After spending the morning and part of the afternoon of Friday (August 24) in camp catching up, it was time to head to Troy for the meeting with leaders of BRC's longstanding member organization, the Mudchuggers 4-Wheel Drive Club. The discussion was full. Justin Reeves (President) and Bill Habercamp (Vice-President) and Jerry DeHondt (described himself as the elder statesman of the club) shared the history and activities of the club, as well as, some very good feedback on their concerns and suggestions for BRC.
Like with previous meetings I have had, there were shared common themes, plus some discussion on issues I hadn't thought about before. For example, one of the challenges is that with the lack of real opportunity on both Federal and State lands for trails, many of the younger members of the club have turned to the park experience. Although those "park" opportunities are somewhat limited as well, they know what to expect when they go there to wheel and can do so without concern for the uncertainty of the public land experience.. This makes for a whole different set of dynamics, including garnering their interest in public land use issues.
Another bonus for this meeting was having Jim Mazzola attend. Jim, as some of you may recognize is the current President of United Four Wheel Drive Associations. You can well imagine how much ground we were able to cover in this meeting. The 2+ hours passed very quickly and I don't think we even realized it. This meeting was power packed, full of information and discussion, and I am glad I had the chance to hook up with these guys. By the way, thanks to the Mudchuggers (something none of them like to wheel in BTW) for being so faithful in their membership and thanks for dinner. Great bunch!
When we ended the meeting, it was well on its way to 9 pm. I was scheduled to have another meeting on Saturday with my good friend Charlie Williams and some of the DIRT (Discover Indiana Riding Trails) folks in Indianapolis at 9 am the next morning. Since Indy is about 350 miles south of Troy, midnight run, here I come.
