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2009 Crawl 4 Christ

At Disney Oklahoma
By Melinda Craft

Crawl 4 Christ 2009
Disney, Oklahoma

What a weekend!  Crawl 4 Christ 2009 was so incredible, I am totally looking forward to next year’s event at SMORR!  As a woman, I sometimes get discouraged by the lack of estrogen in the 4x4 community, and events I have been to.  However, when we first pulled in, I saw right away this event was going to be different!  Immediately, I was able to talk to Judy Austin, and other ladies who were there with their husbands, kids, and some just there with their friends!  You know, hanging out on the trails with the guys is okay, but it’s just not the same as having the girls around!

 

After dinner on Thursday night before the event really got started, a group of us headed out for a night crawl.  This was thrilling as I had never been out before at night.  I must say I was glad we were not the lead rig heading into the water puddles – I honestly was expecting to lose someone!  But it was beautiful to see the lights of the Pensacola Dam up above us and the stars everywhere else.

Friday was a beautiful morning as many others pulled in for the event.  I was really encouraged when I realized that a group from Paola, KS was there that we had met two years ago at the Frostbite Run at KS Rocks, and they were thinking about getting a Christian off-road group started in their area.  They got the Humble Hilltoppers going and were there in full force this weekend!
I soon realized the estrogen factor was huge when we got to Little Blue and got to see Nana’s Rig (Judy) in action.  I had to admit to my hubby that yes, I want a rig with Rockwell’s like hers…actually, I’d just take Judy’s rig if I could.  It was great to see a first timer brave riding with David, without screaming, very loud anyway.  It was a lot of fun to be a part of such a fun, friendly group, watching the crazy ones go through Little Blue, and just having a great time out on the trails.

 

I was super excited to hang out with everyone when we got back that night, and headed out to Disney, OK’s very first fireworks show.  They did a great job, and we all had fun, moms, dads, kids, and friends all hanging by the roadside.
Saturday started great when we all headed back out to the Rock Garden just to play, but then the rain decided to start…while we were able to roll our windows up and turn on the A/C, the majority of the group had to head for the hills pretty quickly…and of course, we followed.  Spending the rest of the morning in the community room of the dorms could have been tedious, but we had such great company, and a BIG thank you to Angie who went and got crayons and coloring books for the little kids!  That was a lifesaver!  Thankfully shortly after lunch the rain cleared up and we headed back out to the trails.  It was amazing what a difference a rainstorm can make to the water levels and terrain there in those spillways.  Areas we had gone through on Friday were impassable for some of us now.  However, we did get around and managed to find some great wheeling areas.  I enjoyed going back to the Rock Garden and just standing up on a rock and watching all of the rigs in our group (I counted 36 at that time) crawling all around the area – it was kind of like watching ants swarming on an anthill, there were so many of them!

 

We then hit the Waterfall!  I finally got a chance to ride with Judy, I had been chomping at the bit ever since seeing her go up the wall by Little Blue with an empty seat.  First we had to go down because she had already crawled up once.  On the way down we were treated to a wonderful cold shower courtesy of Sabrina, apparently.  The strap on the cooler wasn’t over the top of it, so it opened up on us.  Before I realized it was the cooler, I heard this loud metal bang, and thought something had broken…silly me…actually, it was quite refreshing, because it was HOT out there.  It was very cool going back up with Judy, riding in a rig like that is quite different from our XJ.  I think I actually could have slept quite nicely, I felt that secure!

To really wrap up the weekend, we had a great mini concert by Amy Hill, and I don’t think I will ever get the image of David Austin dancing with a black feather boa out of my head.  Then we listened to the Word spoken through Guy Ferguson, one of UCORA’s founders.  It was a wonderfully encouraging and thoughtful lesson.  Afterwards there were door prizes and fellowship.  You couldn’t have asked for a better end to a day on the trails.

 

After a Sunday morning devotional, everyone started home, but not without spending a lot of time talking about the last few days and how incredible it had been.  The new relationships we started will be great to build on.  For me, especially, making new friendships with women who want to be out on the trails as well is more encouraging than any of the time actually spent on the trails.  It is good for my daughters to see that it’s more than just the guys, and mommy, and they made friends with other little girls that were there!  After spending the weekend at this UCORA event, I have been motivated to get out there and get more families involved!  I can’t wait until next year, and I hope to see at least twice as many rigs, and that many more families out there!

Melinda Craft

Christian Off-Road Association