By Amy Sawchak

[Amy Sawchak, Middletown, NJ, rode in a lead Rover at the Maine Winter Romp. Here’s her impressions of her first off-road event -ed.]

If you’ve never been to a Land Rover rally I suggest an extra pair of trousers to keep handy with you before the ride of your life. Bumpy, jumpy, mudslinging, tree bumping, bass thumping trails may cause your pants to fly off or leave a little Land Rover trail of your own. A winter Rover rally is not for the thin skinned, poorly dressed, insider! I found out from first hand experience that a weekend romping around the woods in Maine is not for the weak hearted.

The Maine Winter Romp was my first rally and also the first time I broke ground in Maine. Needless to say, by Sunday I was in love. Maine plus Rovers equaled a kind of magic that made us all hang our heads out of the windows like a dog enjoying summer, despite the winter temperatures. Once you get going on the trails the adrenaline pumps enough heat in you to stick your body through the sunroof to get a 360° view of everything going on. The excitement in the air even makes you forget about the puddle of frozen snot building up on your lower lip.

During the rally, I had the pleasure of shotgunning and back seat driving a black Range Rover Classic commanded by Hallie Vail, a Rovers North News correspondent and member of the infamous Rovering Vail family of Maine. Three girls in a truck for a weekend includes heaps of singing, laughing, jumping in and out all day with wet feet, and finding the biggest truck to pop a squat in front of while waiting for someone to be winched out of a digger. The first real feeling of addiction to the scene is when Nat “Nastical” Vail went to help someone out on the middle of the hill on the power line trail. We managed to get stuck in the middle of the hill when I so gingerly suggested that we “just go down and come back up again.” And he did it! Sitting passenger holding on to the “oh no” bar I got my first shot of adrenaline as we plowed up the hill like a fat kid who hasn’t seen a doughnut in a year. I finally understood what the buzz was all about. If a Land Rover is the thing that can shoot us up a slippery snow covered hill like that, well, then it’s a Land Rover that I love. I believe this overall feeling vibrates through the air until the very last truck has said its goodbyes.

A rover rally is filled with plenty of boot and folly once the sun goes down and the trails go to sleep. Alter egos are set free and 70’s suits are a thing of the present day, head banging dance party. Nights like this keep most people in bed till noon. Riders know better though that the euphoric fresh Maine air will set them good as new. The day is filled with jokes about the night before and predictions about the night to come. Even when a truck happens to back up into another one, there are all laughs (as long as the damage is minimal). I am also almost positive that a Rally is the only place where you can manage to get into an accident in the middle of the freaking woods of Maine.

Big trucks, Carhartt jumpsuits, some mud, some snow, swinging tunes, the great outdoors, Maine accents, and good beer, where can you go wrong? Just some thoughts from a Jersey shore girl who managed to finagle her way up to Maine for one of the most ludicrous but entertaining weekends of the entire year!

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