Queen of the Hammers

As usual, the moments leading up to any camping trip are always pretty stressful and hectic but once we're on the road and camping, all of our worries just disappear. We headed out to Johnson Valley/Lucerne last Thursday night with our Canadian friends that drove all the way from Vancouver down to SoCal just to watch the King of the Hammers Race. 

We had a slow start but we made it to camp and met up with our other friends around 10:30pm. We set up our tent, grabbed some beers, and hung out by the fire the rest of the night. I was terrified that I'd freeze overnight, so I really layered it on. I had 3 long sleeve shirts on, a sweatshirt, a snow jacket, 3 pairs of pants, 3 pairs of socks, a scarf, mittens, and a beanie. I think that just about did the trick to fight the cold lol. Unfortunately it was extremely windy out there and I constantly woke up in the middle of the night in a panic thinking our tent was blowing away with is in it. Call me crazy but it was THAT windy hahaha. Eddie was pretty much getting smacked in the face with the tent all night long from the wind blowing so aggressively. 

We went on a hunt for an atypical vantage point of the race course Friday morning. But before we found our prime location, we had to deal with a very stressful police encounter. Our crew apparently started to cross over the very unclear border of the Marine Corp base. 

The first half of our crew that crossed the border were threatened with thousands of dollars of fines, 2-3 years jail time, and possibly having their vehicles impounded. After what felt like an eternity of getting a talking to, the rangers escorted all of us through their base and let us all off with just a warning. Our group was so lucky to be walking away with a good story for the campfire and not something worse. 

Overall, it was another successful trip for the books. Eddie ended up with a couple broken leaf springs and a ripped limit strap on his truck, but it was so worth it. I'm pretty sure we really banged the truck up Saturday afternoon when we were messing around in the dry lake bed before we headed in the direction of Barstow. 

I can't wait spend Valentine's Day with Eddie and my friends in Big Bear tomorrow! Hopefully I'll get a photo diary for that up ASAP after the weekend. 

 

Just hanging out on my throne...no big deal lol

Hooded Jacket: MinkPink

Shirt: Joe's Jeans linen tee

Jeans: CarMar (LF Stores)

Warming up around the campfire before heading out to the race & Karl passed out by the fire with his Fireball...as usual lol

All bundled up.

Alissa playing with her 10 week old boxer, Oco & the guys watching the race before we decided to venture off and find a better viewing point.

LOOK! There's another U4 passing us!

An Ultra 4 broke down right next to us as we were waiting for the cops to escort us off the Marine's property.

After being escorted through the Marine base by the cops, we made our way to another part of the course. We hit a dead end but decided to hike about a mile up the mountain to get to the course.

Repping my company, Armada Engineering! We're actually in the works of building a new Ultra 4 for the 2014 King of the Hammers himself, Mr. Loren Healy!

We hit up Hammer Town after all the racers passed through our section for t-shirts and other goodies. As you can see from the pictures, it was a zoo there!

Part of the gorgeous sunset out there once we got back to camp.

Elliot making the cutest face as the wind blows smoke and sparks into his face.

Catching the sunrise the next morning at 6:30am...all by myself because everyone else is still drunk lol.

Almost all packed up to hit the dirt, mess around at the nearby dried lake bed, and make our way back to Barstow then home.

Flying at the dry lake bed.

We randomly found ourselves in this gorgeousness while trekking through to Barstow.

The Banana Truck.

Ending our trip with some Barstow Del Taco...typical of the boys! I opted for Chipotle instead lol. The initial plan was to drive home through the dirt, but half of  our trucks couldn't handle anymore dirt until some fixing up.