H1’a and our group as well.  No major calamaties, though we did loose one or two H1’s early in the trip due to hardware concerns.  Repairs were made after we got back to camp.  Home base was the H1 Psycho ranch.  Hopefully they will be willing to host us again as they have quite a nice set-up at the ranch.

Another run was a Black diamond certification run Addie led.  They ran Jacoby Canyon, Gold Mountain, and John Bull.  All was going fine until John Bull (was tank by the horns?).  One of the participants had a little more excitement that the rest.  It started with a broken rear axle.  Progress resumed on the trail after some quality time getting the c-clip axle to stay in place.  Shortly after the repair was thought to be holding on the rear axle, the same truck had the unfortunate experience of breaking a front axle.  It turned into a bit of a long day, but everyone still seamed to have a good time getting black diamond certified.

January 2 through 6 – Pismo beach

January 19 – Yellow Jacket, Miller Jeep, Gorman (Hungry Valley OHV), or that trail up the street depending on what is open.

February 9 and 10 – Ocitillo Area camping trip

March 8 – Wildomar

April 5 and 6 – Mojave Road

May 24 through 26 – Big Bear camping trip (White Mountain trail maintenance one day)

There was some discussion about a possible run late in the month of December, but no plans were put together so far.  Watch the e-mail messages as anyone is welcome to call a trip.

Addie will be participating in a Toys for Tots run with the Hummer club that will meet at a local Hummer dealer and caravan down to Camp Pendleton.  Any four by with a toy is welcome to participate.

In other business, the size of the club was discussed.  The smaller numbers over that last few years is a concern.  Warren recommended we join a regional club to increase our references for membership.  Suggestions are requested for January and February meetings so we can discuss some options to try to increase the club size.  Please bring your recommendations and thoughts to these meetings for discussion.

We also got to hear some interesting stories.  One described the tale of one of the few times trucks have been left on the trail by our group.  The snow run resulted in three or four days of adventure over a week’s time.  It sounded like quite an adventure and some of us wonder if following Warren out on a snow run in the next few months was going to be a good idea.  The other was the story of Mike’s Jeep.  His dad bought it when he was about 4 and he ended up rebuilding it in high school shop class.  Ultimately after having stored the Jeep at his folk’s place for many years, he couldn’t take it any more and had to have it back again.  After towing it home, he had it restored to like new condition.  Now he is able to enjoy it in parades and even wheeling in the local area.

With a little continued discussion in the parking lot and the required new vehicle inspections completed, the meeting was completed.