The NW Overland Rally, the biggest off-road rally in the Pacific Northwest, took place last weekend in Plain, WA, about 2 hours east of Seattle. This was the first major event sponsored by Avants Off-Road. Naturally, we were excited and eager to meet with fellow enthusiasts and have some fun, Avants Off-Road style! .
Ben Powell and I (Lance Hanson) headed up Thursday with camping and cooking supplies. Not to mention, a few hundred pounds of stuff for the Avatnts Off-Road booth (tent, tables. t-shirts, etc). On the way, we had some fun going over the pass with Ben’s newly rebuilt ‘73 Toyota Fj 40 breaking in its new Cummins 2.8L Turbo Diesel he chugged along. I keyed up the radio to say “hey Ben, I think my alternator is failing.” Ben says “will you make it?” Just as I reply, my battery light turned on :)
One hour later, we rolled in with 10 volts in battery. Thank goodness for fellow Avants member Curtis Tomkins who had picked an alternator up for me and was on his way. We set up our booth and moved Ben’s prized Fj 40 in front. Shortly later Curtis rolled up with the necessary parts and we gave everyone a show of how quick we can revive a truck in the dirt!
I ran sweep for the Eagle Creek trail run with 20 participants. It was just outside of Leavenworth, WA. The trail was was full of amazing views with some fun rut sections here and there. Minimal branch scraping too, which was an added bonus.
The next day, the festivities really kicked up. Ben and Jim Snell woke up at the break of dawn….4 am to be exact….to start smoking some delicious meat in Jim’s custom built smoker.
Ben and Micheal headed out for their trail run at Tronson Ridge. Once back, it was all hands on deck. All Avants members that were present, significant others, friends came together to host one of the greatest happy hours NWOR has ever seen. Kegs tapped and began serving the line that was over 200 people long. A big thank you to Big Block Brewery for donating the delicious beer and to our friends at Factor 55, MULE Expedition Outfitters and Coal Power for donating raffle prizes!
The grand finale of the Avants Off-Road Happy Hour was the off-road version of Potato Sack race, complete with Factor55 soft shackles tied around ankles. Each of the winners took home a soft shackles and one lucky winner won an Avants membership.
We had an absolute blast at the 2019 NW Overland Rally and look forward to supporting the event and community next year!
