Round ‘em Up!

Last Saturday was another special event at the Silver Lake Sand Dunes – Long Travel Roundup.  Long travel dune buggies have an extended wheelbase, and are known for their fast speeds in the sand, and jumping capabilities.  There are many that come to the dunes on a regular basis, and some are really beautiful vehicles.

 

Tom and I joined Dave and Kathy in their Jeep, and we ventured out on the dunes to check out the show.

Some of the dune buggies were playing in the sand, but many were gathered in the show area on display.  We parked and walked around admiring the 70+ vehicles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were some really beautiful vehicles!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We all had the same favorite . . .

There were some really interesting ones, too!

It was hot and sunny on the dunes, and there was a huge crowd at the beach – I don’t think I’d ever seen it this crowded before!

We saw this monster truck being unloaded in a very interesting way – just driving off the trailer!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We explored for awhile, got our complimentary lunch, and found a spot to sit on the top of Test Hill to watch the parade of Long Travel Dune Buggies.  While we waited for the parade, we enjoyed the view from the top of Test Hill.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the midst of all the chaos, there were still Jeep Tours going on!  It was crazy enough for those of us who had been up there before, I wouldn’t have wanted to be a new driver up there!

Riding around in Dave’s Jeep, Tom was glad we hadn’t brought ours and attempted to follow him . . . we would have had a hard time keeping up with him!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had fun watching all the action from the top of Test Hill . . . at a safe distance. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We knew there was supposed to be a parade of the long-travel sand rails, but we weren’t really sure how it was going to work.  We could see an area roped off at the bottom of Test Hill, and another at the top, so we figured that the parade was going to go over Test Hill at some point.  We had a pretty good vantage point on top of the hill.

Soon, we spotted the buggies as they paraded toward us.

They started lining up at the base of Test Hill.

Once everyone was in place, they took a group picture.

With the photo complete, they started over Test Hill one at a time.  There were a few who didn’t make it up the hill on the first try (newbies!), and some that managed to get in a little jump, but for the most part it was pretty calm, since there was such a large crowd on top of the hill.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the parade complete, the crowd started breaking up and we made our way over the hills and around to the exit.  After 4 hours on the scorching hot dunes, we were ready to hit the pool!