Day 5 of Ultimate Adventure

Day five, and we woke up feeling more chipper than in some time. Even though we’d only been on the trip for a workweek, we (like everyone else) were working day and night for many days prior to the trip; trying to get our vehicle ready, and trying to make up for the absence from home and work for the next week (plus however long it takes to get back home).

Off-Road Illinois

by Jerrod Jones

The weather couldn’t have been better for a July Illinois morning. A storm had come through just days before, keeping down the dust, and the humidity was mild.

After another driver’s meeting, we all got in line and left the winery via police escort. It’s like we were a big deal or something in Pittsfield, Illinois…maybe we were! We were with the world’s largest 4×4 magazine, accomplishing one of the more grueling vehicular trips ever attempted.

We arrived at our first set of off-road trails that were cut on bluffs outside of Pittsfield. The trails were both muddy and rocky, and unfortunately that kind of terrain invites potential disaster.

And so Shaughn Reid found that out all too well. Five days into the Ultimate Adventure 2014, and his K5 took a mighty tumble on one of the first obstacles—this very steep hillclimb with a couple sets of tall and tricky rock ledges that would make an already off-camber vehicle hop. With a week’s worth of camping gear, tools, and spare parts, Shaughn’s K5 was just a little too top heavy. With all the determination in the world, Shaughn worked the obstacle until his Blazer reared up and over, sending he and co-pilot Mario Albor for medical attention.

They were back later that day, though, to watch the rest of us thrash our own vehicles on the second set of trails and steep valleys Rick Pewe planned for us that day.

In true Ultimate Adventure fashion, the Reid/Albor team hopped rides with others and lent hands when needed. These guys typified the ultimate Ultimate Adventure attendee.

But Shaughn Reid and Mario Albor, in the olive drab K5 Blazer, unfortunately took a bad hop going up this and rolled the Blazer backwards, crushing much of the truck and sending the two occupants for medical attention. We wouldn’t see it until the next day, on a trailer in camp, but it was mangled.

Pacific Fab built the official Ultimate Adventure vehicle; Fred Williams’ 1992 Dodge W200 truck with 40-inch Trail Grapplers, linked suspension, and a Banks-modified 5.9L Cummins diesel engine.

Kevin Stearns of Pacific Fabrication and his co-driver, Jason Howerton, came out in Stearn’s heavily modified ’83 Blazer.

Pacific Fab built the official Ultimate Adventure vehicle; Fred Williams’ 1992 Dodge W200 truck with 40-inch Trail Grapplers, linked suspension, and a Banks-modified 5.9L Cummins diesel engine.

Eventually out of the muddy gulley, we hit a trail that dropped us down to a rocky riverbed. The combination of tight, off-camber muddy trails and rockcrawling made for a true wheel-spinning, axle-straining day that encouraged a lot of drivetrain groaning and hub clicking as we all tried to creep our way through.

While the BDS Liberty slipped off this tricky ledge initially, Dave DeVormer made an excellent course correction and was able to recover the line while his co-pilot, Carter Reed, got it all on video.

Mel Wade, driving the Nitto Tire-sponsored M37, was not so lucky up this climb. A self-learning fuel injection learned not to work in this particular rocky section, leaving Mel’s M37 twisted up and in need of a tow. Once we got back up to flat land, the M37 started right up.