This year we moved our location down about 1000' and about 15 miles closer to Californias Central Valley and it paid off with more contacts, even though participation seemed lower this year. There were only a handful of serious contesters so once we worked each other, it was hunt & pounce for the duration!  We could sure use some rovers in Northern CA next time,

We were a multi-op entry, WD6CMU and WA6ZTY, running SSB and FM modes.  That means lots of radios and lots of antennas to haul over 120 miles of highway and 18 miles of 4WD trails. You've really got to like Contesting to do that very often!