Behind The Church Toy Run
December 4, 2010
by Evan Silverman
Toys for Tots (Heaven or Hell)
Heaven
As many now know BTC(Behind the Church) is a little slice of
heaven nestled in Groton C.T. This is roughly 12 acres of pure
wheeling pleasure with non stop action. For LIOR this place feels like
the angles are smiling on us(or maybe laughing). One of our best
trails and an easy trip for us as long as you take the ferry. Unlike
most trips, the majority of us drove, taking the Orient Point ferry to
New London and then a ten minute drive to BTC. This has been the year
of promptness. We all got to the ferry early, we even had enough time
to show off in the waiting lanes of the ferry. I drove on top of
Dimitri's tire, making the person with the Mercedes Benz next to me
very nervous. We arrived at BTC on time, aired down, had a drivers
meeting and got right to the Job at hand, conquering BTC.
We had 15 rigs, mostly all LIOR except Rick in his FJ 40. BTC
is
the type of place that you see the same 4-6 trucks all day. You are so
busy wheeling and fighting obstacles that you don't get a chance to
watch other guys wheel. This being said, I can't give specifics on how
each rig did. My goal was to line up behind Mike Barbara and see how
my POS would keep up with his rig. (I was hoping he would have to
winch and not make some stuff that I did so that I could lay into him).
Well there was one time he had to winch and I made it, but to be
perfectly fair, his tires had nothing to do with it, actually he got
hung up on his long arm. I made the obstacle without winching, but I
did take a different line and I whaled my fender and hood into a tree
so hard that it pulled the radiator support into my fan and the fan
punched holes in the radiator. 41 years old going on 21. A little
competition is always fun. The truth of the matter is that although
Mike can be cocky and arrogant, at least he can drive and his rig does
kick ass. I felt E Rex kept up with him all day, but not with as much
finesse nor ease. Mike really knows how to use his ARB and twin shift
T case. With him killing power to different axles and turning his air
lockers on and off he was making turns much easier than my slightly
longer wheel base dinosaur, but all that being said, I felt I hung in
with him and we did some pretty sick sh-t that the guys before us did
not do. Thanks to Howell M and his JB weld and Mike Barbara's Bars
leak, I fixed the radiator without taking it out and I only had to add
3 pints of H2O.
Hell
Damage was happening all over. We ran BTC in the opposite
direction, which I think Ed said was a first. Either JT4X4 must really
like us or hate us but either way it was some hard core off roading and
it took its toll almost immediately. The worst of it was Warren "I did
not like my finger any way" Silverman. I think he had the worst trail
injury that we have had. Warren was nice enough to teach us a valuable
lesson, KEEP YOUR BODY PARTS IN THE RIG, so Karen don't be too mad,
because maybe what happened will some day save someones limb or more.
Warren wanted to save his mirror from a tree and in return he crushed
his finger between his door and a tree. Well with a lot of bleeding
and on the border of going into shock, Warren got his finger wrapped up
and was taken to the Hospital by a church member, leaving his rig in
the woods. The rest of the club, being to good friends that we are,
parked his jeep and kept wheeling without any delay. The moral of the
story is keep your valuables in the rig, DON'T GRAB ROLL BARS, DON"T
STICK BODY PARTS OUT, KEEP YOUR FEET PLANTED ON THE FLOOR BOARDS AND
YOU HANDS ON THE STEERING WHEEL. PASSENGERS HOLD ON TO HOLLY SH-T BAR
OR SEAT BELT IF YOU DON'T HAVE ONE. I have probably rolled my truck
more than anyone in the club and luckily I have not gotten hurt (thank
God)because I keep my sh-t in the rig.
Other damage included 3 drive shafts, 2 of which were E Rex's
although one was Dimitri's fault, 1 winch cable, 1 rear drive hub, one
front axle, 1 damaged radiator, lots of dents including Joe Levanti
destroying Andrews left rear quarter and tail light(Ok so Joe really
just put a little dent and scratch in the quarter and cracked the tail
light, but in his eyes it was devastating). Joe also ripped Andrews
tire carrier clean off the rear bumper. Special note:Brain broke no
parts on his ZJ.
Heaven
We were able to walk out of the woods and have a nice warm lunch
just waiting for us. We had some of our favorite delicacies, hot dogs
and brats, chips and soda and topped off by baked goods for desert
supplied by Stephanie and Melony.
Hell
Poor Warren did not get lunch since he was getting stitched up,
but
at least he would be happy to know that his getting hurt did not hurt
our appetites one bit.
Heaven
We won some nice door prices and we donated a nice collection for
the Marines Toys For tots.
We had another great day of wheeling, besides Warren getting hurt
and all rigs were able to be driven home. It puts more pressure on not
having a trailer, but it did not seem to slow anyone down. The one
good thing that happened to Warren was that he did not get a chance to
wreck his rig and he got some good drugs and got stoned instead of
going
wheeling. We love BTC and we appreciate JT4X4 for letting us use it
and giving us our chance to do a good deed for the holidays.
We had a fun filled day and thank God we all got home in relatively one
piece.
Happy holidays and new year. May next year be as good or better
then this one.