Thanksgiving Weekend of Wheeling 2011
11-28-2011, 05:10 PM
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Thanksgiving Weekend of Wheeling 2011
Typically, our family uses the Thanksgiving weekend to visit relatives but, because of our son's school and work schedule, we decided to change things up and just stay at home and relax. That is, that was the plan up until we got a call from Mel at Off Road Evolution who asked if we'd be interested in a last minute banzai run out to Laughlin. The plan was to run the Old Mojave Trail in a day on Friday, stay the night at a casino, do a run down in the Parker, Arizona area on Saturday and then come back home by Sunday afternoon. And, for the most part, that's exactly what we did only, we threw in one more run on Sunday and ended up coming home late that night. Here are some pics from our Thanksgiving weekend of wheeling, I hope you enjoy.
After hooking up for some breakfast at the Outpost Cafe, we topped off our takes and got ready to head out...
Airing down and getting ready to head out across the desert - next stop, Laughin, Nevada 150 miles away...
Making a stop over at the Travelers Monument...
Checking to see if there was any good mail at the Old Mojave Road mailbox...
Even though we didn't get rolling until about 11:30 AM, we were still able to make it all the way to the end of the trail by sundown...
Home for the night...
As luck would have it, there was an aweseome fireworks show that night...
On Saturday, we headed down to Parker to play on some of the trails. Here we are airing down before taking on the Presidents Choice trail...
At the trailhead and ready to roll...
Moby getting in a little stretch before hitting the rocks...
Mel in EVO 1 taking on the first real set of rocks with ease...
Working Moby around a tight turn...
Mel getting creative to get through this tight turn...
Presidents Choice is a fun but short trail and, even though we took on every obstacle it had to offer, there was still plenty of time to head on out to the world famous, Desert Bar...
On our way back to Laughlin, we decided to check out some of the trails in the Havasu area and was able to snap this pic of Mel taking on a crazy obstacle just before the sun went down...
Mel riding off into the sunset...
Have I ever mentioned how much I love Truck-Lite LED's - if not, they are awesome at lighting the way!!
It's a little blury but, here's a shot of us crossing London Bridge on our way home after a delicious dinner at Barley Brothers...
Sunday morning - Checking out our once beautiful color matched bead lock rings. Now that they've been broken in, it's time to beat them up some more...
While the original plan was to head back early enough to get home some time before dark, we decided to throw wisdom out the window and get one more run in instead...
Mel having some fun on the rocks...
Getting Moby all twisted up...
On our way to look for more fun...
The original plan was to just get a high mark on this 6' vertical buggy obstacle but, we ended up getting Mel all the way to the top and without the help of a winch...
Mel assuming the launch position...
An undercut on the passenger side rear tire made the last push to the top a real challenge...
But, Mel was able to make it all the way up...
Just to give this ledge some real scale...
Even at the top, there was some more hard wheeling that needed to be done to finish up this obstacle...
Mel taking on the Can Opener...
Showing off how badass Nitto Mud Grapplers are by traversing this vertical rock face with the shoulder lugs alone...
Finishing it up with some BIG flex...
Time to get Moby through...
One wrong move had me sliding off and dropping my passenger side door into the rocks - OUCH...
I'm sure it'll buff right out...
To help prevent even more damage, Mel hooks up his winch to the rocker guard and helps pull me away to work myself out of this sticky situation...
Moby getting some big flex coming off the obstacle...
It's hard to tell in photos but, this waterfall was technical, steep and had a big drop toward the bottom. But, Mel decided to give a try anyway...
With the sun going down fast, we decided to call it a day and head on out - maybe next time...
After hooking up for some breakfast at the Outpost Cafe, we topped off our takes and got ready to head out...
Airing down and getting ready to head out across the desert - next stop, Laughin, Nevada 150 miles away...
Making a stop over at the Travelers Monument...
Checking to see if there was any good mail at the Old Mojave Road mailbox...
Even though we didn't get rolling until about 11:30 AM, we were still able to make it all the way to the end of the trail by sundown...
Home for the night...
As luck would have it, there was an aweseome fireworks show that night...
On Saturday, we headed down to Parker to play on some of the trails. Here we are airing down before taking on the Presidents Choice trail...
At the trailhead and ready to roll...
Moby getting in a little stretch before hitting the rocks...
Mel in EVO 1 taking on the first real set of rocks with ease...
Working Moby around a tight turn...
Mel getting creative to get through this tight turn...
Presidents Choice is a fun but short trail and, even though we took on every obstacle it had to offer, there was still plenty of time to head on out to the world famous, Desert Bar...
On our way back to Laughlin, we decided to check out some of the trails in the Havasu area and was able to snap this pic of Mel taking on a crazy obstacle just before the sun went down...
Mel riding off into the sunset...
Have I ever mentioned how much I love Truck-Lite LED's - if not, they are awesome at lighting the way!!
It's a little blury but, here's a shot of us crossing London Bridge on our way home after a delicious dinner at Barley Brothers...
Sunday morning - Checking out our once beautiful color matched bead lock rings. Now that they've been broken in, it's time to beat them up some more...
While the original plan was to head back early enough to get home some time before dark, we decided to throw wisdom out the window and get one more run in instead...
Mel having some fun on the rocks...
Getting Moby all twisted up...
On our way to look for more fun...
The original plan was to just get a high mark on this 6' vertical buggy obstacle but, we ended up getting Mel all the way to the top and without the help of a winch...
Mel assuming the launch position...
An undercut on the passenger side rear tire made the last push to the top a real challenge...
But, Mel was able to make it all the way up...
Just to give this ledge some real scale...
Even at the top, there was some more hard wheeling that needed to be done to finish up this obstacle...
Mel taking on the Can Opener...
Showing off how badass Nitto Mud Grapplers are by traversing this vertical rock face with the shoulder lugs alone...
Finishing it up with some BIG flex...
Time to get Moby through...
One wrong move had me sliding off and dropping my passenger side door into the rocks - OUCH...
I'm sure it'll buff right out...
To help prevent even more damage, Mel hooks up his winch to the rocker guard and helps pull me away to work myself out of this sticky situation...
Moby getting some big flex coming off the obstacle...
It's hard to tell in photos but, this waterfall was technical, steep and had a big drop toward the bottom. But, Mel decided to give a try anyway...
With the sun going down fast, we decided to call it a day and head on out - maybe next time...
11-28-2011, 05:27 PM
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As always, great pics and a great write-up. I'm glad you finally popped the cherry on those nice white rings. I think they look better with rock rash anyhow. Can you tell me a bit more about that desert bar or a link for it? Thanks for posting up!
11-29-2011, 08:32 AM
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Looks like a great time! Great pics and play by play, thanks for taking those of us who's rigs will never be able to get through there with ya. Gotta love it!
11-29-2011, 09:13 AM
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Agreed I can't get enough of these pictures! When I am bored, I always shoot over to project-jk and check out the galleries. I love wheeling in the woods out here in jersey, but something about the desert and those rocks!!! 
I can't get enough of these pictures! When I am bored, I always shoot over to project-jk and check out the galleries. I love wheeling in the woods out here in jersey, but something about the desert and those rocks!!!
