The Rover-Landers of BC

Hi Everyone,

I know its a ways away yet, but I was out working on my Series IIa starting to rebuild the brakes, a little bit of welding, re-arcing the springs after the past few years of abuse, and getting ready to install some skid plates... all in prep for Northwest Challenge.

Sooo, I though, time to remind people of the change to the Northwest Challenge this year...

It is no longer being held on the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, so none of you can use the excuse of family gatherings to not attend! It will be held the weekend before on October 2nd -4th -- especially to accommodate those of us in BC that have too many commitments on Thanksgiving weekend.

It would be great to see more than just one or two trucks from BC participate this year. The guys from Washington and Oregon always make the effort to attend our Northwest Challenge up here, so we should try and do the same for them.

Last year Shawn and I had a great time making a run at first place and ended up tying for first and losing on a tie breaker question, but I'm determined to give it another try this year and who knows, the old Series may still have it in him.

Let me know if you're interested and lets start planning our expedition to Oregon.

cheers, Dave

I would like to attend... I'll have to see if I can get the 90 up to spec and get the time off work.

More details...

The event will be held at Morrow County OHV area, which is close to Heppner, Oregon. This is about 680 KM from Vancouver, BC and about 1000 KM from Calgary.

cheers, Dave

I cant confirm yet but I am going to try to make it.

In other news, I walked the potential course on the Hope slide yesterday, it looks pretty awesome if we want to use it for NWC 2010....

Ray

huh, sounds like fun, and having it on the weekend before the girlfriends birthday helps my ability to attend. just not sure about the drive down.
a lonnng way to go at 2am on a friday..............

I would like to go, although I don't know how my stock Series III will go, I've heard it's a tough event. If I'm not prepared to go, I'd like to attend just to cover the event for a couple publications and get our names in print in the UK!

Emailed this morning by Mike Bach of the PCRC...

Well, 2009 has been flying by and it's almost time for the 21st annual
Northwest Challenge! The PCRC will be hosting the NWC in Oregon this
year October 2 - 4, 2009 at the Morrow County OHV Area South of Heppner,
OR. One of the defining events of the PCRC, the NWC is an excellent
opportunity for developing your driving and navigational skills in an
environment full of fun and camaraderie. This year's NWC will focus on
navigation and skills tasks, and you do not need a highly modified
vehicle to compete! For the majority of the tasks, a stock Rover will
work just as well as a modified one. A GPS unit will be necessary, and
a winch is highly recommended. Events will begin around 7 or 8 p.m. on
Friday night, October 2, and should wrap up around noon on Sunday,
October 3.

This is a great opportunity to sharpen your navigation, recovery, and
driving skills. If you're tentative or worried that you may not be up
to the task, the only way to find out is to do it! That's what I did in
2006, and I have been very thankful for the experience. We are hoping
for a strong showing from our friends the Rover-Landers of B.C. this
year and would like to welcome them properly with plenty of Washington
and Oregon competitors to show them a good time! So find yourself a
navigator and RSVP to participate in the NWC! Please contact either
myself (Mike Bach - [email protected]) or Steve Schoenfelder
([email protected]) to sign up. The sooner you let us know you're coming,
the sooner we can get the details put together for your weekend of good
ole' Rover fun.

Mike Bach
'91 RRC
'66 IIA 88"

I'm In!!

I'm in in some capacity. It'll be a pretty close call to see if I can finish the Series III and fit a winch in time, but if not, I'll be spectating.

Im really hoping to attend:

just need to sort some things out first.

And check with the GF...................HAHAHAHAHHHA

Hi Guys,

Any News? It's coming up pretty quick. There is quite an effort going on here with us to get ready for this.

Lots of maybes but who is definitely going from Canada?

I know Jeff is out. Dave? Ray? Andrew?

I am in if anyone needs a co-driver, but I won't be participating otherwise. Ijust don't see my truck getting put back together in time.

If no one needs a co-driver, I will still be going down to document the trip as Land Rover Owners International is interested in hearing about the Roverlanders efforts there.

This just in from Mike....
______________________________________________________
I've copied the whole PCRC on this note to shamelessly try to get more participants for the Northwest Challenge coming up in a couple short weeks! So far, we have the following Competitors:

Kelly Cushing + Co-Driver - Disco
Dennis Bell + Co-Driver - SI 88"
Ian Tydeman + Co-Driver - SIIA or Disco (tentative)
Don McDonald + Co-Driver - D110
Dave & Pamela Blair - Disco II
Ryan & Wayne Phelps - LR3? SIIA?
Kevin Deery + Co-Driver - D90
Doug Shipman + Co-Driver - Ole' Blue (hopefully this will push him into
competing!)

And the following volunteers:

Lou Tauber (& Jae?)
Pamela Petroff (& Paul?)
Steve Schoenfelder
Kim Schoenfelder
Scott Schoenfelder
Mike Bach
Christine Bach
John Miller (tentative)

Here is the plan as it is now:

The event will be held at the Morrow County OHV area, located just off of Hwy. 207 (Heppner-Spray Hwy) South of Heppner, OR. If you get to Spray, you've gone too far. Here is a link to Google maps for the area:


http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source= ... ggs,+or&sl
l=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=63.255964,89.033203&ie=UTF8&ll=45.026609,-119.
677795&spn=0.007029,0.013057&t=h&z=17

The wide open, grayish area at Hwy. 207 & 21-Road is the main assembly area. I'll send out a GPS waypoint when I have one. Steve has reserved a group of camp sites in a nice little camping area right off the main assembly area. The area charges $10/night for camping. You will be able to set up camp and leave it up throughout the event. There will be a small fee of $15 - 20/participant (no charge for volunteers) for the event to cover the cost of shirts. I'll finalize this when I know how much they will actually cost but it will not exceed $20.

The event will start on Friday, October 2nd, as advertised. We will have a task Friday evening that we plan on starting at 8:00 p.m. We will also have a task of sorts that can be completed on the way to the event for more points. We will send the details on that task out either the Sunday or Monday before the event (9/27 or 9/28), as that's when we'll have the information. Saturday will be full of driving, navigation, and tasks. The PCRC will be providing dinner & dessert Saturday night. Sunday morning we will have our final events, and aim to finish up with awards by about 12 pm since we all have long drives home.

Standard vehicle preparation guidelines should be followed for the event. You must carry at the least a first aid kit, fire extinguisher, shovel, spare tire & jack, front & rear recovery points, recovery gear, and drinking water (the usual stuff). You will need to have a GPS for navigation (let us know if you want to do the course without one for some reason). A winch will be useful for the weekend, but is not required equipment.

I'm sure I've left stuff out, so let me know what other questions you have. If you haven't signed up but want to join the event, let me
([email protected]) or Steve Schoenfelder ([email protected]) know and we'll get you on the list. We are working hard to put together a fun event this year. Don't miss it! You'll hear from me at least one more time before the event, and hopefully we'll have more competitors on the list at that point! Looking forward to a great weekend!

Mike Bach

I'm hoping to be there but I haven't been able to get the Friday off work yet. Something about me asking for an overtime day off instead of an annual vacation day. Annual vacation days get approved first and somebody might apply for vacation on that day, between now and then. Go figure!

Do they still allow leaf sprung Land Rovers into these events? They are getting pretty old now you know!

Too busy at work this year :(

I'm developing Canol withdrawal symptoms and have begun considering attending NWC, is there a convoy plan?

Pete

Good to have you along, Pete! We will be heading due south from the Okanagan so unfortunately we won't be convoying. See you there.

Dave

Hi Pete,

We're leaving North Vancouver on Friday morning around 9, heading down via 176st.

Should be a 8-9 hour drive if we make a couple stops for food!!

It would be great if some other folks were coming!!

Later,
Don

dfritter wrote:I am in if anyone needs a co-driver, but I won't be participating otherwise. Ijust don't see my truck getting put back together in time...

So? Are you up to being a co-driver in a beat up old 109? I've got the Friday off work and it's a h___ of a long way to drive and find I can't go in it because I didn't bring enough people.

If I leave the island on about a 7AM ferry I'd be in Tswassen about 9, or were you thinking of driving down in your own vehicle? In the 109 I can promise lots of noise and if it rains you get to get wet.

Greg,

I'll be up in Ashcroft herding cattle and whatnot until Friday morning, so I won't be able to carpool down with you, but thanks for the offer. Your 109 sounds very similiar to my 88... anyway, if you need a co-driver for the event itself I will definitely be there. I'm going to be bombing down from Ashcroft at around 8ish, picking up another vehicle in Pitt Meadows, the girlfriend in North Delta, and then it's on to Heppner. I figure on arriving sometime around 10 pm at the latest, depending on A) the car I'm driving, B) the commitment of Johnny Law.

TODAYS UPDATE:
___________________________________________________

OK! We're now T-minus four short days from the start of NWC 2009. I have again copied the entire club on this update in case someone gets a burr under their saddle and decides to join up last moment. Here's our current list of competitors:

Kelly Cushing & co-driver - Disco
Dennis Bell & co-driver - S1 88"
Don McDonald & co-driver (Rover-Landers!) - D110
Dave & Pamela Blair (Rover-Landers!)- Disco II
Ryan & Wayne Phelps - LR3 or SIIA
Kevin Deery & co-driver - D90
Doug Shipman & Chauncey Curl - Ole' Blue
Allen de Steiguer & co-driver Nick - SIII
Greg Sutfin & co-driver (Rover-Landers!) - SIIA 109 (tentative)

And the following volunteers:

Lou Tauber (& Jae?)
Pamela Petroff (& Paul?)
Steve Schoenfelder
Kim Schoenfelder
Scott Schoenfelder
Mike Bach
Christine Bach
John Miller
Andy Deane (Rover-Lander!)

Here's the updated plan for the weekend:

The Morrow County OHV area is located at: N 45o 01' 23.3" W 119o 40'
31.5". Steve has reserved a nice group of campsites and the area charges $10/night for camping. You will be able to set up camp and leave it up for the entire event. Due to hot and dry weather, the fire danger in the area is currently high. As of this last weekend, no 4WD's were allowed on the trail and no fires were allowed, only charcoal or camp stoves. Due to cooling temperatures and a bit of rain in the forecast this week, though, we have been assured that the trails will be open to 4WD's for the event. It is possible that we will not be allowed to have fires, so be prepared to cook with either charcoal or a camp stove. Hopefully, some rain will allow us to have a fire. If for some reason you don't feel like cooking at all, there is a little snack-shack type place at the OHV area that runs from 7 am - 6 pm on the weekends.

The only competitor fee for the event itself is going to be $20 to cover t-shirts for the competitors & volunteers. If I have extra shirts, I'll sell them off at a reduced price to try to recoup more of the costs.
There will be no fees for volunteers. All vehicles on the trails (competitors and volunteers) must have an Oregon ATV permit, or a permit from another state accepted by Oregon (Washington is OK). I don't know if B.C. has any off-road permit system? If they do, we can check with [email protected] to see if they would be valid in Oregon. Permits are available at the OHV area for $10.50 /ea and are good for two years.

We are still scheduled to kick off the event with a task starting at 8 p.m. Friday night. You also have an opportunity to pick up extra points on the way to the event. See details on this at the end of this email.
Saturday will be full of driving, navigation, and tasks. We have some fun tasks lined up and a great group of dedicated volunteers to run them. The PCRC will be providing dinner and dessert on Saturday night.
Sunday morning we will have our final events, and aim to finish up with awards by 12 pm since we all have long drives home.

Due to the fire danger, each vehicle must carry a shovel, axe, and fire extinguisher. In addition, each vehicle should be equipped with a first aid kit, spare tire w/ jack, front & rear recovery points, and extra water. You will need to have a GPS for navigation (let us know if you want to do the course without one for some reason). A winch will be useful for the weekend, but is not required equipment.

Now, to make the long trip to Morrow County a bit more interesting, we've put together five bonus questions that your team can complete on the way to the event. I've attached a file with all the questions in one place, but I'm not sure if the PCRC list will let attachments through, so here are the questions:

1. Find the GPS coordinates N 45o 37' 19.3" W 120o 02' 38.3". How many miles had the Oregon Trail Pioneers traveled to this point?
2. Heppner is the Gateway to What?
3. How much is a Pepsi in Ruggs?
4. What year was Hardman Founded?
5. What is Anson's last name?

Hopefully the meanings of these will become clear on your trip down to the event! If I've left out a piece of info that you would like, or you still haven't signed up but want to join the event, let me
([email protected]) or Steve Schoenfelder ([email protected]) know and we'll get you on the list. We have been working hard to put together a fun event this year, and we're looking forward to a great weekend! See you all soon!

Mike Bach

<<NW>>

After a chat with Pete, we are planning on meeting at the gas station at 176 street and 8th avenue and will travel together in convoy to the event.

We should plan on leaving the gas station no later than 10am. It is an 8 hour drive with a couple quick stops for lunch and dinner. We should get there about 6-7pm which gives us a little time to set-up camp and get our bearings before going on the first task at 8pm.

I see Andy has volunteered, pete is planning to go and I heard Shawn may come and perhaps we can meet up with Greg & Dan as well.

Post your intentions here.

Thanks,
Don

I hope to see you guys Friday morning. I plan on being a co driver in a green 110.

This is the best map/description I could find for that gas station. Can't fiond the name.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source= ... 16&iwloc=A

While I will not be attending I think it is just great to see so much local support for the Challenge this year. I hope that all have a safe trip and a great time!

Looks like I'll be taking the 7:45 ferry Friday morning, puts me still on the ferry but at Tsawwassen at 9:45, can't be to the rendezvous till a bit after 10.

Pete and I believe 10:00 am is too late a departure time so we plan on leaving no later than 9:00 am. I'm sure you guys will catch up. And Dan the event starts at 8:00 pm , 2 hrs before your posted arrival.

Your discussions of estimated travel and departure times reminds me of one year when we traveled as a larger group than normal to a Challenge being held in the Tillamook area. What had in previous years been traveled at a reasonably brisk pace by a smaller group in 5-6 hours took 10 hours when all was said and done.

Happy Trails!

Yeah, I just read the 8 pm start in the email. I won't make it in time to help Greg compete; hopefully someone else can fill that empty seat for him! I'll still be going down there, and I'll probably see you all Saturday morning, but until then, GOOD LUCK and HAPPY TRAILS! Here's hoping I don't see any of you between Vancouver and Heppner!

Ahh, Ok, I'll try to get going a little earlier to meet you guys for the 9am departure!!

Too bad I didnt see this earlier today! :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:

ok all packed.

Greg if you can catch us I am plannign at stop at the Whole Foods in Bellevue for food and lunch. Should be there around 11:30-12.

:sleepy1: :sleepy1:

I'm back!
Dave, Pam, how did you make out with the tires?
I made it to the ferry with about 30 seconds to spare. Rolled onto the ferry and they lifted the ramp. Got home before midnight.
From the OVH park to the Peace Arch I averaged 60 mph including stops for rest, gas w.h.y. And that's in a Series truck.

We got back to Vernon around 11 to pick up the pups.

The tire hobbled into Hermiston before we had to fill it again. Found a tire shop where the guy was there to do an emergency repair for someone else, but he was glad to (over)charge us too. He put a used tire on the spare, then we looked at the slow leak. Turned out it was a bent and cracked rim and not the tire itself. Anyone have a 16" Disco II rim kicking around? :wink:

We had a great time, and enjoyed the fun with you all.

cheers, Dave

Cmon guys...give us the results....waiting with bated breath.

We had a great time competing, albeit rather chilly. Thankfully they have a clubhouse/snackstand that they held Saturday night's dinner in and us Canucks spent until 11:30 in there as we simply didn't see any need to go out in the snow and sleet until bedtime. The Americans, on the other hand, were heading off to bed in their cold tents by 8 PM. Made for a long night in the tent. :lol:

There were a number of special tasks, and about 20 GPS points to collect. Doug Shipman from Oregon did the usual and came in first. Don MacDonald and I tied for second/third and Greg and Pete were somewhere further down the pack. All of us competed and finished the event, and then hopped in our trucks and drove 10+ hours back home.

In terms of competitors, there were 4 trucks from BC (thanks guys, very respectable), 1 from Washington and 4 from Oregon. Then there were a half dozen volunteers from around Oregon. One of the best things about the NWC is getting to meet the Land Rover enthusiasts from a much bigger area and discovering they have the same disease that you do. :roll:

Dave

Next year :(

Dave,

Did Doug partner with Steve Schoenfelder?

Craig

No, Steve and Mike Bach put it on. Chauncey was with Doug.

cheers, Dave

Why no photos posted to the Photo Gallery?

Yes indeed, why no photos of the NWC 2009. How about someone sends me some to post :?

HI Bill,

next time your in the neighborhood I have a CD from John Miller in Oregon for you to post!

I'll send you what limited pictures I have.

Later,
Don

I'm awaiting some photos from several sources, I'll forward them when I have them.

Dave

OK I have posted the photos Don provided sent to him by John Miller of the NWC 2009 in Heppner, check them out in the gallery