Jeep Safari 2009

Every year for about the last 9 years Chase and his friends go down to Moab for the Jeep Safari. I had never been and in fact, I have only been to Moab one time and I was asleep the whole time. So this year Chase and his friends kept up the tradition and planned to go down again. So thursday after work, we packed all of our things in Stephen and Anisha's trailer and headed out.

It was a really long drive, and Chase tried to kill us only one time. =] But luckily his fantastic driving skills pulled through and we survived. It was actually a pretty big group that ended up going, even though the majority of them ditched out right before we were supposed to leave. It was me and Chase, Rick and Heather and their two little girls, BJ and Jill, Matt and Lynsey, Clark and Brett, and a few other stragglers that seemed to come and go. Matt and Lynsey have a jeep so Chase and I were able to ride with them, and everyone else had some sort of off roading atv. Either a Ranger, a Rhino, or a Razor. (Don't worry I had no idea what they were until I saw them.)

We did a few trails and they were all really fun. I was worried I wouldn't like it, but I only jumped out of the jeep on one scary part... the rest I toughed out. On Saturday we were on a trail and all of the sudden it started hailing SO HARD. Luckily, Lynsey and I were cuddled in the back of the jeep with a huge quilt and I was wearing a hoody and a coat and a hat, so I wasn't effected much. Chase and Matt on the other hand were in the front of the jeep and they were soaked! Chase didn't even have a hood on his sweatshirt! They both looked like they had just jumped out of a lake.

On the way back Matt asked me if I wanted to drive back. I don't think he thought I would actually say yes, because he asked Chase first, Lynsey next, and finally got to me. And of course I was all down to test my rock climbing skills. So I drove all the way down the trail and I had SO MUCH FUN! Now I know why everyone loves it so much! I would much rather drive! We finally got off the rocky area and made it to the part where its just a pretty mild dirt road. So I cruised on that part pretty fast and then we got to a little S turn in the road and it was on a really steep incline. And of course me being the fantastic stick driver that I am, I killed it right on the edge of the cliff on this HUGE incline. Don't panic I thought, Chase is sitting right next to you and will talk you through it. You will be fine. So, I looked over to Chase for him to confirm my thoughts, and he had already bailed. He was standing on the side of the road shaking his head. NICE CHASE!!! Leave your wife and child to die while you stand by and watch. So after I whined and nagged him for a few seconds he jumped back in and I did FINE. At least now I know how much faith my husband has in me. =]

That night there was a surprise visitor in the campground. We saw a bunch of flashing police lights, so BJ walked over and talked to the cop and while he was over there we heard a gun shot. A few minutes later he came back and said there was a Cougar that has been coming into town and they found it and were trying to take it down. The one gun shot was them shooting it, which they hit it in the leg and wounded it and it took off. So of course all the guys got on their little atv's and went cougar hunting. Apparently after about 6 shots they took it down and it must have been a very old cougar because all of its teeth were all worn down and flat.

We made the long trip home on Sunday, and over all I had a great time. Now Chase wants to sell his bullet bike and buy a jeep to fix up which is absolutely fine with me. I didn't take too many pictures, it rained alot so I was scared to bring it out, but I will post the ones I have soon!