[smokem]

Hey there…

First of all I really appreciate the help received from the trail guides and others at the Moab UTV rally. What a fantastic time!!! Before arrival I realized that I really couldn’t be of much use to the trail guides because of my very limited experience and knowledge involved with UTV’s. Even if I had arrived 4-5 days prior to the event, it wouldn’t really be enough (IMHO) preparation for this. I arrived with 8 hours on my Ranger…half of which was used hauling Utah top soil (hard pan) half a mile up the street. A lot of the experienced folks had the added benefit of riding ATV’s prior to owning a side by side.

With the exception of the weather, I was doing fine until I saw that “off camber” section on the Seven Mile Rim trail on Wednesday. Gordy, Michael and Phil saved the day for me on that!!! Everything else on that trail I was able to get past. Later in the evening, a bunch of us in Rangers along with a RZR ran the trails behind Archview which just happened to involve an off camber that was as bad as the one earlier but I wouldn’t have rolled so far down. You’ve heard the expression; “Love at first sight”…? Well, that’s what I felt when we entered the sand dunes on Thursday’s e-z run! They’re tricky and need to be scouted prior to crossing them. I often found vertical drop off’s exceeding ten feet in height.

Poker run? Taking the rim trail was a challenge because heights bother me a great deal. I liked the small challenges that we encountered in order to reach # 4 ammo box.

The last day (Metal Masher) was the most challenging run of all! (Of course it meant taking that *** rim trail again.) The last couple hundred of feet climbing before getting to the Moab rim was a bit overwhelming for this novice. Watching a woman stand her ranger up on end and helping pull it back down didn’t boost my confidence any. I was beginning to wonder what the heck am I doing here! Another Ranger driver (John) from Ogden, Utah literally saved me from “throwing in the towel” when it comes to “intermediate riding.” Earlier, Michael had mentioned learning to use the gas/brake but hadn’t gotten into detail about it. John gave me a riding lesson with my Ranger (him driving) and taught me how to use the pedals simultaneously when rock crawling. What a difference that 10-minute lesson made in my operating a UTV. Prior to this, I’d been lurching up, down, and over rocks and ledges. Combined with the fact that every new sight/obstacle around the bend seemed to get worse then the last one…really stressed out some of us newbie’s. For me, it was like climbing a ladder of terror. Every step up that ridge became worse. When we stopped up on top and took a long break, it helped tremendously! I needed a chance (time) to settle down. When we headed down that ridge I was applying the knowledge learned from John’s 10-minute lesson and began gaining confidence in the capabilities of my machine in rock crawling. Next year, I will return to Metal Masher and will do the entire run again and conquer it!

When all is said and done, I think it went great!!! Sometimes we found our groups to be separated and lost but it wasn’t the trail guides/leader’s fault. On one ride, the person in front of me never checked behind to see where I was because they were barreling down the road to keep the person in front of them in sight. On another ride, this same rider kept an eye out for me. We were learning!

My wife looked at my few pics and I know she regretted being unable to attend this event. She WANTS to come to the next one in Moab!!!! Until then, we are planning to hook up with some new friends made recently (very!) and do the Alpine Loop in Colorado. She’s going to check her schedule and find a time slot for August that we could do it.

The sponsors were also terrific!!! I’d be willing to bet that for the next raffle, others will jump in and buy more tickets for the raffle. A few that purchased a hundred dollars of tickets got their money back in a big hurry!!!

On the other hand, I appreciate the magazine sponsor’s even more so. The prizes given away were terrific yet had it not been for the magazines, their coverage and free advertisements it wouldn’t have gotten off at such a great start. I’ve always hated bumper stickers and even dislike having an oil change sticker on my windshield. They can make a nice car look “a bit tacky” or a nice truck look “redneck.” However, I told Charlene Bower and SXS that if they wanted to…I will donate my new 07 Ranger XP, dual axle trailer, and my brand new Ford Expedition to them for free advertising. I will drive to their location and they can decorate/paint/decal their slogans on all! I don’t want anything in return for it, either. I believe it could be done “tastefully” …if you will. These magazines give me more knowledge/pleasure in the long run. They were the first to step up to the plate for us and they’re giving us (everyone) a real….home run! Prior to our rally, I never heard of “Sand Addiction” but it’s easy to understand how it could happen. My wife loved the pics of the dunes too and wants to go see/ride them.

As for the other little quirks that accompany 1st’s blah-blah-blah, there was a lot of confusion which group was which (e-Z, moderate, and difficult) I know some thought they were going on an easy ride but the intermediate ride hadn’t taken off! SURPRISE! “Empty your britches.” All groups were using the same departure area (by Yamaha trailer) On one ride, I had a young Rhino driver (of course everybody looks young to me) right on my bumper. I let him go by and give Bob & Karen a taste of his poor performance. Soon he’d passed all of the “mature riders” and for all I know he’s probably the one that sparked the flat out ride (race) back to Archview. A few tempers were flaring from time to time, but overall I’ve heard a lot of positive and happy comments. In all likelihood, my wife and I will be riding the trails together in Moab before the end of the year. When it cools down a bit… And finally…..it would have been terrific to have a Polaris tractor trailer there. I think they dropped the ball on this one… Oh well, like Nelson says, “the beat goes on….