The Day of Mud
After I found out I could't ship my Bronco home for at least a few more days I figured there's enough time for one more trip! The Ciclopi 4x4 club was headed out to the center of the island near Enna for the last romp in the mud for the season. How could I miss that? To make things even better we just had two days of hard monsoon type rain. The day was a perfect end to my wheeling in Sicily, Italy. The "trail" was only a few roads that wandered the hillsides but to make things tough it was wet clay. Massimo has a Nissan patrol and he slid right off the road trying to climb a slight hill. The hill wasn't that steep but the clay made it very slippery and even hard to climb on foot. I learned that it's necessary to spin the tires very fast for them to clean out the clay. Below are some pics of poor Massimo stuck between a fence and a lack of traction. I tried to pull him with the yank strap but it was just to slick and the fence was carving it's mark in Massimo's truck. I turned around and we hooked up the winch... then found out I needed an anchor. After Massimo was free I watched a Land Rover claw it's way to the half way point and then request the cable as well.
After the trail ride we convened at some small town and about doubled the population of vehicles there. Parking is sorta crazy here in Italy and when there are 80+ trucks that don't care about curbs and the such, the sidewalks get oil dripped on them :) The Polizia were nice enough to just block off the main street and only let in trucks that had 15 pounds of mud on them in. We gathered at the town square where there was a stage set up for the presentation of awards for the year. Carlo Vannucci the club president presented me with a cup for "International 4x4 Relations" or something like that. I learned that I have been the only American to ever join the club. I feel lucky to have had the experience to go four wheeling with people from another culture. The Sicilians don't have the biggest or most powerful trucks but they really know how to enjoy being outdoors as a group of friends and look after each other on the trail like one big family. Now I am proud to say I am part of their family and can only hope for some of them to come and four wheel in the good ol' U.S.A!
