The Trail Home.

Another Early Start.

We gathered at Nora Jean’s for breakfast at around 7:15 
and got on the road by 8:00 heading south.
There were two more trails to do on the way home. These trails will eventually get us to Highway 74 where we can head west and home.
Back on I-17 heading south. Table Mesa Rd again but this time we go east to get on the New River trail.

Back in the Dirt.

It wasn’t long before Bill and Eve found the trail and we were back in our element.

“DUST”.

Nice Views.

Every now and then the dust clears and you get a scene like this.

or this.

Lots of boulders in this area.

Just past these boulders the road headed down a nice set of switchbacks.

So, it was another morning of driving through the desert enjoying the beauty of the country.

As usual we bumped along over rocks...

crossing washes,

and over hills.

Change of Plans.

All this bumping along rocky roads takes a toll on the jeeps and occasionally something breaks.
This was the case with Dennis M jeep.
We had finished the first trail and were about a mile into the second one when Dennis called on the radio that he was going to stop to check out a noise.

It wasn’t good news.
As it turned out the rear track bar mount had broken off.

This development was a ride stopper.
The Track Bar connects the rear axel to the frame and is one of the main things that keeps the axel under the vehicle. The mount is also where the upper control arm connects to the axel.

Dennis figured if he took it easy he could get back to the pavement so we tuned around and headed back down the hill to the main road.

We drove slowly along the paved road enjoying the fall colors.

We came to where the road widened so that we could stop so Dennis could remove the rear drive shaft. He felt that he could drive in 4 wheel using only the front wheels and that would reduce the torque applied to the rear axel.

Once Dennis got the shaft removed we continued to slowly drive to Cave Creek.

Here we pulled into  the Dairy Queen so Dennis could call for a tow truck.

While we were there we had lunch and watched this stage coach going back and forth carrying tourists.

After about an hour and a half the tow truck arrived.

They put Dennis’ jeep on the flatbed.

Once he was loaded up we headed for Quartzsite.

We made I home about 45 minutes before Cheryl and Dennis in the tow truck.

Okay, that was our adventure in the mountains around Black Canyon City, Arizona. I hope you enjoyed it. 
We did 

Thank You Bill and Eve for organizing and leading the trip!!