Post by smileyfish on Oct 13, 2009 11:50:04 GMT -5
it all started as a dream many years ago, i wanted to go and wheel the slick rock. at the time i had an 89 yj john had his cj. then i moved to the cape and sold my jeep, stooped wheeling for 6-7 years. i moved back and john was in mexico so i hadn't thought about wheeling. when john came home we started working on his xj, and i got hooked again. so i grabbed a tj and started building and Wheeling it. then we joined the club. i started thinking about MOAB again. with the kids and work i never thought it was going to happen. then one day john and i where talking about how cool it would be to go and i said F it and started looking at times and dates and asking if anyone would be interested in joining us, and join us you did. this will be a trip to remember for a long, long time. back to the story, so i set up the dates trying to take weather into consideration (not to hot not to cool) to give a year and a half or so to save up some cash and stuff and check out a few things without going out there blind. we talked about all kinds of things in the moab section of our forum from a guide (i highly recommend Dan Mick) to who's bringing what for tools and parts, thank good we did! we knew it was a long drive out and back but all of us had read a story or seen a picture that inspired us to go. the drive out wasn't to bad, john, joe and pat and scott and i where in a group, we had a ball, laughing our buts off telling jokes and stories. we stayed just out side of chicago the first night, and about an hr east of denver the second.we picked some cheep places but we are all on a budget. we did stop for a nice dinner one night, i think it was nebraska and a great burger joint in colorado other than that it was fast stuff to go. my jeep was the one slowing the group down, the speed limit is 75 for most of the trip but with the automatic and the constant incline i was reeving at 3500-4000 for most of it. so i was getting about 165-175 miles per tank of fuel. i do highly recommend driving across the country tho, we have some amazingly beautiful spots all over. so we get there set up camp and crash to get ready for the first days wheeling. we did a trail called "fin's and things" it was an easy trail a beautiful trail and a fun trail, so fun some went back friday, we played on "baby lions back" and "potato salad hill" too. what a first day we had. the traction you get on the slick rock is amazing, you can (and we did) do climbs you can't touch here. day two we had dan mick as our guied he told us stories and entertained us for 12+ hrs. we hit "rose garden hill" and "top of the world" to get to rose garden hill you have to do most of "onion creek" the sulfur smell is what gives it that name. on this day we had the most breakage, john broke a shaft and kurt killed a ring and pinion. while john was riping things apart he noticed ha had destroyed a ball joint, so HE opened the parts store and changed it on the hill. amazing fix if you ask me. then on the way up top of the world kurt killed his r+p parked it and checked it out, on the way down it was getting worse so we decided to help him out, in 17 minutes we had removed and re installed his carrier, we worked together like a well oiled machine, Curtis and i removed the tires then jhon and joe removed the brakes and shafts while kurt was removing the carrier, the same order going back on. it was like we knew what the others were thinking the whole time. then just as we are about to hit pavement edric lost a u joint cap, so joe taped one in and welded it with jumper cables, cool fix. at the end of the dusty day i figured i needed to change the trail from another dusty one to "hells revenge" another slick rock trail, boy am i glad i did! we had dan for this one too, again he kept us entertained all day (12+ hrs). we did everything including hells gate, what a rush!! joe rolled in the hot tub, (you have to see the video to appreciate it) . and kurt did most of it in 2 low, he is the man!!day four some people went into town and stuff, after 2 12+ hr days they needed a brake, and i can't blame them, next time we will split up the wheeling more. so we started up "poison spider mesa" to "golden spike" fantastic trails, just about lunch time curtis killed a u joint and during the fix we noticed john had a crack in his u joint cap. so we fixed them up in a cool place, a forming arch, wait till you see the pics. up to this point it had been my favorite trail, 3 1/2 hrs later we get everyone back up and running and dan (yes we had him for 3 days) took us back over to poison spider mesa on different trails than we had come in on. (talk about knowing the trails) and out after another 12 hr day. we went to dinner with he and his wife, great people!! so scott john joe pat and i decided we were going to see the town friday, we saw some but we ended up packing up and cleaning up more. i got a bit tipsy friday night (thanks jhon) and loved every one! then the rigors of the drive home began. lets just say we weren't as excited to come home, yes we missed our family's but none of us can wait to go back. and as long as moab is open i am planning to go back, not sure if it will be in 2 or 3 years but i will be back, and next time i hope to have 37's and a truck and trailer.
i tried to keep it short.
i tried to keep it short.
So touching. ;D Next time I'll be there too.