Ultimate Adventure 2001

It wasn't the first and won't be the last ticket this group gets. We can't say what Cole Quinnell was doing on a dirt road, or about the bones Christian Hazel found in a ditch while the Jeep was stopped. Let's just say the boys said, "Yes sir" a bunch, took the ticket, and motored on.

Twelve hours a day on the road for three days will make your eyes blur, much less the photos. The open Jeeps and Broncos got more sun and fun, but the enclosed rigs kept their cargo cool with the A/C while crossing the often 100-degree interior desert of the Pacific Northwest. Cole Quinnell and Christian Hazel stacked bags of crushed ice on the floorboards of the CJ2A to keep the floorboard heat bearable, leaving streams of water dribbling down the highway.

After three days on the road, we were ready to play. Our trail leader, Mike Lovell, took us up to the Shoestring/Kaner trail outside of Yakima with a few of his friends and showed us the Funny Rocks. These bitchin' sandstone outcroppings were great to play on, and Julio Monroy straddled one crack after another with his CJ-7. This is the kind of area this group could've stayed at all day. In fact Sissy Harris remarked, " Why, it's a big ol' playground!" when she first set eyes on it.

Our worst mishap was freakish, if nothing else. A loss of brakes caused Tom Boyd's Bronco to tag Jon Bundrant's Toy from behind and flipped it down the hill. The Toy had the last word, as it then coasted backward into the Bronco's side, nearly smacking Tom himself. The group split here, with one half repairing and driving out the wrecks while the other half carried on.

Larry Trim took the Grand Cherokee everywhere the little Jeeps went and had a blast trying every obstacle. These Funny Rocks have a similar neighbor called Moon Rocks. Our next trip to this area will include a day of just these two obstacles.

Local hamlets were our desired destinations for grub and gas, and some of the smaller villages had a hard time accommodating the masses. In a real small town we'd split up and take over an area like bikers on hogs. Cops seemed to leave us alone, for the most part.