I had the pleasure of brightening an overcast and cloudy day for one lucky man this past November. The winner of our Association Raffle Jeep was Joe Box from Connecticut. It was quite a thrill for me to hand him the keys to the Jeep. I am sure he has given it a great home and I’m sure it will give him many hours of fun and service. It was my privilege to handle the Project Raffle Jeep for this past year. I was happy with the final result and would hope you were as well. The ticket sales were record setting! Many previous sales records at the Jamborees were broken. We had some very “talented” people working the crowd. I even had people come into my store commenting on the “sales crew” they encountered at the Bloomsburg Jamboree. Thanks goes out to all of our sponsors and to all of the members who went that “extra mile” to sell tickets last year.

Change isn’t always good. Case in point, someone was missing from our last convention! That’s right, our close and dear friends Ken and Sugar Fields were not with us at our convention this year. We were very sad that two chairs that we are so used to seeing filled were vacant. As many of you know Ken has had a rough battle with the results of strokes. He has lost much of his mobility and Sugar has been his constant as she has been by his side non-stop. It is their love and dedication to each other that has helped them to get through the rough days and helping them to keep a cheery outlook on the future. It was a strange convention without them, but we were in touch several times by phone. I would like to extend a huge “Thank You” to Erika Smith for pitching in and handling the many task that Sugar would normally do at the Convention. We are looking forward to Ken and Sugars smiling faces being with us once again very soon. Please be sure to keep them in your prayers.

Change is good. But change is not a one man, or one-woman show. Change is about you. Change starts with you. Change has been happening in this association for 35 years, not just the past year. Take for example our 35th event that happened this past July. If you had a chance to talk to any of the early pioneers of this association that were at that event they sure could tell you how things have changed. How about Regions that worked side by side for the same common goal? How about a food drive that benefited a local community? How about trail rides that encouraged attendance by all Regions? Do you think those things would have happened 35 years ago? 20 years ago? 10 years ago? Think again, that my friend is change! This association changed from a competition driven group of four wheelers to a group of four wheelers driven to all aspects of the sport of four wheeling. We changed from a group who thought land use was the “other” guys problem to a group that spear headed the formation of a national organization that’s purpose is to fight those land use issues so that we all can have a place to enjoy the sport we so truly love. Change is good, but I don’t have a magic wand that I can wave and make the changes. What I do have is a very dedicated board of directors. And I, along with this board pledge to you that we will continue our drive to make the changes we need to make the East Coast 4 Wheel Drive Association the very best it can be. So we hope you stick around cause change is good!

If you check out the activity schedule on this site as well as the latest edition of the East Coaster, you will see that there sure is plenty to do in our little chunk of the world of four wheeling. All of our Regions are bustling with various activities. There is something for everyone. So as you look ahead and make you plans for 2005 be sure to include some of the adventures that these clubs have to offer.