Extreme 4 Wheelin' at
Tahlequah Balloonfest, August 21st 2004
(Click on image to enlarge)

Welcome to the Tahlequah Balloon festival!
Ken Lamp will be our MC for today......

What a great turn-out we have today.
Lots of folks ready to watch the show and plenty of trucks ready to brave the course.

Show weather was great, but the rain on Thursday did havoc on the course. 
Hamid, Larry, and Ken worked hard to layout a great obstacle course, but throw in some uncalled for water and things get real messy.

First one to give it a try is Kathy.  Oh that sticky clay is gonna take a LOT of that skinny peddle!

Next up is Jackie.  This is not the rock crawling we are used to doing.

Kathy has made her way around to the cars, which are getting slimed and slick.  While Jackie is now stuck in the pit, which is quickly becoming bottomless!...

Denise is driving the chief but managed to sink into the bit.   Jayson tries to pull her out, but the strap did now hold.  Of course he's not going too far in that slime.

Dave has made his way around to the cars, as Rusty pulls Denise out of the pit.

Bill Stimmel brought out "The Mud Bug".  He has certainly come to the right place!

And Jason Helms is right in place with those Boggers on his YJ.

And the crowd seems to be enjoying it...

Now Ken Lamp loads up a set of passengers for a ride.

As Ken Hance makes his way thru the mess.

Oh that's an evil look on Ken's face.  He must be up to something...

Hamid picked up a passenger.  If she only knew what she was in for... ;-)

OH what a MESS!  But, the kids are sure loving the ride!

Both Ken's are just having too much fun.

Oh what a mess.  Good thing we have shirts for sale... ;-)
 

What's this, Ken having tire problems?
Ok, two tires are claimed by the cars, so they'll have to go.

Things have dried out a little bit, time to give the Rubicon a try...

Hamid just has to make one last run thru the course.

Afterwards, as we were walking around enjoying the festivities, Hamid asked how he managed to bend his front fender. 

Well, Hamid, this is how...

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Well, I don't know about you guys, but I spent many hours cleaning all the muck out from under my truck on Sunday.  But it was still worth it (as long as it's only once a year).  I know everyone loved the show!

Special thanks to Hamid Vahdatipour for all his hard work and for organizing and inviting us out!  They built an awesome course (even after mother nature modified it). 
And thanks to all the trucks that came out and played in the mess.  I'm sure your local car wash hates us all now.. :-)

But wait, that's not the whole story from the festival. 
I spent the day taking pictures of more than just the trucks. 

Click on the picture below to view my full photo documentary of the event.