The Ultimate Parade
If you've followed the magazine for any amount of time you will have noted the Ultimate Adventure event, where we take readers, cronies, staff, and sponsors on a 1,000-mile trip on and off road. This world-famous event is the highlight (and backbreaker) of our wheeling year. We start in a certain region of the U.S. and travel backroads and highways to various wheeling locations. While on the road we look like some sort of Ultimate Parade, and few people understand what it's all about unless they read our magazine.
This year we plan to spice it up a bit--we're telling you the general location of where we're going so you can wave to us on the highway while we zoom by (OK, maybe putt-putt by) your digs, and you can even meet the group at selected location to check out the 4x4s we'll have along.
The biggest problem with this scenario is that I haven't finalized the plans for where we are going until next week, and this editorial goes to press today. Since I'm writing this before Memorial Day, anything can and will change by the time we take our trip on the Fourth of July, so this magazine isn't the best venue for instant updates. Enter the web. Yes, we plan to have daily updates on Ultimate Adventure from the road on www.4wheeloffroad.com, with clues on where to meet us for stickers and license plates. Remember we love to see your rides too, so drive on down in your favorite 4x4 so we can check them out.
But what I can tell you is that the East Coast and the eastern Midwest are both vying for hosting our trip this year. I've made numerous inquiries to both areas, gone on some trips with the local 4x4 groups, and over the years have become familiar with what the Ultimate Adventure needs to have on these trips. One of those things is readers who join us, and this year we have a record five who accepted our invite. These guys and gals are from all walks of life and a wide variety of vehicles and wheeling experience. Some of them never figured they had a chance of being selected, and were darn surprised when they got the phone call. Next year we hope to have even more readers on the trip, as I think that is what it should be about, not just the magazine guys. The reader is why we do this trip, so we hope to give back to you all what you have given us. Here's hoping to see you at the Ultimate Adventure 2009--and maybe 2010!