Wheelin’ For Hope 2023!

Oh man! This was a ripper of a trip in 2022, and I was stoked once again to get in on the fun this year as well!

Wheelin’ For Hope is an annual organized trail ride in the Oak Ridge Estates in Arrington Virginia. It is a charity fundraiser ride, with proceeds going towards cancer research. It’s a limited capacity event, with a cap of 200 vehicles, broken up into 10-20 groups. Attendees can camp at the event on the horse race track. The event runs from Friday night to Sunday, with Saturday and Sunday being the off-road days.

Matt and I went early to check out Monticello, which was on the way, and made for a good grocery stop for the weekend at a nearby Wegmans. It was an interesting experience, learning about the history and controversy surrounding Thomas Jefferson, both as a founding father and as a plantation and slave owner. His complex relationship with his slaves, contrasting with his claims of equality were evident.

Photo Courtesy of Andrew and Cherie from HobbyTrap.com

After that, we made our way to the racetrack, where we saved some camp space for Andrew, Rick & Kathy to join us so we’d camp and hang out together. They arrived shortly after, and we got our tents and camping setup going.

I hadn’t camped since last year, so I didn’t know what condition my tent would be in. I didn’t remember if I did a good job of opening and airing things out, and cleaning the tent before the trip. I usually do that prior to the year’s camping season, but with my back issues and surgery, I never got around to it. I was met with a tent in pretty rough condition. I did my best to clean it up, but I knew I had some work on my hands when I got home! It was quite dirty and a little moldy.

We had a fun night, relaxing under my 13x13 canopy (this would be its last trip!), and then around the fire in Rick & Kathy’s awesome Solo Stove.

The next morning, we had a quick breakfast, and headed out to the pre-ride meeting point where we all lined up and had our drivers meeting. Our favorite guide was not leading today, so we went with another guide that had a smallish group. We also met up with a couple of Andrew’s friends, one in a 1st gen Tundra, and the other in a sweet Jurassic Park Jeep.

We hit the trails after the meeting, making our way though some tight and twisty terrain. Shortly after the start of the trail, it started to rain on us, which dramatically changed the tone of the trip! Last year, in 2022, it was dry the entire weekend. That was my first trip to the area, so I only experienced the trail in the dry, with tons of grip everywhere. This time, however, it was slick, goopy mud and clay! Absolutely no traction anywhere, with scary steep descents, some folks in our group contacting trees, and full throttle muddy climbs uphill, with multiple attempts and breaking out of the winch!

We had a super sketchy descent down a steep hill, that consisted of sliding, zero traction, and hope. Right after that, was a precarious log bridge crossing in the wet. After some careful spotting, we made it through!

After some more hairy wet and muddy terrain, as well as multiple water crossings, we wrapped up the day mostly intact, with a little bit of minor fender, flare, and bumper scuffs from spirited driving on the trails.

We made our way back to camp, and noticed that the storm that we saw out on the trails, wreaked havoc at camp! Multiple destroyed pop up canopies, including mine, broken tents, etc. Andrew & Cherie’s tent snapped a pole from the weather. My pop up canopy was mangled, and we scavenged a piece of a broken bar to splint the snapped pole. After a little widening of the oval pole with a hammer, we got it to work, sleeving the snapped fiberglass pole.

That night, we went over to the provided dinner and raffle. They had the usual pulled pork sandwiches and sides, which was pretty good! None of our group won anything this time around, but it was fun hanging out and seeing everyone win things! After that, we went back over and sat around the fire again, and relaxed for the night.

We did the same thing Sunday morning as the day previous, and hit the trails after the drivers meeting. We had some aggressive trails in front of us, and it took a lot of work to get through some of it!

This is where I suffered the most damage, breaking what I later found out to be my front driveshaft CV joint. It was still attached, and still functioned, giving me 4WD, but it was severely wounded, making a lot of noise and ready to fail completely at any moment.

We made it through the day, and after a quick investigation, determined that I could drive home with the jeep as is. Rick, Kathy, and Matt drove with me as far as we could before they split off to go home, to make sure I was ok. I really appreciated their support. The Jeep made it home, slathered inside and out with mud, caked on 4 inches thick in some places!

This was once again an awesome trip, and look forward to doing it again!

PA Wilds!

Fall Run Up Union Springs!