A group lead by Montego left winchells at 8:00pm (so I'm told). This group consisted of Montego in the TJ, Louise in the Montero,Big Top Bob, Bob's friend from the Waywego's Ron,and 10Ball. At about 8:15 Paula and I joined the group at the 91 and Avalon. We continued down the 91,and picked up Knucklehead,Trail Princess and Inky and Scarecrow, at Green River. Casper was nowhere to be found, instead Steve had a friend from work with him. His name is Doug but Steve said everyone calls him Bug. From there it was smooth sailing to the jump off at Burns Bros..

At Burns Bros.. everyone topped off their tanks. Pappy and Nancy were there to say Hi to everyone. They weren't camping this trip. I'm not clear on the details, but they stayed at a 10,000 sq.. ft. mansion an the 9th hole of a golf course. Apparently the place was nice. Nancy was telling us about the electronic toilet that shoots water on your butt, and showers with heads for your genitalia. Trail Princess toughed it out and camped with the rest of us. Bob-o, Fidget, Debbie and Mudpie showed up about 20 minutes after we got there, with the Jeep on a trailer behind the pickup. So, at about 11:00 we were headed for camp. About half a mile passed the turn off to get to Fargo Canyon Bob-o got us turned back around and in the right direction. Scarecrow and Knucklehead and a couple others went ahead to scout out a camp site. While most of us stayed behind Bob-o who had to take it slow into camp with the trailer. Once we got to camp we set up our tents and hit the sack.

By 8:00 am Sat. morning everyone was up and getting ready for the first wheel'en of the year. The skies were blue and the sun was shinning, it was going to be a beautiful day. Bruce and Nancy showed up in plenty of time for the run. They had a guy named Joe with them, who was a son of one of the other people staying at the big house. He rode with Lauren all day. I will try and quote our new wagonmaster's first drivers meeting, "We're going up the wash follow me." With Louise exclaiming "Let the 99 runs begin!", up the wash we headed and shortly there after we found a dead end. Turning around and finding the right way was becoming a theme for Bob-o. We were back in camp within 15 minutes of when we left. Being the kind hearted people we are and concerned for Bob-o's feelings, everyone got on the radio and started asking "is this lunch?" Bob-o headed for the other fork in the wash , and Louise exclaimed "Let the 99 runs begin.",again, and we were on our way to rockhouse.

On the way I was the first casualty to get "delayed." I guess I was a little rusty and got myself pinned between two rocks that everyone else drove right past. With Russ' help I was un"delayed" in no time. On the way to rockhouse Bob-o found another small side canyon that dead ended. On the way back to the main wash,10 ball decided to make his own trail, and got himself extremely high centered. After trying to hi lift himself out a couple of times and failing, it was determined that it would be best to pull the rock out from under 10 ball. A strap was tied around the rock and to the front of Russ' (Russ to the rescue again) Jeep, the rock was removed and Dennis was an his way. Upon inspection Dennis discovered that his bell housing was cracked and some of the metal was rubbing the flywheel. We made the first waterfall in Rockhouse at 11:45. The delays were minimal until Bob-o got to the third and largest waterfall. After several tries, a caltrans crew and 20 minutes he was through.

The second waterfall (up and to the left for those that can picture the canyon) and third waterfall combo was enough to slow down progress. Louise had a great time giving it a go in the Montero. She's got quite a right foot. With a little tug from Russ here and there she didn't do anymore damage to the Montero then Dave ever did. By no means was Louise the only one to get stuck through this section. In fact it was taking so long to get through that everyone started eating lunch as we took turns get through. When it was your turn you stopped eating and tried to get through the best you could. Lunch continued even after everyone made it for another 15 minutes. Nancy informed Bob-o that we should be going, so Bob-o decided we should go. From here on out it was uneventful wheel'en wise. We made our way through the washes to come out the other side of rockhouse. Once we were out of rockhouse Bob-o must have decided to take us on the scenic route back to camp. I'm not say'en he was lost, but I swore we made a big circle and got to see a lot of the same scenery only from the opposite direction. We found, what i think was called Purdue Canyon, that made its way to Dilard road. Once we got to the Fargo Canyon turn off. Pappy and Nancy headed back to their luxury accumidations, promising to return for the fire activities later. We were back in camp for dinner about 4:30.

Everyone had dinner and gathered around the campfire. For a January in the desert the night weather was excellent. It was in the upper 50's at worst and there was no wind. This was when the discussion for who was going the do this report came up. I tried to blend in with the back ground the best I could. It almost worked to. Bob-o was going to have Pappy do it until Montego pointed out that if last year is any kind of indication this may be my only run, so I should do it. The Christmas trees burned and the tequila and yagermister were flowing. Bruce and Nancy showed up for a couple of hours of campfire fun. Lauren was nowhere to be found. Her and that guy Joe, who used to live in the area took off to a club in town, and weren't see until 1:00 am. In fact Inky was the only Bogart that spent the whole trip with the Roughwheelers. People started heading off to bed at 8:30, but the last of us didn't go to bed until 11:30.

Sunday morning was a little cloudy and cooler, but still nice. Wheel'en for the day was up in the air. At the fire the night before Bob-o wasn't sure what else there was to do in the area and was open for suggestions. No one had any, so there were no real plans. Russ said he had something to do and was gone by 8:00. Big top's friend Ron was the next to leave, followed shortly after by Lauren, Joe, Inky, Big top. Bob-o and Fidget didn't even get up until 9:00. Steve, Bug and Knucklehead took off around 10:00 or so. Montego, Louise, Dennis, Paula and I decided to wait for Bob-o to get ready and head out together. We were home by 2:30.

Joe aka Tumbleweed