FRENCH LICK JEEP JAMBOREE

18^th Annual French Lick Jeep Jamboree

Once again the popular “French Lick” Jeep Jamboree held outside of Paoli Indiana was sold out, and after spending the weekend there it is easy to understand why it is such a popular event. The owners of the Wilstem Guest Ranch were kind enough to once again offer up their private property to host this event. The guest ranch is a great place to have the jamboree with the ability to accommodate all of the participants in the loft of a big red barn. Wilstem Ranch has a lot of old history from when it was an 1,100 acre “private hunting retreat” once owned by hotel and casino owner Ed Ballard.  In it’s heyday it was visited by impressive names like Al Capone, Franklin D. Roosevelt and boxer Joe Louis as well. There are still casinos in the nearby town of French Lick that have history and stories of their own to tell. With the addition of a few new trails and the popular ones that have been used here for years it provided the crowd with plenty of excitement and challenge to keep them interested and entertained as they spent the weekend wheeling in the rolling hills of Indiana. A special thanks to the staff at the ranch, they took great care of us, especially the gals at the office who did a wonderful job of taking care of everyone’s needs and keeping the guests requests fulfilled.

Local coordinators Dale Doty and Debbie Gilliatt have made this jamboree a huge success by bringing some of the best volunteers out there to cut the new trails and to show the participants a great time that they will surely remember for years to come. These folks have this jamboree well organized and it showed impressively how many of these guests were here for multiple years in a row and some of them had a long way to travel to the event but said that year after year it was worth it. We even had a visitor from Canada.  Yan Deslauriers drove all the way from Montreal Canada and this was his first stop on a fall tour of the US in his new JK.  After the French Lick ended he headed out to Moab for the Jeep jamboree there from Oct 19^th thru Oct 21^st.  After that he was off to another Jamboree in the south...no doubt he will enjoy himself in Moab!!

Many of the trails were scenic wandering through the rolling hills and trees and the colors were changing, but not as brilliant as they normally see due to the lack of moisture this year, yet it was still very serene and picturesque. The trails varied from milder for some of the stock vehicles which were very scenic with some minor obstacles, to some good challenging creek beds and ravines that became hard work for some drivers. With the loose ground and cross axle situations as you climb over tree roots, stumps and large rocks the trails have spots that grow even more challenging when the soft soil and smaller rocks roll out from under you providing very little traction.

One of JJUSA’s sponsors, Hi-Lift Jack Company showed up for the weekend too, bringing out their rigs to wheel with and for dinner they showed up in their “Brute” that AEV had built for them that they use for SEMA and other promotional events. The crowd was all a buzz with the “Brute” conversion out front and their display of new and exciting items as well as several models of their popular and well known jacks. One thing you see that is common on Jeeps is always the trusted and true Hi-Lift, whether you see them mounted on the hood, roof rack, rear bumper, tire carrier or one of the many other ways...you see them everywhere.

If you ever get the chance this is another great one to check out, you surely will not be disappointed and it is for so many reasons.  It is well worth the trip no matter how far you are traveling to get there. Maybe we'll see you out there :-)

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