Sportsmobile Rally 2005

Every year Alan and Liz Feld, owners of Sportsmobile-West in Fresno, host a rally for those of us who have the 4x4 version. Sometimes it is held in beautiful locations like Moab, UT or Silverton, CO where we take our rigs on gnarly trails to experience what these big vans can do and gain confidence learning how to handle our rigs in various compromising situations. This year the 4-day event was in Hungry Valley, CA and was mostly a classroom environment, though we each went through practical maneuvers on the 4x4 course behind the campground.

Seminars included information on self-rescue using winches and jacks; shocks, axles and air compressors; tire repair and airing down for certain off-road conditions; and even cooking on the road (not literally).

I enjoyed visiting with old friends and meeting new ones. It's always fun to tour each others rigs and see some of the custom innovations and hear about interesting places to visit or nice locations for camping in the boonies.

Alan and Liz 'trick out' a new rig each year for promotional purposes and this is their current SMB creation - the 'Ultimate Adventure Vehicle'.