Every year, Arizona Christian Wheelers takes a trip to Calico Ghost Town; near Barstow, California.  It is here that we have our annual Jamboree and reacquaint ourselves with our affiliate clubs; 4x4HIM, Extreme Wheelers 4 Christ, Sons of Thunder and C.O.R.E.!  Last year, ACW went for the first time as a small group.  This year we had the opportunity to play a much bigger part in the event and introduce many of our new members to the origins of the club.  The entire trip was filled with stories to last until next year and for a lifetime.  From ACW:  Taco, Brutal, OnewhiteZJ, Tankering, Deacon and several close family were able to make the trip.  Silverbullet and Jesusluver were also enroute to the Jamboree; however, an unexpected turn of events inhibited their ability to attend.

On Wednesday, Taco and Brutal loaded up and headed out to Calico Ghost Town.  They left at around 5:00PM and enjoyed a slow drive out to California.  Chris was breaking himself in as a "train engineer" as he was pulling two trailers behind his '03 Dodge.  He was pulling his newly purchased 5th wheel with a flatbed trailer behind that with Brutal loaded atop.  We stopped for dinner in Kingman at the Cracker Barrel and then continued our journey to Calico.  We arrived in Calico at about 1:30AM and setup camp.  We couldn't wait to hit some of the trails in the morning!

On Thursday, we woke up early, had some breakfast and waited for others to arrive.  About the same time Silverbullet was leading a convoy out from Prescott Valley.  Silverbullet (Brian) was towing his 4Runner behind his F-250 and Jesusluver (Donavan) was pulling a travel trailer behind his parents new 1/2 ton Dodge.  All was going well until they had decided to pass a vehicle on 89 heading North.  Brian had passed and signaled that it was okay for Donavan to pass as well.  Just as he went to pass the travel trailer caught some wind and the shoulder and started to fishtail violently.  The fishtail went out of control and ended up throwing the Dodge onto its side and the trailer into a solid rock wall.  The trailer had disintegrated and the Dodge was totaled.  Luckily, that was the bad news.  The good news was that Donavan and his passengers Kristi and Scott (Brian's Wife and Son) were uninjured.  About this time Taco and Brutal had returned to camp from wheeling and received the message that there was an accident.  They were excited to hear that Brian and Donavan had decided to continue to Calico, despite the shocking news.  In addition, OnewhiteZJ, Tankering and Deacon were all on their way.  Also during this time, Taco and a few other hosts found out that there was a movie being shot right over the hill from our camp.  Sounds pretty exciting right?....nope.  The movie was being shot right at the base of the two trails we were expecting to use for our event....in fact the only two trails we were expecting to use.  We spent the rest of the day trying to find some open trials we could use for the event and trying to find a place for Brian and his family to stay for the night.

Thursday night, much of our group had arrived and were ready to wheel.  We enjoyed seeing those from other clubs which we had not seen in over a year.  It was a great opportunity to catch up with each other and make the appropriate introductions.  After everyone had settled in, we decided to scout out some runs for the Saturday events.  Taco, Andyman, Deacon and Brutal all headed out to Mule Canyon.  We spent a few hours trying to scout out some runs which would suit all those who wanted to wheel on Saturday.  Many of the canyons came to a dead-end or simply dropped off.  Many times we came really close to the movie sets which were running through the night.  From what I understood, it was a Steven Spielberg film and they were shooting some war footage in the old mine shafts at Calico.  We eventually decided to head down Oddessa Canyon, as we knew of an exit near the bottom we thought we would be able to leave from without intruding on the film.  We thought this would be a good route to take our groups on Saturday.  We headed down the Canyon and enjoyed spotting each other through some of the more difficult obstacles.  For Deacon and Brutal, it was the first time they had attempted Oddessa.  They did extremely well considering it was now dark at about 1:00AM in the morning.  As we neared the bottom of Oddessa, we were all anticipating whether we would be able to get far enough without intruding on the film.  All the kids were sleeping and everyone was getting pretty tired.  Just as we cleared the last few obstacles, we came to the exit of of the Canyon where we were stopped by some cones blocking the road.  Not wanting to intrude, we shut down the vehicles and walked past the cones attempting to see if we could talk to someone.  As we got about 100 yards down we finally met up with a security guard who was blocking the entrance to the main road.  Initially, he wanted to have us all arrested for trespassing, but after we talked for a few minutes he decided to give us an escort back to the main road; realizing that our intentions were honest and that we were trying to scout runs for the Saturday event.  We were all extremely relieved to be heading back to camp!  Besides a few minor scratches, there was little damage to report.  

Just getting to the Ghost Town!

Our Camp Thursday morning!

Wheeling through archway!  (Thursday)

Chris and Russell flexing out!

On Friday, the entire Jamboree started to show up and ACW took on the task of the Registration.  We figured it would be a great opportunity to meet all 70+ families at the Jamboree.  Deacon (Bo & Merry) walked around camp to remind everyone to register, Brutal (Chris & Mandi) took care of running the registration table and Taco was there to coordinate the efforts and assure that the jambo was off to a good start.  Registration was extremely successful and all the help was greatly appreciated!  Prior to registration we had an awesome BBQ get-together at Chris and Mandi's 5th wheel.  We grilled the steaks and had a potluck style dinner.  The trailer was packed with the entire ACW group and it was a blast!  We had a great prayer over dinner and enjoyed some of the sides that were offered to the potluck!  Later that night, some went wheeling and others stayed around camp to prepare for the big day...Saturday!

Chris, Bethany and Andrews brother and wife!

ACW Group at the Ghost Town! (Friday)

ACW members enjoying some good 'ol sarsaparilla!

Awesome collage made by Chris Ayars!

Deacon (Bo) and Taco (Russell) on the Mine Tour

On Saturday, we all woke up early and headed up to the main event circle to prepare for the days events.  The event was split into (2) main runs.  The first run had about 50 vehicles in it and the second run acted as a sweep run with about 10-15 vehicles.  The main run departed at about 10:00AM and headed out to Doran Canyon.  The decision was made to run Doran to the bottom and turn around and head back up it.  This made for a great run, lots of pictures, and lots of wheeling.  At one point both groups met up at the ledge in Doran where we were all able to fellowship and cheer each other through the obstacle!  There were a few close rollovers, a few minor scratches and a few body panel dings!  Lots of excitement!  Pastor Paul took the opportunity to wheel Taco down the Canyon, while Russell sat passenger and enjoyed watching others wheel, taking pictures and filming.  On the way back the ledge had been dug out quite a bit and offered a much better challenge to the second group.  We all took the line which offered the most challenge for our capability and took lots of pictures.  The run was lots of Fun!

Second Group on Saturday!

NorCal 4x4Him!

Pastor Paul wheeling Taco with Mandi and Russell riding passenger!

Second Group exploring caves at the top of Doran!

First Group at the top of Doran!

Taco spotting Pastor Paul down Doran!

Andrew's brother taking the hard line up Doran...woohoo!

OnewhiteZJ (Andrew) heading up Doran!

Brutal (Chris) heading up Doran!

Deacon (Bo) tackling Doran!

Andyman dropping down side obstacle on Doran!

Otherbrother on same obstacle!

Pastor Paul wheeling Taco!

Blues Clues!

WhiteRhino!

Other Brother coming back up obstacle!

Taco taking the hard line up Doran!

Andyman getting some wheel action!

Near rollover!

Saturday night, we all enjoyed the Taco Bar put on by the Extreme Wheelers 4 Christ.  Taco sold raffle tickets and the ACW gals prepared communion for the service.  During dinner, we all took the opportunity to share the stories of the day and reflect on the trip as a whole.  After dinner, Pastor Paul had a great sermon and allowed some of the members to give their testimony! Every one of the testimonies was a blessing to the event.  We enjoyed some awesome worship and witnessed to all those surrounding!  After the sermon, we headed into the raffle!  There were prizes for all the kids, women and men!  We raffled off a welder, a set of t-case gears, a few high lift jacks and many other items including over $500 in gift certificates!  After the raffle we headed out for one last chance to wheel!  Taco's family showed up for dinner and the sermon, so we all decided to take them out and show them how ACW likes to wheel.  We headed back to Doran to have our last chance at the ledges at the entrance.  Brutal, Deacon, Andyman, and Taco were all there to enjoy the fun!  At one point, Deacon had the opportunity to use his winch for the first time!  Taco had misguided him in a turn where he ended up high centered and unable to continue.  After quick winch work, he was free and back on the trail!  Later, Brutal was headed back up the ledge and had a few of the kids asleep in his back seat.  Just as he peaked the top with his front wheels, he almost laid brutal on its side.  As brutal almost went over, you could hear Mandi scream and the kids wake up!  Everyone got out and Chris took the more difficult line up the ledge!  After a long weekend of wheeling, we all headed back to camp and enjoyed a good nights sleep!

ACW girls preparing communion!

Saturday night service!

Pastor Paul's Sermon!

Taco and Brutal preparing raffle!

The General getting ready to give out raffle prizes!

The Grand Prizes!

On Sunday, we all headed to the ghost town after breakfast and visited the shops and attractions!  We went back to camp, packed everything up and headed home.  Just before leaving we all met for lunch at the infamous Jack-in-the-Box and planned the trip home.  The trip home was filled with discussion about future plans for ACW!  There were many great ideas presented and lots of great discussion.  What an outstanding trip!