Tellico4x4, JeepBox & The Offroad Connection hosts three annual Offroad events here each year. We joined them and about 40 other folks for a healthy dose Southern hospitality at their recent Summer Sizzle Trail Ride this past August. Event headquarters were at Crawford’s Camp, which is unlike any campground that we have ever seen. This place was built with the 4x4 crowd in mind! It’s the only campground that we know of in the world that has a completely outfitted repair shop onsite. Features like wooded primitive and full hookup campsites with picnic tables, hot private showers, coin laundry machines, ice, LP & unleaded gas, firewood and a bon fire pit are sure to spoil the folks that are use to camping on a muddy rock along side of the trails at Tellico. Steve Crawford didn’t stop just with these amenities. He built a 50-yard long “Rock Garden” right smack dab in the middle of the campground with boulders ranging from 2-4’ tall. Now you can tear up your rig in front of everyone and never have to leave camp! Don’t worry if this happens to you, though. When we arrived on Thursday afternoon, there were already a couple of rigs in Steve’s shop getting a front axle shaft and a drive shaft u-joint replaced due to playing on the rocks. The shop would prove to be a popular place before the weekend was over as folks gathered around inside to escape the rain, down a few cold beverages and offer advice to the ones wrenching and welding their prized processions back together.

Summer in the Deep South is supposed to be hot, muggy and dry… well it was hot, muggy and WET, which added a notch or two to the already difficult trails. Out west, low gears, 36” tires and “crawling” is the way to go… Here a heavy right foot, rubber in the 38.5 – 44” range and big motors launch vehicles up the sloppy Tellico rocks in a pinball-like fashion. Everywhere we looked, we saw Dana 60’s, 14 bolts and even an unknown big axle (Eaton we think) under these rigs! Vehicle types ran the gamulet from 2000 TJ’s to the ever-present CJ, cab trucks (locally called hybrids) to an old style Bronco with a Chevy 454 wedged under the hood… Henry Ford, be damned! Some of the rigs looked like they just rolled out of the paint booth, while others were held together with “gorilla” welds (ugly, but strong) and bailing wire. None however were afraid to bounce them off the rocks, banks and tree roots as they clawed their way up the obstacles.

We split up into two groups with Dan Moore (aka The Lunatic Trail Leader) in charge of the extreme bunch and Keith Bailey from Tellico4x4 leading the more sane riders. Dan took us straight to Trail 12, which is known as School Bus. There are two legends on how the hill got it’s name…one is that a couple of crooks escaped from the local jail and the only vehicle that they could find was a school bus which they drove up the mountain as far as they could before abandoning it. The other story is that some hunters pulled an old bus up the mountain to use as a hunting camp. Whichever, if either were true, we’d give the price of a new set of Boggers to watch them do it now! By the time the weekend was over, the two groups had conquered all the trails that the Tellico ORV Area had to offer, including coming down Guardrail in the rain. Given the wet conditions, carnage was actually less than expected with a couple of busted drive shafts, the normal snapped axles and one rollover on Slick Rock. Oh, yeah… the guys from Greensboro, NC had a transfer case go out on them at the bottom of Lower 2. Believe it or not, they pulled a spare out of the toolbox, did the swap right on the trail and caught up with the group before the next obstacle.

There was a bit of unusual excitement on Saturday when the call came over the CB radio that an injured ATV rider needed help getting out of the woods. While climbing a ledge, his 500cc ATV flipped back on top of him causing substantial head injuries. He was in an area on Trail 8, which is accessible only by ATV. Jack Lancaster of JeepBox was the first in our group to reach him and the injured rider was placed in the Jeep for the 45-minute ride out. Cell phones and CB’s all over the area crackled with the news and arrangements were coordinated with the Forest Service for an ambulance to meet at State Line Campground. Cissy Lancaster, who is a RN, inspected the bandages and first aid that had been administered to the injured rider and followed closely behind in another Jeep. Lancaster later said that the effort put forth by all the Offroaders in the area contributed to the injured man being successfully transferred to the ambulance, “I never had to stop for anyone to get out of my way on the trails, folks were pulled off to the side waiting for me to pass.”

Tellico4x4’s event was first class in every aspect and was topped with a huge raffle and some good ole’ fashion Carolina barbeque Saturday night. The ladies “Jeep Trivia” contest came down to a sudden death playoff with Aileen Reynolds being the victor. These gals really amazed us with their wealth of Jeep & 4x4 knowledge, answering questions that would have stumped most of the local shade tree mechanics.

Tellico4x4’s Fall Crawl on October 26-28, 2001, will be their final event of the year. Anyone wanting to register can do so online at www.tellico4x4.com or by calling 800-792-2280.

Cal & Eileen Reynolds, make the initial approach into Lower Two’s Rock Garden. Their well equipped TJ sports ARB’s, Atlas Transfer Case, MT Claws and had just gotten back from the Rubicon the week before.

Jack & Cissy Lancaster bought this ’82 brand new 19 years ago, and once was Cissy’s everyday vehicle. This SOA “grocery getter” now sets on 4:88 dual Dana 60’s, 38.5 inch Bead locked SX’s, and changes gears via an NP435 tranny.

Cathy Baucom leads the way across Fains Ford in her tricked out hot pink TJ. This competition ready Jeep see’s duty in the ARCA & Goodyear Rock Crawling Events with Cathy at the wheel. With Tera 60 High Pinion axles, ARB’s, 6” RE lift and a custom JeepBox that houses the fuel cell, she spanked everything that Tellico had to offer.

Ricky Harold and his daughters keep the wheels spinning on their 97 TJ via a 4” Teraflex lift, 8.8 Ford rear axle, front OX locker and the only Sears & Roebuck winch in the crowd!

Cathy Baucom shows the boys how to go down Slick Rock.

Throttle-happy Beau Byrom in his ultra-slick “cab truck” shows how to have a bouncing good time on Slick Rock. This hybrid started life as a 1 ton Crew Cab Chevy and retained the big running gear; Beau added the S-10 cab, a Fuel Injected 350, Detroit’s and 44” Boggers to this shiny big banana.

Uuummmm… Beau after the big bounce in the above pic. Good thing that he owns a body shop!

Sam Gillis and partner seemed to be more interested in what’s going on behind them. Given Sam’s last experience at Slick Rock (rolled twice); you’d think he’d pay more attention to where he’s going.

Harold & Linda Brownloe shown easing down Guard Rail in their big YJ. The square headlight’s set in front of a Chevy 350 which turns a Dana 70 & Dana 60 axles, and 38.5 inch Swampers.

The JeepBox Jeep getting twisty at the bottom of Guard Rail.

Coming down Guard Rail in the rain is a sure bet to get the adrenalin pumping! The pic here just doesn’t do it justice. Right behind the guy standing in the foreground is a 200-300 foot drop.

Trail leader Dan Moore with his new bride (Mary) shown coming up Lower Two. The license plate on their Jeep says it all! Newlyweds of only a couple of weeks, they spent their honeymoon out in California running the Rubicon. Is she special or what!?

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