Moab
Thanksgiving 2000
Thursday
In November we made our second annual trek to Moab. We left Salt Lake early on Thanksgiving for the 240 mile drive, which proved non-eventful. We arrived in the early afternoon, the weather was clear and sunny. first we checked into out hotel, The Bighorn Lodge, then went to Thanksgiving dinner at JB's( Oh Boy). Going down that morning were T-n-T in our 98 TJ, Eric in his Samuri and our friend Kurt in his 98 TJ. After our meal we went over to Fins and Things and did the first short loop to warm up. There was snow storm a few days previous so the sandy areas had a little moisture to them, making it easy to drive on. There are a good combination of short slick rock hills and small ledges to make it fun and a good place to get started. We had no real problems except for Eric almost tipping over on a optional hill, requiring the strap to get him over the top. After Fins and Things we went over to potato salad hill to see if anyone was there, only a guy in a newer cherokee pondering it from the bottom (he ended up going with us on Poison Spider the next day), Kurt drove up to the bottom of it and with then drove up with hardly a slip. He hadn't even disconnected his sway bar.. We didn't even have a chance to get a camera out, much to his disappointment. It was starting to get dark so we drove back to town to grab something to eat and find out if everyone else had made it to town. When everyone got together we decided to meet at City Market at 9 in the morning, so we went to bed to rest up for the next day.
No pictures for Thursday ..we forgot the camera..
Friday
We met
at city market at about 8:30 Friday morning. We had a group of about 10
vehicles to go on Poison Spider Mesa. Two of the vehicles are basically
stock so it could be challenging for them. It was a sunny and warm
morning( well, warm for November) when we headed to the trail head. Our
first break down occurred before we really got going. Zak in his 90 wrangler,
tried to go up a steep side hill and ended up damaging his tranny. He said
he would be ok if we went ahead without him. His dad Cal, stayed with him
to help get him back to town. 
The first fun
obstacle is the wedgie, which
everyone was guided through with no problems. A few people even got a tire
in the air. A little further on we encounter 
a
series of dry waterfalls. With the right lines we didn't have any
problems.
When we got into the sandy areas up on the loop, Eric in his samari broke a rear
spring centering pin. He didn't realize it until a couple of the smaller
leafs fell out. We all pitched in and had it fixed without much
delay. It was starting to get into the later part of the afternoon so we
finished the loop and headed back down. 
Going down some
of the waterfalls
are as much fun as going up. 
We
got back to town without any other problems and went back to our hotels to clean
up. Some of us went to the Branding Iron for some good prime rib and kareoke.
We planned to do Kane Creek the next day so no one stayed up very late.