Moab = Jeep (Saturday)

We woke up this morning with Jeeping on our minds, Jeff & I that is. When you're renting something, in the back of your mind you've got this internal clock going tick-tock-tick-tock... I guess since we've been doing Moab for 6 years now, and have had several multi-trip years, and including the fact we've Jeeped or off-roaded many many times, the ladies had no interest in going this morning. So we took others, screw them - did I say that out loud?

So Jeff driving the yellow 4 door Jeep & me in the red 2 door, we headed off. Jeff had his dad, his son, and 2 nephews. I had Scott, my daughter and her cousin. We wanted to do Hell's Revenge, even though we've done it 3 or 4 times. We can get through it pretty quickly and have mostly mastered many of the obsticles. The thing that makes Hell's Revenge nice is it's mostly slickrock, which is my favorite medium for crawlin'.

Toward the end my mind made a colossal shift for one reason or another. I remembered that this is a rented Jeep, one I wouldn't have to fix if I were to tear it up. So for the last couple of miles Jeff and I raced to the bottom. Now with most 4x4-ing it's hard to describe, or properly convey just how hairy & scary it can be. Pictures don't do it justice either. It really is something you must experience first hand, kinda like skydiving. All I can say is Jeff & I were haulin' somethin', that somethin' was ASS.

No way would I ever drive my own vehicle like that. Rocks and ledges that were up to a foot in size meant nothing to us. I kept trying to pass Jeff, then he would try to pass me etc... All of us were laughing uncontrollably!!! Scott later on admitted that he was scared, later on Jeff admitted that he thought I was going to rear end him. That is the true measure of off-roading, when you can scare your passengers.

To bad as we left the trail and headed down the canyon I hit a huge pothole. About ten feet away from it my mind said - You'll have to slow waaay down or speed up to "make" this pothole, but it was too late, we hit it full force. I think I might have even pooped a little in my pants. Here's my prideful carnage! Jen was none too happy with me, maybe she shouldn't have taken Tanner's word for the events that transpired as literally as she did???

I kinda didn't know what to do,... fix it or use it,... so what the hell, let's head back out and do another trail. Not so smart. I guess I didn't realize that the whole shock was snapped in half! I figured it was just bent - YEAH RIGHT - We headed up to 7 Mile Rim but we only saw 2 miles of the rim before Scott and I heard a clunk. We both did that movie head turn when driver & passenger look at each other with a "What in F*#K was that" look. We stopped quickly to see that the shock was indeed snapped in half and resting against the muffler. We don't want the broken shaft to puncture the muffler, so we headed back to camp. HaHa,... I just said Muff & Shaft in the same sentence!!!

Here's where I think it gets funny. We went back to camp and I removed the shock. I start to think, where am I going to find a Rubicon rear shock on a Saturday over Memorial weekend? I know, I'll just go to one of the other Jeep rental companies and get one. The first place I went the guy said "The only place you'll get one of those in this town is Farabee's" Guess where I rented the Jeep from, yeah that's right, Farabee's!?!? So I went to Farabee's, pulled my hat down reeeally low (as a disguise... lol) and asked for a shock. They had one, only $50.00. I went back to camp, put it on, and returned the Jeep an hour later, suckers!!!

That night we went to Eddie McStiff's for dinner and my ribs sucked, so I complained. If you complain at Eddie's you'll get a free sundae I learned :-> Well we still gots lots of stuff to do so I guess we'll blogg ya later!?!?