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Fall Crawl 2005 was held at
The Humps outside of Kirkman, Iowa. This event was organized by
the Goodtimes 4 Wheelers Club. The competition was divided into
four obstacles, The Hill Climbs, The Log Run, The Rock Garden, and The
Creek Run. Penalty points were given as followed. Stopping
(more than two seconds) = 1 point, backing up = 2 points, hitting a
boundary flag = 5 points and use of recovery gear (winch, high lift
jack, etc.) = 10 points. The team with the fewest penalty points
wins. My brother, Steve, joined me for the day, and although he
hadn't done any rock crawling, he had a great eye for spotting.
The 24 competitors in the event were split into three groups, and
divided between the hill climbs, log run, and rock garden. After
a slow start on the hill climbs, (got the truck high centered and had
to winch) we managed to walk up "The Wall" and went on to clean runs in
both the log run and rock garden. We were sitting good in second
place at the start of the Creek Run. The Creek Run consisted of
about a 1/4 mile winding creek with high banks, standing water, and a
few trenches. The object here was to hit hanging tennis balls
with some part of the vehicle. A missed ball added 5 penalty
points. Steve and I got a good start, getting the first two balls
easily. We had watched the first few rigs get to ball three seemed to be the
tough one, (with alot of competitors dumping on their side). As I started
to climb the embankment, the front driver's side tire slipped off of
the bead. To make matters more fun, I managed to get the old
truck slid into the trench, and up on its nose. After a
little winching, and some careful driving, we found a level spot to
change the tire. Needless to say, we did manage to get out of The Creek Run under our
own power.
When the points were tallied up at the end of the event, we tied for fourth. Not too bad for our first competition.
We'll be back next year,
and looking for a trophy.
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