Welcome back to everyone who attended the rally over the past week.  I'd love to hear how it went, what you did, and about all the cool gear you saw.  Please post up!

I've created an album in the Activities and Events Photo Gallery.  Super easy to upload now, so please upload all your photos for everyone to see.

Hope you guys had a great time!

Craig

I had an incredible time!  Too bad there were so few of the NWOR folks that could make it over.  I could have used a few more two wheelers there for support.  Well, actually, maybe not.  I got most of Thursday to work one-on-one with RJ, an instructor from PSSOR.  Imagine having an off-roading expert work with you all day long!  Whooiiiee! 

RJ was really enthralled with the location.  He would like to bring his company over to do a 2.5 day Adventure DS camp immediately before next year's Expo Rallye at this site.  What an incredible lead-in that would be!  RJ gave a presentation on Warn's new XT17 motorcycle winch and also on a manual winching system PSSOR has come up with.  The manual recovery kit is ~$150 and could be a real life/time saver.  I am going to order one.

One of the things that held the number of motorcyclists down was the big rally in the Gorge during the same time frame.  Also, a lot of my buddies from ADV were getting ready to start a south to north run of WABDR on Sunday (today).  Next year should see a lot more people from those groups in attendance so long as the time conflicts are taken care of.  Brian and Scott are aware of the situation, so hopefully can work around it.

On Friday, Jonah Street showed up and took ONE very lucky rider for a training ride on the trails.  I'm not in that league so passed up the opportunity.  I'm still wayyyy too slow and inexperienced to try to keep up with those guys.  Friday night, Jonah gave a talk on his experiences running the Dakar, both in Africa and South America. Way cool to have the opportunity to just sit around and talk with him.

For the four wheelers, Wednesday night's entertainment was a video and talk by some Canadians who ran the Mackinsee (SP?) Trail.  It looked like 8 days of sheer torture; muds, swamps, mosquitoes.  In other words, tons of fun. On Thursday night, Scott Brady gave a presentation on his trip to Australia.  That guy can drive a truck!  There were classes on first aid, towing, gormet cooking, etc.  At one point there were 7-8 Sportmobiles on site, but by Saturday morning that herd had thinned down to only a factory rep.  In fact, by then the whole place was getting to look a bit deserted.  Too bad.

I left Sat. due to some engine problems.  In fact, on the way home, my oil sensor light came on while I was zipping up highway 97.  I couldn't find the problem on the side of the road and ended up asking a friend to drive over from Spokane with his trailer and rescue me. 

I want to thank Jay Erickson for being such a great new friend.  We spent a lot of time together.  That in itself would have made the trip worthwhile.  Oh, don't want to forget the chats I had with Garrett and Naomi, Nathan, Kadar, TacoDoc, and others.  So hope this event occurs again next year and more people show up!

Nate & Dale - Thanks for the reports!

Excited to read more,... & see some pics!


Cheers!
~CLK

Yes, post the pics here, looking forward to them.

A couple pics from my perspective...a few more to the photos section. I took a lot of pics of the vehicles in camp.  None on the trail as I rode alone on the Dakar.

Please plan on coming next year!  It was great fun.

First of all- this MUST happen again next year! Craig- consider me volunteering already to help plan, permit, scout etc.!

We've got some good pictures, I'll post to the gallery after some minor post-processing.

I should mention that the NWOS members who volunteered did an amazing job scouting trails, coordinating the obstacle course and more! We were represented very well and the Expedition West / Overland Journal folks were very thankful. I am also convinced that NWOS members are the friendliest, most welcoming folk out there in the internet world. All I've met before and those I met at this event are very friendly and willing to help, chat etc. We camped near some other really nice people and suggested they join up. Hopefully we'll see some new members soon!

The 27 vehicle "advanced" trail run was something to behold- Now I know why there are vehicle limits on many of our trips. Nonetheless, as mentioned, Scott did a great job getting everyone through the technical obstical, keeping the herd moving and teaching when opportunity allowed.

The vendors were all very friendly giving away swag at their booths and more than willing to show-off and demonstrate their goods. Internet shopping is very convenient but there is something to be said for getting your hands on the equipment first. I especially enjoyed getting to hang out at the Equipt booth- great guys!

The presentations or videos at the end of each day were very inspiring. I'm quite positive Australia is now on our bucket-list... Closer to home, we're ready to venture into Canada and check out the beauty that BC has to offer. We met a couple folks from up there who welcomed us to join them exploring.

Workshops were available every day and ranged from overland cooking, recovery classes, photography, etc. More inspiration here for us, especially the international travel workshop. What seemed so distant, expensive and difficult now seems very do-able. We're pumped!

Then there is the Overland Trophy Challege- what fun! Many of the NWOS members joined forces to create a multi-station, timed obstacle course. All of us who participated had to drive away and were led into the challenege one vehicle at a time. Naomi and I placed 5th and won a 1-year subscription to Overland Journal. Pretty cool.

Wow what an awesome event! Thanks to all the NWOS members that came out. It was good meeting old and new friends. A special thanks to Kadar and Caleb for really helping pull everything together. If it wasn't for you guys, the trophy event would have flopped big time. And thanks to everybody that volunteered to help out with the the Rally. I am looking forward to next years....but I'm not even thinking rally for the next few weeks. Congrats to Dave and Will(the RMI medic guy) and Garrett and Naomi for placing in the Trophy Challange! way to represent!

And lastly...Thanks to the guys at MasterPull for the hookup of a lifetime! pics and story to follow.

X2 on Caleb, Kadar and Benny as well! It was a fantastic time and must happen again! The Trophy Challange was a blast! Wished more people would have hung around for that. The guy that broke out the grinder to remove the 13 MM bolt
lost time but this will give us something to talk about for years!
 

It was great to watch my gals learn from some of the best instructors availble!

IIRC I counted more than 10 Sportsmobile's that attended the event at some point in time. It was too bad to see the number of folks thinned out so much by Saturday, and as well that more people didn't arrive Fri or Sat since it was the official beginning of the weekend.

A HUGE thank you to all the NWOS volunteers, especially for the help with the Overland Trophy course. I had a blast on that (thanks Jay for looking out for my driving partner's stock Tacoma w/ the removal of the linear log drive portion of the course--that could have damaged some other trucks, and as you said, that's not what the event is for).

All in all, a spectacular event with amazing people (no attitudes, always happy to share info/stories), great trucks (so many ideas for vehicle planning now!), educational classes/seminars, beautiful weather. I can't wait for '12!!

PS--Anthony, sad to not have seen you out there.

I ran into a couple from CA in a white Sportsmobile at the KOA on Sunday after the rally. I asked if they were in town for the rally and they had no idea there was one. I even mentioned that Sportsmobile was a sponsor of the event and there was a nice selection of SMB's there. I gave them the welcome packet that I had with the Overland Journal and NWOS flyer and said see you next year!

Next NWOS get together is going to involve a fire and some meat. Now that Caleb and I are elite members of the Auspit family!

I had a lot of fun working with Scott, Brian, and Kristina on the whole event.

Scott had me drive the ARB Xterra for the advanced 4x4 course while he taught the class. Here's me on 3 wheels for a demo on traction.
 

It was really great to see some old faces and meet new friends, getting to spend lots of quality time with quality individuals.

Thanks to both Daves, Janelle, Benny, Caleb, Mike, and countless others who stepped up to the plate and made the event the success it was. The effort and dedication you all put forth is the reason the Rally was as great as it was.

Shot of the NWOS crew for the event-