Adventures Always Start with an Idea – Ann’s Story

On a Thursday afternoon we pulled the trail rig in to the garage to prep it for a big wheeling weekend.  The prepping to help educate the wheelers during Women’s Wheeling Day at Rausch Creek.  My first time to Women’s Wheeling Day, I fell in love with helping people learn and enjoy the fun of getting off the path of everyday insanity. Getting out with friends and enjoying nature’s beauty is soothing for the soul.  

While hosting another offroad event in NY, I had a long conversation with my friend Kristie Moore about a Ladies Day for our local ladies. How would we design it, and make it the most beneficial to our local area? Kristie Moore, and I put our resources together and gathered an exceptional group of ladies to help us plan and execute Ladies Day at Broome Tioga Sports Center.  After a few months of planning we noticed that there was a large interest from the men to help support our vision. Why not have the men that support us in all that we do, make this that much better? It’s not about excluding the men but encouraging them to support their ladies.

It’s very important not to burn bridges, so I contacted the organizers for Women’s Wheeling Day at Rausch Creek to see if it was ok to create a ladies day in our local area.  To my surprise they were not just ok with us creating our own event, they wanted to help us. We gained lifelong friends and learned so much from Christie Vinson and Jeep Girls Rock! These ladies are amazing, and always willing to help other people advance in their own way.  Also, a huge thank you to Ladies Offroad Network for all they do and the guidance they have provided.

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How do you host a Ladies event when you have never done one before? You have conference calls, meetings, and plan till your eyes go crossed. The first year was extremely stressful because we had to come up with a complete system to follow. The second year was much easier after we figured out what worked. This event wouldn’t have been possible without the support of OK4WD, Jeep Girls Rock, STORC (Southern Tier Off Road Club 4x4) officials, and all our sponsors.  STORC also provided swag bags to the first 25 lady drivers that participated in the event. Thanks to Broome Tioga Sport Center, Ladies Offroad Network, OK4WD, BHM Auto Service LLC, N&R Properties, Snap-On, Jeep Girls Rock! Excite Motorsports, TeraFlex, Clayton Offroad, Outdoor Kate, J.T. Brooks Automatic Tire Deflators, Torq-Master Industries, AutoZone and 4 Wheel Parts for all the swag and raffle prizes.

Ladies day at Broome Tioga 2018 was a hit. Starting Saturday night activities, there was trivia, passenger paint their nails challenge, rock painting, and much more. Thanks to Kristie Moore and Jennifer Louise for planning and executing the Saturday night activities. There was a bonfire that we all gathered around, under a starlit sky, light music playing, with amazing new and old friends.

Sunday was the main event. Thanks to Northeast Off-Road Adventures for providing certified recovery classes sponsored by WARN. WARN provided everyone with a catalog to help participants find their best recovery gear for their wheeling adventures.  WARN also donated an amazing Epic Recover Kit for one extremely lucky lady.

Trail guides started at 9 am, and many of the participants had never experienced the excitement of driving over and through obstacles. Some of the trails that they ventured on were Mountain Trail, Motocross Mountain, Outdoor Kate’s Trail, Mud Pits, Water Holes, and the obstacle courses. There was stock to modified rigs going out to learn, and everyone learned something that day.

STORC (Southern Tier Off Road Club) all worked together to make this event much better than it was the year before, hoping next year will be even better for all that participate.

I also got to try and waitress Sunday morning when breakfast was being served. I have never worked in food service and got thrown into the deep end, adapted and overcame. I learned a new skill, and that is leave waitressing to the professionals.

Ladies Day is all over, and I commit myself to Bantam Jeep Festival to volunteer. I don’t even own a Jeep, however, we all have a common interest, and I was there to help train and educate the participants in Babes of Bantam, and on the trails. Yes, I had to drive my Toyota, however, I was very welcomed and didn’t feel like an outsider. I was not there to participate but to commit my husband's and my time to the people that wanted to enjoy an outstanding event.  What a great opportunity to see how the Jeep community has grown, and how much fun a Jeep event really can be, especially when the trails are created, and designed by the famous Rausch Creek in P.A..  Christie Vinson informed me of the opportunity to help even though I didn’t have a Jeep, so I jumped on the opportunity to see what all the fuss was about. I loved it and hope to help in the coming years. I also got to meet Rick Pewe and that was just awesome!

Back around to the beginning when I first met Christie Vinson and Jeep Girls Rock at Women’s Wheeling Day Rausch Creek. It’s coming around again September 15th, 2018, and I will be trail guiding again. This time I will be bringing the ladies that have grown over the years on as an active offroad team member. Amy Martin STORC’s Vice President, Cheryl Lord Northeast Mud Offroad, Shannon Eckler STORC Official, Kate Stankiewicz STORC Member, and Whitney Hibler also a STORC Member. We have all grown over the years and helping each other become leaders in our local area for offroading fun.

We also have a lot of men that support us and help us to achieve our goals too. Thanks to everyone that has helped us through the years and hope to share all that we have learned with the group that we will be leading. Rausch Creek for Women’s Wheeling Day is like no other event I have attended and it’s so worth it!  I hope all the ladies that read my story will make the commitment and join us September 15th, 2018, for a day you will never forget.