WISCONSIN SHOWING OFF ITS FINEST FOR A GOOD CAUSE

by Luana Schneider
For event photos click here

Four Wheelin’ with Feelin’ for the March of Dimes was uncertain for 2008 with the gas prices soaring upward and upward. There is a fine line on how much return you need in order to justify the cost and work involved in putting on an event like this. The last thing we want is to have the March of Dimes lose money when the purpose is to raise funds for healthier babies. With much soul searching and the realization that this would be the 30th year for this event, it was decided to go for it and cut as many corners as we could without jeopardizing the pizzazz of the event too much.

In searching for a new site, we approached a brand new offroad park, Northwoods Overland, about headquartering out of their site. This would be a very good exposure for them and many participants were asking us to find a new place for the rally, since part of the fun of the rally is seeing new places and going on new routes. After about so many times in one area, it becomes quite difficult to do that. After Rod & I met with the land owners (Jeremy and Annie VanCamp) and Jeremy gave us a tour of not only the park but the area, it was decided the site would definitely work, even though Jeremy was shocked at how much of the adjacent county land that he grew up driving in had recently been gated off! We discussed what the rally was all about and what it entailed and Jeremy & Annie were more than willing to accommodate our needs.

Due to the offroad park being a “work in progress” there wasn’t as much offroad area as we like to have and all the areas we found gated off, we had to offset with as many interesting sites as possible. Jeremy had already included, among other things a beautiful flowage area, a pristine old growth park with a short walking trail, and the highest point in Wisconsin (Timm’s Hill). When the committee got there we took the park map and familiarized ourselves with the park while Jeremy was at work. Then on Saturday Jeremy took us on some of his route he hadn’t gotten out to look at just to find more closed gates (private and county) and no success in getting them open. It seemed every which way we turned there were more closed gates which created more gravel and paved roads.

The next couple of days we drove the route and modified it as we went to improve it, etc. When Jeremy got back we went out in another area that ended up being mostly an ATV path. We found it to be just too narrow and rough. It would need some real work to bring it up to be usable for the rally which draws many vehicles not up to that type of terrain without an alternative. We did find a great windy and twisty narrow gravel road that had some great scenery and also found a road that went pass an old mink farm that had a tower with the largest eagle’s nest on top of it any of us had ever seen! By the middle of the week we had a pretty decent route and with some support from Plum Creek Timberlands were able to get rid of at least a little more paved and graveled roads.

It was now on to writing the clues and going out and testing them and making corrections where things just didn’t seem to piece together right. You say Clues? What do you mean by clues? That is how this rally works, a route is established and then tricky clues are written up that have to be figured out in order to find your way through the route that is set up, ex. Gee @ T(gee is right in horse driving and T is a T intersection). There are checkpoints and poker stops along the way that a participant has to find in order to qualify for prizes. The committee is quite a group of characters especially when coming up with clues. As an example, we turned down one road called Lucia Road and two of the committee got on the CB and started singing “Santa Lucia”---we did not ask for an encore! By the end of the week we had ourselves a route with clues!

On rally week, we got there on Thursday and setup all the normal event type stuff and a tent next to the garage doors as an extension for the registration, etc. Then on Friday we went out for a last test of the route and found a few changes. The colors were better than on work week! The colors had peaked out and gave everyone a real paradise to run the rally in!!

The rally started out on the park trails and ended on the park trails. There was time allowed to play on the various obstacles in the play areas in the park such as driving over some boulders, driving through a tire pit, log pit etc. The off road park has easy and hard routes so at times a participant would have a choice to take the alternative hard route if they wished. One of those alternatives was so narrow, we called it the Isuzu trail—it took some real finesse to get through and not ding up your vehicle. There also was a narrow covered bridge that the owners made for the park (initially for dog sledding in the winter). If you weren’t too wide you could drive through. This became quite the photo op!

Once off the park there were many scenic areas and dirt roads to run and just about the time the paved road was getting to be too much, there was Jeremy’s father-inlaw’s corn field to turn into with a path right through the standing corn, then a fence line with rocks to crawl over, woods to go through, and back through another trail of standing corn. That trail in the cornfield was cut by Jeremy who, when he saw the corn still standing, took a chainsaw and cut down some rows. We piled the stalks up so when the farmer came to harvest it he could just run it through the corn picker. I have manually cut down corn before, but I have never seen it done with a chainsaw!!—it actually worked pretty slick!

When the participants got back there were hayrides waiting for those who wanted a ride. This was a big hit by both the young and the young at heart! Jeremy drove the wagon through some of the park and over to various overlooks. Even the main committee took time out for a hayride!

About a month or so before the rally, one of our committee members was approached about whether there was any mud hole in the park. The individual wanted to get stuck in a mud hole and then ask his girlfriend to marry him. So the plot was set up and even a large banner saying “Engagement Mud Hole” was hung by the hole. It was late in the day and there was quite a line up of folks who wanted to try their hand at the mud hole. However, when this individual hit the mud hole, he must have hit it just right and made it through and the committee member waved him on to try it again and he finally got stuck. The potential fiancé got out to help hook up and he got out and knelt down in the mud and asked her to marry him. She responded favorably and they were hugging and kissing and rolling in the mud! Those in line did not know what was going on until, over the CB, they heard “She said yes!” Those in line were cheering and honking their horns! Can you imagine that story going down through the family... ”back in 2008 my great-grandpa....”

That evening was our usual program with winners in the Poker Rally, Timed Rally, High Pledges and Club with the Highest Pledges. The one that stole the show this year was our high pledge person raising $3,705, Dan Sippola. He came up with his 16 year old daughter carrying his four month old granddaughter wearing a four wheel drive shirt. Also, for having the highest pledges he won the PS Seasonings grill!

After the program the DJ started playing and there was a great bonfire outside to enjoy! Yes, our lovebirds were there all cleaned up and dancing up a storm! All in all it was another successful event both in wheelin’, dollars for the March of Dimes - raising over $21,000, seeing old friends and making new friends and Wisconsin showing its ultimate Fall colors!