Page updated: 07/09/2001 09:15 PM

Al Bsharah's Report:

DISCLAIMER: First of all, I suck at names...so forgive me if a screw them up!  Send me an email and I'll fix 'em!  Thanks.  If you want a link to your name, and I didn't do so...email me as well.  Oh yeah...this is a BIG report.  186 or so pictures and a LOT of text!  Sorry if it takes you forever to load...

New Years at Ocotillo Wells has become quite a tradition for the Dehesa crew here in SoCal.  Exactly two years ago I moved to San Diego, and this is where I met most of this crew for the first time.  I only stayed one day that first year, but knew I was in for some long-term friendships.  Last year's cold weather and bad conditions (which I wasn't a part of) are probably at least part of the reason why this year's was such a great success!  Everyone was jonesin' to have a good time out there.  I have to say, in as much honesty as I can muster up...it was one of the best time's I've had in a very long time...and I've had some good times, let me tell ya!

FRIDAY Dec 29, 2000

Jess and I left San Diego around 4pm on Friday (some of us have to work) to meet up in the desert with those who apparently don't have jobs and had been there since Wednesday!  We arrived around 6:30 or so...boy camp sure was full!  There were more motorhomes and campsites set up than I had seen out there before, and our normal spot by the brick-shithouse had been taken!  <gasp>  Anyway, I hopped on the CB to try and figure out where we were, but to no avail.  So we peered through the lightly dusted air for the telltale Kilby blink-o-matic-I'm-too-lost-to-find-camp-strobe.  Voila, there it was.  Our camp was HUUUGE (as usual).  "Got wood?"  The wagons were circled, and completely closed-in already!  We managed to find a spot to squeeze the Jeep in and did our how-do-ya-do's...  Brett Culpepper, Matt "Is this where all the homos are camped?"  and Vicky Osburn (and dog), Bud and Aileen Boren (and dog), Seth Markowitz (down from San Francisco!), Matt Brookins, Brad "You better delete that or I'll......." and Lori Kilby and kids (and dog), Dennis and Kendra "Who let the dogs out?" Osburn, I think Bill Cue "I figure I'm good till 2006" was here already too...Robin "There's a rock under my rocking chair and it won't work" and Jeremy Noriega (and dog), Mark Alligood and Kimi, Bill Duty and Jessica/Sarah, Pam and Dave Wills (all the way from KANSAS!), boy I think that's everyone.  Oh yeah!  Scotty from up in the LA area brought his wife Tiara (sp?) and kids (and yet another dog) down as well.  He had emailed me earlier in the month about hanging out with us, and I suggested he come down for the trip.  They seem like great folks, and I hope they hang out with us again soon!  "Aaarruuuuu!"  Seven motorhomes and a bunch of tents and trailers and stuff!  The campfire "What we need is some liquid nails."  was roarin' and the welcome was, as expected, very warm.  Suddenly the thoughts of work, computers, and stress went right into the fire.  I seriously felt an amazingly relaxing feeling...as if I'd come home from a long absence.

After hanging around for a bit, sipping on a pale ale, and catching up with those I hadn't seen in a while....we were off!  Mark, and Matt were pretty loopy by this time so they hopped in Brett's Jeep.  Seth hopped in too.  Not sure what his excuse was.  He's loopy by nature anyway, so maybe that's why.  Jess and myself hopped in mine and we went off to find some fun.  Following Brett is always entertaining...as I managed to do a few times this weekend.  You'll understand why it's fun after reading on...  First target was "BlowSand".  It's a big sand dune drift up on the side of a hill and is where most of the action is this weekend.  ATV's and Bikes and Rails and trucks and Jeeps and you name it, all trying to conquer the beast.  Of course, we had our hand at it!  We tooled around spewing sand all over the place for a while, and made one last climb up the side of things and stopped at the top.  Brett had apparently overheated a bit as coolant splashed all over everyone when a hose was yanked!  We were revving pretty high coming up the hill, so it wasn't anything serious.  We decided to go find some slower terrain to keep the temps down.  Towards the back of BlowSand, there are apparently some rocks that I'd never found before.  We hit them and Brett took his typical "this doesn't look like a trail" line and had at it!   He got hung up on some boulders, so we stacked and climbed up on his Jeep to help him get some traction...he was out in no time.  As they continued, I attempted a different line.  Seth kindly reminded me that my lockers needed to be actuated.  Of course, I told him they were (like, duh) before I looked down to see that in fact my compressor light was off and the ARB's were not engaged.  Did I say "duh"?  At least I didn't forget the hubs this time!

After getting through this area and detaching my soft top from his roll cage, Brett managed to find a crack that was about as big as a house.  I'd say it was roughly a 20' climb, with a MAJOR crack down the center of it (probably like 4' wide?)  I forgot to mention we forgot the camera back at camp <bowing head in shame>.  Anyway, Brett was determined to get up it!  Vvrrrrmmmmuummmummmgrrrrrrr <clunk>.  Sitting on his left side...  <reverse>  VVrrrRRRrRRmmmmMMMM... <clunk>  Right side.  <reverse>  VrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRRRMMMRRMMRMRMMRMRMRMMRMM <clunk><grind> Left side.  Brett must have "technically" rolled about 12 times while I was airing my tires down a bit further.  Man, what a great spectator sport!  There was one time where he backed up quite a ways, revved the engine and actually took off like a bat out of hell towards the rock.  My eyes got a big as cueballs as I couldn't believe the speed he was going to take it at.  The guys in the back seat were screaming for their lives as Brett slammed on the brakes right before contact.  You should have seen the smile on HIS face.  I about spit my tonsils out of my throat I was laughing so hard...the buzzed boys thought for sure they had seen the end!  So anyway, Brett managed to get really close a couple times before he twisted his driveshaft.  The carnivore had made its first visit.  We wanted to get him down off the hill, so I got behind and lined up my Jeep to pull him off.  His left rear tire needed to come up over a rock... and unfortunately, as I was pulling him over his rear Revolver shackle extended fully, allowing the front of the rear spring to bend and snap in half.  The carnivore was hungry.  Hoboy...  "I have one but I left it back at camp"  Not only do we still have to get him over this rock, but we need to get him back to camp!  After futzing with it for quite a while, we strapped my Jeep to his axle and pulled the axles as close to straight as we could, chained up the spring and limped him home dog-leggin' it!  We got back to camp, surveyed the damage, and decided it was time to hang by the fire and have a couple cold ones.  Seth had to get up in three hours to go pick his woman Christine up at the San Diego airport...haha!  Donald Clark and a buddy showed up later that evening in his 1/4-elliptical YJ.

SATURDAY Dec 30, 2000

Boy did we goof off all morning!  We didn't even think about running a trail until really late.  Typical Dehesa-time!  I have to say I sure enjoy waking up in the morning and not having a damn thing to do.  Well, except thinking about what to eat.  Derrick and Sharon Josten showed up that morning, even though they weren't feeling so well!  Troopers!  Also new to the camp were Steve and Debbie McKay and kids (one who claimed to be king of the hill, even though she's a little short queenie!)  A few of the gang were staring at Brett's Jeep, trying to figure out what exactly could be done...oh the wheels were churnin'!  Another group of us decided to try and make our way to Truck Haven via back-roads.  This was a leisurely whoop-de-do stroll through the desert with a group that consisted of the following vehicles:  Matt, myself, Donald, Bud, Derrick, Robin, Jeremy, Steve (I think that was all).  We didn't get very far before we found some Jeepers that had been traveling with a GMC truck that broke an A-Arm.  They had it tied up with rope, but it wasn't a perfect fix.  Of course, having three on-board-welders in the group, we were all over that.  The kids played, the dogs roamed, the spectators drank, the masters went to work, and one of Brad's kids did a bonzai slide down a really steep hill!  What a maniac!  A while later (I lost track of time), and they had him back on the road with a worthy fix.  They were very appreciative (free beers!) and we all eventually parted our ways.  Them Jeepers were good folks, and hope to see them on the trail again sometime!

We gave up on trying to make it to Truck Haven, as it was starting to get a bit late...so we decided to head back the way we came and just goof off some.  Robin and Jeremy passed us (they had left earlier) saying they left their camera at the trail-fix location.  Time to play while we waited!  I took off towards what seemed like might be some fun twisty hills.  I climbed my way up to the top, and started heading over the edge to another side.  Wow, there were lots big ruts!  Matt met me on the other side and was working his way up the part I was coming down.  "I expected an entourage."  Before we knew it, everyone was going every-which-way in a melee of twisted metal!  Everyone was on their side at least once during this extravaganza of testosterone!  Bud ended up busting an inner on his 44, so he three-wheeled it outta there.  Munch goes the carnivore...  Derrick stalled out, and had to be winched to flat ground so they could figure out his bugs.  Oh...the Jeepers that were with the guy we fixed were watching us from the top of another peak and hiked their way over to us to enjoy the festivities!  I have to say Donald's 1/4-elliptical was fun to watch climbing around these ruts...I don't think he lost much traction the whole time, and his diffs are OPEN.  Quite interesting...  To be honest, the pictures say enough here...so I'll just shut up and let ya gawk at 'em.  What a blast!

Back to camp!  Will Robinson and Christina and kid had shown up...first time we'd seen his Jeep in person with the new 700R4 and 350 (which he let me drive!  Whoohoo!)  I think Matt B's S.O. and kids showed up this day?  Bill D's boy and friends/family (yes, another dog) showed as well.  As usual, we hung out and told stories of the day thus far...fed our faces and chilled out for a bit in preparation of the "Turkey Hunt"!  Get this...Brett's Jeep was FIXED.  They built him a new driveshaft out of square-tubing (it's beautiful) and welded/bolted his spring back into place.  One of the most beautiful trail fixes I've ever seen.  Talent, I tell ya.  Talent!  I believe Dave, both Bill's, Matt and Brett were the culprits.  The driveshaft was actually pretty damn close to being balanced, and I bet it holds up a hell of a lot better than a stock one!  No way you're twistin' THAT thing in the same spot!

For those of you who don't know what a Turkey Hunt is, it's a blast.  Essentially, you wait 'til it's dark and one person goes out into the wilderness and hides.  It can be anywhere, we don't care.  The only stipulation is that those of us waiting in camp have to be in CB range of your hiding spot.  When the Turkey is ready, he notifies the camp and we're off!  Jeeps bust out of camp in all directions!  The Turkey has to respond with a "Polo" every time a hunter says "Marco."  Your only basis for proximity is the power-bar on your CB meter when the Turkey yells "Polo"!  Participants were Donald, myself, Matt, Brad, and Will.  Donald hid first.  Without going into the boring details of "Marco" and "Polo", I found him hiding off in a very dark spot behind a rock to the left of BlowSand.  Him and his buddy even had the tail lights and reflectors covered with coats and stuff!  As I was spanning the area with my headlights, I barely got a glimpse of something...almost kept going!  Anyway, it was my turn and Jess and I hid in a deep rut way off the back side of the hill.  Ironically, Donald ended up returning the favor and finding us (said he saw fresh Swamper tracks!  Damn!)  He broke a shackle hanger and went back to camp.  Carnivore needed a snack...  Since Brad was the 2nd to find us, he tore off to hide.  Matt ended up finding him and I ended up in the middle of nowhere stuck in these twisty ruts.  For some reason, his meter strength NEVER changed for us, so it was impossible to even guess where they were (I thought for sure we were close the whole time...but we weren't!)  Anyway, dumb luck found us right on top of them after everyone had already found 'em.  We were off to camp, and Matt was to hide.  As I left, Brad was climbing up on a rock for fun.  About half-way to camp, Matt gets on the horn and says, "Hey you might wanna come back here.  Brad blew a bead."  Brad was hung pretty good (he wishes this sentence was over now) on this rock.  Apparently he got stuck on his rocker and was doing donuts around the rock before his bead popped.

So, another trail fix is in order.  We couldn't get the Jeep up high enough with the bottle jack to get a nice bead to seat, so our drunken JAFO's (Dennis and Bill C) decided it was time for ether.  "Anyone got a lighter?"  We stood back.  Bill was generous with the helping of ether, and Brad couldn't seem to get the damn stuff to light.  Well, Dennis took over duties of the child (Brad)-proof lighter and whhaaaaaaBAAAAAAAAAAMMMM.  Holy shit, I'm suddenly deaf in my left ear (I was probably 20 feet away.)  Bill C and Dennis were about 1-2 feet away from the explosion and they both fell back.  "Was that your beer can that flew by my head?"  After realizing they were all OK we realized we blew the bead a little bit TOO much as part of it was hanging over the rim.  <shaking head>  We really shouldn't put drunk guys in charge of trail fixes!  I think that was about it for wheelin' that night...  Bummer too, as I was looking forward to Matt hiding since he knows the area so well.  Next year you're first, dude!  "I know Greengo"

Back at camp, the usual shenanigans were going on.  Lots of happy people, lots of BS'ing "Are you a Leo?" , lots of marshmallows flying across the fire pit!   Yes, Brett managed to get that game going.  It was a war!  Of course, most of us were too drunk or tired this time to actually get up out of our chairs so we just attacked each other that way.  Finally, they were all gone and we kicked back and enjoyed the conversation again.  Until Brett came back with ANOTHER bag!  Attack!

SUNDAY Dec 31, 2000

Lots more relaxing!  Some folks went out I think, but not sure who did what.  We vegetated for a while, and watched as a few of the boys were working on Pokey.  Brad had a spare inner 44 shaft, but it wasn't the right size.  It was too long and too fat in spots.  Not to be beaten by a bigger shaft, they chopped it down and turned it down in the right spots to make it a perfect fit!  Amazing.  "I don't need no stinkin......."   I think this was mostly Jeremy's fix...he was definitely the dirtiest!  Yet another trail fix.  Meanwhile Dave was doing some work to his beast to get it out on the trails.  Bud and Brookins were drunk already (or so I thought) until I realized that they still hadn't gone to bed from the night before!

"Read between the lines!"

In typical Dehesa fashion for New Years Eve, everyone brings some form of food for a major feast!  "I'm just trying to help get rid of all this corn."   Check the pics...MMMmmmMMmMMmmm!  Everyone stuffed their faces and belched accordingly.  Thanks to the ladies who did most of the preparation!  I'm guessing that was primarily Vicky and Aileen...you rule as always!  "His tent isn't staked down, I already checked" 

 

Later in the evening, we decided to make our way out to Pumpkin Patch.  Myself, Matt, Mark, Bill D, Brett, Dave, Will, and all the typical JAFO's!  This is a very cool area to see...essentially there are a ton of nearly perfectly rounded rocks scattered throughout this area.  They were formed quite similarly to how a pearl is formed in a clam (one grain of sand or particle, that grows into a round shape.)  The same type of things happened here when these were underground.  Erosion has caused them to show up on the surface.  Unfortunately, my camera died so no good pictures were taken here.  It's a really cool thing to see...  Oh wait, we're not even there yet.  <grin>  Ok...we're on our way.  Playing around, goofing off on our way.  Brett takes a detour.  Here we go!  I follow, as Mark does behind me.  We're in a monster rut.  The thing's probably twice as high as our Jeeps in many spots, and it's tight!  You pretty much grind through, fall on your side...grind through, fall on your other side...repeat until completed!  As you may have gathered, most of the terrain out here is just hard-packed sand that falls away if you push into it so falling on your side isn't typically detrimental to your body.  Unfortunately there are the occasional carnivorous rocks scattered within, which a few of us managed to find!  I blew a right rear bead and as I got out, realized that my body had been scraped and dented up pretty bad on that side.  Just a matter of time before it happens, right?  Anyway...we worked on getting my bead back in place (minus the ether!) and I trudged on.  POP.  There went the other rear bead.  Damn!  This one was wedged up against the wall of the rut, so I had to get tugged up and out of the rut to a flat spot to fix it.  Oh look, bent up my left front fender too!  Mark ended up doing some damage to his sides as well...  More Carnage!

Camp was pretty nuts by the time we got back...you could sense the anticipation of the New Year in the air.  This was, by far, the funniest New Year I think I've ever had.  Picture this, if you will:  Folks of all makes and sizes, ages and backgrounds.  95% with some kind of explosive in one hand, and some type of drink in the other.  DING.  New Years!  Chaos!  Everyone running around the fire, blowing off fireworks, hugging, kissing, passing drinks and champagne around, singing and even some dancing, 47 dogs running around and howling.  "Cheers Bud!  Cheers Bud!  Cheers Bud!......."  Then the marshmallows came out.  AGAIN.  Only this time...we weren't just sitting around in our chairs nonchalantly throwing them at each other.  This was an all-out strategic war!  Alliances were formed, sneak attacks were prepared, marshmallows were licked before they were sticked!  "This marshmallow is wet!"  Drinks were thrown!  Ambush!  Ambush!  Ambush!  There wasn't one person who went to bed that night that didn't have gooey marshmallow grub or some other ingredient stuck in their hair or in their ear or on their clothes.  I can't even tell ya how much damn fun that was!

MONDAY Jan 1, 2001

Uhhhhh.  <moan>  First hangover of the weekend.  I must have sat in my chair by the fire for what seemed like hours.  Eventually swapped out my rear u-joint at the pinion because I was getting a vibration the day before.  Based on the strange wear I saw between the yoke and DS, I'm getting a LOT of axle wrap.  Ladder bar's gotta happen or I'm gonna mess some stuff up.  Aired up, and started saying goodbye's.  A few of the gang (the same gang that apparently don't have jobs) stayed over an extra day.  We left casually around 4pm, and made our way home with a completely relaxed state of mind.

I think the carnivore was fed well this weekend.  Below are some of the pics and Brett's account from the extra day they stayed...  "Hell I have a hard enough time getting her to let me..." 

Al

Brett Culpepper's Report (extra day): 

Well, when we got up on New Years day everyone was moving pretty slow... go figure! Matt mentioned that he and Vicky, Bud/Aileen, Brad/Lori and Dave/Pam would be staying another day. I guess I just wasn't ready to leave and I'd also lost MattO's license plate on the run the night before, so I decided to stay an extra day. I tried talking MattB into staying but he needed to get back. Diana was still there with the Cherokee so he said he'd catch a ride home with her.

So, we got off to an early (evening!) start and decided to go right out to the mudhills to look for the plate. We stopped at one of the areas where we thought it might be but had no luck. We decided to head over to where Al, Mark and I had taken our detour the night before, but on the way Dave's tierod? broke and we stopped for a trailfix. MattO pulled Greengo (of "I know Greengo" fame) up and fired up the onboard air and the welder. After some prep work, Bud the welding honors and we were on our way in an hour or so. I'm not really sure why we didn't make it to the Pumpkin Patch area but as we drove by "The Trap - Dead End", Matt said it's labeled a dead end, but he figured I could make it. So, I headed in with Brad right behind me. I turned the corner and it didn't look too bad, but it was a little harder than it looked. There was a large hill on left side of the crack that pushed right side up and under the wall on the right...then when the right front tire would come up the ledge it would crunch the hood into the bank. So, we started stacking rocks and finally made our way out. It caved the hood in but I pounded it out... the only other casualty was to Matt's hammer. Sorry about that Matt, now I owe you a hammer and a license plate!

After I made it through and came back around it was Brad's turn. He opted for the left turn up the bank right before the guaranteed body damage route. Turns out his route was just as hard and he ended up with body damage on the right rear and the right front. He hooked onto Greengo and winched himself out. After we assessed the damage we were on our way back to camp. We got back around 10pm and Ricky had showed up with a couple of buddies. They had an alternator problem with their truck so another camp fix occurred... I'm not sure of the specifics cuz I was huddled around the fire for quite awhile after we got back (no windshield, doors or heater). Ricky and his friends took off soon after and everybody retired to the MH's to watch movies. We got up the next morning, loaded up and headed out.

"Matt, got a hammer?  No, a bigger one" 

 

Bud Boren's Report: 

ok, ah lets see!

It started out that I probably shouldn't have gone to begin with due to a broken neck on the mend. But, I went anyway. Jeremy and Robin were coming right behind, so it seemed. Knowing the lateness of every act they commit, I left w/out them. As they laeft my driveway the CJ-5 he was towing took a trip off his rear bumper. I warned him of this particular effect my driveway has on towed jeeps, but he dismissed my advice as he always does. In the mean time, I'm hauling up the grade and am clipping along at a rumpity 20 MPH due to 3 plug wires going south on the MH. I call Jeramy to get me some wires on his way up feeling sort of sheepish that I had not waited for him. He says he's just now leaving El Cajon. A 15 minute drive to where I was waiting. He loses the jeep again coming out of the gas station. Sheesh! In the middle of the intersection w/nobody but his 3 year old son w/ him. After blocking traffic for 1/2 hour some guy stops to help him. Robin, in the mean time brought me the wires. I installed them and we waited, and waited and waited! Jeremy shows up and we fix the hitch. I'm thinking "what a nincumpoop" as we move along down the other side of the grade at 60 MPH. MH is running very crappy, but what the hell, I keep going. All of the sudden I feel a bumping and tugging on the MH and Aileen squacking like a parot with a cranial rectal inversion over the untintellegable hand held. Shes behind me in the dully. It seems Pokeys overly expensive tow bar has broken a bolt and there is only one half of it holding it onto the mh. I get it pulled over however and fix it with a bolt out of my bumper, being the clever individual I am. It holds and we are finally on our way yet once again. I am very peranoid, but keep on  trucking deciding that if it takes the whole 5 days I have to just get there I'm going for it. We do finally arrive after a 7 hour drive that should have taken 2.5.

Once there i figure i can just cruise the sand washes being that I had this broken neck. Is that what I did? Hell no! I got partially shit faced, came very close to rolling my jeep and broke a frieken axle.  Hahahaha! What a dick head huh!

Anyway, back safely in camp--I dammed near got blown up with elegal fire works---participated in two seperate marshmellow fights which resulted in all the chairs being full of mellows, therby resulting in everybody that could stand up had big mellow crushed doo doo spots on thier pants. And then oof course there was the many bottles of champagne that got passed around on NYE. Gad's! The bubbly flowed large for sure that night.

I decided to go wheeling and just couldn't stand not getting involved in some mud hills regardless of my deficiancy. Natually Matt O' talked me into some tipsy condition and I broke an inner short shaft. Made it out in three wheel drive and the boys fixed it the next day. Took a TJ 44 shaft, cut it down and bolted it in. heh heh! Kids!!!

There was of course many happenings I can't speak of due to retaliation but!!!!

Bret Cullpepper got a boulder stuck between his dully wheels on the turn out. Kind of funny considering all the bang up crash stuff he did on the trails Oh yeah! He got a broken spring and twisted drive shaft. Fixed by the dehesa goon platoon the next day. Square tubing for the shaft looked wierd but worked like a charm.

On the way home the wind got pretty nasty. Almost rolled the mh on hwy 8 for heaven sakes! Didn't get enough speed up my own frieken driveway and ended up crossing the mh/jeep in my own yard. Man!

All in all, it was a super great trip and I got to see some friends I hadn't seen in a while. Had a dammed good time all week.

RalpH had a blast to and grew at least 5" whilst we were there. Got to play w/a pretty good assortment of puppy's with malfunctioning attitudes. I'll straighten him out though. If he don't get to big in the next couple of days.

Anyway, that's my short take on the whole sorted affair, si there ya go.

Bud and RalpH

Seth Markowitz's Report:  (the pictures in this portion will be updated when I get them)

What a weekend... After spending Christmas with the families, I hit the road in TW Wednesday PM.  I headed south on 5 and wound up sleeping north of grapevine.  Woke up on Thursday to blue skys and hit the road again. By 9 am, I was in Burbank, it was 75 degrees, and Brad Kilby was sending his lackee to get me a cup of coffee.

I spent much of Thursday hanging out with Brad... sniffing around under the jeeps, drove the TJ-7 (long arm kit works better ;-)  and checked out the warehouses.   Brad is particularly fond of showing everything he has in inventory... if you get the chance, check out part number 164234-435 bin number 65, my favorite. ;-)

Around 3, I hit the road for Ocotillo.  After sitting in some stupid LA traffic (5 hours worth) I arrived.  As expected, the boys were in full form, drinkin' and tellin' lies.  I hung out til I passed out... then woke friday to some bitchin' weather.

Friday, I had the doors and hardtop off before anyone else had gotten up!  I was aired down and up the first sand hill in a major hurry.  Tore around in the sand... checked out some rocks (baby sized) and tested the long arm.  Everything was working great, so I went back down to camp and grabbed Matt B...   he and I tooled around for a while, found some harder rocks, and had a great time.  After lunch we headed out again and this time brought Brett Culpepper, Bud, and Matt O.    I nearly lost TW on a sand hill I tried to cross, but Matt B was kind enough to get out and watch, so I made it through fine..... though my pulse was a hell of a lot higher!

Friday nite, was marathon time.  Matt B, Mark and myself piled into Brett's orange monster and went for a "short" nite run with Al.  Up the sand hill a few times, brett overheats.  We screwed around with that for a while then headed down some of the hardest rocks close to camp.  Al made them all look easy, as I spotted ;-) and Brett made them look hard as Nobody spotted.  After a good solid high center, we got brett free and found a 6' across, 15' high jeep swallowing crack.  Brett WANTED it.  After about 20 attempts, all of which would classify as a roll under any other circumstances, brett gave it one more.  BOOM... twisted driveshaft.   We pulled the shaft and tried to tug him off of the obstacle, but the damned revolver shackle inverted and took out the leaf spring with it...  Sigh... Gonna be a long nite.

We finally got him extracated around 1:30am.  I passed out around 2am only to wake up at 4:30am to go get Christine at the San Diego Airport.  She and I hung out in La Jolla with friends, then headed back to Ocotillo.

Sunday we did our first wheelin' together.  All in all, she was a good sport... and even enjoyed the sand running.   The rock stuff still scares her a bit, so we didn't do too much.  I got a few pics which I'll post soon.

Sunday nite was NYE... a great time. Monday was non stop driving home... made it back in about 9 hours.  Found out that had we not taken 99 we would have been in Stop and Go traffic for about 5 hours.

Thanks to everyone who made it a great trip.

Seth