Raptor Expeditions - Desert Heat Run

[Big50]

Here's a little report from our most recent club run...

To be honest, we thought we might be a little crazy to be taking 16 trucks across 3 states, covering 430 bone jarring miles in a single day. But than again, we are all probably a little crazy to be beating up these trucks.

The philosophy behind the club continued to shine through as the run went off without a hitch. We only had 3 flats, and one power steering hose came loose. We made excellent time...we started our day at 3:30am and reached the Hard Rock in Las Vegas by 7pm. It was truly impressive to see the REC members work together to finish the run. So, cheers to all members who attended...you did an outstanding job!

Now for some pictures:

Everyone getting ready & chatting it up in the hotel parking lot at 3am

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Time for the Drivers meeting

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All lined up at the trailhead ready to go!

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Sun began to come up after about 45 minutes on the trail

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This section of trail is pretty smooth. However, there was a ton of bone jarring washboard. So much so, one might think that they would soon find themselves sitting in there chair with the truck in pieces all around them.

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Rainbow off in the distance

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Some action shots

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Sometimes it sucks running sweep all the time but there are a few perks. One is you can stop to take some really neat photos. The sun breaking through the clouds made for some great photos.

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[Big50]

Stopping for a little breather

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Stopped to fire off a couple rounds while the rest of the group grabbed lunch.

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A few cool shots

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Next up was the sand hill climb outside Needles.

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Dale showing how it's done haha

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Next up was the living ghost town of Oatman AZ. Very cool to roll through here...donkey's definately give it some character haha. Also, it was funny since most everyone in the town stopped what they were doing to watch the convoy roll through.

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Chase truck and RSV7

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[Big50]

From there we headed through Laughlin and then to Searchlight where we had a our final drivers meeting of the day.

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Tommy giving the thumbs up haha

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From Searchlight, we rolled into the Hard Rock around 7pm. Strip was slammed as usual.

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Couple of us had to have a well deserved beer from atop the parking garage.

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Roughly 8-9 of us hit up Powerline road from Vegas to Barstow. All went well for the most part although Randy did have his tie rod back out which took about 2 hours to fix. Luckily no damage.

In closing, it was a great trip with an amazing group of people. The RE Crew would like to thank all the members who participated for doing a great job and making the event an absolute blast. The days can get pretty long and tiresome when people start overdriving their trucks and breaking stuff and that was not the case on this run.

Video:

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[heehawhardy]

Another amazing trip report and BONKERS coverage!!!

 

[digitaldelay]

Another amazing trip report and BONKERS coverage!!!

x2:clapsmile

Jason

 

[PetitFrereArmada]

Nice report.

 

[Cascade Wanderer]

Great photos! Looks like you guys had a blast. Cool.

 

[Big50]

Thanks guys! It was a bit of a blur so I was happy I took a bunch of pictures. There were a couple I didn't even remember taking haha.

 

[Swegner99]

Man I wish I would have known, I live in Bullhead City, AZ and it would have been cool to see all the raptors fly through town and grab some pictures.

 

[SDDiver5]

So sweet! Awesome write up and pics. My dream truck right there. I WILL own one. Just not for a while haha.

 

[Big50]

Man I wish I would have known, I live in Bullhead City, AZ and it would have been cool to see all the raptors fly through town and grab some pictures.

I'll try to remember to shoot you a pm next time we have a trip planned through there. It's got to be nice having the desert to go play in your backyard.

So sweet! Awesome write up and pics. My dream truck right there. I WILL own one. Just not for a while haha.

Thank you sir. You'll have to come out with us when you pick one up!

 

[Swegner99]

I'll try to remember to shoot you a pm next time we have a trip planned through there. It's got to be nice having the desert to go play in your backyard.

Its very nice, but I definitely get jealous seeing some people pictures of wheeling in the back country and wooded areas. I guess its all perspective.