Camp Jeep 2002 – Branson, MO

First Day | The Trails | Last Day

Our last day at Camp was definitely our busiest. Camp Jeep had a ton of activities and workshops to choose from, if it had to do with the outdoors, they probably had it — gardening, tennis, fly casting, soccer, mirror etching, an ATV course, RC Jeeps and airplanes, paintball, and even golf, scuba diving and more! I don’t think it would have been possible to do everything there was to do, even if you spent all 3 days on-site at Tent City.

Camp Jeep 2002
The adventure course.
Camp Jeep 2002
RC scrambler!

First thing we did was the balance beam. This is where you drive a TJ up on a giant seesaw and try to balance it in the air. It’s a lot harder than it looks, but we had a lot of fun trying it! They also had a Reverse Steer course where they had a TJ setup so that it’s steering was backwards — you turn left, the Jeep turns right. We didn’t do that one, but it was pretty amusing watching people try it.

From there we met up with the gang from the XJ-List again and hit the Jeep101 course. The presentation they put on before they let you drive the Jeeps was even cheesier that it was back in ’98, but it was still cool because they brought out the Icon and Willys2 concept vehicles, along with some current models and a great looking old MB. This year they had WJ’s, TJ’s, and Libertys to choose from for the course. Jen hopped in a WJ and took off. Out of curiosity, I opted to test out one of the Liberty Renegade’s in the lineup.

Camp Jeep 2002
Jeep101 Brand/History Presentation.
Camp Jeep 2002
There goes Jen!

The 101 course ate up a lot of the afternoon, so we did some more sight-seeing and bought even more stuff from the Provisions Store (I think we came home with twice as much stuff as we went with). We also stopped by the RC car tent so I could try my skill behind the wheel of an 1/10th scale Scrambler. The course was actually rather technical for an RC track, and for being fully independent, those little rigs could flex pretty well.

A bit later we met up with Mike Cohn of Rockcrawler.com fame and his wife Jenifer over by the BMX demo course. We watched the riders do flips and spins on their bikes and chatted Jeeps and websites with Mike and Jenifer for a while.

Eventually it got to be close to super time so we said bye to Mike and Jenifer and headed down the road to Dora’s Adventure4wd vendor stand, which had been serving as HQ for the XJ-List crew during Camp. The plan was to meet up with the guys and gals from the XJ-List along with our fellow club members from JNT for some BBQ ribs and sweet corn and hang out there to watch the fireworks show.

Camp Jeep always puts on some good concerts for the end of Camp, and with the BluesBrothers headlining the show, this year was to be no exception. As fun as it would have been, we all decided we’d rather forgo the crowds on-site and spend some time with our friends enjoying some good home-cooked food, which is exactly what we did.

Camp Jeep 2002
Jeep parts and BBQ ribs, what more could a guy ask for?
Camp Jeep 2002
oooh… ahhhh…

The fireworks show was great, just as good, if not better, than anything I’d seen back on the 4th of July. The small hill that Dora’s tent was set up on gave a perfect view of the fireworks. After the fireworks show as over, we said our good-byes to everyone and headed back to the hotel for some rest. Sunday would be a long drive home, but it was all worth it.

Camp Jeep 2002 was a blast, we’re already making plans to go back again next year. See you there!!

First Day | The Trails | Last Day

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