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Page updated: 05/05/2001 05:59 PM


I'm Talkin' Road Trip...From Hell!

This is Part II in a four-part series.  The story is this:  A bunch of Kentucky freaks drove to Colorado, Moab, then Phoenix, and back to Kentucky.  All of which somewhere between 7-10 days!  Holy cow.  I managed to meet them in Phoenix for some fun.  Clicking the links below will take you from one day to the next.  The same menu is at the bottom of each page.  Enjoy!

[ Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV ] 

This section written by: Al Bsharah
Photography: Al Bsharah and Lee Wells

From this point on, it's written from my perspective...so day one starts right now (even thought the guys in Part I have already had their day one's!

Maniacs Involved:
Driver JAFO Vehicle
Al Bsharah Brett Culpepper 94 YJ
Tom Jacobson Lisa Jacobson / Coaster 87 YJ
Jason Head Ken Wilson 88 Feep YJ
Kerry Embry Jen Embry 94 YJ
Lee Wells Beth Wells / Brooke ? 98 TJ
Rusty Bray - Owner/Operator of Kentucky Offroad Cam Wilson ?? YJ
Flash (John Combs) Doc (Dale Garrett) ?? TJ
Scooby (Mike Feagins) Jack Daniels (dog) ?? YJ
Darrel Mottley   77 CJ-7
John Ryan   ?? TJ
Greg ?   Panel Wagon - "oil can"

 

 

DAY 1 (4/10) - Tuesday
Head to Phoenix, arrive at TJ's

I guess a little background info is necessary here...  My old college friend Jason Head lined up a bunch of his Kentucky buddies and made a road-trip out to Moab, then dropped down to Phoenix where our mutual friend Tom Jacobson lives.  Nine Jeeps in all made the trip from KY!  Buncha nuts I tell ya...  Damn good people though, lots of fun!  Some of them stopped and did "Die Trying" in Colorado on the way.  I guess that trail only took them 19 hours!  In the snow!  Apparently the guys got hit with all kinds of blizzards and harsh weather along the trip, so when Brett and I met them in Phoenix they were pretty stoked about the perfect weather!
Al and Jason's YJ's Head preppin'
Head's traction bar
Brett's motorhome and trailer that we brought my YJ out in

 

DAY 2 (4/11) - Wednesday
Jack Handle (with the surprise "Jack Ass Bypass"!)

This was a small "scenic" trail as Tom called it.  We wanted to start off with something relatively easy since we were getting a late start to the day.  "Jack Handle" was the trail chosen.  Tom said that we should all hit the bypass...that's where we coined the name "Jack Ass Bypass" above.  You'll see why below!
Fillin' up and getting ready to head out
Rusty (Kentucky Off-Road) had some engine problems right off the bat.  Head "gave it a little Ford mojo" with a tug and he fired right up.   Leapin' Lizards!
All 10 of us baja'd to the trail head <cough>, Remind me to leave the windshield up until we get to the trail!  Good thing Brett and I bought some $10 goggles at the stop-and-rob...
Anyway, we stopped at a little area for a moment.  Being antsy to hit some rocks, I ventured off into this little pile.  Here you see some of the guys tackling it... Darrell's CJ7
Rusty's YJ Flash's TJ
A little down the road we came across a little off-camber hill to play on.
One of the first obstacles on Jack Handle was a little squeeze... My YJ
Lee's TJ
Head's YJ
The next obstacle wasn't so obvious because it was off to the side of the main trail path.  Between myself and Brett - we managed to find lots of these!
Kerry's YJ
Rusty's YJ Darrel's CJ
Scooby's YJ!
The next series of pictures are from what we named "Jack Ass Bypass".  The first obstacle is a bitch of a squeeze, tough for the couple of guys with full-width axles. Back side of the squeeze
The second obstacle was a steep climb followed by a very deep rut that zig-zagged a couple times.
When I asked TJ (Tom Jacobson) what line he'd seen other people go up this he replied, "Oh...I've never seen anyone come this way."  Haha, thanks!
Hmmm... Look at that right shackle bolt.  Looks like some fore-shadowing for tomorrow!
I got close, but ended up getting wedged to the point where I couldn't pull out.  As well, I was blowing out some pretty good smoke so I decided to give my new 8274 a test.  She pulled me out no problem.
Kerry coming up the squeeze as it gets later at night... Kerry starting the second obstacle...
Look at that bitchin' 1/4-elliptical rear flex.  Kerry made it look easy!  Jerk.
Head attempts the squeeze with his full width axles.  He eventually decided it was a bit tight for him and backed down. Cam (in Rusty's Jeep) makes his way through the squeeze.
The second obstacle, this time with the rightful owner in the driver seat.
Yet another unassisted attempt?  <sigh>  I must suck.  <grin>
Darrell was fun to watch most of the weekend because he had CJ narrow-track axles.  Definitely made some things much easier for him...and others more diffucult.  He definitely never got to take a "line-lesson" from the guy in front of him! I forget if we had to do anything special to get him through, but I know he sure put on a good show!

That was pretty much the end of Day 2 (first day of wheelin'!).  It was getting late, and everyone that wanted to wheel JackAss had managed to try.

We all made our way to Friday's for some beers and food.  Needless to say, everyone was pretty tired and mellow.  Even Doc!

 

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