The event was a true success.  The loop ride in the morning had over 800 entrants…multiple tables were full of people writing letters…the raffle jar was full…the tent was packed Saturday night for the speakers and band.  It is assumed that around 4,000 people showed up for this event.

Saturday morning started with the entry for the loop ride that had trails for all the different vehicles that enjoy JV ~ “crowd” was certainly a word to use as more than 800 prepared to go out onto the trails.  At noon, the rock crawlers took over the area just beyond the tent.  With over 50 rock crawlers in attendance, there was quite a show going on.  With the Red Bull Rock Crawling team on hand, Dustin gave the crowd an explanation of what was happening, while Becca showed them how it was done, and ultimately gave the crowd a pleaser when she completely endo’ed the jeep destroying all of her side panels.  Alongside the Rock Crawlers were some very talented Motorcycle Trials riders.  The goal of a Trials rider is to go from rock to rock while being slow and precise with no feet touching the ground.  A huge crowd gathered to watch “just another day in the rocks” for these guys!

The afternoon is what I am going to call the “riding or hiding” time.  The wind howled all day until sundown when it got just down right cold.  But that didn’t stop the hard-core riders from jumping on their bikes, in their jeeps or side x side’s and heading out to enjoy the amazing trails of the area.  While others found trailers and motorhomes to hide in and get out of the blowing dirt. I will admit to being a motorhome jumper as I was able to find different groups of people hiding out to talk to and catch up with.

6 o’clock the official ceremonies kicked off.  Again, with the Land Closure being the focus of attention, most all of the off-road organizations were represented.  Jerry from District 37 started the ceremonies by thanking Jeff from BRP for taking the time and effort to making this whole event happen.  Then Steve from CAL4WD, Meg from ORBA, Jim from CORVA and Harry from FOJV all spoke about their organizations and how to help support and fight for keeping Johnson Valley open.  Dustin from the Red Bull Rock Crawling Team spoke for a minute on the importance of this closure and then handed the microphone over to LtCol James McArthur for the military perspective on the issues.  (If you would like more information on this topic, please see what I wrote on the Johnson Valley scoping meeting from last week.)  The evening continued with a 2 hour raffle full of amazing prizes then the TJ Krue band rocked the house.

This is the 2nd Annual BRP Fun Ride, the first one was held at Clear Creek in the midst of that land closure.  This event was created to increase the awareness about the proposed 29 Palms Marine base expansion into the Johnson Valley area and raise funds for AMA D37’s Legal Defense Fund.  The goal was to get people involved with the process through education, letter writing and donations.  Everyone involved made this a great event and a true success.  I think that more people were able to learn about the Land Closure issues and even more took the time to write a letter to be submitted.  It is important that if you didn’t attend the event that you still find a way to participate in this issue…it is still new, and there are still a lot of voices that need to be heard from!

Read How you can make a Difference by Charlene
https://sidexsideaction.com/johnson-valley-land-use-issue/

SEE PROPOSED ACTIONS & DOWNLOAD WRITTEN STATEMENT FORM
Friends Of Johnson Valley   http://www.pfjv.org/

MORE INFORMATION From Military:
http://www.29palms.usmc.mil/las/

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