The First Annual FSJ Skyline Invasion - 1998

Story and pictures contributed By: Jim Polk

First three are shots of all the rigs that made the trip up into the Massanutten mountain range for a trip up to a radio tower at the peak. We had Ron from Charlottesville (actually, Madison County near C-ville) with his son and nephew in a '77 Chero S with 2" Add-a-leafs, Izzydoggie (Ronnie, Diana, son Bren, and dog Izzy) in their TJ (Wag currently in use by Flintstones due to lack of floorboard), Bren & Beth from Newport News, VA in a Chero?, Flint Boardman from Charlotte and his '88 GW with brand new 4" Black Diamond Lifts (drool), David from NC and his CJ, and Angi and me in our '83 Wag Ltd. Krista the Jeepless, er, Jeepstress encountered Jeep distress on the way in and had to be towed into camp...twice! She hitched a ride for the day with Flint.

Shot #'s 4 & 5 are from the radio tower on the mountain peak overlooking the Shenandoah Valley below. 6 is a shot of my Wag next to Ron's '77 Chero.

Pictures 7 thru 10 show our crew doing some major site cleanup at the radio tower. We picked up around 10 trashbags full of garbage (broken glass, paper, etc.) we found up at the tower in GW Forest. We bagged up the trash and brought it back down the mountain to a recycle center. The gang did a great job....that place was a mess, but now it's litter free. Pic 11 is my rig and Ron's Chero S again, and 12 is a shot of David and Flint (in Jethro Tull tee) on Wally an '88 GW along side Krista leaning on Ronnies TJ.

These were all shots from my digital camera. Hopefully we will get some additional trail & camp shots developed from our 35mm. Got a great shot of the Jeepstress elbow deep in Splendid's engine bay with another set of legs sticking out from underneath while they were working to replace the timing chain and get her marginally operational once more. Should be some good stories from the crew that tagged along with us this weekend on the list.

Flint, David, Ron (with son & nephew), Angi & I, and Ronnie, Diana, Bren (baby), and Izzy (dog) all ran a trail in Lee District of GW Forest known as Peter's Mill Run that runs along the mountain peak from near Edinberg to Woodstock VA. Group had a blast in two small Jeeps and two FSJ's doing that run which took approximately 4 hours to complete. Weather was perfect and foliage was very nice. Majority of the folks camped Friday & Saturday nights up in GW Forest. Had a great bonfire Saturday night with a fantastic feast of steaks, fried chicken, ham, sandwiches, Flints cajun corn/beef/sausage goulash with rice, potato salad, beverages, etc. much of which was prepared by Bren & Diana from Newport News. We all needed FSJs to lug our butts out of there after that feast! DP from NC got tied up and couldn't make it up (his loss) and Zack from PA never made it down either. All total we had 5 FSJ's and two baby jeeps for our outing.

Jim Polk
'83 Wag Ltd

Krista did have a FSJ but poor Splendid, a 79 Wagoneer, was suffering mechanical challenges.