(car engine revving) (car door slamming) - My rig's name is The Corolla Virus.

I paid 300 bucks for it.

The whole goal of the car was to make it as terrible, but, like, fun as possible to drive.

(chuckling) - [Narrator] Every spring, the Blue Mountains of Northeast Oregon become a gathering place for people united by a shared passion.

It's a passion that's strange and a bit puzzling.

There's lots of old beat up cars with names like Whiskey Tango, and Mud Light, (dog barking) and White Claw, or... - Bat Claw.

It originally was White Claw and I kind of redesigned it to be Batman-themed.

- [Narrator] This is the Gambler 500.

And while their vehicles might seem unconventional, these junker jockeys are actually here for an important cause.

- Gambler 500 is this rally-style event that encourages people to come out into the forest and help protect our environment.

People think this is a race of some sort, but it's not.

People drive inexpensive or impractical vehicles that probably should have never been off road in the first place, and go out and clean up the forest.

- [Narrator] Cleaning up trash has become sort of ingrained in the Gambler culture.

It's a fair trade off for the cavalcade of absurd vehicles.

- The cars might be ridiculous, but the amount of garbage that we get out of the woods is a lot more ridiculous.

- This particular Gambler is known as OSO, or Other Side of Oregon, one of many spinoffs of the original Gambler 500, which started in Redmond, Oregon, and quickly snowballed into a nationwide phenomenon.

- There's five Gamblers that I know of just in the state of Oregon.

There's three in California, multiple in every single state in the United States.

- [Narrator] OSO started with a few friends who shared a love for automobiles and outdoor excursions.

- Got it started.

Thirty-one cars the first year, and you know, we're several hundred people up here now.

(car horn beeping) - This place is going to clear out and we're going to go out and we're going to do some good, or at least oversee other people doing some good.

Someone has to be upper management.

- [Narrator] For many gamblers, the quest for trash starts at daybreak.

Most head out in small groups of three to six cars, like Ricky and his crew.

- We're rolling out of camp right now.

(light bar knocking against car) Oh, this ought to be a fun day.

Just going to go out and see some beautiful (indistinct) trees, really epic views, and see if we can find some trash.

Uh-oh, my light bar just broke off.

We might want to stop and take a look, see if I can zip tie it up or something so I don't lose it completely.

Yep, zip ties are a Gambler's friend.

There's zip ties a little bit bigger than this that's holding my transmission mount together.

(car engine revving) (car door slamming) (car horn blowing) (siren blaring) Hey, you don't realize how much these roads beat these vehicles up until brackets and mounts and stuff start breaking just out the middle of nowhere.

Unreal!

I just lost a windshield wiper.

Poor truck is just fallen apart.

(chuckling) - [Narrator] While Ricky's group tries to keep their cars from falling apart, Aaron Akerman is just arriving at the Gambler base camp.

He's searching for another group to tag along with.

- Last year, I picked up like a whole truck bed full of abandoned barbed wire, so it's fun with a cause.

Will you mind if I throw my tent up around you guys?

- Yeah, we don't mind.

- Go ahead.

- [Narrator] As a first timer at OSO, a proper initiation is necessary.

- The Washington Gambler scepter.

This is going to christen this vehicle and welcome it to the Gambler.

- [Man With Hood] It does have a Washington plate.

- There's a hole.

- [Woman In Pink] That looks like a bullet hole.

- [Seth] Look at that.

- And in true Gambler fashion, there is duct tape holding a few pieces together, like that passenger mirror.

- [Narrator] Gamblers plan their routes around preset way points.

This group is doing the same, but they keep hitting roadblocks.

- All the gates are locked this year.

We don't know why.

We're going to head back the way we came, head up probably the medium route or up the easy route.

(water splashing) - [Narrator] Ricky and his crew are having better luck with their route.

And of course, they stopped to pick up every piece of trash in sight.

- [Ricky] Two points.

(grunting) - [Crew Member] There is a piece of trash just on the right hand side.

- I see it.

I've talked with people up here that when they started, you know, they were the person that was throwing beer cans out going down the road.

And then they get involved in this and realized, "Wow, you know, this is really a good thing, and it makes sense."

It's public land for us to use, and if we don't take care of our public land, we're not going to have it.

Okay, let's roll.

Lifestyle of a Gambler.

- [Crew Member] That's a pretty cool view off to the left.

- [Narrator] While Ricky's crew explores the John Day River Canyons, Aaron's group takes a lunch break before heading south for higher ground.

- We're like right here.

This is 52 and that says 73 on that one.

- I spent my whole life wandering around, picking up trash, and then I find a group of people that wander around and pick up trash.

It's amazing.

Every time we come back from these events, they're cleaner and cleaner each time too.

We really are making a difference.

- [Narrator] As the group travels higher into the mountains, the roads become slippery.

And in true Gambler fashion, most of the cars are only equipped with front wheel drive.

Of course, getting stuck- - [Crew Member] Bottomed out.

- [Narrator] Well, it's all part of the gamble.

- You're lucky I'm a bad shot!

- Everybody here is an awesome person.

You're not really going to meet any bad apples.

And if you're new, you'd really just show up and pick a group and they'll welcome you in.

And they won't leave you behind, like, 'cause that's just the Gambler way.

(car engine rumbling) - [Levi] That's not happening.

- [Aaron] I know.

That's why I'm just chilling.

- Yeah!

(chuckling) We're probably going to have to turn back, go back down to the base and find another way around.

(laughing) Good fun.

- [Narrator] Fortunately, the Gamblers stumble on some garbage on their way back.

- Gas Saver.

Being a true Gambler is caring about the environment, going out with a bunch of friends, trying to have a good time, see new places, and keep these places open for generations to come.

There's a lot of people that just don't care and will trash beautiful places like this.

That's where we come in with our garbage vehicles to come get all the garbage.

- [Levi] Alright, good to go.

- Onward.

- [Narrator] The search for trash continues.

Unfortunately, this group search took them many miles from base camp.

They'll miss the award ceremony which happens after every Gambler event.

- Mark, get set, go!

(toy cars swishing) - The next one is our trash award, and this goes to the person who collected the most trash.

And this year's trash award goes to the little Dotson pickup, Emily.

(crowd cheering and clapping) That truck is sitting back there with more trash in it than I think the truck weighs.

- Thank you.

(crowd cheering and clapping) - [Narrator] The Gamblers have one final task on their checklist, dumping their trash.

- This is just dumping off what trash we found today.

Not as much as we normally find, but trash is trash.

(trash clattering) It's about camaraderie, friends, making new friends, meeting new people, all walks of life, and getting out, seeing the beautiful country that other people have in their area that they want to share with you, and cleaning it up and making it better for everybody else.

That's really what a Gambler is to me.

(no audio) - Great people just doing their thing in their own northwesty way.

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