The Birthday Party!	Guestbook

The Ottawa Valley Land Rover club celebrated its 18th birthday in usual style- by inviting Land Rover enthusiasts from all over to join in some fun in the mud! It was also a coming-out party for Basil (who apparantly has more followers than I had suspected!) and an off-road baptism for me.

In attendance were everything from a fleet of Series 1 trucks right up to some of the new Defenders. Notable vehicles were a Unimog, a 101 FC, a lightweight with no paint, the infamous Ford-powered Valdez and - well, there were SO many. It was good to meet so many true characters and fun people, especially those whom had been helping me out via email over the past few months.

As for the off-road, well, Basil did well. I'm amazed at what this truck will crawl through. He cleared every obstacle put in front of him despite some that stopped lightweights and other similar trucks. Basil is much happier slogging through mud than in heavy city traffic, there's no question there. Despite the fact that the poor thing was working harder than it had in years, it survived the weekend with nothing more than a sticky throttle and a carb float that stuck once. But I'll let the photos tell the story...

	The main site. This was taken on Sunday when many people weren't around. Including three trucks that had managed to disappear in the woods somewhere, prompting a search party. Much to everyone's delight.
	With big brother, Andrew Breithaupt's 101. The unusual thing about this photo is that there are no children on or in the 101. It's a kid magnet.
	Andrew proves that even 101s run out of articulation sometimes. Basil was able to handle this drop as well, but I'm sure it wasn't quite as impressive to see.
	A great licence plate on a Series 1.
	The kids kept busy by painting a few of the Rovers with water-based paint.
	"Hot chicks love lightweights", it says. Yes, this truck had no paint to start. So the kids helped out. We're not convinced they were all so young in this case...
	How do you get your Series 1 to the party? You tow it with a matching Series 111, of course!
	Slogging through the mud. This trail got more and more gooey as the weekend went on.
	Emerging from the mud.
	Basil goes through the car wash. This got deeper and deeper as the weekend progressed.
	Climbing over a beaver dam that had just been broken.
	Where a Land Rover belongs, deep in the woods. This is during the search...
	The "lost" Rovers were running a powerline trail. We couldn't seem to get a point where we could see them. Here we're looking from the highway, but no luck. This group of trucks started off as a small group, but the excitement of the search got everyone going.
	Crossing the powerline (the lost trucks were over the rise in the background). That's Ted Rose's truck in front. Ted was the one who sold me Basil and has provided invaluable assistance and parts. He also got stuck on Saturday, thus the mud :)
	Oops. Kinda leaned on that lower sill...
	Back home. Someone needs a bit of a wash. There was a lot of mud underneath!

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