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Moab 2001 Stories

Rick

Pumpkin Pilot
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Year, Model & Trim Level
'93 XL '20 ST
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I would like to hear some more stories from the trail. Let's hear from everyone, the stockers, modifieds and big dawgs.

I'll start by giving my impression of the event.

Thursday morning I met Gerald, Alec and Guy at the City Market. We decided to run the Klondike Bluffs Trail which is a relatively easy trail with a few obstacles thrown in. The most interesting part of this trail, for me at least was the dinosaur foot prints which are embeded in the slick rock surface. Looking at the foot prints I couldn't help, but think of Jurassic Park and the huge dinosaurs hovering above the parks "visitors".

This was my only chance to run with Alec and his 2wd Explorer "Splat". I was very impressed at how well his supercharged Explorer did. His Eaton posi unit got him through the rough spots without a problem. And the torque from the supercharger propelled him up and over some pretty gnarly slickrock.

My day ended after Klondike Bluffs as I had symptoms of heat exahustion from over doing it in Phoenix on Tuesday. I had installed my new tires on the beadlock rims in 100+ deg heat. I neglected to keep my body hydrated and I ended up paying for it for the rest of the trip.

Friday morning it was my turn to lead a run. This was to be my first attempt at the fabled "Golden Spike Trail". This was a run I had looked forward to since first hearing of Moab. Golden Spike joins two other trails, Poison Spider Mesa and Gold Bar Rim.

Charles Wells book said to expect the trail to take 7-14 hours to complete. It took us 7 1/2 hours to complete even with a group of 12 Isuzus in front of us that we had to pass twice!.

We first encountered the Isuzus at the Wedgie. Since our group had grown impatient at the wait most of us sailed through the Wedgie without getting air and photo ops. We probably should have spend more time, since we found ourselves behind them once again at the "Launching Pad". The Launching Pad is an excellent spot to test the traction of Slickrock. The hill is extremely steep. The Isuzus we watched were spinning tires all the way up, one of their trucks started to slide sideways near the top, it was a scary thing to watch as the truck slid across the rock face and towards a deep depression to it's left. Luckily the truck started going up more than sideways and the obstacle was cleared successfully.

Our group was next to bat. It was amazing watching the Explorers compared to the Isuzus. The Explorers pulled straight up and over, barely spinning a tire. On my turn I put my manual tranny in 2nd gear with my Atlas II in low range. I gave it some gas and pulled the hill pretty fast. Char and I could feel the front tires leave the ground and set back down after we hit a little ridge near the top. What a rush!

Next up was Skyline Drive. Skyline drive is a steep climb up one side and down the other on a huge slick rock hill, not much of an obstacle, but pretty cool none the less.

Zuk's Hill was next, it got it's name from a Suzuki that rolled there with the fiancee of the driver. That was their last fourwheeling trip together and they never did get married :eek: Zuk's hill had a bypass, but I choose to try the rock ledges. What I didn't realize was that the water hole I put my tire into was DEEP! As the truck tilted over I just prayed I wouldn't imitate Riffman's roll at the Badlands! Luckily the articulaton of the truck kept things in check and we drove out of the hole without incident.

After Zuk's Hill we started to find the ledges that Golden Spike is famous for. You could hear the bumpers and the nerf bars drag across the rock as the Explorer's descended these natural steps.

Just before lunch at the overlook I noticed my steering was a bit tight. I thought my airlocker hadn't fully disengaged which is quite common for the first few feet after an obstacle. I parked the truck at the lunch spot and didn't think about it again.... until after lunch when I got in the truck and the steering was still tight. As soon as I felt the tightness my stomach dropped and I knew exactly what was wrong before I even looked. It felt the same way the first time I wheeled with it after my solid axle conversion. That was the feeling of the track bar mount being torn loose from the frame. The reason the steering felt tight is because I was pushing the entire axle side to side everytime I turned the wheel!

Now, this is where being prepared for a hard core trail is EXTREMELY important. We were 10 miles in to a 20 mile long trail with no easy way out. Either way would be filled with obstacles and towing a rig with a "floating" front axle would be nearly impossible in these conditions.

I have been carrying an onboard welder,the Ready Welder, with me for the past couple years. It's the best birthday present Char ever bought me! After looking at the bracket which was torn away from the frame, I knew I needed the help of David Meisner. David has done some excellent fab work for himself and others in the Denver area. I knew that David's welding skills were better than mine as I had just started welding with the purchase of this welder. This was no time to test my fabrication skills! In my bag of goodies I had thrown in a couple strips of steel that I had cut for use as shackles, David used those to brace the broken mount. The welder worked great. We only used flux core wire, so the weld was a bit on the ugly side in places, but the trail repair held up for the rest of the trip without any problems! Thanks David!

The "Golden Crack" is without a doubt the most famous obstacle on the Golden Spike trail. When we got there I said to Char, "This is it?" It was much less than I had envisioned. I thought it was wider and deeper, it wasn't bad at all. All of us made it through without a problem except for Guy who had a problem with his airlocker's electrical system. Guy made it through with open diffs front and rear with a little help from well placed human counter balances! A group of ATVers were watching us cross and they were very impressed by what our rigs could do.

I was worried that the repair we had made earlier wouldn't hold up so after the Golden Crack, so Justin and I left the group and headed out as quick and carefully as we could. I figured the farther ahead we got the faster we could get the rig rolling again should it need another repair. On the way out we heard Gerald on the CB. He and his group had finished Steelbender and they were on the Gold Bar Rim trail. About 15 minutes later we met up with Gerald and Jefe at our last... their first, obstacle on the Gold Bar Rim Trail. Justin and I got off the trail and onto the main road at 4:30 only 7 hrs after we started and that was with a trail repair and lost time behind another group of wheeler's! What a day!

Fins and Things was our groups first run on Saturday morning. What a fun trail! Lot's of slick rock to climb, but the best part was the high speed running through the red sand trails! Justin, Guy and I were really hauling butt! Just after "Ken's Climb" we stopped for lunch and a photo op.

Once again I wasn't feeling that great, so I finished up the trail with the group and opted not to do Hell's Revenge with Justin and Guy. I did decide to try the "Bump Dump" obstacle again. On the way out of the park I saw a Jeep Cherokee make several attempts at the obstacle he never did make it so I figured I would "show him how it's done" LOL... I made it up last year, but it wasn't in the card's this year. At the base of the obstacle there was a large puddle of muddy water which soaked the tires just before you placed the tires on the rock. I gave it a good try. I went up about two feet and the wheels just started spinning and sliding. I let of the gas and slid backward...BLAM I came down hard on my spare tire. Looking at the mud imprint on the spare, I could tell I had never been tilted that far backwards before. I'm just thankful that I didn't do a reverse endo!

As you all know Saturday night we all met for dinner at the Branding Iron Restaurant. KKM Kurtz Kustom Motorsports provided, 3 cleaning kits and 3 gift certificates that were raffled off after dinner. With the help of Perry and Terri's donations every driver walked away with at least some sort of prize from the raffle.

Sunday morning, was another bad day for me... I couldn't get the aircompressor for the airlocker to work! The fuses were ok, and I couldn't find any obvious loose connections so I figured it was fate and decided not to do a run. We did meet at Potato Salad Hill for a photo op though. Everyone took a place on the hill and it made for a great group shot!

That's about all for my report. I sure would like to hear more detailed descriptions of the other runs or other people's perspectives of the runs that they took with me.
 



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Moab Carnage...

Every run has it's share of carnage. This is what I remember from the Moab 2001 trip.

Joe Dietz emptied his auto transmission on the way to Moab. He got it fixed at the local Ford dealer.

Randall emptied his auto transmission twice...

I broke my track bar mount and my air compressor quit.

Guy was having problems with his airlockers electrical system.

Gerald's brother David had starter problems that landed his rig at the dealer.

Leebo overheated his auto tranny.

David Meisner broke an axle u-joint and repaired it on the trail.

And last, but not least... Matt, broke a PIAA light :eek:

Am I missing anything??
 






the Borla prophecy comes to fruition...

Backing down a steep sand hill (dang it!!) in Hidden Canyon, I pulled a hefty core sample with my Borla exhaust tip. I knew this was coming, as foretold by the prophet, Char. During CCR2000, she commented that those snazzy Borla tips with the rear exit take great core samples.
The approach to the hill was a dipped gully so the attempt was from a dead stop. If I could have taken just a 5 mph run at it, I bet I could have made it. But no... Backing off the hill, my spotter let me know I was gonna hit my exhaust. At this point, I didn't feel I had a choice so I eased backwards because forward wasn't gonna happen. Sure enough, I stuffed that tip deeply into the sand. It laid the back 16" of the pipe over to the side. Which, according to the forces of nature, is where it should be anyways... It was kinda comical seeing chunky sand plugs "pooping" out my exhaust pipe. Comical, like I had to laugh to keep from crying.
In hindsight, I suppose this crunch could have been avoided by trenching out behind the exhaust tip or perhaps a couple rocks behind the tires to lift the rear as it came back through the gully. But these realizations were a bit late for my munched Borla.
In the big picture, this needed to happen because I knew it was coming and sometimes the inevitable is best resolved by meeting fate head-on. At least now I don't have to thrash in my sleep worrying about munching my Borla because I've been there, done that. On the plus side, it was in sand and not chunky rocks. And, the exhaust exit mod is now near the top of my list. The pipe is a bit kinked but it's fixable. The fix will include removing the kink and realigning the pipe to side-exit behind the rear wheel.
 






Well Rick I think the first day was the only REALLY eventful day (don't get me wrong, all days were great fun!). You pretty much covered that already, I will agree about the golden crack. I was expecting a MUCH worse crack then it actually was. I was actually kind of let down because I was expecting it to be a hugely difficult obstacle. True, the loss of a PIAA and the sound of scraping bumpers was unsettling, but it wasn't nearly what I'd expected to see, especially after seeing some of the videos on some of the other 4x4 sites, which lead me to believe that these people had crossed the crack further up, where it was deeper and wider.

Saturday we ran the Porcupine Rim trail, which had lots of great scenery. About a mile into the trail Randall (mudd*****) had his transmission lose out yet again after trying to get through an obstacle and having problems. So Randall and Mike returned and Mike met us on the way back on one of the alternate ways out. Gerald, Jefe and I continued on. That trail had the most mountain bikers I think I had ever seen. At one point we probably sat there for 5-10 minutes while a steady stream of mountain bikers passed us by, and we were guaranteed stopping at least for a few seconds every few minutes for another line of mountain bikers. But the scenery was great, it had many interesting and challenging obstacles.
The rest of the group decided to run Fins n Things after that, which I had done last year and I needed to catch up on some studying (and relaxing, hey, I was on vacation!) so I headed back into town. I hear they had a great time though.

Sunday we ran Top of the World. Leebo had his transmission start leaking in a horrible way about 1/4 mile from the overlook. After everyone had got some great pics of the overlook, Brett, Joe Dietz and myself headed back to retrieve Leebo's vehicle, (he had ridden up to the overlook with Peter Weber) but the path back was blocked by some jeeps so rather then waiting, we decided to do the whole end loop all over again. We were able to go pretty briskly since it was just modified guys, even through some of the hairier obstacles. We filled up Leebos tranny with fluid and it appeared to not be leaking, so we returned to town. We think it just got too hot and boiled over, but will require being looked at anyway. Alec made the trip interesting by getting stuck requiring rock stacking on one of the first major obstacles. Overall though he made it through many more of the difficult obstacles without assistance - which really suprised most of us. Good job alec :).
 






The one thing I'll rember about this Serious Exploration as well as any other that I think I'll ever go on is the people. Just meeting at city market every morning and talking BS was worth the trip. Peter said it best so far.......we really do have a good thing going.
 






Rick,
Don't forget that Gerald broke both of his custom length front shocks. . .

As for my story, it'll have to wait till after work, when my manager isn't looking at me, wondering what I'm busy not doing. . :)
 






Re: Moab Carnage...

Originally posted by Rick
Randall emptied his auto transmission twice...

Yeah, I was a little disappointed that I drove 1300 miles to the best fourwheeling place on earth and only managed to finish one trail, the Eye of the Whale / Klondike Bluff trail in Arches National Park. Alec wasn't the only one to do that trail in 2wd, as I quickly found out that my transfer case was not engaging the front axle. This is probably a good reason that my Transmission overheated, because I was trying to push those 33" Thornbirds over rocks in 2wd. I couldn't crawl and had to rely on momentum, which did not work out well at all. The tranny puked its guts out on Steelbender and Porcupine Rim.

Even with the problems, it was definately worth going just to meet everyone. Thanks Michael for letting me ride with you the last two days, and Matt for allowing me to ride/spot on Lion's Back. I am definately coming back with a vengeance next year. I have a vendetta to satisfy against Porcupine Rim and Steelbender. And I want to do Fins and Things and Lions Back next year as well. Golden Crack sounds like fun too.

I have got a few thing to fix before that can happen, but hey, I've got a whole year to do it, right? I am going to rebuild the tranny, I figure it needs it at 180k miles, and maybe I can find a company that can give me an install kit with lower gearing. I plan on swapping out the T-Case for a Manual shift version, the Electronic stuff just never works when I Need it too. Lockers and gears are a must for the next trip, so I'll have to do that too.

We definately have a good thing going with the group excursions. Hopefully I will be able to make it to more of these events in the future. Right now I have some things to fix. Thanks for a great trip, Explorers!
 






Even though we have a modified Explorer, without a front locker you really aren't a "BIG DAWG" which helps pull you up some of the obstacles that we went on such as the Golden Crack. I talked to some other people that have done these trails and they said we would be fine, just might need a strap on a couple of the obstacles. On the Golden Crack I thought we had it made, but then the front tire left the ground just enough to leave us stuck in the crack. A couple guys jumped on the running board and got more weight on the front and with a little help pushing in the rear we made it over with just scratches on the bumper which I don't see anyone doing it without scraping bumpers.

Something else I noticed was the diffence in ages of everyone and how they all still had a good time together. I talked my folks into doing the "Big dawg" run with us on Friday and my mom said she was glad she went to see it, but she will stick with the stockers next year. She did walk most of the hard parts which made it easier on her, but we did get her on the sky line drive part. She can say she's been there done that.
We decided to do a stock run on Sunday so we could see Top of the World. It was fun to see the stockers have just as much fun with a obstacle as the big dawgs do even though a big dawg can drive right over the stock's obstacles. A big obstacle for a stocker can stop them just as fast as a big obstacle stops the big dawg.

I was just glad that I could bring my folks out with and do a family outing and we all had fun. We had three generations working together in one way or other.

I would like to thank Gerald, Rick, and everyone that had a part of putting this run together and for those that made the long trip.
 






Thank you Rick for making all of this possible.

I'll start by saying what I always say and what others have already repeated here..... yeah, of course I'll remember the runs, but it's the people on this site that make these trips what they are. I cannot overstate how much I enjoyed meeting the friends I've already met through this site and then being able to put faces on the names of those who joined us for the first time.

Compared to others, this is the most healthy addiction I've had lately. ;)

Firstly I wish to express my appreciation to those who offered to help prerun and trailboss the stocker trails. I know it would be much more fun to run something different each day. Of course - like always - nothing worked out quite exactly as planned but every stocker that attended Moab this year owes a big thank you to Peter, Alec, Wabbit, Michael, and Jefe for ponying up to the bar and volunteering their time to make yours better.

Also I believe we learned the hard way how important a position the tailgunner is. It had to hurt Mudd***** to make the long trip only to have his tranny fail twice. While the trailboss leads the run, it is the responsibility of the tailgunner to take care of other problems. On Steelbender Matt McDermott and his friend broke off the run to get Randall back in town and on Porcupine Rim Michael did the same thing. Michael and Matt, thank you. Next year, Randall Matt and Michael all deserve first spot to finish their unfinished runs from this year.

And thank you to Rick Horwitz and Dave Meisner for welding my custom front shock extensions back together after they failed the "Moab test". I must say that riding back to town in a lifted vehicle with underinflated tires, no antisway bars, and no shocks was quite an experience :D

Thursday my son (Hunter) and I met other early arrivals at the City Market to take in some easy scenic runs before tackling the tougher stuff for the weekend. I wanted Hunter to see the Arches and dinosaur tracks in Arches Natl Park (well, actually, truth be told, I wanted to see them too) :) Like Rick, the dino footprints left quite an impression on me.

Alec's performance with his Eaton posi-equipped 2wd stands out as the biggest surprise of the trip for me. His supercharger definately helped overcome his lack of low range and the Eaton seemed to work very well. For some reason I had gotten the impression that he had a locker (not a limited slip) while we were emailing each other before the trip. Had I known that he wasn't locked I would have tried to dissuade him from coming. What a mistake that would have been. For all of us. And I think Rebecca may have enjoyed herself too once she figured out we were okay people :p

One oddity became apparent as we took the connecting spur from Klondike Bluffs over to Tower Arch. For the first time of my experience, the Charles Wells book did not provide accurate information. Either the trail had changed since the book was written or it was just plain wrong. We managed to figure it out and get to the other trail though.

Thursday also allowed me an opportunity I always cherish on these big runs that I wouldn't have the rest of the weekend: to watch those with stock vehicles have the time of their lives as they begin to realize just how much they can really do in their Explorers. Seeing that big 'ol ear-to-ear grin on those faces is one of the things that makes these runs so much fun for me.

Friday brought Steelbender and Gold Bar Rim. Randall's troubles with his "Flatlander" model tranny have already been mentioned so I'll concentrate on "the rest of the story". As the weekend unfolded, the Steelbender run proved to be the beginning of a tandem of Jefe and I that stayed together for all of the moderate runs. I must say that I quite enjoyed his company and meeting all of his friends. I need a vehicle full of extra photographers and stuff on my next trip.

With only a couple of vehicles to make the run we traversed Steelbender much more quickly than the all-day run it took last year with many vehicles. Running north-to-south, we came up to the major obstacle that forced Ray Lobato and I to take a strap up last year. This time Jefe and I were to go down it. We both elected to take the side route and then point downhill to avoid the boulder on the side by the cliff. It was here, at the first real obstacle of the weekend, that the scariest moment of the entire trip occurred.

Jefe took the way-offcamber high line a little too long before turning downhill and his rear tire started to break loose sideways. Doing the exact opposite of what your instincts tell you to do, he did the only thing he could to prevent a rollover: he pointed straight downhill and gunned it down the obstacle.

That was the closest "non-rollover" I have ever witnessed.

Meanwhile my eight-year-old son Hunter (who has repeatedly proved his namesake by catching live birds, chipmunks, etc) bided his time waiting for us to negotiate the obstacle by managing to catch a gorgeous torquiose lizard with a golden head that took exception to the matter and bit a quite sizable chunk out of his finger, necessitating a little bit of trail first-aid bandaging.

The "name" obstacle of Steelbender is a hill called the Dragon's Tail. Both Jefe and I had no problem whatsoever climbing it.

Then it was on to town and off to the Gold Bar Rim where we hoped to catch the BigDawgs coming off of the Golden Spike. While being held up at the first big ledge on the trail waiting for several Land Rovers to get through, we caught Rick and Justin on the CB and learned a little of the news from their run that day. By the time the Land Rovers finally got through Rick and Justin had caught up and we met them at the obstacle. Both of us continued on our separate ways, Rick and Justin into town, and Jefe and I on to meet the rest of the BigDawg Explorers further back along the trail.

We met them and figured out that we had time to finish Gold Bar Rim and still catch back up to the larger group on the return, so we managed to go to the top and take some photo ops at the Rim.

Saturday brought Porcupine Rim and Fin's N Things. Matt has already mentioned the incredible amount of mountain bikers on Porcupine Rim. In most areas we had to stop while leapfrogging them since the trail is barely wide enough for a single vehicle and hugs the side of the cliff. After Randall's tranny dumped on him again, he and Michael turned back to get him off the trail, leaving Jefe, Matt (with Peter on board), and myself to finish the trail. The view from the top is very impressive. It is similar to the view from Top of the World but overlooks the Priest and Nuns rock formations which gives it a majesty all its own.

What can I say about Fins 'N Things except it is a blast! The slickrock roller coaster. The angles one can achieve climbing and descending on the sticky surface are mindboggling! :smoke: Michael returned with Mudd***** as copilot to join Jefe and I for that run.

Saturday night at the Branding Iron was interesting to say the least. My brother won a CB he actually needed. The cowgirl contestants and lesbian karaoke in the background have already been mentioned. But, we got to hear Wabbit sing a little country karaoke too :eek: Warren, do not quit your dayjob, ok? :eek:

Sunday the plans changed and the modified itineray kind of dispersed into alternate plans. This allowed me to put a trail under my belt that I had badly wanted to complete: Poison Spider Mesa, which is a sort of signature run for Moab and one of the most well known of all the trails. Once again Jefe and I had little trouble negotiating it along with Guy Groves (who is an excellent spotter, BTW).

Monday morning Hunter and I dropped by the City Market to say goodbye to our friends and then proceeded to take the long way back to Texas via some Colorado trails. Hunter enjoyed his time with Patrick and I hope more kids can make it to Moab next year.

This trip I was able to add six trails to my Moab experience that I had not run before: Klondike Bluffs, Tower Arch, Gold Bar Rim, Porcupine Rim, Fins 'N Things, and Poison Spider Mesa.

Once again the trailworthiness of an Explorer proved to be impressive. Alec's 2wd impressed me, that's for sure. Also, consider what my 4wd did. Yes I have many mods but how many of those specifically add to Herc's trailworthiness? Not the grillguard or the custom shocks or the woodgrain dash or the drilled airbox or the armoured running boards or the Herculiner or the etc etc etc (though many, like the armoured running boards, certainly help against body damage).

When you think about it my Explorer has only three pertinent mods: a rear locker, big tires, and enough lift to clear those tires. Anyone with a 4wd Explorer that wishes to explore beyond the stock trails need only concentrate on those mods at first to be able to experience a surprising wealth of enjoyment on additonal more difficult trails.

And I hope to see you there next year!
 






Here is another one for the books. As many of you know I was without an airlocker on Sunday. For some reason my compressor wouldn't run. I had checked all the fuses and they were fine. And did a quick once over on the connections... obviously my once over was too quick.

Today I had the time to diagnose the problem. It seems that when I disconnected both batteries on the trail to hook them up in series for welding I neglected to put one spade terminal back on the battery post!

What this means is that I ran the entire second half of Golden Spike with open diffs front and rear! That's the Golden Crack, the Wall, Body Snatcher etc... I did have trouble in a few spots that I felt shouldn't have presented a problem, but my spotter never mentioned anything being wrong.

The best part is I tried to do Dump Bump with open diffs! LOLH

I'm sure glad I didn't try Potato Salad Hill!

I did learn a lesson from this experience. Instead of having 6 seperate spade terminals attach to my battery post, I'm going to tie them all into one large connector so I know for sure everything is connected!
 






Originally posted by Rick

The best part is I tried to do Dump Bump with open diffs! LOLH


Whoops. :) Just think.....you were blaming it on the water the entire time.
 






Oh yeah.....

I forgot to mention MY scariest moment of the trip.... when we were lining up for the Potato Salad Hill group photo and Rick and I decided to back halfway up the hill. My right rear tire slid sideways off a boulder and stopped just short of slamming into the Great Pumpkin! Just think: body damage to both of us with one Whoops. Thank goodness it stopped in time :eek:

For those who weren't there, look at the group photo and notice the drunk-looking Explorer leaning offcamber against the Great Pumpkin. That's just Herc getting friendly :D
 






To add a bit to Gerald's story... I stuck my arm out to try to stop Herc! Bad idea! :eek:
It was an instantanous reaction to something coming towards me!
 






Originally posted by Rick
To add a bit to Gerald's story... I stuck my arm out to try to stop Herc! Bad idea! :eek:
It was an instantanous reaction to something coming towards me!
ok, so now no one can give me crap for sticking out my hand when my vehicle was on 3 wheels last year, even though I knew how stupid it was afterwords... just one of those thigns that happens without thought and afterwords you always say "how stupid was that?"
 












Originally posted by mattadams

ok, so now no one can give me crap for sticking out my hand when my vehicle was on 3 wheels last year, even though I knew how stupid it was afterwords... just one of those thigns that happens without thought and afterwords you always say "how stupid was that?"

When Kris almost rolled Michael's truck the first thing he did is put his hand out. After we got it back down and thru the obstacle he said he didn't even think about it, he said it was just a reaction.
I guess the only thing I can say is if you think you are going over you want to do whatever you can to keep it from happening even though the vehicles out weighs you by a BUNCH!!!!
 






At least I know I am not the only one. :)
 






Cwistine does the same thing...

Anytime we get "tippy", my signifigant navigator does the same thing. Even though I appreciate her effort in keeping the rig from flopping over, I would prefer my navigator keep both arms in the vehicle, attached and functioning properly. A good navigator needs two good arms to adequately perform the duties associated with the post.
In an effort to break this habit, I have obtained a tilt meter in the form of a "bobbin' head dog" on the dash. We have agreed that as long as the head is bobbin', all navigator appendages will remain within the confines of the vehicle. If the head comes off the bobbin' head dog and falls to the floor, or possibly the roof, the navigator is authorized to initiate the ejection sequence and escape from the vehicle.
I am hoping this procedure will be effective in keeping my navigator's arms in the vehicle. Can you imagine a navigator trying to set a GPS waypoint, adjust the CB squelch, and pour me a cup of coffee all at once with only one arm???
 






Superwoman to the rescue!

Well, I have to admit it...I do stick my arm out the window to catch the falling vechicle. Worse, I found out on this trip that I do it when I'm driving too! :rolleyes:

But it is nice to find out that I am not the only one...:)
 



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I guess since I was trail boss, it’s up to me to fill everybody in on what went on with the Stockers on Friday. It was billed as the 3-D run but actually was a patchwork of 4 trails stitched together, Hidden Canyon, Tusher Tunnel, Hidden Canyon Overlook and Bartlett Overlook.

There where eight Explorers on this run, six stock and two modifieds (Wade and Wabbit). Not to far into the tail, the description says to follow a lesser road going up a hill. That’s what I did. It turned pretty fast into just two tire tracks. After getting across a wash out that required careful tire placement we ended up on a large flat, rocky area giving us a great view over Hidden Canyon, but no tunnel.


We took a little shortcut to the tunnel trail and ran into a traffic jam. A bunch of Toys were already at the tunnel parking lot and a group of Land Rovers were just ahead of us. Since even they didn’t have room in the parking lot, we saw no sense in adding to the confusion and continued on our way, taking a shortcut to hook up with the Hidden Canyon trail.

There was one section the book described as possibly problematic. None of us had any problems there at all. When we reached the end of that trail as described by the Wells book, I noticed that it actually continued further, dropping steeply down into a wash. Here is where I got my first ever Stuck. The track was loose sand and being in 4low and applying the brakes pulled me a little over to the and I buried my front. Time to break out the shovels.

(This is a pic from Chris' fototime album. Don't seem to be able to get it displayed automatically).

Just before the Moab trip, I had installed a WAAG grill guard (needed something to mount my new PIAA’s). It certainly saved my air dam and maybe even the airbags from going off. After digging out some of the dirt at the front with Brian’s help, I asked a couple of the bigger guys to stand on my back bumper and drove out easily.

We worried a little about getting back up this incline, especially Alec without having 4wheel drive. There was a bypass, but it wasn’t much easier. Wade stayed at the top just in case. The trail soon turned into a narrow ATV track forcing us to turn around. Wabbit being the last one down ended up being the first one trying to get back up to the ‘official’ turnaround area. You can read his write up at the Borla prophecy comes to fruition… We all took the bypass, with Alec needing a little help from Wade hooking him up to the strap and giving him a tug.

After trying unsuccessfully to locate some kind of shade for lunch, we finally just stopped at the turnoff to Hidden Canyon Overlook. Well, actually it turned out to be the turnoff. I originally didn’t think it was, but Wabbit thought it was. He finally convinced me. The Overlook was just like expected, scenic. To get to Bartlett Overlook, we retraced this trail and then did about half of the Hidden Canyon Trail again to connect to a shortcut. It’s that or loop around about 20 or more miles. I missed another turnoff and led us into uncharted territory. Wabbit with his GPS came to the rescue again.

On the Bartlett Overlook Trail we encountered a rocky ledge that slowed us down. A couple of us got over it with minor problems (I scraped my left side step bar). Brian got hung up on his frame. His dad, being a civil engineer, used some rocks to build a little ramp and Brian backed down. He left his truck at this point, with him and his dad catching a ride the rest of the way, I believe with James (climbnkd).

The overlook again was spectacular but very windy. It was also getting late, so we turned around. Between the rocky ledge, where Brian and his dad switched back into their own Explorer, and Dubinsky Well Road the trail is flat and sandy. Wabbit had been saying all day long that he likes speed. So we had some fun and turned it up. Ask Alec sometime.

After connecting to Dubinsky Well Road, it was a simple drive to Hiway 313 to 191 and back into Moab.
 






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