moab 2005_whiteknight.ca

"Moab-2005"

Moab 2005- what a great trip!!!!!!Our drive down wasn’t too bad except …wouldn’t you know it……the new tow rig needed a new clutch fan by the time we got to Moab. I think overheating and our tow rigs are just meant to be...I didn't get tons of pictures but did get over 7 hours of video from the whole trip. A lot of this video will be used for the 2005 DVD but I have added a clip to the site. Will add something to music later on.

Our first stop was at the World Extreme Rock Crawling Event. We arrived Thursday March 17. It was at the BFE area. Camped out with the competitors and judges on the lower end. It was awesome to meet and talk to the likes of Walker Evans, Tracy Jordan, Bruce Zeller , the Red Bull Team etc….. the top rock crawling teams in the world. It's a totally different world from ours. These buggies were amazing and so small. Everyone was so friendly. Met Jeremy from BFE films - who owns the land where the comp was held. Met many people we corresponded on the net with. It was great!. The course was insane!!!!! Talk about extreme !!!!!!. First day- Robin and Steven were doing recovery from the A-5 to the B-5 area. Let me tell you they worked. With a course this extreme there were many roll overs etc. I was down video taping in the pit with the media. They had several courses going on at once. Talk about action all around us. I believe there were about 50-60 rigs entered. On day one, the weather was nice. Only 3 rigs made it up B5- an insane climb with wholes that swallowed 49’s in between. Day two was nasty. It started raining which turned the ground into a pool of nasty mud. The rigs had to climb from mud to rock in the rain…..then it started hailing hard and snowing. The carnage that resulted from this was unreal. No one made it up B5 on day 2. After the last recovery…Robin decided to hammer around in the course and busted the front passengers side….inner/outer,u-joint .. It got so muddy , many people with their motor homes had an incredible time getting out of the area. We really enjoyed being there. Thanks to everyone for being so friendly. After 2 days of unbelievable action, it was time to move to our next stop ......

We were hooking up with the 2004 TTC competitors. We knew that after meeting these guys last year, we were hooking up with a great group of guys..…Now to fix the Knight. We went to our new camping spot on Monday . Robin started to replace the shafts ( we are trying the Yukon 4340’s ) and then realized that we forgot our toolbox. Thankfully, Brad Austin and family showed up…….they didn’t just show up…they showed up with 6 built JEEPS and every tool you could think of. Proceeded to change the shafts when we noticed the company that sold them to us sent us the wrong inner. Drove around town most of the day and believe it or not NO ONE had a chevy inner short side on Safari Jeep Easter week in Moab!!!!!. We had to get one flown in from Randy’s. The rest of the crew drove in by Tuesday-Rob R., Mark, T-Rex, Jeepzilla, Jimmy brought his friend with a cool looking older suburban ( mini Digger). Four Wheeler TV and Four Wheeler Magazine hooked up with us on Wednesday We were going to run Hell's Revenge when Rob Ruttledge was getting his cruiser ready...something was up. His engine was seized!!!. He hauled it all the way from Saskatchewan and then had to leave it on the trailer for the entire trip. We felt so bad for him. His co-driver from TTC , Mark, had his new buggy....awesome build. Steve Watson from Offroad Design started out with us but had to leave due to issues with his rig. Started out when we lost half of the crew. While we waited we did Devil's Gate . Our turn came to go back up and once again it started hailing like crazy. Found the rest of the guys and headed towards the hot tubs. Brad and brothers gave it a good shot. No one was able to make it up. Robin tried the tub and rolled it . The bottom of the tub had this sludge of oil, grease and crap from previous rolls. The wall was slick with grease from other people trying it. The worst part was when he was upside down in that muck with his head covered up to his eyes until the guys got his 5 point harness off. Gross!. The truck was covered in this grease. The cage held up ...has a few scars though. Thanks to Dan Dibble , the Austins and everyone that helped get the rig out. It was hard to see after the roll. Off we went to the escalator. That's when Jeepzilla rolled. Again, thanks to Dan Dibble , the Austin's and everyone who helped. We spent the next day cleaning that goop off the truck. It took hours .Since it was another cold rainy day , we hit the 4x4 expo. What a great set up. There was every 4x4 vendor you could think off there. It was great!!!!!!

Here are a couple of small video clip. One rolling at the Hot Tub and the other going up Hell's Gate. After the Hummer made his attempts , it started hailing...it was our turn.

and more pics

Friday- a few of us decided to hit Prichet Creek. I love this trail!!!!!Great scenery , some good obstacles. We started out late and only went half way. We started to turn back when the thunder , lightening and rain was coming down hard. It turned so greasy . Waterfalls started coming down the hills....we were warned of flash flooding and tried to get the bleep out of there. The mud was so red .The very end was a winch fest for many as the traffic of trucks trying to get out lined up. Then the snow started. I mean heavy snow. It was like the twilight zone as we were getting out. Waterfalls were happening on the rode to the trail. The cops closed some of the highways to the campsites due to white out conditions. We got 4-6 inches. Our tent collapsed on us more than once during the night due to the heavy snow.

This was on the way back from Prichet Canyon. Had to brighten up the pics as it was really dark.

We decided to leave Saturday afternoon....all our stuff was drenched . We lived in water, snow and hail for 10 days but had a blast!!!! We want to go back..there was so much more to do...... Hopefully, the weather will be better next time :)

April 9,2005-Here are some pics from Dan Dibble. Thanks Dan!!! A link to his photo album DAN DIBBLE