< more recent | 8-14 August 2017 | older >
13 AUGUST 2017: Nice and easy drive home from Pennsylvania after the TFT event ended. Always feels good to be crossing the bridge back into Brooklyn after a long day on the road. Made it home before dark for a change…
13 AUGUST 2017: The final day of trail rides today. More rain last night added to the challenges, but the Green/101 group did great. Had lots of fun and nothing broken. Always enjoyable to guide this group. Looking forward to next year’s event already…
12 AUGUST 2017: Everyone was in the staging area and ready to get out on the trail early this morning. Was great to be guiding the Green/101 group on the Northeast property today. Last night’s rain made the trails more interesting, and the weather held up long enough for us to cover our route for the day and get back to the pavilion before the Tornado Watch…
11 AUGUST 2017: Lots of folks arriving and getting set up for the weekend fun at Topless For Tatas 9 today. The vendors and volunteers were all out in big numbers to welcome this year’s event attendees. Weather reports forecast scattered rain for the weekend,but that will just make the trails more fun…
10 AUGUST 2017: Back on the road in the U.S. and headed out to Rausch Creek for the 9th Annual Topless for Tatas charity wheeling event, where we will be guiding the 101/Green group on the trails for a couple of days. Leaving New York for Pennsylvania this evening the sunset was quite beautiful, and hopefully an omen for good weather on the trails…
THIS MONTH:
Trail Guiding for the 9th annual Topless for Tatas Charity Wheeling Event at Rausch Creek off-road park 11-13 August. TFT brings together off-roaders from all over to raise awareness about Breast Cancer and raise funds for the American Cancer Society. Last year’s event raised over $30,000 for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation…
Heading back to the southwest for some very hot desert time later this August, with some familiar trails and a few new destinations to explore.
COMING UP SOON:
Going to RebelleU for some refresher dunes training in September. Rebelle U was established by veteran off-road racer and Rebelle Rally-founder Emily Miller, to help women learn, build, sharpen, and refine off-roading skills in authentic environments designed for them to excel. The training program offers 1-4 day driving and navigation classes in southern California aimed at preparing women to take on vehicle-based adventure.
Planning is underway for a scouting mission into a new region of exploration for USnomads — the famed Silk Road across Central Asia. More details to come as specifics are worked out.
ABOUT TOPLESS FOR TATAS:
Topless For Tatas began in 2009 when 65 4×4’s joined Chantelle Kern at Rausch Creek Off-road park to raise funds for the American Cancer Society, starting the tradition that continues today. Last year over 700 vehicles attended, raising more than $30,000 that was donated to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF). The funds are used to assist researchers and doctors working to find a cure. Topless for TATAs is a charitable organization, run entirely by volunteers, and all proceeds from the event, raffle and merchandise sales are donated directy to the BCRF…
ABOUT RAUSCH CREEK:
Rausch Creek Off Road Park is devoted to providing a fun, legal place for off-road enthusiasts to go four-wheeling. The park consists of almost 3,000 acres of easy, intermediate, and difficult trails featuring rocks, bowls, hills, club friendly trails, and free, on-site camping. The park is located in Pine Grove, in Schuylkill County, the heart of the anthracite Coal Region of Eastern Pennsylvania. It can be reached by Interstate 81 (exit 107, south via Route 209) or Interstate 78 (exit 13, north via PA-501).
PENNSYLVANIA COAL COUNTRY
The Coal Region is a historically important coal-mining area in Northeastern Pennsylvania in the central Ridge-and-valley Appalachian Mountains, comprising Lackawanna, Luzerne, Columbia, Carbon, Schuylkill, Northumberland, and the extreme northeast corner of Dauphin counties. The discovery of anthracite coal was first made near the Schuylkill–Northampton line in the vicinity of Summit Hill by a hunter in 1791 and the first mine was established in 1775. The anthracite mining industry loomed over the region until its decline in the 1950s. The Knox Mine Disaster in 1959 served as the death knell for deep mining which faded away in the mid 1960s; almost all current anthracite mining is done via strip mining. Tours of underground mines can be taken in Ashland, Scranton, and Lansford, each of them also having museums dedicated to the mining industry. Also evident are patch towns, small villages affiliated with a particular mine. These towns were owned by the mining company. Though no longer company owned, many hamlets survive; one of them, the Eckley Miners’ Village, is a museum and preserved historical town owned and administered by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, which seeks to restore patch towns to their original state.
Nesconset | Belgrade | Sedona | Tremont
MORE NOTES FROM THE ROAD:
1-7 August – Serbia
July – NY and Serbia
June – NY and Paris
May – Wheelers Overland
22-30 April – Algeria
15-21 April – Algeria
8-14 April – Algeria
1-7 April – AOAA
March – Long Island
February – Sand dunes and Paris
January – El Camino del Diablo and more
December – Roadtrip
November – Paris
October – Rebelle wrap up
1-7 Oct – NY to Reno
26-30 Sep – Rally Prep
19-25 Sep – Long Island
12-18 Sep – Yuma and Glamis
5-11 Sep – Sedona
29 Aug – 4 Sep – Long Island
23-28 August – Rod Hall Drive Training
15-22 August – Reno Rebelle Training
8-14 August – TFT8
1-7 August – Serbia overland
July – Serbia, Rally planning
June – Mongolia
Archive
SPECIAL REPORT
A look into south-eastern Algeria on the border with Libya and Niger: overlanding with the Tuareg in one of the most remote corners of the Sahara … [read]
SPECIAL REPORT
Detailed series on a solo scouting journey into some of the remotest backcountry around Moab. The six day 450-mile off-pavement trip into the Maze district of the Canyonlands National Park offers insight into the challenges of expedition planning… [read]
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