Many of you have read the misadventures of Rick Péwé and David Freiburger on their annual DED tours (Dirt Every Day), which are aptly named because they hit dirt every day and also have at least one nearly near-death experience. A few of you may even be sick enough to consider this sort of thing the perfect vacation. I count myself as one of the few, and I was lucky enough to participate in a trip with half the duo that was almost as good as riding along on the real thing. Here's how it all went down.
A few months back the powers that be decided to hold this year's Ultimate Adventure "in the South." Being a jaded veteran of the magazine gig and still lucky enough to call all of my former co-workers friends, have been a participant in all previous Ultimate Adventures, and be a transplant to the South (the 4x4 suspension capital of the world), I was eager to provide suggestions. Then the phone call came from Péwé: Did I want to help him pre-run Ultimate? Does a bear poop in the woods? And when he added that the mag would feed my Blazer, it was on!
 Some last-minute packing in...  Some last-minute packing in the shop. Surprisingly enough, after two hard weeks of thrashing, the Blazer was legal and pretty much road worthy. By the time Rick arrived, all that was left was to install the top, do a little welding on the rear bumper, and fix about a hundred other things that never got done. |