March/April 2010

GATOR & The Sippy Cup Challenge

by Heath Vogt

It started simply enough. Someone had the idea to stage a multi-TLCA club event somewhere in the middle of the United States.

The clubs (Tall Corn Cruisers, Green Country Cruisers, Ozark Mountain Cruisers, Tornado Alley Cruisers, AR TTORA and Gateway Cruisers) asked who from their ranks would be willing to participate. For once, I volunteered, with a caveat. I only wanted to be involved in helping with the event if it was going to be the type of event to which I could take my wife and our two toddler-age children. The only other event I’d been to at an off-road park was full of late night drinking and trail running—and I just couldn’t get into that with my kids. I was assured this was going to be a family-friendly event. Dang, I was on the hook….

The rest of the planning went largely as most event planning does—discussions about food, naming the event, prices, etc. The name that stuck in the end, Great American Toyota Offroad Rally, gave us an opportunity to brand the event with a logo, a nice little illustration done by a friend in exchange for a free lunch.

My experiences wheeling with my son since he was 11 months old and with friends’ kids—as many as five under the age of 14 in my truck at once—led me to strive for something different. Much like a vehicle specific trail ride, I hatched the idea of a kid specific trail ride. And what any ride needs to succeed is a catchy name, so The Sippy Cup Challenge was born. The idea was to cater to the special needs of those wheeling with kids—and give the kids something special of their own at the event. Keep the kids and the wives happy and the husbands will be allowed to return again and again….

The chosen venue for GATOR, the Southern Missouri Off-Road Ranch (SMORR), was the perfect place to give this idea a try. There are plenty of trails of varying difficulty, camping facilities that outclass the average KOA, and a friendly staff who had recently put in a play set to entertain kids near the pavilion. At this point, we had a good event plan, a cool name and logo, and a great place to hold the event—and I was really feeling the pressure to come through on my end of the bargain.

On the day of the event, participants lined up in front of the pavilion. I made it easy to find my lead vehicle, The White Trash Lexus, by putting an alligator hat on the stinger of my truck and an alligator tail stuck between the rear hatch and the tailgate. I was as nervous as a pimply kid on his first date...

Host a family-friendly event and smiles will be your reward. Top photo by Art Schramm
Bottom photo by Brent Moore