Day Four
The trail was a little further from the hotel, which meant more pavement before we hit the dirt. This didn't discourage Sam, who had taken his Jeep off the trailer to drive it to the trailhead of Tabasco Twister. Homer Van Zandt and Jim's brother, Fred, were our trail leaders.
The Twister made radial tire sidewalls look like papier-mache. Our group had an uncountable number of flats. Tire-plugs in the sidewalls were hard to keep in because the sharp rocks would pull them out and, in some cases, make the holes bigger. Jody broke a front-axle U-joint early on but made repairs to take up the back of the pack. One of the locals broke a pitman arm so Jim hung back to help make repairs with Sam and his onboard welder. The Toyotas didn't seem at all flustered by the rock ledges, but the fullsize and short-wheelbase vehicles had troubles. The end of the trail didn't come until way after dark, and many drivers' nerves were frazzled.
We also learned that each vehicle worked really well on at least one trail and not so well on at least one trail. While Dan's YJ was a dream on all the other trails, the Twister was not his. It has a never-ending supply of rocky waterfalls that offers good traction but likes to grab skidplates, mufflers, and anything else in between the axles. | 
Fred was our mid gunner in his CJ-5, which has more history in the area than the trail we were on. There were a few ledges that required a hook for almost everyone except the Toyotas and Sam. | 
Not far into the trail, one of the local CJs suffered a cracked pitman arm. Sam whipped out his Premier Power Welder and several people went to work to reconnect the steering wheel to the front tires. |