Lake Havasu Desert Run

March 20 – 23, 2003

West Coast 4-Wheel Drive Members in Attendance:

John and Peg

Steve and Renie

Eric and Sharron

David Oh and Family

Alan and Judy

Friends, Jim and Evelyn Costa

We had a great time at the Havasu Desert Run.

The first run we did was a 4+ (might have been 4) trail called Topcat Pass. This was only the second or third time it had been run and they anticipated that we would be off the trail, if all was right, by 3 pm. The second was Presidents Choice, out of Parker. That was a 4+. Both runs required a first hand inspection to insure that the required lockers front and rear were actually there. Last year where lockers were required, we found some lied and figured they were locked up. This time, with the inspection, we were insured that those going met the requirements, This is where I found out I had a problem. You all know that I am pretty intense on keeping my rig right. Well, I missed something and it was found by "THEM". The short stub side of the long shaft on the front was spreading. But, only on one side. Putting my tail between my legs, I tightened up a few things, decided to make the run anyway. Just to make sure, I looked around for Jacks (CTM) number and could not find it. I knew that Paul had it and gave him a call. I made the call to Jack but did not get his reply until Sunday. Damn Cell Phone's.

Paul strengthend my feeling that things were good, so I took the opportunity and Renie and I did the run.

We met some friends from last year that knew we would be there and wanted to run the trails that we ran, again. That was kind of neat.

The first trail was completed on the way in by 10am. We had lunch anyway and were back at the road by noon. David and Eric had a bit of rock kissing on the left (drivers side) rear where they got a bit close. Other than that, things were too smooth and the leaders were a bit perplexed by what to do with the rest of the day. That was solved by one of the local members when his tire fell off whilst doing about 30 mph down the wash:)

The second trail (on Saturday) is 30 miles south in Parker. Rodney, out of Parker Four Wheelers met us right on time. He had a friend, Harley following him and they lead us across the trail. Rodney is a great wheeler and a guide that we have followed several times in the past. Really good driver. Harley is/was a great person. This person was the funniest person I have ever met. Really cracked us up on every turn. He is about the biggest person I have ever met too. He ate from the time we met to noon. Sheesh.

This is a very technical trail, and Rodney is a good leader and has a great time with folks. Everytime someone made a difficult climb, he was right there and cheering or guiding them on. Then, we made it to the last obstacle. This is called the "Launch Pad". But, just before that, we had a little thing to cross that seemed to be nothing special. Both John B and David Oh broke their front ends on it. John's break was an ARB that would not disengage. This was not a bad situation, but David's was a broken locker or a ring and pinion. I think the latter.

In any case, Rodney started up the Launch Pad. Right up at the top, and this thing is very steep, like steep enough that my gage does not register, his front end hopped. Things happened pretty quick then. What ever happened, Rodney was going over. Like 15-20' straight down. The front of the Jeep hood hit first but only by a second. The rest of the Jeep came to rest on his roll bar. We were at the Jeep in a second and had him out. Harley damn near pushed the Jeep apart to get him out. Rodney was OK. He had a dog in the rig that disappeared. We think it was home before we got his rig righted.

I was right there so we had the rig turned back over in a few minutes, and any mess cleaned up. All the good stuff was put in one bag and the trash in another, including the windshield.

Then things got more interesting. We had to have a person at the top. We knew that most of the rest of the group was not going to drive up the hill, so I went up. I had to just for my own self esteem. I turned around and we ran a winch to everyone, just in case. Harley came up after me without the winch and anchored to me. All the time he was motoring up, he was cussing out Rodney for making him nervous. Most of the rigs did not need it, but being tied in helped for sure. But David was broke and needed it and Eric felt he needed it. I then winched up Rodney's rig and we were out of there.

That was the trip. Great time, great trip, great friends. I think that was it.