Monticello, New York…….. Roll into town and your first thought is not going to be about what the area has to offer for wheeling. Even the locals will tell you the horror stories of what happened to their town and why it can best be described as the ghetto of the New York suburbs. Monticello is a small town with a lot of history but has unfortunately gone downhill since its heyday, with prostitutes wandering the streets and visible drug deals going down on the street corners in broad daylight one can easily wonder if they are in the right area for a weekend of wheeling at a Jeep Jamboree.

We did get the chance to hang out for a big part of the weekend with one of the local coordinators “Mike Taylor” who filled us in on the local info of the old days as well as the new since he has grown up and still lives in the area. Mike is a blast to hang around with and pretty much knows everyone in the area so if there is ever anything anyone needs at any of the Jeep events, rest assured that Mike knows someone that can help, if he can’t.

This year’s event was another sold out show and everyone was excited and ready to hit the trails on Friday morning. The Monticello area has some surprisingly good wheeling with trail variations from gentle trail rides to trails that offer enough trees, root systems, rocks, ledges and mud holes that the participants have plenty of obstacles to choose from and if they want to test their rigs and their own driving capabilities they can certainly do so. The trails are challenging enough that this year there were hydro locked motors, broken axles, broken u-joints, torn tires and plenty of twisted sheet metal for those that took on the more difficult routes and trail challenges.

We wheeled with a group from Rhode Island on Friday the “Off Rhoadies “and had a blast, so much so that when the weekend was done we headed up to Rhode Island to meet up with some of the group. We spent an evening with members of the club for a great home cooked meal (thanks Jody and Dan for a great meal and your hospitality) and a few beers at one of the local pubs. The folks in Rhode Island do know how to have fun and they may have the smallest state in the union but they may have some of the biggest hearts in country.

If you live in New England or close enough to New York but don’t have a place to wheel we highly suggest you look into the Jeep Jamboree held in the Catskills Mountains every fall. Hope to see you out there!

As always any information on this or any of Jeep Jamboree USA’s events across the country can be found on their website at http://www.jeepjamboreeusa.com/.