s10extremist.org

Fourth Annual S10Extremist Bash

May 29-June 2, 2003

Eldorado North Carolina USA

After much anticipation, we finally arrived for this year's S10Extremist.org Bash. This is the Fourth Annual Bash which started in 2000 when a small group of Internet fans of the S10 4x4 decided to see if you could get enough of these little Generals together to ride the trails and make a respectable showing. From that event, many friendships were formed and the group, scattered across the United States and Canada, formed the nucleus that has become S10Extremist.org.

I arrived late on Thursday night and set up the tent. (yep, I set up the tent.) The remainder of the evening and into the morning on Friday, we sat around the campfire and talked way too long. Sitting around that night were John "Breakage" Blackmore (94 Regular Cab, Richmond, VA); Vinnie Picaroni and Cindy Buckelew, (93 2 door Blazer, NJ), Janet Becker (Arrowhead Campground Host Extraordinaire in the FS F-150 or the blue Taurus), Mark "Bad Bowtie" Hall (89 V8 2 door Blazer, 99 Silverado & trailer, Cedar Grove, NC), Dale Clayton (ATV, Cedar Grove, NC) and Keith "4x4x4doors" Holman (99 ZR2 Blazer, Germantown, MD).

After sunrise on Friday, several more arrived. I would be remiss if I did not remark with great appreciation on the very special service provided by the Campground Host for our stay. Janet knows how much I love my coffee and this morning (as every morning during my stay, "Tent Service" arrived with my own very special two hot thermos' of coffee. Holiday Inn never did that for me!

During the course of the day, we met or got re-introduced to Mike "Matchiso" Atchison (91 V8 2 door Blazer, Louisburg, NC); Beth "ChevyGirlBeth" Herrington and Kyle Starkey (85 3.4L Ex Cab, Carrollton, OH, Rittman, OH); Aaron "four20blazer" & Jessica "Grouchmobile" & Oscar Shenefield (88 4.3L 2 door Blazer, 86 S15 V8 Longbed & S10 Shortbed trailer, Snow Camp, NC); Bruce "Shorttruck" Hatton (Taco truck); and John "Tech" Maher, (93 Buick LaSabre-91 4 door Jimmy @ home, Brooklyn, NY).

Around 1:00, the Forest Service law enforcement officer started looking for us. No, we hadn't been misbehaving, he was in need of a tug. That big ole Tahoe does real nice for patrolling but just couldn't cut it for the task at hand. Seems someone had decided to drive their new Silverado down by the lake (along a walking path) and had gotten where it was just too slick for those street tires to pull itself back uphill. The Tahoe wasn't any help for similar reasons.

After scoping it out, it was decided that the winch (courtesy of Bruce and Shorttruck) was the tool of choice. The Warn made short work of the big Chevy and soon had the offender back to the roadside where law enforcement had a lengthy (and probably expensive) discussion regarding a number of laws that had been broken. The young man may not have been wise enough to keep out of trouble but probably bought himself some good favor by being classy enough to say thank you to Bruce and the folks that had extricated him. Before we left, we cut a fallen log to place as a barrier and reinforce the notion that this walking trail was not for driving.

As Friday had been set aside for trail maintenance and arrivals, we finally get out onto the trail for some maintenance in early afternoon. Our primary task was to remove some dead trees that were close to the trail edge and a potential danger if they fell onto the trail, or worse yet, onto someone on the trail. Our maintenance efforts included cutting one tree that was partially blocking the trails; cutting 3 dead trees in danger of becoming hazards; and winching one of the cable and log bridges over the stream back into position.

We continued to ride a bit afterwards but declined to climb the long curved hill on Daniel (infamous from a previous year's Baby Blazer incident) after determining the wet slick NC clay too be just too much to tackle on our first day of riding.

So we headed back to Group Camp to find additional arrivals in the form of Jeff "Diesel" & Angie Henderson, (88 Fullsize Longbed; 89 Longbed S-10 SFA & 94 4 door Jimmy @ home, Aurora, CO) Bill "KyMudHunter" Voet & Leah Williams, (85 SFAV8 Longbed, Florence, KY); Brandon Voet & Jason "Blazer8750" Yocum, (87 Ex Cab-K5 Hybrid, Florence, KY); Rich "85S103.4L" Michinski & Lisa Slate ( 85 3.4L 2 door Blazer, Nashville, TN); Austin "Rollfactor" Acker (89 4.3L 2 door Blazer, Durham, NC); Mike "Ratboy1970" & Chris Keane, (92 4 door Blazer and 95 4 door Blazer @home, Martinsburg, WV); and Bryan "86Blaze" Schoch (92 Yukon-86 2 door Blazer @ home, Greensboro, NC). Our weekend's group was now complete.

Friday evening found us around Group Camp, catching up with old and new friends and getting the kinks out from some very long drives. It should be noted here that absolutely no lies were told around the campfire that night. Every single word spoken was absolutely true. Speaking of which, I know where there is an absolutely cherry 89 Blazer for sale in Orlando. Seems this older woman bought it and decided it wasn't quite what she was after so it stayed parked in her garage except when it snowed. Yeah, right.

Saturday dawned bright and sunny, but we didn't let that bother us. It was long after dawn had passed before the majority of our group was up and about. Recuperating from the long rides and swapping some more true stories took a little time.

We all headed out for a group picture to be taken at the Eldorado Outpost. Mark had been there and they were interested in one of the Bash stickers and a pic of all of us. We gladly obliged. There were pictures taken from the right side, and pictures taken for the left. There were pictures from the front with drivers and passengers and pictures from the front without. Somehow, one person managed to avoid being in any of the pictures. I'll let you guess which one.