Jessica My Little B...tch

[JoeLAW]

Ok, part 2 of that update! This is the part where I dropped in the Spartan "Lunchbox" locker, and changed the oil and solenoids on the tranny. It was a bit of a pain to do those 2 jobs, however they were not stupid hard. Needless to say after dropping in the locker I was eager to go test it along with my new sliders, so off to the desert I went, and I found an old S-10 cab and decided to get up it, and drop the slider on it. Since I was so confident I had a locker, I though the rear would go up the cap with no issues, but it didn't so there you see me going forwards and backwards trying to get off that cab because as you might have imagined I went by myself, eventually I got off of it moving it slightly from where I originally found it lol.

 

Here are the pics of that

[JoeLAW]

After that set of upgrades of course I had to go wheeling and test them out, and man did we test them. I had the opportunity to get in touch with Don Kingery (Username: daking) from Alamogordo, NM to ask him to join us for a local pretty mellow trail in Tularosa, NM which to my understanding I think it is now closed..  And I want to say about a week after that trail we went out to Las Cruces, NM to do a bit harder trail called "Amatista Ledges" and that one made the first nice dents to the rear of the bed, which oh well if you ain't scratching something you ain't having enough fun. Here are the pics 

[JoeLAW]

After those trails, I was pretty burn't out from MTBiking, so I sold one of my mountain bikes and decided to get a dirtbike. Which I think that was one of the best decisions of my life. Well, the day I went to purchase it, the very day before my buddy needed help picking up his new (to him) 39" BF Goodrich Baja T/A KR2 tires for his LJ. Here are the pics of that interesting weekend. 

Little side note from Comanche's before buying that dirtbike I had never had or ridden any sort of ATV or motorcycle before, I started from zero, but thankfully I learned to enjoy it. Just to give you peeps confidence to not be scared to try something new!

[Pete M]

love the rocker guards   beefy!  maybe time for a rear bumper and corner guards?

[JoeLAW]

Allrighty guys, a year has passed, and a whole lot! Has happenned, but let me keep on updating you guys as to what happenned during those years.

Shortly after getting the dirtbike, I lost my job at the bikeshop where I was working at. One week prior to that I had already planned a MTBiking trip to the Ski Resort Town of Angelfire, NM where I met with a long time good friend of mine that came down from Colorado, and he told me he had a Moab trip planned with friends of him, and it would be awesome if I could tag along. So since I now had the time off, I went ahead and drove Jessica back up to Moab for another adventure. Here are the pics from that trip.



Saw this freight train full of military vehicles and I thought it looked pretty cool so decided to snap a pic of it. It was heading Northwest from HWY 6 that connects Los Lunas, NM to I-40 



After passing Gallup, NM you get on HWY 491 to head North to Shiprock, NM I saw this monolith miles before getting close to it. And once I did get close I saw the Dreamcatcher attached to that warning sign and I also thought it was cool, so I snapped another pic. Fun fact, this HWY used to be HWY 666 and there's a whole lot of stories and myths all around the web and youtube about it, it crossed through nothing but Indian Reservations. That's why I think there might be some resemblance from the dreamcatcher there, but who knows..



As I was driving into Shiprock, NM I ran into another Comanche, so of course I had to take a pic of it. 



More pics from the roadtrip, it is just so scenic to drive to Moab from this area..



First meet up was at Kens Lake, where we all got together and camped for the 1st night, we then decided to head down Cane Creek Rd and look for another camp spot, which we found and setup camp the next day.



We rented a side by side and went riding the next day, since one of the guys brought his ATVs and another friend of ours brought his dirtbike. That became quite the adventure since one of the ATVs started having issues with its rear brake, upon further checking the rotor bolts fell out and it was only being held by 1 bolt. We did some "Rednexican" engineering and I was the lucky guy that got to ride it back to camp on parts of the Chicken Corners/Hurrah Pass trail/dirtroad




These are the only 2 pics I took that day. After getting back to camp, we decided to move further down Cane Creek Rd, to find a group campsite, where we camped out for the night and hung out the next morning. 



Of course I had to take a poser shot with that nice background, and the afternoon sun shining on those cliffs and the dark clouds contrasting on the background.



One of our buddies setup was to be jealous of. Clean truck, with just the necessary mods to be a capable truck on moderate trails, his dirtbike was also something to be jealous off 



Personally, I am not a huge fan of rooftop tents, even though everybody and their mother wants one and gets one, I preffer to sleep on solid ground on my cot/tent. I was able to snap this pic of everyone's setups the next morning before picking up camp and heading to Sand Flats Rec area for that day to setup camp there and check off the famous "Fins and Things" trail.

Edited December 8, 2024 by JoeLAW
Added the pic of the side x sides and ATV

[89 MJ]

Looks like a fun trip

[JoeLAW]

Here are the pics from our new campsite, and our mild wheeling on Fins and Things.



We started things off with a shot of Don Julio 1942 Tequila, one of the smoothest tequilas pricey, but good. Definitely recommend it!  



The feeling you get once you start driving on the red slickrock, is something else.. Plus the views in Moab are just amazing, definitely the type of stuff you have to stop and take a moment every once in a while. 




Upon finishing the trail, we went back to our campground and Jordan (Fellow with the Tacoma) busted out a portable projector and we used the rock in front of Jessica as a backdrop/screen. Where we saw a movie, hung out and did a couple of those pan pop-corn thingys, and we where literally like this 

The next morning I had to start heading back south towards home, but since now I had the time I decided to head towards Monuments Valley, since I had never been there, and had been wanting to go ever since I saw "Forrest Gump". But since reception is very very spotty along some of those areas. I snapped a bunch of pictures of my buddies good ol paper map to have some sort of reference in case I got lost and had no cell reception.



One of the guys from the trip, has explored a whole bunch around the Southeast of Utah, along many other parts of the world. And he recommended to stop over at Goosenecks State Park, so I did. And let me tell you, it's definitely worth the small 20-30min detour. (Pics will come on the next post)



After passing through Monuments Valley, my plan was to head to "Canyon de Chelly National Monument" since again, I had the time. I thought I would be able to squeeze all that sight seeing and be able to get home (in El Paso, TX) all in the same day, but oh was I wrong.. lol Anyways here are some of those map reference pics of the routes I took for the next part of this trip.

[JoeLAW]

8 minutes ago, 89 MJ said:

Looks like a fun trip

Thanks man, it definitively was a fun one, with lots of adventure..

[JoeLAW]

After a hearty breakfast and saying our goodbyes to my new and old friends, I started heading South on HWY 191. Again a reminder that I made this trip in September 2016, so maybe some things have changed. But since at the time I did not know when I was gonna be able to go back, I took a whole lot of pictures so tagg along for the ride , and enjoy the pictures I'll try to caption as many as I can.



This 2 pics were south of Monticello, UT which is much higher in elevation than Moab, and most of Southeastern Utah, quite the contrast from the red rocks.



But soon you start loosing elevation and the familiar red rock, straight cliffs and strange rock formations along with long patches of slickrock start popping up again. Makes you wonder, how did they make those cuts through the rock for the highway to be there, and how long it took them. Not only that, but also makes you wonder how the old pioneers traveled back in the day.



These 2 pics were right in Bluff, UT beautiful little town, where the San Juan River, passes not too far from there. I'm sure there's lots of stuff to see, do and explore around the area, just haven't had the chance to do so.



More pics from HWY 191 south of  Bluff, UT heading towards Mexican Hat, UT



When you start getting closer to Mexican Hat, UT you can start seeing the Monuments of "Monuments Valley" from far away, I was very excited for that part, but I had a small detour I had to check out before getting to that famous spot in the middle of nowhere made famous by the "Forrest Gump" movie. (Which I just checked and that is what that spot is called in Google Maps in actuality lol) 

[JoeLAW]

Sorry for making so many replies, but I can only upload so much in pics..  

Anyways, back to the road trip!  Remember that small detour I was talking about? Well here are the pics finally, this is gonna be a "Goosenecks State Park" reply. Hope you enjoy!

It was a nice change of pace to go from pavement to dirt for this detour. Most of the dirt road part of this state park is pretty well mantained, but once you get closer to the edge it gets a bit rougher, with bigger rocks protruding from the ground. Nothing a stock MJ could not whithstand, however, I would not be very comfortable if I were to be driving a Hyundai of vehicle of that sort.



On this pic you can see "Monuments Valley" in the background, that's how close they are from one another.



Like I said, naybe things have changed, but once you get to the edge, it's pretty primitive. I was able to drive Jessica to different spots along the edge to get more picture, and I was never once told I shouldn't or couldn't be there. 

So as you might've guessed it, as you're traveling south you start loosing elevation. Coming from HWY 191 to Goosenecks St Park, there's really no big climbs you have to do or crazy switchbacks you have to go through, you simply keep driving on the plateau until you get to the edge. The river flows a total of 6 miles or so on a 1.5 mile stretch (Straight Line) and the elevation from the top of the canyon to the river is about 1000ft or so. Pretty impressive, and very underated place that I bet a whole lot of people pass by real close on their way to Monuments Valley

[JoeLAW]

Oh man, I just read back on the thread and realized I gave the very broad and quick summary of this trip...  

Oh well, gonna close this trip and then get back to the tech/mechanical/upgrade side of this thread.. My bad!

I also just realized that I did not post all the pictures I took from the 50th EJS. So I will do that after this trip

Edited December 8, 2024 by JoeLAW
Forgot to add something

[JoeLAW]

Allllrighty, back to out regularly scheduled programing 



These pics were taken right as you're passing through Mexican Hat, UT scenic as per usual.



Monuments Valley.. that place is pretty majestic,  as soon as I passed the "Forrest Gump Spot" I started getting very excited. There's a lot of places where you can pull out of the HWY to take in the views, some even big enough to have a couple of vehicles even pulling trailers.



Of course I had to stop and take a couple of pictures of Jessica with those iconic backgrounds. I kept driving to the entrance of the Monument, thinking I would be able to drive closer to some of the monoliths, and that was when I realized how complicated it is to do so. Instead I decided to take as many pics as I could without entering and keep on trucking south towards Chinle, AZ

[JoeLAW]

So I said farewell to Monuments Valley, and started trucking towards Chinle, AZ



Here comes another set of scenic views from the route I took.

I was rushing at this part, because my headlights at the time were still the original ones, which were dim to say the least. I bet a candle in a mason jar would have been brighter 

[JoeLAW]

Well, I got into Chinle, AZ at around 9PM or so, I got some food and went straight to the Cottonwood campground. The next day I got up and early and started driving up along the rim of the Canyon.

I spent a total of about 2hrs or so sightseeing and taking pics of the canyon at every lookout point on the South side of it. Once I was done, I started heading Southeast, only to find out the HWY turned into a dirt road, and started gaining elevation again driving into a forest. I was a bit nervous, since I did not fill up in Chinle, AZ and I had about half a tank left, plus 5gals on a jerry can I brought with me, but I remebered I had seen a gas station in the small town of Sawmill, AZ. So I went ahead and ventured on.



I ended up getting to Sawmill, AZ with about 1/8th of a tank, and filled up there, from there I went all the way down to Gallup, NM where I jumped back on I-40 where I ran into a group of oooollld cars I want to say from the 20s-30s going Westbound and that was the last highlight of the trip.

[jeff351]

my wife and I were out there in southern Utah last month. Absolutely loved it. Photos of the Grand Canyon and monuments don't do it justice.

[pizzaman09]

Absolutely fantastic trip!  Reminds me of buying my first Comanche that we drove through that way on the way home.  I have lots of pics of it in Monument valley, many of those photos were featured in the bring a trailer and when we sold it.

 

I really want to get my stock Comanche out there some day to drive it on the slick rock.

[M.T.Hands]

Man that sounds like a trip, Love it

[jeff351]

I'm 100% jealous of your adventures.  

[JoeLAW]

Allright guys, this next post will be of all the pictures from the 50th EJS back in 2016. I will try to keep it as MJ related as I can. Enjoy!  



Day 1 which was the Monday of that week started by driving around and watching a bunch of Jeeps, from magazine ones to stock classics and everything in between. I 1st started with this XJ that was the main reason of why I got my bumper. Funny that the paintjobs are inverted. 



From there I we went to the Moab 4x4 Outpost ("Back in the Day") and saw this clean Scrambler, not an MJ but still a Jeep truck before the new Gladiators came out.





From the "M4O" I decided to take my friend over to Arches NP because just doing the drive on its own is amazing. And while checking stuff out and sight seeing, I bumped into what looked like the whole fleet of Jeep Concept vehicles at the Delicate Arch parking, and took all these pics of them. Very nice builds and fun vehicles.



After checking out the concept Jeeps, I took some pics (Of course a poser flexing shot as well) with the famous Delicate Arch in the background, went on a couple of little trails and started heading back towards the exit, stopping at different points doing little hikes here and there, and over all just trying to check out as much of the park as possible.



From Arches, we started heading back into town, and I noticed there was some sort of get-together/car show/event over at the Blue Pig BBQ Restaurant, so of course we went down there to check it out. Once there there was a whole lot of badass rigs. From concepts, to Magazine featured vehicles. At the time I had the intention of maybe doing a 4BT Cummins swap on Jessica, and when I saw some JKs with the Bruiser convertion done to them I got pretty excited and took a whole lot of picks of the whole rig. Trying to get as much details as possible. I only posted the one of the engine, since I took about 100 pics of that rig alone.

All these pics and events were of Monday alone of the 50th Easter Jeep Safari, Tuesday of that week coming up 

[JoeLAW]

On 12/8/2024 at 4:32 PM, jeff351 said:

my wife and I were out there in southern Utah last month. Absolutely loved it. Photos of the Grand Canyon and monuments don't do it justice.

Agreed, pics do not do justice to being there. But, I take as many for future memories, and to share with people that might not ever be able to do get out there, and for the ones that are thinking about it, maybe give them that motivation to actually go do it!

Thanks for the kind replies guys, hope you keep enjoying the EJS posts 

[JoeLAW]

Well, after getting back to the Hotel Monday night, I started researching through Facebook for what events might be happening for the rest of the week, since that Blue Pig BBQ car show was announced on there. And I found out that there was gonna be a Crawl Magazine trail ride on Tuesday over at Area BFE, so of course I had to go check it out, and it Did not dissapoint!



I got there about 45mins before the announced time and there was already a line to get in and a whole lot vehicles already inside getting lined up. 



Once I was in, I just kind of parked close to the entrance but trying not to be in the way of anyone. I really just wanted to check out the scene and all the rigs. Since I know the type of hardcore trails and wheeling that gets down in Area BFE, well before I knew it another MJ was parked next to me so I had to snap a pic.



Well, all the famous Jeeps started showing up so I started snapping pics, and talking to people. I was able to introduce myself to Larry McRae original founder of Poyson Spyder, super cool guy to talk to, and super badass LJ he has. While talking to him John Herrick, (Main Dude from Crawl Mag) asked me which trail I was gonna do, and I told him none, since Jessica was a pretty mild build, and had no lockers. And he pretty much forced/convinced me into doing their easiest trail run, and so I got lined up and off we went. Since we were the smallest group we took off 1st and I got to parade around all the baddest Jeeps around at the time. 



So, off we went, this was our group, which had a mix of almost all types of mild builds, however the smallest tire size besides mine was 35" and everyone had lockers on that group. This blue TJ was right in front of me, so needless to say I was a little intimidated of what the trail had in store for us, specially being the 2nd day there, and knowing I had to drive this thing 10hrs back home. LOL  Well, now years later I know we did part of Strike Ravine, which is now closed I think, or at least part of it.. And now I look at the requirements from the RedRock 4Wheel Club, and it requires a min tire size of 35" and at least one locker. Well, funny thing is I did the whole run with 1 LSD in the rear, and 33s. Not gonna say I walked throught it, but I never pulled cable, and as a matter of fact there was an ARB Jeep AEV 4 door truck, that got stuck in one part and I actually had to pull him out, which I though it was funny because of course it had ARB lockers front and rear, and 35s but the weight and ground clearance is what got him. 



Anyways, after finishing the run, we went back to the main parking lot, where there was gonna be raffles and what not, and I found the Diesel Brothers SuperSix Truck, so of course I had to snap a pic of it. Not too long after I took the pic, they showed up on the BroDozer, and I was able to take a couple of pics with almost all the crew of guys at the time. I was glad to see that they were actually using their builds, and were not only for the TV show. Great group of dudes, which are down to earth.



Well, it started getting to crowded and very very windy, so we decided to take off back to town, but not before snapping a pic of the sign, specially since I was rocking the BFGs 



While dricing into town I spotted the Metalcloak CTI trailer, and saw there was a short line to get on it, so of course I had to try it! I spotted this badass CJ-7 which came all the way from.. did you check the plates? Canada! it was a nnice build that gets used, while being flexed by the trailer, the hood popped off which was kind of funny, but I took a whole lot of pics, because at the time a very good friend of mine was right in the middle of doing a 1 ton axle swap on his LJ. While taking pics of the whole suspension setup I notice that the transfer case was a "Stak 4x4" Unit, which were made in my hometown of El Paso, TX. Man who would've though, from El Paso, all the way to Canada and we met in Moab, UT. Anyways, now it was my turn to get on the trailer.



I forgot the score I got, nothing to be to excited about, however I did get complimented from the guy operating the hydraulic lifts of the trailer and taking the notes for the score. He though I had a long arm setup and when he saw my conglomeration of stuff, he noticed how there was almost no binding anywhere, and the only thing he recommended was extending the front bump stops to not stuff the tire into the fender, did I listen to him? Not a all I need all the flex!!! 



Well from there I decided to go find Potato Salad Hill, and see the action there. And it almost seemed like a lie, I got there and there was only the famous Toyota dude that that's all he does during the whole EJS week, and one other Jeep just debating whether or not he should give it a try. Well, not 2mins went by when Chris Durham showed up with his new 2Door ChopTop JK Build (At the time) Along with Tony Pellegrino from GenRight and his badass LSX powered JKU, both of them showed up did the climb real quick and rowdy, Chris went down then came up it a 2nd time, they both laughed and took off because the weather was starting to come down with a very cold almost snow/rain mix and lots of wind.



Heading out of there and back into town I took these 2 pics just because I thought the scenery was cool. I headed back down to town because I had signed up for a free Quadratec sponsored BBQ Dinner at the high school baseball field, where we ran into more Jeeping celebs and good people.



And there I saw Fred Williams Summer Camp Jeep, I just love this Jeep, and Fred is quite the character super cool dude, hope to one day wheel with him.


Well this was day ✌️ of my 50th EJS experience back in 2016, 8 years ago! Stay tuned for the rest, have a good evening

[JoeLAW]

Sorry guys been a little while but the holidays... Here comes day 3 of my 50th EJS Experience back in 2016.

My Friends were arriving on this day, they took off Tuesday afternoon after work and started on the trek from El Paso, TX up to Moab, and they had wuite the trip, with snow and ice on the way up. But they never backed out and stayed on it and ended up driving all night to get to Moab at around 7AM. We met up at Mickey D's had breakfast and Me again looking through events posted on Facebok, I noticed that the photographers for Jeep were gonna be taking pictures of Jeeps 25yrs and older at Baby Lions Back, so 1989 made the cut and I went and a couple of the buds tagged along. Once there I found a whole bunch of Flatties, some CJs, a Jeepster, a mail Jeep and a Jeep Gladiator the OG ones, specially since at the time the JL was merely a concept.. Here are the pics of that event.

 

 

After hanging out there for a little while and checking out the classic Jeeps, we set out to town and stopped at the TrueValue parking lot to check out the Jeep concepts.



These were my favorites from that year. After that we took off to the campground where my buddies had reserved a couple of spots to setup their campsites. We had planned to go run Hells Revenge that day 1st time for everyone of us but they were pretty beat from driving all night, so they were not very motivated to go wheeling... So I just told them I was gonna go, and whoever wanted to follow was welcome, sooner than later they started prepping their rigs and we set off the Trailhead. Here are the pics that followed our 1st venture on the World Famous Hells Revenge trail.

 

 

Man have these rigs changed.. These are my best buds/family and at the time they were basically breaking in the new 37s to them. We all thought we were good to go and did not need anything else done to their rigs to make them more capable, ohhhh how wrong we were lol.. 

 

This is my buddy "Airwheeling" on the Devil's Hot Tub lol.  That hole is very intimidating once you're actually there.. I know there's a whole lot of videos on youtube but believe me none do it any justice..

 

 

A couple of poser shots for the gram

 

 

And the pic at another world famous Mickey's Hot Tub, this one is a deceiving one, because it looks small and short, very doable but once you're in it it's not that easy to get out of there. It's tight and you pretty much have to go full driver side trying to get out of it.

 

As you can tell by the pics, we actually drove in to Hells at around 4PM or so, we did not goo all the way out to Hell's Gate, because the sun was setting, and since none of us had ever been there before we did not feel comfortable venturing there and then having to come back. After going down a very very steep descent I think it is called "Dragons Tail" we ended up at "Escalator" one of the guys in our group decided to try it, needless to say he got pretty stuck to a point where we had to winch him out. As soon as we got him out, it turned dark on us, I was still rocking the original sealed beam headlights, and the only auxiliary lighting I had was the two Rigid Duallys Spot lights, so I told my buddy with his TJ and assortment of lightbars along with LED headlights first to lead us out. After going through the "Tip Toe" in the dark without even knowing we went through it.. My buddy was stopping every couple of minutes checking and checking and checking on his phone to make sure we weren't lost. We kept loosing time this way so I decided to take the lead, and ended up leading our small pack till we got to the exit, and man that exit is pretty gnarly, specially in the dark and with $#!&ty lights. All in all it was a bitchin experience, and I definitely recommend to everyone to go try this trail out. My MJ was mildly modified and did great on most of it.

 

 

[JoeLAW]

This brings us to Thursday, 1st Vendor show day (And best time from all my EJS experiences to go) I had read on an older article from an old Petersens 4Wheel and Off Road Magazine (Ohh the good old days when magazines existed..) About tips and tricks whenever you go to EJS. And I followed it to the "T", or at least tried to.. One of things they mentioned was to spend a day at the vendor show and not plan anything but to be there all day, that way you could enjoy it. And that I did, we went in early to find OK parking, and I did, we got into the arena at 7:45AM found good parking, got out and started checking eeeverything out. Literally from vendor to vendor, booth to booth, checking every rig, gadget, upgrade, tool... Anything they were promoting, and even stuff they weren't promoting. Anything that caught my eye I took a pic of it, even the axleshafts Currie Enterprises uses as anchors for their tent. At the time, I didn't know if that was gonna be my only time I would be able ot go to such event, so I literally took it all in. Here are the pics to follow, I may have to split this one in 2 posts just because of all the pics I want to show you guys. (Even though this was 9 years ago now ) Maybe some of you will find ideas out of these pics, you never know..

 

Well we started early, and I started with the vendors outside on the parking lot of the arena, and since I am a fanboy the 1st stop had to be BFGoodrich, and the 1st jeep that caught my eye was this old Willys pickup, that was exceptionally built. They built it around a JK frame probably a Rubicon since it was sporting front and Rear D44s, it had a regular 5.3LS in it and the lovely BGF project tires, I'm not sure why but I just love the way those tires look. After buying some apparel and getting some swag it was time to move on to the next one.

 

 

By now this is old news, but then this was one of those, "Why didn't I think of this?" moments for me. So I snapped a pic for reference and inspiration, because at the time I was wanting to build a rear bumper with a swing out tire carrier on it. I sincerely like this idea, not just for a spare tire carrier, but any sort of swing out accessory you'd like to mount on any part of a vehicle, specially since it's tuneable simple, and plenty strong, plus if you ever were to break a bearing for any sort or reason, you could find a replacement bearing even at tractor supply or Walmart if you build it with a very that thought in your mind of course.

 

 

See this is the type of stuff I am talking about, like only Currie Enterprises would think of doing stuff like this. Why? Well, because they can, also I can only imagine the amount of spare and throw away parts they must have sitting somewhere forgotten in some sort of storage..

 

 

After checking out all the vendors that had setup outside it was time to go inside, little side note here. All 3 times I've been to EJS it gets chilly in the morning, which on that day it was, but every time I walk inside the temperature just feels like 10 degrees cooler than outside. So little advice take a warm hoodie/jacket or something with you, because your lightweight windbreaker will not cut it once you're inside. Allrighty back on the captions, look what I ran into! The "Tomken" Manche! I remember looking at this one featured in magazines, and also on background pics at events and trail rides. At the time I was fabbing up the sliders for Jessica, so I took a bunch of pics from these and I really liked their setup. I didn't quite copy it, but I was definitely inspired by them. 

 

After walking all the aisles inside, we went back out to check out even more vendors on the backside of the arena. By the time we had finished checking out the whole vendor show it was 2-3PM and we were quite hungry. So I decided to head back into town and have a burger at "Milts stop and eat" anytime you're passing through Moab you have to stop there and have a burger or at least a shake, just simply delicious made to order right in front of you. Although I do gotta say it's always packed no matter the time of year always busy, but totally worth the wait. Afterwards my buddy was pretty tired from all the walking we did and decided to kick it back at the hotel. By the time I unloaded all the swag and stuff I had bought my buddies had finished their trail and were on their way to the arena to check out the vendor show. So I went back to hang out with them and see what we might win at the raffle (Nothing...)

 

 

Once back at the show I saw this flattie wich I remembered had done either Cane Creek trail or Poison Spider the day before because I saw posts of it wheeling up it on some social media outlet. After I checked it all out, trying to look for something special hiding under that fascia, I found nothing! This thing is really what it is (Or was..) A stock flattie with the GoDevil engine and the only performance upgrades it had were lockright lockers, nothing else, stock leafs, shackles, shocks, wheels, lights, seats, steering linkage, driveshafts... I guess the only other aftermarket part or modification is the hardtop and doors. And of course the allmighty "Caguama" 32oz beer bottle as a radiator overflow tank. I loved this Jeep and the fact that it was a complete underdog but still getting the job done with newer JKs. I'd like to see a stock JK 30-40 years from then doing the same things the flattie did that year.

 

 

Now on to parking lot sightings, at the time these Jeeps were causing all the commotion all through the social medias, needless to say they were wheeling all the time so it was hard to find them somewhere sitting still, on the way to Milt's I saw them on their hotel parking lot so since it was my only opportunity to snap a pic with my truck next to them I pulled in and did it. Crazy how my truck on 33s and a pieced together 4.5" lift is just about 4" shorter than any of those 3 rigs sitting on 54" tires. And yes of course all 3 of those have chop tops, but I just really like the way low COG (Center Of Gravity) builds look and perform.

 

 

Once I was back at the arena waiting for my buds, I started walking around the parking lot checking out rigs. Needless to say I spotted this MJ and of course I had to snap a couple of pics of it. I was a pretty nice clean build, I left my info on his window, but never heard from the owner. I took a pic of his sliders, specially the tube portion of it which I still am on the fence of doing it.

 

 

From that I spotted this flattie which is another low COG build but on leaf springs! This one had a different set of axles from another fullsize rig. I want to guess came from a Dodge M37 because of the bolt pattern and wheels. And even though this is a leaf spring suspension setup this doesn't mean it's any less custom than a linked rig on one ton axles and 40s. just look at how the front spring shackles are built outboard of the bumper/frame to have the best possible approach angle, shock hoops for longer travel shocks and the cage! This was another exceptional build that I wish I could see it in action.

 

 

Another couple of Old Iron favorites of mine that were definitely being enjoyed. Most people refer to these types of rigs as "I love the way that Jeep is being used" but I prefer to refer to it as being enjoyed, yes you're using it, and they're not wrong for using that term. But to me when someone has a classic rig of some sort, and they only "use" it to go to car shows, they are enjoying it the way they want to enjoy it. Some people enjoy building cars and showing them off, and some others like to build them and take them out on the trails, some take them on just scenic trails, and some others on harder trails more likely to damage their builds, but that is their way of enjoying them. Anyways... these 2 were some of my favorite old iron at the parking lot that day not only because they were rocking BFGs and the J20 rocking some badass TrailReady beadlocks (Super Fanboy of that combo here!  ) but they had dings, dents, scratches, fixes, upgrades.. Just from this picture you know that pair of rigs have had good days, I can only imagine the stories they could tell if they could talk. From this pic you can also spot all the differences from the red flattie posted above it. 

 

 

And last but not least, THIS was my favorite build of all the rigs I saw at the parking lot that year. It wasn't the flashiest, most expensive, biggest Jeep out there, but in my opinion it was the cleanest most capable new school upgrades with an oldschool twist build that I saw. I love the 80s/90s graphics paint job it had, the matching coils on the coilovers and matching beadlock rings, the Chris Durham hood, and the fact that it's a YJ in a sea of JKs and a lot of TJs made this catch my eye. 

 

Well look at this I was able to fit all the pics I wanted to show you guys from on this sole post. I might be getting better at this, hopefully someone enjoys these posts, and more than anything gets inspired by some of these. Let's go on to the next one!

[89 MJ]

28 minutes ago, JoeLAW said:

hopefully someone enjoys these posts

I do! One of these years I’ll need to head up to EJS with my MJ

[JoeLAW]

Well on to Friday, my 1st official EJS Trail that I had actually signed up for! Needless to say I was nervous, woke up real early had everything loaded up and ready on Jessica for a full trail day. I got to the meeting point and saw a whole lot of rigs with big tires axles and suspensions. And my 1st thought was "Oh nooo here we go again the Crawl Mag readers ride all over again.."  I got out of my truck, and the moment I got out I saw my trail leader barely pulling in on the other side of the road, ohhh what a relief! The trail leader for the bigger rig group had reached out to me by this time, and told me I had actually gotten there a bit early than I was supposed to, they were about to leave and then my group was gonna form in that same spot. I thanked him and he saw my sigh of relief to where he asked me what trail I had signed up for, I replied "Chicken Corners" and he said oh good good you'll have fun! To which I replied, what are y'all running? And he said Pritchett Canyon, to which I replied, well I think you guys are gonna have way more fun than I will! haha! Anyways, here come the pics of the "Chicken Corners" trail in Moab, UT.

 

 

We were told to meet at Cane Creek Rd, right past the Mickey Ds on the right. After everyone else got there, chit chatting and the drivers meeting we set off into the canyon, driving right next to the Colorado River heading West/Southwest with these beautiful views of the Red rock canyon contrasting against the calm waters of the Colorado River. Gotta say this was a pretty amazing start to a Friday trail day.

 

 

 

After passing by the trailheads of "Moab Rim" and "Pritchett Canyon" we ran into my buddies who were running "Cliffhanger" that day. This was a traffic jam I didn't mind being on a Friday morning.

 

 

We kept going on Cane Creek rd till we eventually hit dirt and I was able to take quite a few pics on the twisty canyon dirt rd of the caravan we had going on.

 

 

Eventually the canyon opened up and we were driving in the middle of a valley where we stopped at a pretty wide open spot to airdown. This spot was none other than the "Cane Creek" trailhead. We regrouped and chitchatted for a while making new friends and meeting new people while waiting for tires to get squishier for a better ride.

 

 

After airing down, we went up and over "Hurrah Pass" to stop at this old campground spot which at the time got downgraded to a day use area to pretty much picnic there, it was an OK spot were we stopped to have lunch and check out some of the rocks in the area. While being out of the way of the trail in case there was any more traffic going through it.

 

 

This is the spot from where this trail got it's name. This was the only obstacle on the whole trail, it was nothing more than a tight off camber small descent next to the edge on one side and a pretty bbig rock on the other side, that you have to keep going left unless you want to fall off to the Colorado River waaaay below as you can see on the picture. Which was not hard at all considering I had done part of "Strike Ravine" and "Hells Revenge" a couple of days before, I was a bit not impressed by this trail. I never put Jessica in 4WD but a couple of times in 4L for control on a couple of descents. However I will say this is a very nice mellow trail to bring out beginners and the whole family so they can enjoy the amazing views that Southeast Utah has to offer.

 

 

These were taken on the way back up to Hurrah Pass, yes you heard that right, this was an out and back trail, so if you're planning on doing this be prepared. Needless to say this is beautiful scenery, pretty much any where you look you have places where any picture you take will look pretty epic. On the 1st pic of this set you can see the "La Sal" mountains in the background looking a bit more snowed in than a light dusting which they had forecasted for that week.

 

 

Once back in town I wanted to head back to the True-Value parking lot to check out the Hellcat powered Jeep concept vehicle, and I remember sitting at the light trying to make a left for about 3 lights. Which by the next one I had ran out of patience, so as soon as I turned green I holeshoted it and as soon as I was turning in to the parking lot I got lighted by a COP   Of course I wait for him to come to my window, he was pretty worked up and yelled at me "What was I thinking?!" and I told him I really just want to check out that green Jeep and it's already getting loaded, this will be my last and only chance to see it up close and personal! That's the only reason why I did it. Needless to say he cut me a break and by the time I parked and got out of the truck, they had already loaded it. But at least I heard it rumble, and rumble it did!

 

This was my Friday 50th EJS experience, last post for today. Let's hope I have time this week to keep posting and hopefully move on with more updates on Jessica.