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As soon as we knew we'd be spending some time in Idaho, Steve emailed the Land Cruiser Mailing List and asked if any cruiser owners or clubs were interested in taking us on a run in the snow.  We got great response from some of the folks in the  Northwest Cruisers of Idaho club. They were nice enough to plan something that was more or less nearby to us, for our convenience, and we agreed on a family-style run on Saturday; meeting at the foot of the hill by the Dagley's. In attendance that morning were Kevin Landsiedel, Mike and Curtis Hedges in Mr. Yuk (FJ50), Jay, Creig , Renee, and Eric in Moose (FJ60), David Gibbs in his 62, Todd and Sheryl Farnham in their 40, and Dan Goetsch with his son, Sam, in their 55.
  We headed up through Idaho City (which was once the largest city in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, but is no longer) and out into the woods to some even smaller towns. Saw some very interesting accomodations out there.  Light snow on the well-traveled and plowed road made for easy driving but turned out to be private property, so we tried a less-traveled path- notice the mostly buried street sign.
  Turns out that the path was a little too pristine a trail for us, although Curtis and Eric tried their best … Eric earning the "got pulled out" cowbell in the process. Todd quickly earned the cowbell from Eric. So after deciding to move on, we chose a trail that the group had taken before… in the summer.
The trail is called Humpty Hump for its bumpity bumps in the beginning stages of the trail. Fun bumps they were.
 Unfortunately, Dan with the heretofore pristine FJ55 got stuck early on.  We pulled him out and helped him chain up, but when he got stuck again, even with chains and then caught up on a rock, he decided to turn back- sporting a nasty little "kiss" on his rocker panel. He was still smiling when he left, and Sam seemed to enjoy the whole thing. Sorry to lose you, Dan! Hope to ride with you again someday.
 After the bumps, the trail wound up into the hills and through and over a crik. (And no, we didn't mispell that, we were corrected when we called it a creek.)
 There was a nice problem where the crik turned to the right. David Gibbs, just ahead of us, piloted his mostly-stock 62 through very nicely, only having some trouble near the end on some slippery rocks. The trick was to dodge to the right to avoid some large rocks  (and dogs) and then quickly scoot to the left to avoid some really slippery rocks and steep hillside without crashing back into the rocks we just avoided. Sandy did great. Everyone was duly impressed, and it is rumored that at least one person may have successfully used Sandy as an example to convince their wife of why ARB Air lockers are more than just a luxury. No doubt in our mind.
As we climbed up the hill, the snow got deeper and harder for some of the rigs to handle. We were in the back of the crowd, so we had an advantage, despite our lack of experience. It was also close to 3 p.m. and it was a long drive home for some of these guys, and it was just starting to snow a little bit. So we all decided to call it a day and head home. As we were turning around, Beebee got a taste of manuevering and driving in the snow- 20 point  turn and everything. Some of the other rigs needed a little shoveling to get out as the snow off to the side of the trail was a lot softer and deeper. She had a blast!! and really felt like she'd learned more about being a better driver.
 On the way back Sandy was in the lead with David Gibbs right behind her. Fun to have two white wagons in a row, watching in the rear view mirror was like deja vu. No problems for anyone this time- the  snow was already flat. The creek crossing was a little tricky, the big rocks look different coming one way than the other. But everyone made it just fine. Curtis decided to take the hard way and showed us all a little bit of fancy rock-crawling in Mr. Yuk. Very impressive.
 At the end of the trail everyone aired up and we took a last group picture.  Left to right we were: Creig, Renee, David, Steve, Eric (in front), Jay, Todd, Sheryl, Curtis and Mike. Eric's dogs, Brutus and Tossi, were wiped out in the back of his rig.
A few of us decided to head on into town to enjoy a cold adult beverage. Beebee and Steve we completely bowled over by that fact that one could walk out of a bar with an opened yet not empty beer in hand, hop in the truck, and ride along sipping…what a trip! We were told, however than in Ada county (including the city of Boise) it was unlawful to have an open container, so Beebee made sure to empty it before we got there. Leaving the bar with an open container was the weirdest part.
All in all, we had a really great trail run. Many thanks to the kind folks of Northwest Cruisers of Idaho for their hospitality (and the hat!). We will always remember our first real off-road adventure in the snow.
If you would like to see a few more pictures, check out Eric V.'s photopoint page or see the Northwest Cruisers of Idaho home page, they say that they'll have some photos up soon.
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