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Moab, Utah
Easter Jeep Safari - March 15-23 2008
Rough Country members present:
Marlon and Christina Seals, Rod Pepper and George Brook
photos and article (below images) were contributed by Rod Pepper
Click any photo to view larger image in new window
Moab Easter Jeep Safari 2008
By Rod Pepper
Easter Jeep Safari ‘08 was one of my personal all-time favorites. The weather couldn’t have been any better for it being the earliest Safari ever. The mornings were chilly but the days were warm and beautiful, in the 60’s and 70’s and not a drop of rain all week! We ran bikini/windjammer all week long. Since RC4W members were scattered “hither and yon” all over Moab doing their thing, I can only recount my own experiences in this story. We had planned on being able to run with Marlon and Christina Seals and George Brook for a day but it never panned out, as is usually the case at Moab. Nothing ever goes according to plan! Marlon had steering issues and headed out to California for repairs and we didn’t see George until Saturday at the rock race.
We arrived in Moab on Monday night and hooked up at Zax Pizza with members of our old group, “The Rat Pack”, as we are now called. In the ‘90’s we were known as the “R Club”. Tuesday morning, bright and early, the Rat Pack started rolling into the Moab Diner, our long time breakfast spot and meeting place. We decided to go for the juggler right off the bat and head out to the Coyote Ugly Trail.
In our group were Frank and Jason Bartlett out of Oklahoma, Harold Off out of New Mexico, Pat Gremillion out of Colorado, Walker Evans out of California, Doug McBurnie out of California, Ned Bacon out of Nevada, John Bundy out of Colorado, Steve Williams out of California, Dave Poulsen out of Utah, Craig Ross out of Colorado, several of the Montrose boys, and myself. We cruised Coyote Ugly in about 45 minutes and headed up the draw towards Upper Helldorado, but not before making a lunch stop at Britney Spears, a short radical spur off of the main draw. Most of us had lunch while several had a go at Britney Spears! Craig Ross made a really nice, clean run on it.
Upon reaching Upper Helldorado we found a traffic jam of spectators. Rick Pewe’ and the guys from Peterson’s 4 Wheel and Off Road magazine were there shooting a segment and had their UA 4 door JK, the green and orange one, solidly wedged in the off-camber chute. After knocking off, and rearranging many body parts, they finally got it winched out. Can you say “square peg in a round hole”? Once they were moving, our group entered the trail and had a fairly uneventful run through it to the winch-out. This trail has changed in two places, the entrance and the exit! The entrance is unrecognizable from where it was in ‘05, the last time we were there. It is now the toughest part of the trail. The exit has gotten dug out at the bottom and is now about a foot and a half taller. Doug McBurnie gave it several tries but couldn’t come close to climbing it on a 110” WB ! It takes a serious leap of faith (and kahones that “clang”!) to nail the throttle when you are already vertical!
Wednesday, Day 2, we ran Pritchett Canyon until we hit a traffic jam and decided it wasn’t worth the wait so we backtracked out and ran Rusty Nail out North of town. But before we could get out of town, the transmission in Jason Bartlett’s Jeep decided that it had had enough Moab and bailed on him. Done for the week. After the Nail we ran the rest of Golden Spike out to Gold Bar Rim. While we were playing at Double Whammy, the fuel pump in Frank Bartlett’s Jeep took a dump. We had to tow him from there back to town!
Thursday, Day 3, was spent at the vendor show at Spanish Trails Arena. It just keeps getting bigger! We also went downtown and played “tourist”! We had dinner that night with our friend, Phil Howell, and a Chrysler rep at the Red Cliffs Lodge Resort 14 miles up the river from Moab. Really a beautiful place right on the Colorado River.
Friday, Day 4, we decided that we hadn’t had enough of Coyote Ugly and went back for more. With a smaller group we figured we would have an easy time of it and a laid back run…..Wrong! 30 ft. into it, Harold broke a stub axle. Frank was right behind him and while getting into position to winch him back out, broke a steering heim at the pitman arm. We got Frank fixed with a new heim, Harold winched out and the 4 remaining rigs, Frank Bartlett, John Bundy, Doug McBurnie and myself, headed up the trail. We had no more issues after that and were out in 30 minutes. Next up was the Green Day Trail in Area BFE. In one of the worst spots on the trail, Frank broke the same heim again, this time pulling the barrel out of the body! Our options were to go back to town for parts or WELD it! A no-brainer! We “frazzed” it up, finished the trail and headed for the barn!
Saturday, Day 5, was our traditional “Moab Diner breakfast and watch the parade morning“. We then went out to the rock race south of town to cheer on our old buddy, Shannon Campbell. It just wasn’t Shannon’s day as he was every which way but straight and shiny side up! Actually, that IS Shannon’s driving style! And man, was he bringin’ the horsepower!
Easter Sunday, Day 6, it’s over! More memories in the bank! What a great time! We spent the next 4 days camping and sight-seeing at several beautiful spots along the Colorado River in Utah and Colorado before arriving back in cold, windy Wyoming on Wednesday, Day 10.
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