FJOA Spring Scramble

The Ocala Jeep Club of Florida

No, it wasn’t another Woodstock nor a repeat of last years “Drinking Club with a Running Problem”. As far as I know, everyone kept their clothes on…well almost everyone. I arrived Thursday afternoon to find a number of sites filled with apparent full-timers and Good Sam campers (Snowbirds) occupying most of the open spaces from the previous years. We nestled in between some of these permanent residents which made things interesting. By Friday afternoon it didn’t take long for the campground to fill to capacity as vehicles were lined up onto the main road to the entrance. RVs and tents were sandwiched and shoe horned in between actual sites and anywhere there was a square of open space. Even before things got rolling there were people that had already been out on the trail who broke stuff and were scrambling around looking for parts throughout the camp. Then on Friday night, the heavens opened up with heavy rain, wind and hail. Although for only a short time, it was long enough for tents to be blown down and flooded; soaking everything including some new found RV leaks by some. I heard that some poor woman took their sleeping bags to the Laundry Room to dry and when she returned the camp host had locked up the doors. I never found out if they got them back or where they ended up sleeping that night. By about 11pm (Friday), the last known OJC member arrived to set up camp. As far as some of the sights, I recall seeing one of the tents with installed a window A/C! If you were lucky enough to have arrived early, you could have observed an unscheduled 101 Tent Erection Course. It would have gone much smoother had little Braden Woo been available to help out and oversee the actual construction of said tent. Since many of us had already arrived at the Camp and were not able to see the YahooGroup updates, incoming campers told us that a new member had posted something on-line about OJC being invited to Midnight Rodeo that night for a Chippendales show.

Well...let‘s just say, we had our own rendition of this.

On Saturday morning numerous groups went out on the trails. Our group, 33 Jeeps & 1 Samurai, headed out towards Blueberry Hill, Blue Sink, Disappearing Creek, Railroad Grade, perimeter of the Bombing Range etc and was out about 6 hours. Thankfully we were able to spend some time at Blueberry Hill before it was closed later that day. Also, a big Thank You to Billy Miller for helping me change my fuel pump on Saturday. After dinner, the usual (?) campfire was ignited by the now legendary John “Fire Bug” Warner. Several hours later a small group went out for quick night ride and then again on Sunday morning before heading home. The Sunday morning ride met with a little ‘pucker’ for one XJ driver and his passengers. Because of the extreme overcrowding, I hear rumor that FJOA may be looking for another location for next year ‘s event. But even with the overcrowding and weather outburst, I believe we all had a great time.