“MOAB!!”

by Carl

BSJ members went on a cross-country trek in the wheeling adventure of a lifetime and you can read the excerpts here. I asked for fun, interesting or embarrassing stories to share with the class. The first to respond was Mark, who summed it up succinctly:

john got me drunk and joe tucked me in = embarrassing
just going and wheeling moab = fun
some of the trails = interesting
i'm a talker not a writer!

Scott also chimed in with his low-down…..
Me doing Potato Salad Hill with Marks jeep = Wicked Cool!
Almost rolling Marks Jeep on Potato Salad hill = Wicked Fun!
The Look on Marks face watching me = PRICELESS!

Curtis was a little more verbose, and thank you Curtis! Rather than edit what he said, I’ll paste his post here so it doesn’t lose anything in the translation:

My cow bell award and the irony involved.

Wednesday day 3 of wheeling, we were having a great day on Poison Spida Mesa, some steep rock faces, some sand dunes and even some poser shots (Joe, my tire was hire than yours, sucka) then just before lunch we were asked, by our guide Dan Mick, if all of our engines were working properly? Say what... Kurt was riding with me as his Jeep did not cooperate with him on day 2, I looked at him with despair and said I'm not sure I wanted to do the obstacle as I was the only one in the group that was carbureted. One hill was a long steady climb up and a long steady descent down (there are videos of each posted in the pictures section on the forum). The other hill was this knarly zig zag that started out a few feet from a cliff and seemingly got steeper as progress was made, it was called Phobia Hill. And unlike day one where the trail was heavily marked by tire wear, this trail had no trace of earlier adventurers. The descent was interesting as when you crested the hill, you could not see the jeep in front as the descent was swift. It was however marked by two (what looked to be bricks) one on either side as if to provide a lane of sorts to direct you down. Scott had set up his camera in movie mode to catch some of us as we made the decent down, and that is when my passenger front u-joint decided to let go (you can actually here it in the video).

I digress to the previous day when Edrick had broke a u-joint @ 10pm coming down the top of the world. The next morning Edrick replaced the entire shaft with spares and the spares had the smaller 260 u-joints in them. I was heading to carquest to see about fixing a broken steering stabilizer and Edrick asked if I would pick him up a spare 260 u-joint, (just in case).

The irony, I not carry a spare, I had no clue what size u-joints were in my front axle (probably the only thing about my jeep I am not up close and personal with since my recent rebuild) and I did not have the proper tools for the job. I was actually made fun of, thanks John C, apparently my tool box and the tools that were inside looked like they were purchased at Wal-Mart, hence the cow bell award. But wouldn't you know it, it takes the smaller 260 size and Edrick had remembered to pack his spare (the one I had picked up earlier that morning), which lucky for me turned out to be my spare.

Seriously, Mark had the spindle socket needed for the retaining nut, (could not had done it without it), John C., John W., Edrick, Kurt and Joe all pitched in to fix what turned out to be a broken u-joint and messed up stub shaft which required Joe to weld on one cap so it would remain in place, which it did for two more days of wheeling and the ride back to MA. Oh and did I mention he welded the cap on by way of two sets of jumper cables two batteries and a welding rod! Way cool, (I have video of that as well on the forum) Curtis (84cj) Moab Cow Bell award winner 2009

Don also had a story to share with the class…..

Not on the trail, but on Monday night, Kelly baked a cake and everybody surprised me with a birthday celebration. The pineapple upside down cake she baked was very tasty, and everybody enjoyed it. Afterward, we made the presentation of the Super Moab Man award/costume to Joe. There are a few pics of that on my Photobucket site if you want to see them.

Also - Thursday night, pretty much the whole crew went to dinner at the micro brewery downtown, it was real nice. Dan Mick brought his wife along, it was nice to meet her, and he signed hats for everybody. Cool get-together and a good time.