The Zuki

I've mentioned my little Suzuki Samurai in a few of the other stories on this site and you can even see it in some of the pictures I've posted. It's not much to look at. It doesn't really have what you'd call a "Paint Job" anymore. It was sprayed with dull red "Primer" when I bought it from a neighbor a few years ago and I don't spend much time washing or waxing it.

Before I bought the little "BullZuki" as it's now called, I did a web search to see if there was anyplace that sold parts or had other info about these little four wheel drive vehicles. I was amazed to see that there was what amounts to a world wide community of Samurai owners who help each other with advice, parts, upgrades and just plain old friendship. I found a web "Message Board" at "http://www.topica.com/lists/suzuki.4x4/read" where this group of "Zukers" keep in touch with each other on a daily basis. This is a very busy message board that gets dozens of messages a day, mostly about Suzuki 4x4's. After joining the "List" and keeping up with the messages for a few days, I noticed a message about the "GotZuk" event at Disney, Oklahoma. Hmmmm, I wondered, just how far was this "Disney" from me?

Disney

As it turns out, Disney is indeed right here in the Ozarks and only a few hours away from where I live. I asked my brother, Sam, if he'd like to join me to go meet with these "Zukers" from around the country and he agreed that it sounded like it could be fun. Sam has taken a few rides with me in the "BullZuki" and he knew it was a great little car to drive on the dirt roads and rock trails of the Ozark Mountains. In Disney, we'd get to see some "Zukers" that had spent tons of cash and hours to build their cars into unstoppable rock crawling machines. Here's a view of Disney from the air.

Disney, Oklahoma is tiny little town that's located on the edge of the "Grand Lake of the Cherokees" just a few miles west of the Arkansas/Missouri border. There are several dams in the area and it's below these dams in the rugged creek and river beds that the four wheelers come from all over the country to test their metal. The "GotZuk" event was organized by Troy Graham who owns a small 4X4 aftermarket parts company called (you guessed it) GotZuk.

Troy Graham

Troy is a great guy who worked very hard to make sure everyone there had a really good time. He had posted a web page with directions to Disney and info on hotels in the area. With this, I had to make only a few phone calls to get things set up for Sam and I. Troy had scheduled for everyone to meet on Saturday morning. Sam and I left on Friday afternoon so we could cruise the area a bit ahead of time. We pulled into Disney around 5:30 pm and decided to look around for Zuks. It didn't take long to find some way cool Zuks parked at "Rogers Cabins", which I later found out was the preferred place to stay in Disney. There were some guys hanging out by their cars in the parking lot so I decided to ask them where we'd be meeting in the morning. It was cold and they looked like they were saying their "Goodnights" so I made it quick and we went back to our motel.

The first morning of Zuk Run

Sam and I got up early the next morning, grabbed some coffee and started driving down to the park at the end of town where the guys at Rogers Cabins had said to go. When we got close we could see that the entire park was filled with Suzukis. There was at least 25-30 of them. Almost all had been customized with big huge tires and lots of other cool 4x4 stuff. At first, Sam and I felt a little out of place here. I mean, the "BullZuki" is really just a "Beater" (a cheap car that's meant for abuse). These people had some cool Suzukis, and they'd spent a lot of effort to make them that way. They all looked like a bunch of Tonka Toys, and more than that, they looked like big time fun to drive.

Sam and I walked around and peeked inside a few of the Zuks and listened to people talk for awhile, but it wasn't long before someone asked what we were driving. We looked at each other for a second and then Sam grinned and blurted out, "Well, I came here with my brother, and he's driving that red primered Suzuki over there." while pointing at my lowly Zuk. I was sort of hoping to ease my way into mentioning that I was a novice "Zuker" and this was my first "Zuk Event" when I was asked, "What size tires ya get there". I realized right then that friends could be made fast here and I was in was great company.

After everyone had checked out all the "Zuks", we divided into groups described as "Insane", Darn Near Insane", and "Pretty Much Still Sane". Sam and I were hoping we could keep up with the "Pretty Much Still Sane" group and asked who we should follow. Someone pointed at a big Ford Bronco and said "You'll be following that ride over there". Hmmm. Maybe. Maybe not. "Well," I said, "We'll follow it for as long as we can". "Don't worry," said Troy, who was standing behind me. "We got lots of tow straps and spare parts here. If you brake down or get stuck, we'll get you going again. Go out and have some fun!".

Sam and I looked at each other, he smiled and said "Sounds good to me, let's go!". As it turned out, the group was being lead by a skilled driver named Deana Sharp and her "Spotter" Cody Myers, who both knew the area very well. Deana and Cody led us to a gravel road that went down a hill into a creek bed right beneath one of the dams. It was a solid rock bed that was at least a few hundred yards wide. In the middle there was a channel that was 2-3 feet deep and 3-4 feet wide. It was filled with fast running water from the lake above the dam. Deana crawled slowly up to the edge of the channel, stopped her Bronco, got out and motioned us to come up so she could speak with us. She pointed to where were heading, and told us that we'd have to be careful crossing the channel because there was a hole just a few feet from where we'd cross at. If we drove into this hole we'd surely get stuck. After a few pointers she said, "But hey, it's easy, just follow me".

Cody stood on the other side of the channel and started pointing which way Deana should go. The big Bronco moved to the edged and inched forward while Sam and I watched. Both of us were wondering how deep the channel was and if we could really make it across when the Bronco seem to just crawl down into the water, first with one front tire then the other. Just when I thought for sure Deana would never be able to get it out of there, the Bronco twisted and crawled over and out to the other side. Geez, She and Cody made that look really easy! Sam and I watched as a few of the Zuki's in our group went ahead of us and then we plunged in, out, and over to the other side ourselves. We'd made it through our first off-road challenge and now were ready for more.

Deana and Cody were the perfect group leaders for us. They led us to trails that challenged both our driving skills and nerve, but never put us in anything close to a dangerous predicament. I learned a lot about how to drive offroad from them by paying close attention to the advice they gave before each little challenge they guided us through and just watching the way she drove.

After a few hours of Zukin around we all met for lunch near the dam. This would have been fine except for one small little problem. Sam didn't bring the lunches. I was telling him that he was really slacking and that he just couldn't expect that I would allow that when he asked "When exactly did you say I needed to pack a lunch for us?". Hmmmm... Ok, so I forgot to mention that. I was working on my excuse for that when somebody tapped me on the shoulder and said "Hey, I got lots of lunch meat and bread here, if you want some, just help yourself.". It was Troy Graham. Like I said before, this guy is genuinely nice.

We sat down on some rocks and ate lunch with Troy. He mentioned that later that evening he'd planned a dinner of Bar-B-Que and afterward there would be a raffle of cool Zuki stuff. Some of the stuff was pretty cool and tickets were only a buck. Sam and I purchased dinner and raffle tickets and figured that we got both for what we'd pay for dinner alone. Even if we didn't win anything, we'd still be fed.

After lunch everyone lined up their Zuks and we took a group picture. Then we went back to Zukin around with Deana and Cody for the rest of the afternoon. We went to places like "Little Blue" and "Nose Dive" and watched the "Insane" group climb huge rocks, and boulders, and go places and do things in a vehicle that I would never have dreamed possible. There was a guy there named "Russ Hogan" that drove a thing called a "Uni Mog". I watched him climb cliff faces that mountain goats would have fallen off of. After watching him drive, I'll go ahead and proclaim Buss Hogan as the "CEO of Disney, Ok" and I don't expect to get many detractors.

By the time Sam and I had went back to our motel room and showered we were starved. We jumped back into the Zuk and headed into town to try and find the place where Troy was having the dinner. Disney's not very big so, again, it didn't take us long to find 30-40 Suzuki Samurais all in one spot

The dinner was catered by the same people that own and operate Rogers Cabins. It was like going to your Aunt Emma's for Sunday dinner when you were a kid. I mean these ladies had some food! Sam was looking at the food on the table spread out before us like it was a feast made in heaven. I watched him size up the number of people there, the amount of food laid out, and calculate how much food per person was available. For a guy that never really excelled in math class at school, Sam can do some very complicated math when it concerns his stomach. It didn't take him long to reach his conclusion. He turned to me, his big smile stretching across his face and said "Way I figure it, those ladies think there's way more food here than we can possibly eat, so we better get started". Sam tried hard to eat all the food those fine ladies had made but they just kept smiling at him each time he went back for more and encouraged him to enjoy himself. Which he did do with great success. Sam may have at first thought he could out eat those ladies cooking and my hat's off to him cause he did try. But he never really stood a chance. The women that made that food just plain out did Sam. It was too good and there was too much and Sam finally had to concede. He got up and waddled over to the ladies and expressed his love and admiration for them and I know he meant every word of it.

While Sam was still hugging the catering people, Troy got up and announced that the "Raffle is about to begin". He had a long table with tons of stuff layed out on it. There were all kinds of cool 4X4 gizmos and gadgets and t-shirts and hats and other neat stuff to give away. And give it away he did. It took over a hour to raffle all the stuff Troy had there. I think just about everybody there won something. One guy who had broken his rear end gears won a complete new set of gears. The glow on his face lit up the entire room. I even won some cool stuff. I won a set of Birfield Rings, a Tow Strap, and some t-shirts.

I could go on and tell you more about our adventure at Disney. There's lots more to go on about. We had a great time and met great people there. Even if you don't own or want to drive a 4X4 you should check out Disney, Oklahoma. Every weekend you'll find the 4wheelers crawling over rocks and boulders that you just have to see to believe. The best way I can describe it is to say "It's uniquely American".

Bill Stephenson