CruiserFest 2015

CruiserFest 2015

Get Toyota Cruisers & Trucks Magazine on the App StoreFor many people CruiserFest once again started with the trail rides. Groups met in Moab, UT; City of Rocks, ID; Grand Junction and Denver, CO, and spent as many as five days overland.

Mike and Ige camped under the Utah sky
by Michael Davidson

The Denver ride crossed seven high mountain passes, including Mosquito, which at 13,185 is the highest road pass in the North America. The Moab Trail Ride was led By Kurt Williams of Cruiser Outfitters.  The Moab and Denver trips camped together one night in the Desert before again going their own way.  As they passed through Green River Utah each also saw the Grand Junction Trail Ride, led by John Ferguson, pass by, completely unplanned. City of Rocks, ID, led by Devin Baumgardner, met at City of Rocks National Reserve and then set off to explore lesser known areas of the Utah desert.

All groups met at the Silver Sage in Vernon, UT to then make a procession to CruiserFest.

CruiserFest aims to be the definitive annual Land Cruiser gathering in North America.  This year’s seventh annual CruiserFest was held Sept 11-13, 2015, at Miller Motorsports park just outside Salt Lake city.

Land Cruisers and other Toyota 4x4’s start to fill the camping area mid-day Friday.  The camp circled the great lawn, with vendors  - many of who camped at the site as well – filling in the middle.  At Cruiser fest, even the most sophisticated participating businesses proved they are enthusiasts at heart.  

This year’s highlight was the reveal of the new 2016 Land Cruiser as presented by Koyari San, Chief Engineer for the Toyota Land Cruiser line.  It was hard to tell who was more excited – the enthusiasts meeting the man whose job and mission it is to ensure the continued heritage of the Land Cruiser line, or Koyari San meeting the enthusiasts who revere his work.

The reveal happened at the Friday dinner at the former site of the Land Cruiser Heritage Museum. It was quite an experience to be in the same room as the oldest and newest Land Cruiser.

Sunday everyone packed up early but not to head home.  First was the morning at the new Land Cruiser Heritage Museum location in the heart of downtown Salt Lake City.  The new museum is a must-do for the Land Cruiser enthusiast.  Tastefully housed in an old warehouse, the gleaming interior dwarfs that of the old museum, yet there are still a few specimens tucked away in the old furniture warehouse next door.

Always over too quickly, we hear there are plans for even more trail rides and a new venue in 2016.

If you go:
http://www.cruiserfest.com/
https://www.facebook.com/CruiserFestUSA, and
http://www.landcruisermuseum.com/

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