Friday, July 29, 2016

Round ‘em Up!

Long-travel sand rails on display

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.

Enjoying the beautiful day!

 

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

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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.

Lots of sand rails at the dunes!

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There were some really beautiful vehicles!

Big Dog

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We all had the same favorite . . .

Ford buggy

Tom and Dave's favorite

There were some really interesting ones, too!

That's quite a lift!

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!

Busy at the beach

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

That's an interesting way to unload a vehicle

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.

Looking down from Test Hill

Lake Michigan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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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!

Jeep Tour

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!

Not much action on the other side of Test Hill

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quite a truck!

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

The dirtbikes are fun to watch!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.

The Long-Travel Parade has begun

They started lining up at the base of Test Hill.

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

Lined up for a photo op

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.

Ford Buggy

Pretty cool

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Throwing sand!

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!

1 comment:

  1. That would have been a site to see. Hope you kept yourselves hydrated. After that length of time Kathy would have been passing out.
    Be Safe and Enjoy!

    It's about time.

    ReplyDelete

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