Pics from our small but mighty fine meet in Utah 29 Jul '06

Our meet was preceeded with persistent canvassing and tagging of all RLs we could to invite them to attend. Our efforts paid off in two couples from the Ogden area who are not members attending.

We also had a frenzy of truck polishing to make her look her best! :D

Finally the day arrived for our trip south to meet up with the rest of the bunch. We relied on NAVI to get us there and hit the road.

More last minute touch ups when we got there before the others arrived.

It didn't take long for the next person to arrive. Steve (Ruffles) drove down from Idaho. I called him when we were on the road a few minutes. If he hadn't been about 15 miles behind us, we could have caravanned. We'd wanted to get there early since we were hosting. Steve arrived soon after we got parked. In just a few minutes the next black truck pulled in with Gary and Darlene. Soon after Wendell and Birdie arrived in their green truck. Those are the two couples from our neck of the woods.

Awesome photos as usual guys! I'm so glad to see everyone healthy and able to be out there enjoying themselves...

We talked trucks for a bit until Doug (djdj) showed up. He's the only one that lived nearby and he was the last to get there. It was getting warm in the sun and the restaurant had opened, so I suggested we eat and spend more time admiring each other's trucks when we got to a higher elevation. We basically had the place to ourselves and the food was excellent (at least mine was). The new owner asked about our group and thanked us for coming to his restaurant.

Doug brought his brother, Brent and a friend, Brian from Texas, who is a Ridgeline owner. Brian was planning to visit anyway but timed his trip so he could be part of our meet. Therefore, Brian takes the honorary title of person who travelled the farthest and Steve drove the farthest.

I had four prizes to give out and until that morning I didn't know how many trucks were going to show up. Four local owners had to cancel their plans to attend. RiverFisher, Suresh, Nate (not a member) and wegg all sent their regrets.

The way I came up with to give everyone an equal chance at the prizes was to make up packets of ROC cards for everyone with plenty on hand for more than I thought would attend. I took four of the packets and put in a card with the numbers 1-4 on them. Then I had the five owners draw a packet. The people with the winning cards got to pick a prize based on their number. Doug was the odd owner out. Sorry Doug, I wish I'd dredged up one more prize.

Steve had number one and chose the multi-tool kit. Brian got the Ridgeline t-shirt. Wendell and Birdie took the pull over. Gary and Darlene got the coffee mug.

Posting pics (managing attachments) has turned to molasses again, so that's it for tonight. The best is yet to come. Once we left town we found some great places to take photos of our trucks. I'll try to add some more tomorrow night.

Looks like you all had a great time. I can only hope that our New England meet (climb to the clouds is a successful):)

Great pics Pam. :cool:
I have YET to see a picture of a ROC head that looked like he belonged in any other vehicle but a Ridge. :D
What a bunch of happy faces. :)
Looks like a very special gathering. :p

The first photo is looking at our trucks from the restaurant's window. Each of us got set up with our short range radios so we could talk to each other while we drove. We let Doug take the lead on our drive since we were in his home turf. During our short parade to the mouth of the canyon we noticed quite a few stares at the various intersections as our five pretty trucks went by people. Luck was on our side and we all made it through the lights together. Within five minutes we were at the mouth of Provo Canyon leaving the city behind us.

I need to move back out west. It takes my breathe away every time I see those Mountains. ANY Mountains. Majestic giants standing tall with pride.
And to see those Ridgelines drive through them.
Maybe I should start job hunting. :D

Ah, but that's just the start. It gets much better. Provo canyon road was just curvy enough to let me catch all four trucks in front of me around several bends. Here are some from our first stop at Nunn's park. The parking lot was small and fairly crowded but there was just enough room to park together. Notice how these truck drivers park wide from each other. Think any are trying to prevent door dings?

LadyRidge,

So there ain't no mountain high enough in Ohio?

jwizard

You organized a great little meet Pam. Maybe Honda should name you the official Ridgeline Ambassador of Utah. :)

This next picture gets a post all to itself because it's the only one I have on my camera with me in the pic. I think Brian took it. He should be in the picture too as the other owner that came to the meet.

Ah, but that's just the start. It gets much better. Provo canyon road was just curvy enough to let me catch all four trucks in front of me around several bends. Here are some from our first stop at Nunn's park. The parking lot was small and fairly crowded but there was just enough room to park together. Notice how these truck drivers park wide from each other. Think any are trying to prevent door dings?

Are you trying to get me to come out right now? Cuz ifin' you are, you're doin' a find job.
Ok..who will start the poll/campaign to make LadyRidge a Honda Ridgeline Spokes Person. Then I can come to all the meets. :D

I knew we would be treated to some breathtaking scenery!! You are so my hero with a camera Pam! Very nice job getting everyone together for this meet & greets too…

Wendell and Birdie's grill ornaments got a chuckle out of us.

We regrouped the trucks for a different pose.

Then we headed back up the canyon to the Bridal Veil Falls overlook.

This is a favorite spot for many Utahns. We had to take several poses with our pretty trucks here.

That top photo of the 5 RLs in a perfect line with the waterfall in the backround should be in the RL brochure. That is the best picture I have seen yet on this site.

Awsome pics Pam... thanks for sharing :)

We had just a couple more miles into Provo canyon before we came to the Sundance Ski Resort (owned by Robert Redford, if you don't know that already) turn off and the start of the Alpine Loop Road.

That top photo of the 5 RLs in a perfect line with the waterfall in the backround should be in the RL brochure. That is the best picture I have seen yet on this site.

Why thank you! That is high praise with all the fabulous photos that have been posted on this site.

Thanks to all of you for your kind words. :D

These five photos are from the area immediately surrounding the ski resort. This area is one of the most beautiful places on the drive. Unfortunately this was the only place that the parking lot gods didn't shine brightly on us this day. The two spots that would have made a great background were already filled with cars. I had to snap this as we passed it by.

That's Steve paying his $3.00 user fee for going over the Alpine Loop. You can see this is a great drive to see the fall colors with the aspen forests. The road was recently chipped. It's very narrow in places and there are few pull outs. Brian popped out Doug's moonroof and had us stop behind them for a photo. The first attempt had to be aborted when a car came from the other direction and we were taking up too much of the road. The second time we quickly pulled it off. I clicked from my roof top while he clicked downhill toward us.

That's it for tonight, kids. The upload time for the photos is slowing down again and I have some other stuff to do before beddy bye time.

Fantastic Pictures!!!!!!!! Thankyou for Sharing!!!!!!

I lived in CO. for 13 years and these pics make me want to move back.

I think I will at least make a trip to the Rockies !!!!!!!!!

Excellent photos Pam! Utah Rocks and you ROC!

Yup, It's pictures like these that make me want to get meets together. Thanks for sharing Truckin'... looks like a great meet. :D

Great Pics!!!

============================

What: 2006 Nighthawk Black Pearl RTL, When: 3-23-2006, Where: Right Honda in Scottsdale, Arizona, Why: Great standard features, FWD/AWD, Size of the truck, TRUNK!!, Honda Reputation, List: $32,468, Paid: $27,758, Manufactured: 12/05, Added: Bed Extender, IPOD Music Link, Average MPG: 18.7, MPG Range: 17.1 to 23.1, Current Miles: 6200 as of 8-09-2006, Problems: Rattle from driver sun visor, rattle from driver-side dash speaker cover, plastic bed rail liners became loose and unattached...all fixed by dealer under warranty

Look what LadyRidge did to clean up and enhance the photo I took by the waterfall! Now it really is a Ridgeline ad!

I had too much going on today to get back to this thread. I should be able to devote a little more time to it tomorrow.

The Alpine Loop road gives access to the Cascade Springs area to the east. I was amused that not only is this a paved road, it's a painted two lane road for the seven miles to Cascade Springs. It's much better than the Loop road. You have to use either the Loop road or one of the dirt roads to get to this better stretch of pavement. The views are as spectacular as Timpanogas and they were comprised by the smoke blowing in from the California and other western states' fires.

I believe the dirt road going through the saddle in the middle of the last photo drops down into Heber City to the east. I wanted to take it, but it wasn't in the cards for this meet.

Once again we lucked out with space for all five trucks together in a rather small parking lot. By the time we returned after our walk around the springs, the parking spaces just beyond our trucks were all filled in. It made me glad I took these pics first.

This stop was where we took time to hang around and admire each other's trucks. It was nice having both the Retrax and the OEM tonneau covers for comparisons.

Cascade Springs is a state park now, but it must have been an oasis and a life saver for the Indians, explorers and early settlers going through this area. It's a beautiful place with nice walkways built which makes it easy to enjoy. There are three loops to walk around the multiple springs.

There was a sign saying that German Brown trout probably migrated to the springs from the Provo river and they are the only fish in the springs, but we spotted some Brook trout too. It says they live in a closed environment and fishing is not allowed.

There's a fountain for a taste of the spring water at the top loop.

Oops, I almost forgot to include the pics I snapped of Doug's truck. His sound system is so fine! I wish we'd been somewhere it was OK to leave it blasting. I'd been looking forward to seeing this truck in person, as I've followed his posts while he's documented his efforts. It's impressive what he's done.

Sadly, Doug's truck had a big boo boo. His rear door had just been mooshed a couple of days early. I trust that it's been repaired by now. Doug, is that so?

Brian was feeling mighty homesick for his Redrock Pearl Ridgeline, so Doug, being a good friend, gave Brian a turn at the wheel. Now that's a GOOD friend! :D

This was our last stop with all five trucks. Just as we got them all lined up in this large, empty parking lot (it's a lot for snowmobilers) a family in some other kind of truck pulled in RIGHT BEHIND US. I asked them to please move to another part of the lot, explaining that we were doing a photo shoot with our trucks. I was slightly perturbed that in the huge parking lot they thought parking right behind us was where they had to be until I found out we'd created a Ridgeline magnet and they are prospective owners. Brian went right to work as an irresistable salesperson with all the reasons they should buy one. Yes, someone provided them with one of the ROC business cards I'd just given everyone. I hope to see them here at the ROC someday. If you're reading this, give me a shout (or a PM).

Birdie, Wendell, Darlene and Gary were all ready to head back to Ogden, so they took off. That left three trucks, me and five guys. We are all photogs, so we weren't ready to call it a day yet.

The guys went much higher up this slope than I did to shoot their Ridgelines on the Ridgeline photos. Steve was in sandals, Doug slid a bit on the way down.

We finished our shoot and headed back to the Loop road. I caught one last shot of the Timpanogas peaks as we got to the forested areas.

I hoped to wrap this up tonight, but I'm not going to make it. Uploading photos has ground to a near halt again and it's late. I only have a few more photos to share. Boo hoo. I'll have to make time for one more session to finish it.

On our trip to scope out the Alpine Loop road a couple of months ago, I'd spotted three places to pose our trucks for photos. We were able to hit two of the three (one had overflowing parking that blocked my idea) then Doug's lead added three more in areas not known to us. We went back to the Loop road to see if we could get into the only small parking lot on the north side of the moutain. We lucked out on this one too. We stood around and BS'd a while then hit the road in conclusion of our meet.

I finally have a good photo of Brent, Doug's brother, to include. The last photo is one I took to show Steve's wheels and 2" lift kit. He says the diameter of his tire is identical to the OEM tires, so the extra space in the wheel well shows off what he gained with the lift kit.

My favorite story told at the meet was when Brian described how he ended up buying his Ridgeline. I hope he'll get on here and tell it because I don't think I could do it justice.

Hey Guys:

Great pictures and views of Utah. Keep an eye out for the New England Gathering on Aug 26 on Mt. Washington in New Hampshire. I don't think there will be any other Ridgeliners that have been this high in elevation in a group of 8 or more at one time. Oz and Birch will probably be posting a bunch of pictures.

Doug and crew decided to double back south across the Alpine Loop rather than dropping down into the front and going through the urban areas to get back home. Steve was heading north too, so we followed him down American Fork canyon.

In the middle picture along the top is the slash where the road cuts through that we're driving on in the first photo.

Toward the mouth of the canyon it's quite congested, as that's where the trail to Timpanogas cave begins.

Once we left the canyon, Harold passed Steve and we were in the lead. We had an exchange to make at Cabela's and I was surprised when Steve turned in behind us. I called him on the radio and found out he wanted to see if he could buy an armrest for his window like we have. He hadn't been to Cabela's before and I'm sure he was in too much of a hurry (because he was driving back to Idaho) to stroll through the whole store. We gave him general directions for where things were located and said our farewells.

I wish I was quick enough to snap a photo of the surprise that awaited us as we got to the parking lot area. As we merged to turn right into the south parking lot we spotted a green Ridge leaving the store. It was Wendell and Birdie! We waved to each other. What great timing.

OK, that's it for my report on our swell meet we had this summer.

I have just one post script for those of you that didn't know this: I accidently deleted the original files of every single one of the photos in this thread along with about 600 other photos. I had to buy a recovery program and spend many hours getting them back into my photo program. That is why I didn't get them posted right away. The small photo of Brian driving Doug's truck is one I didn't recover. It's small because I used the alias or thumbnail of the original and copied that so I could include it. I am very, very glad to have this a completed project!

Great pics! I love the way you added the names to the pictures, so we can tell who is who. Thanks for sharing.

Nice pictures as usual Truckin'. I didn't know Cabela's had opened a store in Boise. Now am only 442 miles from my favorite store. :D

Sadly, Doug's truck had a big boo boo. His rear door had just been mooshed a couple of days early. I trust that it's been repaired by now. Doug, is that so?
Nope... still waiting on the check from the insurance company. But they have insisted the 'check in is in the mail.' I sure hope so, because I have an appointment to drop it off on Monday.

Great pics! I love the way you added the names to the pictures, so we can tell who is who. Thanks for sharing.

swampler, thanks. I like it too. I'm doing it with a great little freeware program for Mac OS X called ImageWell. If you're working on a Mac and haven't got this, head to the link below on VersionTracker and download it now!

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/19042

It does some nice things that make uploading photos to the ROC a lot easier than the painful work around methods I was using a long time ago.

Webwader, Cabela's is it for Harold too. It's a good thing it's 60 miles away. For me it's the Apple Store in SLC but Cabela's ranks pretty high too.

djdj, I am so sorry to hear your truck is still dented. Good luck on getting it fixed Monday. I trust that you're going to let Brian know the pics are posted. I tried looking up what he thought his member name on the ROC is and I couldn't find him listed. Tell him to get on here and talk to us. We want to see those dented hood photos!

djdj, I trust that you're going to let Brian know the pics are posted. I tried looking up what he thought his member name on the ROC is and I couldn't find him listed. Tell him to get on here and talk to us. We want to see those dented hood photos!
I did pass on the link. It doesn't look like Brian has ever actually registered on the forums, although I do know he visits from time to time. I'll remind him again. :)

Great pictures Pam. Thanks for taking the time to post them. I've been so busy that I have done much with mine. I'll go thru them again and see if I have anything different but your pictures covered everything. Thanks again for organizing such a fun event!

Pam and Harold,
Thank you for organizing this event and also for documenting it so well. You did a fine job of capturing the Ridges in their natural habitat and for showing off this wonderful area in which we live. Again, I wish I could have attended but life happens. Great job!
:)
P.S. I like the new avatar.

Nice pictures as usual Truckin'. I didn't know Cabela's had opened a store in Boise. Now am only 442 miles from my favorite store. :D
I am unaware that Cabela's has opened a store in Boise. When did this occur:confused: I know they were talking about OR. or Wash. after Utah.

Again, I wish I could have attended but life happens. Great job!
:)
P.S. I like the new avatar.

It's good to hear from you. Next time I hope you can make it.

Thanks for the comment on the avatar. It didn't come out exactly as I'd like, but I can always try again for the look I was aiming for.

Pam, as always, fantastic job on the pics and information. Everyone obviously had a great time and some very scenic views.

Now you need to go to the Central CAL meet in September!! :p

As much as I'd love to see all of you that I met in AZ again, and meet some of the SoCal characters (I mean that in a good way), it's not going to happen. I know you'll have a great time and I'll be anxiously awaiting your reports and photos.

I'm slowly untangling the backlog of photos I have on my iPod and computers. I came across these that I took on the day Ken Garff donated the prizes for our meet. I'm doing my best to show them off by their sign. The tools in my hand go in the holder sticking out of the hoody pocket and the t-shirt is hanging over their sign.

First time I looked at your thread although I was aware of the meet. On the 29th I was involved in a hike for professional reasons to the summit of the Rockies off of the 4th of July Road west of Boulder (East slope). I really did think about you guys that day.
Just outstanding photography. I bet the originals are breathtaking!
Our mountain pics (including my Ridge) can be seen at: http://geotechinc.net/Baseline.htm

Thanks for the compliment on the photos. Also, thanks for the link to your adventure at the time of the meet. WOW! You got up there the hard way. Everyone looks happy with their efforts.

Great pics from your get together in July! I hope to run into you again up at the ranch.
Johnny

First of all, WELCOME to the ROC! I'm so excited that you took my card and got online to say "hi." I hope you'll poke around a find some interesting information here. Be advised: the ROC can be addictive.

I'd intended on declaring a local meet with a drive up on Sourdough ranch to see the fall colors. The roller coaster weather and other life complications kept me from announcing a time and location to gather so we could go up there. Wouldn't you know it the leaves decided to change right in the middle of the muzzle loader hunt? I couldn't have obligated BIGGUY to a meet in the middle of his week off to go hunting.

We met you at the top of the mountain because he offered to drive me up there so I could get some fall photos. It would have been a great day for a meet, simply beautiful. I'm sad it didn't happen this year. Maybe next. . .

Spotting your silver RL as we left put a big smile on my face. Too bad that truck came up behind us and interrupted our conversation about how much we love our trucks. I've been kicking myself since for not jotting down your name and phone number. This is why I'm extra delighted you got on the ROC and left a message for me. Please PM or email me (click on Truckin' and it will take you to my public profile page) so we can exchange phone numbers. I want to be sure to invite you when we get together again. :D

Those pics are fine, that sure is some beautiful country there.

WOW breathtaking. Oh and the view isn't bad either. great report Pam.

Thanks, Rigeline19 and RidgeDOC. We're blessed to live in a fabulously beautiful part of the planet. It was a fun event. I hope my reports will inspire other ROCers to bite the bullet and plan or attend a meet.

Great Pics and Posts !!! Had an enjoyable time going through them all !!! Beautiful !!! Thanks !!! :)

Ah, that's sweet feedback to hear. I'm glad you enjoyed looking at the thread. I highly recommend you attend or organize a meet in your area. Yeah, we have the advantage of outstanding natural beauty, but the best part is getting to know other ROCheads.