4-6-07
Jeep Event in Moab

As I have been driving along and in camp I have been listening to the radio station that comes out of Window Rock, AZ. It is a Navajo station and most of the spoken stuff is in Navajo except for the national news. The music they play is country western interspersed with what I call Indian drum singing. That Navajo language is sure interesting to listen to. I can imagine how the Japanese were scratching their heads listening to that during world war II when the Government used the Navajo for ‘Code Talkers”. After listing to the drum singing I can sometimes identify different songs now.

This is the wrong time to come to Moab I find out. Every year for the last forty something years they have had this major jeep event the week ending on Easter. I didn’t know this, I was just going to come here and ride a few of the back roads that I hear lots of guys do. I stopped at the visitors center down in Monticello, where I posted the last two dog logs, and when I asked him where to ride, he said “don’t go on the back roads they will be full of jeeps”. So I made it in close, maybe five miles to town and noticed that there were folks camped everywhere and the roads were full of jeep or jeep type vehicles as well as lots of trailers with off road outfits. I stopped at a new housing development and parked the train. I got the bike off and made a run into town. I had to turn in and get a picture of this amazing truck. Yikes! The guy must carry a step ladder to get in this thing.

I stopped in at a bike and quad rental place and talked with the manager and asked him where the famous KLR bike shop was located. The guy kind of laughed at me and said that he thought I meant Arrow Head Motorsports and that was run by a guy out of his garage behind his house. Well I have buddies, well sort of low class buddies, that ride KLR’s so I thought I would go get a picture of the famous shop. The guy did say that he does a major internet parts business here.

I went back to the train and loaded up the fat dog and headed on down the road to a new housing development next to a huge arena that they were having a vendor display. I like these housing developments, as they are quiet and no traffic when they have no houses yet. I have camped in many all over and never had a problem with someone coming by and running me off. I figure Easter weekend and this jeep thing going on nobody will even notice I am here.

The first jeep I came to was this Hound Dog which I thought was pretty cool to come right to a Jeep dog……….

That is a four cylinder Cummins diesel engine in there.

A nice little four-passenger runabout. The plate says 593 mpg, but I doubt if it gets that good mileage

This one below is filled with all sorts of electrical equipment. I had to ask the guy what was all that stuff  for? He said it is a radio-controlled car and has no driver. He said it ran in the last race but had software problems and didn’t finish but it was ready to go for this next test, which will be done in a town setting. I thought I wouldn’t like to be on the road when they were doing that test and he said that all the cars in that town would be radio controlled.

That is a big step to get into this Dually.

This little car has 450 horse power the guy said.

Another Jeep dog….. and from Montana

Notice how both front and rear axels steer. I understand that this is more for the slow rock crawling contests and not the fast rock racing.

The tent on top has a full king size bed with another foot in length. It has air ride suspension and it sure looks like a nice rig to take if you like to do rough back roads to camp.

There were not many old ones but this one was nice to see.

The guy said that this one had a 1800 cc motor. Heck after looking at it I could see it is a VW or Porsche engine set in there at an angle. This is a VERY serious rock rig.

There was a big inside arena and I went in to check it out.

A young guy was running this little rig around inside and terrorizing the area. The damn thing would almost crawl up you leg. A few motorcycles showed up.

I met the guy that built this rig over at the wheel venue that I took photos at. We got to talking motorcycles because he noticed my Bob’s Motor Werks tee shirt I was wearing. He has several BMW’s too and when he mentioned that he has a couple of side cars I told him that I had a Dreyer side car on my old R50. He was a friend of Pop Dreyer and he was able to get one of Pop’s origional “flexi-flyer” side cars. Totally cool eh? Anyway he built this ‘jeep’ on a Dodge frame with the 24 valve diesel engine. Once you start looking at this thing it is totally amazing. It looks like it might be a stock outfit but then you realize it is huge. He had to cut two jeep grills apart and make a wide grill and widened the hood to match. He lengthened it too and added back doors. His name is Mark Tetreau and he has a business of building this kind of outfit. This one is his trailer towing rig. He tows a big trailer with at least two rigs on it and maybe a motorcycle with side car too. His business is Kalaber Creations and he lives/works in Prescott, AZ. Next time I come down I want to stop by his place and talk/ride/visit. There is a photo of Mark down below.

Here is Mark along with his historic vehicle ????  What a character he is. He has a lot of fun just standing around it seems and sure appreciates it when people stop and look at what he has created. He build these kind of things and they are put in several magazines and shows. After a couple of years he will sell it with all the memorabilia and build another something cool. His work is flawless.

This is another of his creations with a folding rack on the back that flops out to make a tent frame for camping.

It is pretty amazing what they can do with these jeeps. This is some of the bolt on stuff they were selling for a Chevy.

I talked with this guy for quite a while. He started with a Bronco and over eleven years it has morphed into this little rig. He just loves it and I find it so refreshing that this rig is just hand built by him and it doesn’t have all the fancy chrome stuff. He does have some sponsors that help him out he said. He told me that the prices of racing are going up from the hundred bucks at the start and now they charge five hundred bucks to race. This outfit is in the modified class he said. He is just about the nicest person you would ever want to talk with. He went to his first race and thought that heck, I can do that, so he started right in the next year with his Bronco. He said that someone came by and wanted to buy it and he told him it wasn’t for sale. The guy says “every thing is for sale” but the kid said that this one wasn’t.

Ten  cylinder Viper engine should give it enough power eh?

Hey Ken, isn’t that big 4X4 military truck that Kenney has a Haflinger? This one might be a little better for just running around town…..

They had the gun mounted on it when I came by this time. This ought to make a great rabbit hunting outfit.

When I walked back to my train I found this one parked along the road.

This winter has been really hard on dogs that my friends have owned. A lot of dogs have gone to dog heaven and some of them I think have been buried up on my land. There were some I just heard about and never even got to pet and others were old friends. I got this note in a message from my friend Mark Fix and I asked him if I could add it to one of my dog logs. It is a hard way to learn a lesson…..

Bale Dog….

I was putting hay in the corral for my calves a few days ago.  I carry one bale on the back of the tractor with the bale unroller and one in the scoop.  I set the back bale down and then set the front bale down.  I got out and started to take the net wrap off the front bale and then tipped the bale feeder on its side and rolled it next to the bale and set it back down.  I went to the back bale and started taking net wrap off.  I got half way around the bale and looked down and here was our border collie under the bale!  I ran to the tractor and lifted the bale off the dog and came back and pulled her out from under the bale.  I was sure she was dead.  I got her about 3 feet from the bale and set her down and she took a breath.  I moved her to the edge of the corral and then lifted her over so she was outside the corral.  I heard her trying to take breaths.  I finished putting bales in the corral and then put the tractor away.  I figured I had better go down with the four wheeler and get the dog and take her to the barn.  I got the 4 wheeler out and here was Missy at the top of the hill.  I could hardly believe it.  I coaxed her to the yard and offered her some food but she didn't want any.  She laid down on our porch and recovered.  The next morning she was trying to follow me around.  She was limping some but she seems to be better now.  I figured she was going to be dead for sure.  When I go put bales in the corral she seems to stay out of the corral now, so I think she learned her lesson.

Mark