The drive on Sunday was SLOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWW.  Kerry's pickup was shooting out a 20 ft stream of black smoke once we got on the hills in the mountains.  At one point east of Denver, we finally stopped to take his Jeep off the trailer, so we could run a little faster through the hills.  At this point, Kerry is freaking out about his truck, and almost ready to turn around.  We assure him that we're not heading back, even if we have to strap HIM to that trailer!  :-)
 

I-70 west of Denver.  Almost there... notice Kerry's Jeep is not on the trailer!	Some mountain scenery when we stopped to put the Jeep back on the trailer

We finally pulled into Moab around 4 or 5pm, unpacked the Jeeps, and got them trail ready (pulled the hard top/doors, etc).  Bart stopped by to say hi, then he was off to meet some other people.  We decided to hit Moab Brewery while we waited for him to get back.  After some food & brews, and some stories from Doc that has us rolling in the floor, we went back to the hotel to wait for Bart to show up again.  When he got back, he gave us the bad news.... leaky injector on the XJ, so no night run for him.

We also got a call from Rusty & the rest of the KY crew (Flash, Scooby, Darrel, & Cam) They left Lexington early Friday morning, and were supposed to get to Moab ahead of us.  They decided to stop off in Montrose, CO and run "Die Trying".  They were still on the trail at 10pm that night, with lots of carnage.  1.7 miles of trail that took them 18 hours to run!

We finally headed over to Bump Dump (that was  about all we knew how to find) and played for a while before heading back to get some sleep.
 
 
 

Monday (4/9) - Pritchet Canyon

First order of business that morning was get John Ryan's tcase straightened out.  We thought it was just a linkage problem (popped out the night before).  So Doc got it straightened out in the parking lot (or so we thought).  We also got more bad news from Bart... no luck fixing the injector, so he was going to head home.  But he did hook us up with Matt & Kevin who could guide us on Pritchet Canyon.
 
 

So we head out to the trail.  When we get there we met a Unimog and a Jeep coming out.  The Jeep had some damage, so we pulled him up a little step at the entrance.  Then the Unimog comes up the step.  It would have made it up just fine, if the guy had a decent spotter.  His spotter got him into a line where the Unimog pulled a tire 3 feet in the air.  A little tug from Matt's winch, and he was up.
	Matt leading us into Pritchet Canyon in his Dodge Ram Charger
The CJ5 going in	Jason Head going in
Kerry Embry - one month (a new axle, new windshield, and many sleepless nights) after rolling	Kevin in his full size pickup
Here I am going in
John Ryan	The 5 trying a tough vertical climb
Jason going vertical	Well... maybe an easier line
Jason saying hi to the camera while being strapped up	Kerry going vertical
	Smoke 'em if ya got 'em
Kevin's daughter Amanda driving the full-size	And here I go up
We go on to the first little climb, and look back to see Doc under John's jeep again.  Uh...ohh.... he can't get it into 4-Low.  He has an auto, so he can still go fairly slow, but its going to wear on his tranny.  We decide to drag him along behind us, and put him right behind Kevin's full size pickup, in case he needs a strap.
	A few little step climbs, and we finally get to "Metal Masher???".  Matt goes first, and manages to work through it with a little scraping.
Matt finishing Metal Masher
Kerry is next, and just walks through it like it wasn't even there!!!  He gets to the end, cranks up the radio and has AC-DC "Back in black" playing.  The last month of constant wrenching had finally paid off!
Header is next
And I'm the last one to play
I made it just fine, but it wasn't pretty.  Need a higher crawl ratio.... 4.56's just aren't enough.	The CJ5 pulling a TJ wheelie
Here I am getting a little air.
	Matt's little boy Jacob, who LOVES to WHEEL!
The next big obstacle is the "Water Fall" which has standing water at the base.  Hey...isn't this where mikE rolled a few weeks ago..... yup!  Matt goes first, works it a while, and finally crawls up the corner.
Kerry, Jason & I talk about various lines and Kerry decides to go straight up the center.  Kerry takes it right up w/o much problem.	Jason is next, and after a couple hops gets up easily.
I'm next, had to gas it a little to climb out.  Can't exactly crawl a rock face after driving through mud!
Still working it	Kevin in the waterfall
Next on the trail was "Rocker Knocker"... a double rock step, with an exit on the corner.  Matt shows us how to do it, and he starts on the other side, gets a couple tires up on the upper ledge, then "crabs" over so he has the right angle to climb the exit.	Hmmm....us short wheelbase guys no likey!  So we stare at it a while, and can't find a better line.  Ends up we all had to be winched up.  Kinda freaky off camber with 3 tires up, one down and you're trying to go sideways.
Now Kerry tries it
Jason needs a little push
"Winch Winch!!"	Thats the "right" line.... hmmm?
We did a little posing after Rocker Knocker and grabbed a bite to eat..... here's Jason posing.	My Jeep
Kerry's	Another of Kerry
Kerry on a step heading to the "Rock Pile"	Jason pulling a tire
My turn	Another rock step or two, and then we get to the "Rock pile" a steep vertical climb with a bunch of small loose rocks at the base.  Most of us didn't try that, since it looks like a lot of throttle is required to make it (of course Kerry gave it a shot).  So we take the bypass, which wasn't easy at all.  A large rock, but just a little too narrow... a little too easy to have a tire drop off the edge, and roll the jeep.  Ends up we all winched up this one.
Kerry trying the "Rock Pile"
Kerry trying the bypass
Jason on the bypass	And me
John Ryan took some of the rock pile with him!	CJ5 stuck on Yellow Hill with a broken front U-joint
Next climb was "Yellow Hill".  Just a little off camber, but TONS of traction, so we all climbed up.	Jason Head towing service
Me on Yellow Hill	Matt bringing up the rear
Posing at the end of Pritchet Canyon

Once at the top we posed for a few pics, then hit baja mode to leave the trail.  We were headed for "Behind the Rocks" when Kerry's engine started acting up.  We decided to head back to town, hoping parts stores are still open.  That actually turned out to be a good thing... the computer code showed TPS problem, and it turned out to be a loose connection.  As Kerry said, "All it needed was a little foo-foo dust".

We went to grab some food next, and got a call from Rusty.  They were still in Montrose, working on Jeeps, and planned on getting into Moab the next morning.  Carnage included broken axle shafts, a ripped open Ford 9" housing (traction bar broke off), tie rods, lots of tires pushed off the bead, etc.
 

Monday night (4/9) - Poison Spider

We hit the road around noon, and head south.  Not much problem until we get into some snow & wind near the Grand Canyon.  We push on, because we have to meet Kerry & Jen who left 2 hours before us, since his truck wasn't doing well in the hills.  We finally get to the lodge, and there are 2" of snow on the ground.  We saw the Grand Canyon, but couldn't see the far rim because of the clouds and snow.
 

Welcome to the Grand Canyon!
Ken needed to be warmed up!

We grabbed a beer while we were there, then hit the road for Phoenix.  It's slow going because of all the snow, and we see a bunch of wrecks on the side of the road.  One included a new Toyota Land Cruiser upside down!

We finally get into Phoenix around 1am, stop by Tom's place to say hi to Tom, Al & Brett, then head to the hotel for the night.

That is the end of Part I.  Clicking the links below will let you continue on with the rest of the story...
[ Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV ]