EJS Rant!

[harkinoff]

a. We have chatted that one to death... no right answer. Neccisary evil in most eyes. Most know my opinion...

b. Who shut it down? Why? I havn't been to Potato Salad/Bump Dump during EJS in 3 years... can't say I miss the insane crowds, drunk punks, etc. Can't blame EJS for Potato Salad. RR4W's even is Easter Jeep Safari, Potato Salad doesn't have any place in that buy give a bunch of people a nice centralized place to hang (good thing IMHO )

c. As a "vendor" I am glad it closed Friday at 7ish, the raffle was shortly therafter and many of the vendors participate.

Look dude... Not trying to start anything here. Point is! I drive 500 plus miles, spend 1000 plus dollars, place to stay, food, fuel and gifts.. I would like to do any obstacle/trail without any hassel. I wasn't drunk, nor did I have anything to drink that day at the moment. Why should those that are paying driving responsible obeying laws have to suffer? My only point is , I will not Support EJS again. For those reasons. The police shut potatoe down at 6:00pm, I and several of friends would of loved to mess around on Lions back dump bump and potatoe after a day of wheeling trails. Seems it would of been a great way to end the day, as it was in the past... A simple subriorty "sp" that they already had set up at several places could of allowed us to do these obstacles

Oh and the vendor thing, doesn't make any sense, most of the people show up to Moab that weekend. Seems business for these vendors would be a little better? just a hunch When the trails/obstacles were shut down it would of been an alternative to this time spent in Moab

 

[Milner]

Rumor has it that LB and DB will be no longer. A developer has purchased both area's and is going to start developement soon!
I say good ridance to them both....now if we could just close PS permanantly

No, I do not like to see any land closed, but I really hate to see the way these areas have been raped.

 

[rondo]

I did my Moab trip 2 weeks before EJS. I can appreciate what the truckers have to go through; dealing with idiots behind the wheel. A huge truck can't stop on a dime. With that said on our way down there and on the way back, there was a trucker that felt the need to ride my friggin' a$$ all the way. And i go the speed limit or a tad above. I wanted to kill the SOB for putting my life in danger. Several of my friends are truckers but a few of these bastards are just plain dangerous. Not saying i don't agree with the point of this thread. If you are stupid enough to drive 40 mph on the road, at least pull off to the shoulder.

 

[Cody]

Look dude... Not trying to start anything here. Point is! I drive 500 plus miles, spend 1000 plus dollars, place to stay, food, fuel and gifts.. I would like to do any obstacle/trail without any hassel. I wasn't drunk, nor did I have anything to drink that day at the moment. Why should those that are paying driving responsible obeying laws have to suffer? My only point is , I will not Support EJS again. For those reasons. The police shut potatoe down at 6:00pm, I and several of friends would of loved to mess around on Lions back dump bump and potatoe after a day of wheeling trails. Seems it would of been a great way to end the day, as it was in the past... A simple subriorty "sp" that they already had set up at several places could of allowed us to do these obstacles

when you say 'support' ejs, did you run whith rr4w or did you just piggy back onto their event?


Since the issue had been debated into exhaustion, what did you expect? There is no reason not to have known certain trails would be closed certain days and certain areas to be highly regulated at certain times. Because you spent 1000 dollars and weren't drunk did you expect RR4W and the police to just let you do what you want? Next time just save your receipts and show the police at 6 and I'm sure they'll let you into Dump Bump. the rules are there for a reason--have you seen how many thousands of people congregate at PSH and DB drinking and then drive out?

I don't know about you, but I go to Moab to get away from people and do some wheelin. Expecting that during EJS is just rediculous. Go to EJS to see the crowds and the spectacle, but bitching about the side effects of 50000 people in a town of 10000 is just completely stupid and useless. I commend RR4W, the authorities, and the locals for tolerating and accomodating the throng as well as they do for the week.

I'm not trying to be a jerk, but i didn't see anything that I didn't completely expect last week or any other EJS I've been to. I expected trails to be clogged, I expected certain trails to be unavailable, I expected lots of police, and I expect things to be more expensive. I don't know how people could go down there and not know what to expect and be surprised at what they find. It sucks you had a bad time but at least you now know what to expect during EJS week in Moab and can plan accordingly. Any of the other 51 weeks are much much better for responsible wheeling away from crowds and without the police hearding people in and out of congested areas.

Cody

 

[James K]

man, I must go to a different EJS then most of you.


I got plenty of wheeling in. Had little to no difficulty running a trail I wanted and only dealt with a few leapfroggers on the drive there and back.

The worst part about my trip was having trailer bearings fail on my way into Wellington and spending 2+ hours getting those fixed, then having a trailer tire EXPLODED about 20+ miles past Wellington after we got going again.

I personally go for EJS to see people I only get to see over EJS. It is a easy date to shoot for on the calender to get friends together. Its also cool to see the vendor show and rigs you would normally only see pics of up close and personal.

 

[DrMoab]

When I was running Patrols (convoys) for the military the one thing I always stressed was that they leave enough room between trucks so that people could pass one truck and cut in if needed.... some of you truckers out there don't seem to understand this measure and will run rear bumber to front bumber so that when a car starts to pass one of you it takes them close to forever to get around you both.... not to put you down or anything but some of you drivers (my brother included) just don't care about safety and make us smaller vehicles take chances that we shouldn't be....

I pull a double set of Propane tankers weighing right close to 130,000Lbs. I totally respect and understand the lenght it takes to shut down a truck.

Here is the problem. I'm sure you are familiar with the road leading to Area BFE and Helldorado. That road comes onto the highway at a very bad point. Not only is it at the crest of a hill but it is also on a blind curve. When you are in a big heavy truck and heading down that hill into Moab and you round that corner...even below the speed limit and run into a jeep or someother vehicle doing 35 in the lane of traffic it is a huge huge danger. Lots of guys will hug the shoulder with there flashers on and thats fine...you can usually get around them and if for some reason you couldn't stop if you had to squeeze between them and oncomming traffic you probably could. My biggest problem was with the guys who wouldn't move over. I guess a bigger problem is with the people that feel they should drive there rigs (some of which are totally not street safe) that far into town. Around town to the close trails...I have no issue with that at all.


Oh and without being out on the trail it is really hard to judge how many people are really there. Just driving back and forth through town it seemed stupid crazy.

 

[DrMoab]

When I was running Patrols (convoys) for the military the one thing I always stressed was that they leave enough room between trucks so that people could pass one truck and cut in if needed.... some of you truckers out there don't seem to understand this measure and will run rear bumber to front bumber so that when a car starts to pass one of you it takes them close to forever to get around you both.... not to put you down or anything but some of you drivers (my brother included) just don't care about safety and make us smaller vehicles take chances that we shouldn't be....

I pull a double set of Propane tankers weighing right close to 130,000Lbs. I totally respect and understand the lenght it takes to shut down a truck.

Here is the problem. I'm sure you are familiar with the road leading to Area BFE and Helldorado. That road comes onto the highway at a very bad point. Not only is it at the crest of a hill but it is also on a blind curve. When you are in a big heavy truck and heading down that hill into Moab and you round that corner...even below the speed limit and run into a jeep or someother vehicle doing 35 in the lane of traffic it is a huge huge danger. Lots of guys will hug the shoulder with there flashers on and thats fine...you can usually get around them and if for some reason you couldn't stop if you had to squeeze between them and oncomming traffic you probably could. My biggest problem was with the guys who wouldn't move over. I guess a bigger problem is with the people that feel they should drive there rigs (some of which are totally not street safe) that far into town. Around town to the close trails...I have no issue with that at all.


Oh and without being out on the trail it is really hard to judge how many people are really there. Just driving back and forth through town it seemed stupid crazy.

 

[wildkid]

Truth be told, I enjoyed 99.9% of the trip. I, like James, knew what to expect and planned accordingly....well, there was that one guy who couldn't read the rr4w newspaper and decided to run Metal Masher on the wrong day... , but it's a good thing that Greenjeep (Dave) is such a nice guy
All in all, one of the better trips yet

 

[Bone Down]

Spring break was more than a month ago fwiw.

Cody

not for the high schoolers for sure that was this last weekend. thur/fri/sat/sun/mon back to school today.

 

[harkinoff]

when you say 'support' ejs, did you run whith rr4w or did you just piggy back onto their event?


Since the issue had been debated into exhaustion, what did you expect? There is no reason not to have known certain trails would be closed certain days and certain areas to be highly regulated at certain times. Because you spent 1000 dollars and weren't drunk did you expect RR4W and the police to just let you do what you want? Next time just save your receipts and show the police at 6 and I'm sure they'll let you into Dump Bump. the rules are there for a reason--have you seen how many thousands of people congregate at PSH and DB drinking and then drive out?

I don't know about you, but I go to Moab to get away from people and do some wheelin. Expecting that during EJS is just rediculous. Go to EJS to see the crowds and the spectacle, but bitching about the side effects of 50000 people in a town of 10000 is just completely stupid and useless. I commend RR4W, the authorities, and the locals for tolerating and accomodating the throng as well as they do for the week.

I'm not trying to be a jerk, but i didn't see anything that I didn't completely expect last week or any other EJS I've been to. I expected trails to be clogged, I expected certain trails to be unavailable, I expected lots of police, and I expect things to be more expensive. I don't know how people could go down there and not know what to expect and be surprised at what they find. It sucks you had a bad time but at least you now know what to expect during EJS week in Moab and can plan accordingly. Any of the other 51 weeks are much much better for responsible wheeling away from crowds and without the police hearding people in and out of congested areas.

Cody

I didn't say I had a bad time! I had a great time! I did several trails! I worked around the colonge wearing ***** footed fags.... I just don't like their laws.. It is a free fu&*ing country and I can Vent. Like James said" their is several others weeks to wheel" My lesson is fu*&cking learned is all! I'm glad I can stir the POT....

 

[Cody]

I worked around the colonge wearing ***** footed fags.... I just don't like their laws.. p

ya, there were a ton of those types down there. I think they were all in my hotel too damnit.

Cody

 

[Hickey]

I pull a double set of Propane tankers weighing right close to 130,000Lbs. I totally respect and understand the lenght it takes to shut down a truck.

Here is the problem. I'm sure you are familiar with the road leading to Area BFE and Helldorado. That road comes onto the highway at a very bad point. Not only is it at the crest of a hill but it is also on a blind curve. When you are in a big heavy truck and heading down that hill into Moab and you round that corner...even below the speed limit and run into a jeep or someother vehicle doing 35 in the lane of traffic it is a huge huge danger. Lots of guys will hug the shoulder with there flashers on and thats fine...you can usually get around them and if for some reason you couldn't stop if you had to squeeze between them and oncomming traffic you probably could. My biggest problem was with the guys who wouldn't move over. I guess a bigger problem is with the people that feel they should drive there rigs (some of which are totally not street safe) that far into town. Around town to the close trails...I have no issue with that at all.


Oh and without being out on the trail it is really hard to judge how many people are really there. Just driving back and forth through town it seemed stupid crazy.

It's like this every year. You knew what it would be like before you got into the area. If it was so bad, why didn't you call in sick?

 

[chadschoon]

I had a blast and had no trouble hitting up any trails. we hit pritchet on saturday and cought up to the safari. we just hung back aways and let them do there thing, had no problems with them.

 

[TimB]

I'm glad it happens at Easter - my kids have school and could not come if it happened any other weekend. Some may not remember it, but this used to be a "family" event - I like it that way.

I lead 3 official trails this year, 2 were on restricted use trails. I think the paying customers experience on those trails was better this year than it has been in years past. On the third trail I had lots of oncoming traffic and have never had any before. My guess is they went there to dodge the restricted trails - no problem with that but why run opposite the normal flow of traffic? Almost seemed they wanted to cause problems in a way

 

[TimB]

I pull a double set of Propane tankers weighing right close to 130,000Lbs. I totally respect and understand the lenght it takes to shut down a truck.

Here is the problem. I'm sure you are familiar with the road leading to Area BFE and Helldorado. That road comes onto the highway at a very bad point. Not only is it at the crest of a hill but it is also on a blind curve. When you are in a big heavy truck and heading down that hill into Moab and you round that corner...even below the speed limit and run into a jeep or someother vehicle doing 35 in the lane of traffic it is a huge huge danger. Lots of guys will hug the shoulder with there flashers on and thats fine...you can usually get around them and if for some reason you couldn't stop if you had to squeeze between them and oncomming traffic you probably could. My biggest problem was with the guys who wouldn't move over. I guess a bigger problem is with the people that feel they should drive there rigs (some of which are totally not street safe) that far into town. Around town to the close trails...I have no issue with that at all.


Oh and without being out on the trail it is really hard to judge how many people are really there. Just driving back and forth through town it seemed stupid crazy.

Ah Ha! I bet I know who you work for:greg:

For what it's worth, law enforcement was aware of the issue - they had evidently received several reports of buggies pulling out in front of trucks and other vehicles. They are pretty overwhelmed that week but overall do a pretty good job keeping public safety without squashing the fun. I've lived all over and have to say law enforcement in Moab is probably the coolest of any place I have been.

 

[greenjeep]

well, there was that one guy who couldn't read the rr4w newspaper and decided to run Metal Masher on the wrong day... , but it's a good thing that Greenjeep (Dave) is such a nice guy
All in all, one of the better trips yet

If your group was the only one I ran into all week, I would have had no complaints!!

I ran 9 official trails in 9 days (led 3, gunned 3, and 3 just for fun) and I think this year was a lot smoother than last year. To me the crowds seemed smaller even though we had over 200 more vehicles register than last year. I appreciate the people who did their best to avoid the registered groups. All told I think reserved use/one-way trails worked pretty well for the first year.

Safari '06

 

[Jeremy]

we did poison spider on big saturday. i had to change a fuel pump that morning and figured i would not make the trail. if it hadnt been a closed trail i never would have cought up to the group. they had signs at the trail head and an officer/ranger (i dont remember)that wouldnt let me on the trail with out my paper work proving that i was registered for the run. we cought up to the rest of the group very quickly.

i think the reserved trails are a great idea. i didnt get to the trail head till 11:ish and got off the trail at 6m. that was too long, i cant imagine running it with on coming traffic. maybe with a smaller group, but not with 50+rigs.

as for the vendors show. i think they close it friday night because they are expecting that everyone wants to be on the trail saturday. not looking at stupid displays and grabbing free posters and stickers they are just going to throw away when they get home anyway.

 

[wildkid]

If your group was the only one I ran into all week, I would have had no complaints!!

I ran 9 official trails in 9 days (led 3, gunned 3, and 3 just for fun) and I think this year was a lot smoother than last year. To me the crowds seemed smaller even though we had over 200 more vehicles register than last year. I appreciate the people who did their best to avoid the registered groups. All told I think reserved use/one-way trails worked pretty well for the first year.

Safari '06

It's a good thing James has such good people skills

 

[Turbobob]

man, I must go to a different EJS then most of you.


I got plenty of wheeling in. Had little to no difficulty running a trail I wanted and only dealt with a few leapfroggers on the drive there and back.

The worst part about my trip was having trailer bearings fail on my way into Wellington and spending 2+ hours getting those fixed, then having a trailer tire EXPLODED about 20+ miles past Wellington after we got going again.

I personally go for EJS to see people I only get to see over EJS. It is a easy date to shoot for on the calender to get friends together. Its also cool to see the vendor show and rigs you would normally only see pics of up close and personal.

I must agree! Even though the RR4W had the trails "reserved", it didn't really impact us as much as I thought it might. You just had to plan accordingly. thanks to GreenJeep for allowing us to pass on Metal Masher. The RR4W were quite accomodating as long as you weren't effing with their program!

 

[DrMoab]

It's like this every year. You knew what it would be like before you got into the area. If it was so bad, why didn't you call in sick?

Yes...I did. But this is the first time I have been on the other side of it. For years I have gone down there and never thought about it because I was on the jeeping side of things. This is the first time I have been through Moab when EJS was going on and not been in my jeep.

It's true I knew what to expect and I didn't have much problem. That being said do you have any idea (of course you do..you drive truck too) how many big trucks and other people too go through that area who have no idea what to expect? Just because I am aware of the huge amount of people does not mean another guy in a truck will. It is still a danger.