Two Clubs, Two Events,
Ten Years!
By Sheri Becker
The two clubs? Gotham City Land Cruisers and Yankee Toys.
The two events? Coal Mine Cruiser Classic and The Fall Gathering.
The milestone?
Ten years of good times, great friends and many miles of
4-wheeling adventures.
The roots of Gotham City Land Cruisers and Yankee Toys can be traced back to the Catamount Cruiser Challenge. CCC was the first Toyota Land Cruiser Association sanctioned event in the Northeast and it was held in the Berkshires of Massachusetts. Totally Land Cruisers of New Jersey, a club that has since disbanded, hosted the event. With the end of TLC of NJ came the demise of the Catamount Cruiser Challenge and thus began discussions of future clubs and events.
Jon Held, Mark Woytovich and Rick Hoffer formed Gotham City Land Cruisers in January of 1999, with the first trail ride being held shortly thereafter and the Coal Mine Cruiser Classic would become the club’s annual event.
Wally Moses, Dave Nevison and Tim Wilson would start a club called North Country Cruisers, to establish a club that was open to all TLCA members regardless of the type of truck they were driving. NCC, along with TLC of NJ, would host the final Catamount event, held in New Hampshire in 1997. This event would bring together what would become the founding members of Yankee Toys. In March of 1999, Dave Beattie and Bill Fiora established Yankee Toys, whose origins were based on a group of Toyota owners sharing common interests. Their annual event, which is called The Fall Gathering, would go on to become one of the largest Toyota events in the Northeast.
Yankee Toys and Gotham City Land Cruisers share many common members and all enjoy the continued camaraderie that is shared each July and October as the clubs continue the tradition of 4-wheeling and friendship.
My family had the pleasure of attending both clubs’ annual events in 2009. In July, my husband and I packed up our motor home, hooked up our 1995 4Runner and headed south to Pennsylvania for the Coal Mine Cruiser Classic. We pulled into Echo Valley Campground on Thursday to find a large number of trucks had already arrived. We settled in and took a walk around to admire many of the different vehicles in attendance.
On Friday morning, we made the quick drive over to Rausch Creek Off Road Park to line up for a full day of wheeling. This was our first visit to the park and we certainly were not disappointed. This 1,700-acre park has an amazing number of trails for all level of drivers. We ended up in a group that tackled mostly green (easy) and blue (moderate) trails. Our group was comprised of two 40 series, two 80 series, a sprung over 60 series and a couple of FJ Cruisers. It was a beautiful day and we covered a lot of ground.
The highlight of the day was Johnny Casale’s attempt to turn his 60 series into a clothes dryer on wheels. Five of the trucks in our group decided to drive down a steep hill that ended at the edge of Lake Christy. Not realizing how deep this lake was, Johnny headed out to the middle. He quickly discovered he wasn’t getting out under his own power and received a tug from one of the other trucks. Upon emerging from the lake, Johnny opened his doors to dump out the gallons of water that he had taken on. Seeing Johnny’s socks hanging from his front bumper at the campground that night certainly raised a few eyebrows. We ended the day discussing all the adventures and mishaps of the day with our fellow 4-wheelers.
Saturday morning dawned and we were once again back on the trails with the same group of trucks from Friday. We successfully drove a few of the more challenging purple trails (intermediate/hard) and a few of our trucks sustained a little body damage. It was another great day and we headed back to the campground as ominous rain clouds started to move in.
There's more to this story, but there's only one place you can read it: Toyota Trails. Get your very own copy by joining TLCA now!
Despite his HJ47 being pristine (and very rare in the U.S.), Ernie Becker expects the truck to earn its keep.
Photo by Sheri Becker
Johnny Casale hosts a clinic on what not to do when encounteringa body of water of unknown depth….
Photos by Sheri Becker
