\ JustInternational's Binder Bash 6/25/05 | Tom Mandera's Big Sky Binders

JustInternational's Binder Bash 6/25/05

After fixing the damage from Memorial Day's race, we loaded Little Devil up behind the Travelette and headed to Idaho to Coeur d'Alene to the Just International's Club Binder Bash event.



We spent Friday at the water slides, where I wore a hole in the bottom of my foot, then woke up early Saturday to head to the Kootenai County Fairgrounds and the show.







After offloading Little Devil, they made me park in the Wild Modified area.. despite my simple SOA and Reverse Shackle that netted less lift than most 4" lifts.. otherwise, there's nothing Wild about this Scout.. except the way I drive it. :D







Michelle wandered around and took some pictures of a few Scouts she thought were nice or unique..







John Edmund's "Rusty" -





An IH Tractor





and stationary engine.







My truck (aww, how nice)





And a few others..









Along with a nice old pickup..







Another Scout, and an old military truck..









After a bit, it was time for some games.. like putting Little Devil on the RTI ramp..









Good enough for 3rd place.. though I didn't get the actual score.



Coupla more Scouts of note.. an 800 Aristocrat repainted.





Mark Young / EagleMark's Scout II trail rig.







Travis's Traveler on full widths with Hummer wheels.







Not a Scout, just me -







There were a few nice Travelalls there, too..









Mark and Jenni Ashford came over from Seattle to join in on the fun.. here's Mark testing how supple the suspension is.







Mark decided to help me through the Divorce Course to a 2nd place finish..









We then traded seats.. turns out, Mark's a much better navigator than I am. :D







After that, it was back to the lineup for a few minutes..







Then back to the arena.. this time, not blindfolded, and with my foot buried in the throttle for my first ever shot at barrel racing.













I could've been faster, but I was having fun making noise and matting the go pedal. Good enough for third place, though.



Mark Ashford, an experienced barrel racer, got a chance at the wheel, too.. he tried it in 2-wheel drive thinking he could slide the turns better.

















Then I even let John Fleck, of Back Country Binders take a spin..















After John was done playing, I realized I'd broken a center pin over Memorial Day, so the fun was over and the day started winding down.



We attended the awards ceremony, took 1st in Wild Modified, and loaded up everything.



On Sunday we went on a boat tour of CdA Lake with the Ashfords, while dodging Iron Man traffic.. Boat Ride Pictures













After the boat ride, we headed back to my Travelette, fired it up, and promptly broke the shifter..









Mark was kind enough to lend a hand "fixing" it for the time being..











And so I drove home using my ratchet as a shifter. We went over 4th of July Pass in top gear at 45mph because I didn't want to shift.. we stopped at Carl's place in Kellog and picked up some tires and wheels for Little Devil, then motored home.. stopped in Missoula for dinner and all was well.. until 30 minutes later when the distributor rotor ate the cap, and I lost all spark.. a few hours of agony later I ultimately swapped the distributor from the race Scout, dropped it into the Travelette, retimed everything, swapped batteries around, and finally had it running - only to run out of gas almost immediately, since it was running so poorly the last 30 miles thanks to the bum ignition.. so off we went again and the 5gal jerry cans came out..



Eventually, we managed to make it home. :D



All BinderBash Pictures