This year Cherie and I got to combine two annual trips that we always look forward to. We took off of work Thursday and Friday to participate in the East Coast Xterra Challenge (ECXC) being held in Pennsylvania and then headed further up to Brookville to visit family and attend our annual family reunion. All in all a great dual event weekend.
ECXC
After picking up the Xterra from the shop late with it’s new fan clutch working hard we headed up to PA Wednesday night and arrived to our small 1 room cabin at Twin Grove campground around 11pm. In an effort to minimize our camping equipment, because we planned to wheel with it in the Xterra Friday, we opted for the cabin. Minimal bedding setup, no cooking stuff, just a bag of clothes, a bag of sheets and pillows, a cooler and my GoPro kit.
Thursday morning we fell it with the rest of the group at Anthracite Outdoor Adventure Area (AOAA) in Shamokin, PA, about 45 minutes from the campground. The Northeastern Xterra Club has been hosting this event since the early 2000’s and it’s always a great time! This year we had a great showing for Thursday which was about 15-20 vehicles broken into 5 groups. We joined Josh’s group to tackle hard blues.
The day got interesting before lunch though. Around 10:30 I wasn’t paying attention apparently and just bumped into a rock sticking out sideways from a hill on what really was an obstacle free wide path. Unfortunately the hit pinched my sidewall between the rock and wheel and I got a hole. These sidewalls have been super durable, so this being the first compromised tire I’ve had in 80k miles using the same Mickey Thompson carcass seems like a win. Shortly after our quick tire change Josh realized his alternator was going. We limped it through the day, with him taking a charge from a vehicle a few times.
I always enjoy following others at these places I frequent because they show me trails I was not as familiar with. The highlights for me on this day were the BA and BA Extension trails which were both on the northern section of the Eastern Reserve. The trails were just technical enough to be a challenge, and had a variety of natural and manmade obstacles, and was just a cool looking area.
The day went pretty smoothly until late in the date when we went to tackle Upper Anthracite. Again, this is a trail that often requires a spot or two but is a fun challenge for vehicles built like mine. Unfortunately a blown CV joint on Brent’s 1st gen, in the middle of the creek bed, made this the last trail we would tackle for the day. The fix took longer than ideal, a combination of poor conditions, working in a creek, and parts that just didn’t want to participate, but we managed to get to the parking lot right at closing time.
Josh would race back to the campground to have his vehicle basically die a few feet from his parking spot. He swapped an alternator in camp, only to have part break off the new one while he tightened things, and so he got to do it again with another replacement alternator someone else had. Keith helped Cherie and I by bringing some tire spoons and getting our tire off the rim so we could try to patch it from the inside. The patch didn’t hold though and so we remained on the spare.
With no spare spare tire Keith offered to let Cherie and I hop in with him on Friday at Rausch. So that’s what we did! The group Friday was slightly larger, and I think we broke into about the same number of groups. In a group fully comprised of Xterra’s on 35’s we tackled a few more trails I have not done in my vehicle including trail 20 and Beaver Creek. Beaver Creek turned out to be exciting after we got to one rock garden with no obvious good line. After trying one option Keith’s vehicle’s back end was propped several feet in the air on a rock. Took us a while to get that resolved. Ben and Josh tackled it along a similar line with winches also being needed. Then Tom came along, with the wisdom of observing his friends taking that line, and took a line to the far left and made it look easy!
Back in the parking lot we said our goodbyes and headed toward Brookville. On the way we passed through a very intense storm front and resulting storm. We came down the off ramp as my folks passed and we followed them one light to dinner!
Thursday @ AOAA
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Family Reunion
Our family is very tight and so we continue to get together several times a year for reunions of one form or another. This weekend was the traditional family reunion and so family came in from near and far. After the larger family reunion held around lunch we all parted ways for a few hours. I swung by a Frosty Freeze and ordered the large ice cream which I assumed would be 3 scoops. It was closer to a half gallon so I made Cherie drive us home the scenic way while I finished my snack.
Around dinner time we headed out to my uncle and aunts farm, Cloverdale, and hung out more with my aunts, uncles, cousins, and cousins kids. The evening was uneventful with just a lot of great catching up. We cooked a huge portion of chicken over the fire pit and when it was done it was time to eat! Cherie and I stayed to the end but left as a large lightning storm which had been entertaining us for an hour appeared to be moving in overhead. Thanks again Harry and Camille for having us over, and Dawn for organizing the main mid-day event!
On our way out I made my contribution for the weekend and solved a hazard that has been risking the eyes of the tall for years. Tall people, you’re welcome, there is now a tennis ball on the end of the garage door opener bracket that is eye level for you and I!
