Trail Team Expedition Kokopelli Expedition Nov.6th-12th
Hey Cruiserheads & budding expeditioners,
This all started When our good buddy Brady (boss) gave me a call
(If you don't your going to a mountain biking event!)
asking if we knew of any events for the second week of Nov.? Now if you know Brady you'll be able to read between the lines, see above...and with that subtle threat, us wheelers put our heads together and came up with an ultimate trail ride... one we could sell to Toyota at any rate.
Sooo... welcome to the East Coast FJCTT "Team Choice" Expedition! This Concept is similar to going to the video store to the employees picks category. We get asked all year long by many folks or Magazine editors... what are the cool places to go? What would you like to do best? What's your ideal event? Well let's face it folks, Toyota has truly sent us on one heck of a ride! It really is one of the best jobs out there! For many of us, our lives have been impacted in a way that'll never be the same. The friends we meet (you), the experience we've had and the wheel'n places we've gone are just amazing!
So this event was conceived, proposed, organized & will be hosted by your East Coast Guys you know as... Troy, Woody, Garrett, James and myself (Gustaf). It is not only our gift to you, but to Toyota as well. This is a culmination of what we feel would be our Team Choice if we got to plan something.
Here's the Official pitch:
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The East Coast Trail Team will be embarking on a 4 day expedition from Grand Junction, CO to Moab, UT. Relying only on our FJ Cruisers and the gear we can carry, we will be traversing (basically) the Kokopelli trail stem to stern from November 6th – 10th. If you want to join us on this epic expedition drop us a line. We will be traveling with a limited amount of expedition ready vehicles. Keep an eye on this thread for updates as the voyage nears.
This is an expedition style event. We are packing lots of gear in our trucks and we are going to be WAY out in the La Sal mountains behind Grand Junction & Moab. To be precise, we will be traveling 142 miles off-road! We'll get up past 8000 feet in elevation, we'll do water crossings and some technical wheeling. The views and memories are going to last a life time.
If you think this is for you, consider a few things:
Is your truck reliable?
Do you have spares?
Do you know how to fix your truck? (within reason)
Are you comfortable saying goodbye to friends and family for 4 days?
Do you/can you borrow personal equipment for this type of event?
It's going to get cold!
It's going to get hot?
Plan for it!!!!
This event is open to any make vehicle, although you might not wanna bring your rock buggy to this event! This is more of an event for near stock trucks: 2 to 3 inches lift, armor, winch, roof rack, 1 size bigger tires, etc. Reliability will be your overriding factor, which pretty much rules anything other than Toyota's out. (AAHHHHHH I had to take a small jab, I do know there are other expedition type trucks interested as well.)
We will go through some tuff sections! Most of it will be pretty easy going, but all of it will be laid back. I don't care if we need three winch straps, several high lifts, and a super highway of rocks paved by the Trail Teams...our goal is to deliver all trucks and people safely to the final destination.
We do have a couple of Mags lined up to publish the story for us, and we have a production crew out to shoot it. I might add, though obviously the FJ is the star, this video will be more about expedition style wheeling. There will be a great interest in the things/qualities YOU bring to the event. Whether it's a full on expedition rig, or knowledge about back country travel or colorful stories to tell about your travels... all will be welcome.
You will be encouraged to bring a DVD of pics from some of the adventures you've been on. If you, like Troy, only has a teddy bear, you might wanna bring him for show and tell. I personally will bring my Antarctica pics.
Another thing to think about, although we will cook for you the first night... something, I might add, other than hamburgers?? you to will be encouraged to come up with something for our Iron Chef cook out the second night. Aahhh plan now, my fellow chefs, I've had a year of trail cooking and I'm the judge!!
There will be a couple of mind bender challenges along the way. Do not forget to bring your thinking caps or ingenuity! Naturally, if you can think up some good ones, your more than welcome to try and "stump the chump" with Garrett aka "Encyclopedia Brown of useless Toyota knowledge" and the rest of us seasoned TT guys. We'll try to come up with the correct or at least humorous answer.
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Now as we take care of the background details... permits, route, insurance, fuel cans, etc. So far, this is the itinerary of what were up to:
Monday night Nov. 5th
Meet at the DoubleTree Motel in Grand Junction CO. This is the very place where the Trail Teams met the first year. We are working on a block rate for the hotel but you are on your own for $$.
Tuesday Nov. 6th @ 9AM - the official start
Meet in the DoubleTree parking lot. Meet and greet with everybody & general last minute preparedness. Possibly go out locally to where we did our training for a quick look see. LEAVE TOWN! We (the Trail Team) will cook that night!
Wednesday Nov. 7th
wheel into the Kokopelli Trail, have fun, do expedition stuff. Best part...I hear it is Iron chef that night...you cook...I mooch, yah, gotta love it! we have a fairly nice camp fire and what not.
Thursday Nov 8th
By this time we're well into the trail and getting pretty close to moab, trails are getting harder and the food, fuel & fresh change of clothes are getting low. It's the last grind and we're not sure if we'll make it?? ohhhooohhhhh
Friday Nov. 9th
Having eaten all the good food the first two nights we awoke early with gut rot from all the trail mix we had for dinner the night before. (Kidding, just kidding) ...but by now we'll be up for some nice accomodations...a good clean up, shave, hot shower, and a fairly pleasant meal might do the trick. We're booking a block of rooms at the Gateway Canyons. Once again, you're on your own for $$, but like the nice chaps we are, we'll be getting a block of rooms at discount for ya.
Saturday Morning Nov. 10th
Have fun at the hotel with their 6 wheel drive Pinz, see the car collection, spa, what ever you like... but Saturday is the last day! So say good bye to the friends you've just met & tip your tour guides (kidding) and begin the long march back to what ever part of the country you came from...playing "Leav'n.....on an FJ... don't know when I'll be back again....." (yeah, learn to sing)
For questions, you are more than welcome to ask your favorite "East Coast" TT member.
James: "coloradocruiserdude" on mud or FJcruiser forums
Woody: only an idiot doesn't know this one...
Garrett: GRM on 'MUD and GRMhick on FJC Forums
Troy: "Troyota" on mud
Gustaf: Skupetz on mud, FJ cruiser forums
you will however need to Email registration to
Gustafk@fjctrailteams.com.
We will NOT accept money!
We Will NOT ask for Personal information
We do wanna know who's coming and what they are driving
Do you have all the equipment you need?
Do you have a spare jerry can? (kidding)
-Gustaf
Gustaf Kupetz
Lead Driver
East Coast FJCTT
