Well, as best I can tell it, The Dennis Story:
Dennis, the guy that knows those trails like the back of his hand?hell, he lives there, and I have wheeled with him many times, yes, he is crazy, agreed last year to trail lead for the first B2S run.
Micah and I pre-ran the trails with him a few weeks before and Micah tried to map the trails on his GPS, but as you know, Dennis does not slow down. Going like hell, we ran a lot of trails. There are literally hundreds of trails, and I have been in there ten or more times, but Dennis never wants to take the same trail twice; so I really don?t know where they all are.
We meet at the gas station and I tell Dennis take it slow, some of these guys are new. ?Yeah, man, I?ll take it slow, I know what I am doing.? We caravan to the trails and Dennis hits the first trail. No stopping to air down, lock hubs, get ready, just balls on wheels goes into the trail. On top of that, he invites a few friends. One with a two-wheel-drive Dodge pickup truck. I?m in the rear, riding cleanup and the whole thing stops?forever. The Dodge is stuck, no surprise. Without me knowing it Dennis goes on ahead, with some of our members leaving us to tow the truck out. After some time, Jim (JumboJim) pulls the truck back up the trail. Half our group has followed Dennis, and the rest are back assisting his friend.
That was the last we saw of Dennis.
Finally, we all meet at the rock quarry and I am trying to reach Dennis on my cell phone. We sit there for two hours waiting for him to come back. Finally, Matt and Deana, in a red Jeep say they know the trails from snowmobiling save the day and take us on the trails. We end up going on some great trails.
Dennis had taken the guy in the Dodge; let him borrow his POS Jeep Wrangler to get on the trails. On the way to meet us, they roll the Jeep on the road (because Dennis always drives like a bat out of hell) and we never saw him again.
That was the last time I spoke to Dennis until the day before B2S II. Micah and I had planned to pre run, but never found the time. I called Dennis the night before, asked him to help out, and he graciously agreed. He?s a great guy, just crazy as hell. At the last minute, with me ignoring him for a year, he agrees to help, even though he already had plans. Dennis and the guys in the other Ruby could have covered a lot more ground without us but they stuck with us and helped out.
For next year, I will know the trails. I will be going out there next weekend and at least five more times before next year?s B2S run. Like I said, there are hundreds of trails out there?from mild to wild and it?s not an offroad park, but true offroading. I?ve been on trails that could roll my rig, trails that cannot be done without lockers, and some very scenic mild trails that are the most beautiful place there is.
Dennis is not a bad guy, just a little (OK, a lot) crazy. Next year, he is welcome to come along, as long as he is not leading.
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