 ECXC 2k6 was the second year we wheeled both Paragon Adventure Park and Rausch Creek Adventure Park. Although both parks are plenty large for an event this size, they just don't have enough of the trails most of the attendees wheel. It's also nice utilizing both parks to cut down on registration time. We had a great turn out again this year with a total of 64 vehicles over the weekend. Our number dropped from 2005 mainly from the lack of Canadians that usually attend. 2005 had 23 Canadians, 2006 had three.
 The only real down side of using two parks is not being able to get one group photo of everyone that attends. Even with Photoshop, that'd be tough to pull off. The way we worked both parks was to send one group to one park and a second group to the other park. We ran about 4 groups each day at each park.Something new for 2006 was the introduction of Support Teams. The support teams consisted of 3 vehicles that roamed the park each day waiting for distress calls from fellow wheelers that had breakage and needed assistance the support team would handle the repair or would tow the broke truck out of the park so the rest of the group and continue wheeling. Fortunately the support groups had a light work load. Also new for 2006, we added a third full day of wheeling. In the past, wheeling on Sunday was always optional and usually a small group would wheel. For 2006, we wheeled on Thursday as well as Friday and Saturday. With Sunday still optional.
 Both Paragon and Rausch Creek had added new trails since ECXC 2005. Unforunately, large storms had wreaked havoc on parts of Paragon and several trails had to be closed making several usually popular trails unaccessible. Rausch Creek added a new 101 Section, which when completed will be like a off-road training course with a little of something, log crossings, light mud pits, small off-camber hill climbs, etc as well as a couple new trails. Paragon added about 6 new trails, but the storm damage made at least that main unuseable.
 I lead trails on Thursday at Rausch Creek and Friday at Paragon. I stayed back on Saturday to replace my alternator and prepare for the evenings festivities. I lead stock trails at both parks as I had no skid plates and had my street tires on the truck. (Long story made short: my family was in the process of relocating to Georgia, my off-road tires & skid plates were in storage in GA. We left for GA the day after ECXC ended.) My groups were small both days which allowed us to cover a lot of trails at each park. We did push the envelope of stock trails a little at Paragon taking 2 trails that would normally be easier intermediate trails. Everyone made through unharmed, even the bone stockers.
 Saturday night's festivities went off well. We went back to causal dining with subs and other finger sandwiches along with wings and shrimp cocktail. Our Master Griller, Miikkaa, provided the use of his grill to cook up Hot Dogs & Hamburgers. We picked up some new sponsors for our item give-away, including companies like Interco Tire, Sirius and XM, Quadratec, KnowWhere2Jeep and UNYX and NexTerra. ! Be sure to check the sponsors page for a list of all the great companies and clubs that have supported ECXC through the years! With much thanks to all these great companies for their support. As we did in 2005, the give-away was done Chinese Auction Style, where folks put in a ticket for each item they'd like to win then the 1 ticket is pulled for each item. Every attendee received 1 ticket and had the option to buy 2 more tickets at $5 a piece. This year the money collected was given to a Xterra owner in the mid-west whose family lost their home recently to a fire. We collected $475! RedX also collected clothing and toys to send to the family.
 NJAX started what has now become a tradition at ECXC to end the Saturday evening festivies with a real bang. NJAX had their all night go-go offering slushies to all in attendance and partying until the wee hours. This year UNYX & NexTerra capped off the evening with an open bar for all in attendance. Each UNYX and NexTerra member brought a bottle of their favorite drink while ECXC helped fill the shelf with whatever was missing. Many thanks go to NJAX for starting such a wonderful traditional and to UNYX and NexTerra for continuing it! |
