Rubicon Run

3rd annual Calmini Rubicon Run
with story and photographs by: Ted Holman.
Editor: Eric Bewley.

The call was out again. Down to Rubicon Springs for more fun and frolicking. Well at least for the fun part. We called all of our buddies and headed south for Lake Tahoe. No camping the first night out for us, no sir. Embassy Suites in South Shore, styling. Somebody said to meet at 10:00 at "The Slab".

Sara Bewley in Wedgee

Kamma & I, Rick & Cindy Hawkins, Eric & Sara Bewley, Ed & Bernie, Mike & Robbie and Mark & Jessie were to meet the Calmini gang and Rick Rogers promptly at the hour. No one was there except Rick Rogers, so he headed on in. Oh well. We were two hours sociably late.

The rest of the group arrives.

Eric Bewley 'helping' Mr. Hawkins

Rick's best wolf man interpretation.

camping at spider lake.

The first day was killer with camp at Spider Lake. About 26 rigs had turned up and I figure they were carrying more fluids than fuel for this trip!

Tom from Sacramento was his usual helpful self, busting a rear spring at his campsite. Rick & Liddy were there along with Ben and his wife, already absorbed in the "atmosphere" of the Lake.

heading out the first day.

that rascally Eddie.

Nice sunset. There were a ton of folks from Washington including "Tim the Tool Man" and Wayne plus folks that seemed to know everyone else. The best part of the evening was Eddie offering me $40 to steal Jessica's tent.

Next morning was a little slow as we went to watch Rick Rogers do "Little Sluice" backwards and then forwards.

Rogers' samurai on 33x14 boggers

Rick doing a little two wheeling

no caption needed.

wow! I wonder where that seat is?

Jessica, Eddie's friend, went in, but this time the rocks won out and she bailed on it. Eddie had offered to lie on the rocks for traction, but we held him back. Just wait till next year!

About 100 yards from camp as we were headed out, there was that famous "BOING" that follows Eric here each year. Front axle this time. Man was he pissed! editor's note: Ted actually meant to type 'Girlishly flush with excitement.' An hour or so later, we were rolling again toward Buck Island. Weather was perfect, but the dust is still wedged up my nose.

I hate to brag about my rig, but it was so much easier this year. I had a 1600 FI motor, power steering, Petroworks GSR2 Transfer case, Hawk Tracker axle tubes with 5:12s, total Calmini armor and the latest Calmini 5 inch reverse
shackle kit. It was a breeze this year.

"Awe shucks!" broken at the splines.

What an UGLY truck.

California traffic, oy!

A group stopped to take in the True Sluice, but some of us decided to head down to Rubicon Springs. Next thing we heard was that Tim's rig had been attacked by his trailer and he was on his side. Bad trailer! We made pretty good time getting down to the springs until we came upon the fabled Scout Group.

Now everyone is responsible for their own safety, but these guys stopped every time there was a rock and had a full on conference. A run that should have taken thirty minutes, dragged on for two hours. Ok, folks, when you are obviously holding someone up, whether it is on the street, in the market or especially on the Rubicon Trail, pull the ---k editor's note: Ted actually meant to type 'heck.' over and let folks go on through. Don't be pigs about it. Slow is all right, but stupid is not. We were as nice about it as was possible, but the last line we overheard when we were at the bottom of the hill was' "We need to test the water" sent me over the edge. How many thousands of rigs this year have gone through here? Shit, editor's note: Ted actually meant to type 'Gosh,' just move over and let faster traffic go through. Thank you in advance. By the way, the water was exactly 28 inches deep.

We made camp and the expected last night celebration got started. A very quick swim in the ice cold springs cleared my cobwebs of dust and Scouts. It was so beautiful here. Everyone should make the trip at least once. We got tired of waiting for the other group to arrive, so instead of Tri-Tip, it was beans again, chased by one or two beers. As it got dark, a distress call came in from up the trail. A rig had turned over and someone was hurt. It was dark already and there was a large amount of tension as to what should be done, the seriousness of the injuries, communications, who should make the call, how to treat the injury. Of all things, the only EMT in the Springs was with the Scout group. I could have crawled under a rock! When it was all said and done, three rigs hauled Tony to Truckee for examination. Wayne, Tom, Allyson, Eric and Sara deserve a medal for their efforts. Heading up Cadillac Hill during the day requires your full attention; at night it requires aloose marble or two. Tony is a lucky guy.

OK, so now it is time to stand on a Soap Box and say a word or two. Everyone has opinions; mine are obviously prejudiced as much as anyone else's. The bottom line when doing any activity is that you are ultimately responsible for your own well being and safety. By not being safe, you are jeopardizing your own welfare and you are involving others who as a group feel a responsibility to attend disasters that occur to its' individuals. I am not claiming to be perfect, in fact, if I was hit on the head every time for screwing up, I would look like a walking..well you get the picture.

This was a great trip and I hope to see you all on the trail again. The worse part was having to carry Eric out of Harvey's the following night after too many Cervezas. editor's note: Ted actually meant to type 'Roy Rogers.' Eric showed me how to play Black Jack, What I can't figure out is how I kept losing even though I was getting 22's. He thinks I am real slow but I was really there just for those free wiskey sours!