Someone told to me: “ You are an animal, but I love how you drive”

The real planning of my trip to Rubicon started last year; I guess, watching my friend’s pictures and dreaming about doing it. One of the first steps was to install the lockers (at Off Road Evolution); a gadget that allows the rig to have real 4-wheel drive traction, eliminating the differential function that allows the wheels to spin. I already have some armor on Buttercup (Slee Off Road products are my best friends), so I was in shape in that area. 33 inch tires are welcome in the 2007 wagon’s run, so I just needed to sign in; I assumed that. It’s funny, the maximum size allowed in Fun Race is 33” but here, this is the minimum size required for that trail. Let’s face it, wheeling in mud is not the same as wheeling on rocks. I will confirm that for sure.

I had some mechanicals issues during my lockers test run, I couldn’t even turn them on and I broke the knuckle studs when I hit a rock. Joe Somerville helped me out and we worked together on Buttercup every other weekend until we covered his unique inspection list. The driver’s side knuckle was not reviewed in deep details; we trusted that it would be ok. That’s definitely part of my journey, no doubt about it.

Saturday June 16th. I left home about 5:30am (an off road trip is the only reason that I wake up so early) and I drove all the way to Sacramento to meet Alvaro, David and Silviu, who came from Venezuela especially for this run.  At Alvaro’s place, we removed the sway bar on Buttercup to allow more articulation on the rear axle and then. Later, we joined Andy’s family for lunch at a local seafood restaurant.

We left Sacramento and drove to Lake Tahoe to camp there. Andy reserved two spots in a park with a lake view.  For dinner, we had Mexican food and some Margaritas in a nearby restaurant. Jim arrived later that night; I was already sleeping on the ground and too lazy to set-up my tent. The next morning at 8am, Jim received a warning ticket from the park ranger; we parked 4 cars instead of 3.

Sunday June 17th. After having breakfast, we filled our gas tanks and hit the trailhead, but not without doing the air-down ritual first. The first miles were done perfectly, not big deal until we stopped at Observation Point. Then, the famous Cadillac Hill was ahead of us. The first serious obstacle was waiting for us. The sliders and gravity worked awesome here. I was able to tackle all obstacles.  We arrived to Rubicon Springs about 3pm, set camp (I didn’t know that Jim paid the fee to camp there too) and I jumped into the water, well, it was just a splash for me ok, because I’m from the warm waters of the Caribbean sea, so this was too cold for me, no matter what.

Monday June 18th. Next day, keep rolling, like the slogan. Jon with a 4runner mini truck had joined us.  We stopped at Big Sluice to study or better said decipher the best way to sort out the obstacles (rocks) with minimum body damage and keeping the trail as it is. We spent and hour or so with La Cabra and it went through without major damage, just few more dents. When it was my turn, we weren’t so lucky and I did some body damage on the rear passenger side panel. Someone said: “Dents are like tattoos, just with better histories”, even though I’ve never had a tattoo, I agree with that. Jim with the 60, Jon with the mini truck and Andy with the 40 went through the obstacle with no problems. I guess years of experience counts for something. Good spotters are priceless on this trail, don’t leave home without them, they are your eyes. Silviu said that wheeling is like a chess game, and the right strategy is to figure out the line to follow. I’m not sure when the U bolt of Jon’s mini truck was broken, but they fixed it while we had lunch. I watched and learned.

There are many regulations on the Rubicon trail, and one of them is where to camp. We need to camp close to the trail and far away from any damn. Vehicles must stay within 25 feet of the center of the trail at all times. The dams are vital water reservoirs for all California residents, so it’s very normal to have these type of regulations to keep people away. That night, we camped close to the trail in the Spider lake area and we had carnitas that night. I chopped the onions and the bell peppers and Alvaro did the rest with some help. It was a great dinner, surrounded with friends and a crystal-clear sky. I slept on the ground; my tent was at Rubicon Springs. I’m too lazy to set-up a tent every night. On the other hand, the granite absorbed solar heat, so it’s really warm and comfortable at night. I remembered that we spoke with some ATV guys and they hardly believe that a Lexus was on the trail. My ego was shoulder to shoulder with the stars that night.

Tuesday 19th. We got up early but we left late; I walked to Spider Lake and took some photos. That place is out of this world. With the left over Carnitas and eggs, Alvaro made breakfast burritos. We also had espresso coffee each morning. No one brings milk for an off road trip, just Alvaro. Jon cannot believe what he tasted since the night before, so we gave him the welcome in the best NorCal style, by the mouth. I don’t remember any hard spot from Spider Lake to Loon Lake . We by-passed the Little Sluice. And from there I do remember just another group coming in to Loon Lake. They had a hard time to believing that grocery getters are on the Rubicon. We joked and laughed about it together. That’s the beauty of this sport. We crawled over the granite walls and arrived at Loon Lake. This is the usual starting point for almost everyone who tries this trail. We did it backwards with soccer mom wagons!!!

Our plan was to get some food at Ice House, some ice, fill up with gasand return to Loon Lake to camp there. I had already gone through my tank of 95 liters /25 gallons. The TLCA organized run will start from Loon Lake next day.

Well, the kitchen at Ice House was closed, La Cabra had a twisted drive shaft and Buttercup was leaking oil from the passenger side knuckle. So Alvaro called a few friends. Tom was still in Sacramento and we asked him to buy all the spares parts that we may need as well as drinking water and bring them with him. It turned out that Andy had the spare parts that I needed in his rig, but if we used them on mine, we would be risking the trip preparation, by not having the spares available.

Silviu and Alvaro took care of La Cabra, while I cooked the chicken that Carol made for us and I feed the crowd. That was part of the plan, cook for the group a couple of nights and eat other people’s food the rest of the time. It works great for me. Especially when is Carol who does all the real cooking. I just grill things or warm them up. I love my wife.

We left Ice House and stopped at a campground where some other 80’s owners were there. Turns out my hub is damaged and needs to be replaced. But Andy manages to temporarily repair it. My hub leaks no more. And in a couple of hours, we are done. Believe or not, he used duct tape to solve the issue with the hub. We camped at Loon Lake without any issues.

To be continued…