This comes off the news that the site was redesigned also.  It now incorporates all old LUVMYJP.com content also.  Maintaining both with fresh content was a PITA.  Ok not really that much of a PITA.  I didn’t actually do it most of the time.

Welcome to TrailDriven.com

Here is a link to the pictures from Friday. In there you’ll find a video of a sweet sounding BMW. Another video that’ll tease you with a movie from my new car mounted camera. That’s gonna be a toy I’ll be using a lot.

I saw some more celebs, some more booth babes and some epic cars.

– “Very Steve McQueen” db

Other than being hung, Thursday was pretty awesome.  I spent the day with the guys from White Roof Radio.  We saw new products, Minis, old friends, new friends, and of course booth babes.  If you don’t know about White Roof Radio click on over to iTunes.  In the podcast catagory “Automobile”…their show is consistently top 10 in the US.  Todd and db(Don Burnside) are great down to earth dudes.

The three of us spent the day meandered our way through North Hall, Central Hall, and Wheels and Tires.  <placing tongue in cheek> The booth babes were clamoring Todd all day.  “Todd can I have a picture with you?”  Todd was a good guy about it, but I could tell by the end of the day it was wearing on him.  Folks, celebrity status is not all it cracked up to be.  db on the other hand did a nice job of “dressing himself down”.  A few recognized him, and he was gracious to those fans.

Seriously fellas thanks for hangin with me.  I feel like I made some life long friends yesterday.

I am uploading some more pictures now. Some of the photos are a buddy who has a podcast about Mini Coopers called “White Roof Radio”. Consistently in the top 10 in the Auto category in iTunes. He has a thing about pictures with the booth babes. You guys don’t mind, right?

I’ll be reviewing a new product just released this week called GoPro. Full 1080P resolution sport camera. LINK There are some pictures in my photo galleries. That thing is almost as cool as boobies.

I rolled out of Denver about 4:30 am and arrived in Las Vegas about 3:00 pm. Before checking in the hotel I stopped at the show. I wanted to get my Press Pass before the rush in the morning. Parking is a nightmare. While trying to get some information a nice, female, security guard said I could leave my car parked back by the dock area while I ran in and picked up my badge. She agreed to keep an eye on the Mini. I think she wanted me to leave her the keys so she could take it for a spin.

Weaving in about of shuttle buses I made my way to the Central Hall at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Suddenly my phone rings. It’s Matt Adir from Master-Pull. Matt and I spent a few days in Moab wheeling a few year ago. After that Matt and I have kept in touch via Facebook. It being my first SEMA I had a ton of questions and Matt agreed to help. We chatted while he showed me where to pick up my Press Pass. There is no way I would found it by myself. Hey thanks Matt. So with Press Pass in hand I got my car and headed to the hotel.

Another special thanks goes out to the Grandview at Las Vegas. This hotel is amazing. It’s very hard to find a non-casino hotel in Vegas these days. The Grandview hooked us up with three nights. You’ll need to be a member of a vacation club to get in. If you are, choose the Grandview at Las Vegas next time you’re here. The rooms have recently been remolded and are stunning. Here are a few photos.

Tonight I’m prepping the blog and some photo galleries for next weeks SEMA show coverage. Many of you know, I was the owner of an internet based off road parts company. During those 8 years I could never find the time to make it to SEMA. This year is different. I want to make sure I save every memory.

Lucky for you I’ll be sharing my coverage with you right here on my blog. Before I leave for Las Vegas I am turning on the feed from my Twitter ID to post here. This will post everything I Tweet about right here on the blog. During the day I’ll be blogging and uploading pictures to these four main galleries. So bookmark them.

Tuesday November 3rd

Wednesday November 4th

Thursday November 5th

Friday November 6th

Strap yourselves in it’s going to be a great week. Special thanks goes out to Aaron Storms, Editor of The Weekly Register-Call. I should have a great article for publishing when I get back.

The LUVMJP and TrailDriven Team will be hitting the trail with The Colorado Chapter that day.

Here is the TrailDamage Link for that trail.

View Larger Map

The new forum will be under the TrailDriven.com name and badged as such.  This will new format will encompass all things “trail driven”.  The team has been working hard on this concept for over a year now.  We are sure it will be a winning combination.

This blog will continue to live under the plate URL which I have personally come to know and love.  This was my first URL, even before BIGoffroad.  I still own the Colorado plate and my new JK wears it with pride.

I really wanted to do something I haven’t done before, but two of the guys in the group voted against me and chose Mill Creek / Bill Moore combo.  We did decide not to run Red Elephant up, as it can be nasty in wet conditions. So starting Bill Moore from Empire, just after the beginning switchbacks to the top, one of us in the group started to get really sick, and ended up turning around on the trail.  (it sounded like altitude sickness.)

…..with three of us remaining we trekked on, but somehow missed our turn to Mill Creek, ending up going backwards on Red Elephant. By the time we realized it, our point man had already started down a  part that was kind of scary.  Imagine trying to back up on 10% grade, with good sized rocks / ruts which is wet and muddy. On top of that, several hundred feet of steep downhill on one side of the trail, which is only big enough for one vehicle. Two of us backed up far enough to turn around, but the point man managed to slip to the left, got hung up in the loose shoulder, and started to teeter side to side.  I got my XJ as close as I felt comfortable and hooked him up by winch. Now it starts to snow heavy, wonderful timing as we were cursing. A tree was right behind him stopping me from a direct pull, but with a little ingenuity I managed to get him past it, and up to the turn around. Unfortunately no one got pictures as we had other things on our mind. So as they say; “No pics, didn’t happen.” We had some carnage in the effort to rescue him. One I used a Hi-Lift to try to lift his front end up and over, but with his stock bumper it slipped and mangled it. (See bumper in one of the pics below) Second was the bumper end cap, the tree behind him ripped it off as he was pulled up.

Once on track, making our proper turn on to Mill Creek, the ladies took over driving. It continued to snow very lightly, but not enough to stop us from pausing at Empire Hilton for a breather.  We arrived back into civilization around 4:30, and the snow turned back into rain at the lower elevation. Overall everyone had a blast as these trails offer a little of everything!

Panoramic Meeting at the coffee shop

Panoramic Empire Hilton

MORE PICTURES OF THE TRIP HERE.

Videos; (excuse the raw filming, still learning how to walk and film at the same time.)

Skully Rocks! (Thats me!), Jawa2021 Rocks! (Thats not me!), Girls Rock 1!, Girls Rock 2!, Poser Video

The Fling was started a few years ago, 99 I think. Some guys from the newly formed Colorado-XJ list were heading out to Moab. This happened around the same time some of our Rocky Mountain sharing Utah buddies where there. This was right around the time NAXJA was getting it’s feet wet. We didn’t call it fall fling then though. <If these details are wrong, please comment and set the story straight>

The event form then on was put together by the Intermountian NAXJA Chapter. Today the event has grown to 125+ XJs. This year the event will giveaway a XJ. I lifted, locked, highly modified rig.

I will posting video from our new Kodak Zi6 HD Camcorder. Kodak has given us a unit to test and will do just that. The Moab dust will be tossed around this new camera. We’ll see how it holds up.

Life moves fast. Grab it in HD.

- Take stunning HD videos (720p at 60 fps)
– Easy upload to YouTube™ with built-in USB
– Record hours of video—up to 32 GB worth
– View on any HDTV with the included cables
– Edit and share videos with the included software CD
- Rechargeable batteries and charger included