Hey guys,

Been pretty busy but finally got time to write our 23rd annual TLCA Rubiton trip report

We had a GREAT time as always on the TLCA Rubithon (http://www.rubithon.com), one of our favorite annual events! This event attracts such great & friendly people, every event is awesome. Like always it was very well organized, huge camp fires, and fortunately the mosquitoes were down this year. Although the Rubithon always seems to be on the same weekend as a popular local event (they were both rescheduled to the same date! DOH!), it's always a nice bonus for us to represent the central valley Fresno area and we never want to miss a Rubithon, it's that huge of an event.

There were some run-ins with a couple bears that were violating campsites, I even got to toss a few rocks at one of em

On with some pics!

Last chance stop in Pollock Pines


Beautiful Ellis Creek







Check out the Land Rover




Buck Island Lake




Marlin's spotter Ginger


Ryan's Tacoma climbing away from Buck


Marlin's super old Toyota/Dana60 hybrid axle still going strong


Made it to the springs


On the other side of the world I was getting gas in Truckee, getting ready to drop down from the top


It was pretty wet up top


Snow drifts


Observation point






Tony (TRT2) and the committee meeting

 

The Marauder Bar Friday night was in full swing




Better get some tickets...


...because the raffle was AWESOME!


Glen and his new Helicopter were on hand






Love the old skool Crawler sticker Scott!


The weather was PERFECT!


Here is a rare site of Marlin getting to relax for lunch!


Jeff from http://www.toyconnection4x4.com was there with his awesome Stout


Here is Marlin gett'n it awn








Grinding down the welds




Welding to the broken bolt


Bolt extraction a success!


The Dana u-joint endcap spacer Marlin made


Finally here is Glen fixing his starter signal wire


We heard Glen made it out without any troubles! Awesome!

 

George from Valley Hybrids stopped by to say hi


At this point it was all smiles


Here is Tony Twiddy getting the show started


Marlin, Christine, Katie, and the goofy one (yours truly)


The raffle deep in session


HUMONGOUS camp fire!


Scott Cruzila Johnston and Marlin, where else can you find two great minds like this?


Check out this AWESOME 1986 BJ71!! Why oh why Toyota -- please bring the 70-series to the US!!






Drove by Cruzila's camp at 6:30a Sunday morning


Here I am ready to head to Loon




The brutal road home


Cresting the big sluice

 

There were a ton of Jeeps coming in on Sunday morning. It must have been a zoo on the trail. I was glad I got out so early


Check out the Ford Explorer. A rare sight, sure, it seemed to be built well but had lost its front drive somehow


Caught up to Jeff who had headed back to Buck after the raffle the night before




Climbing Thousand Dollar Hill


Caught up with traffic


Meanwhile back near the Big Sluice Ryan's Tacoma was under the knife. The had issues with a link mount.


Brand new toilet near Ellis Creek, complete with it's own private access road!


An awesome stock Tacoma on the far side of the gate keeper


Aired up, sway bar and mud flaps connected, ready for the long haul back home


...and a few more misc pics on our photo here: http://www.marlincrawler.com/gallery?g2_itemId=12270

Again, the trip was awesome, if you've been wanting to go then I highly recommend you to attend next year. The people are so nice and friendly, such a great group of people.

Cya next year for sure!

Cheers
BigMike

 

Nice pix Mike! I would love to hit an event like that sometime.
One of these days my truck will be in condition to do it when it coincides with my vacation
Need to win the lottery so I can retire and wheel all the time

 

Next year JUS DO EEEEEET!!!

 

Great pictures and write up. I want to go again. But I don't have the Toyota anymore. Building an Isuzu.

 

Then let's see your Isuzu on the 'Con! We've got an awesome member on our forum who built this Amigo: http://board.marlincrawler.com/index.php?topic=19881.0 She has taken it through Rubicon a few times now

I don't think I've ever wheeled with a Montero before, that would be AWESOME!!

Here are some more Amigos that I think are pretty cool