My second challenge and first as a team leader and driver.  I took Leah’s JK because my TJ was in the shop with a blown transmission.  I picked it up the day after the challenge almost as good as new… more to come on that.

With the departure of most of the “Dukes of the Dezzert” and the arrival of another Canadian couple we had enough for a majority Canadian team.  There was a lot of debate on the team name but we settled on the “Red Necked Wranglers”.  My least favorite was the “Bareback Offroaders” – too close for comfort to the Broke Back Mountain for me.

This year the route was a little different than last year, with teams starting in the southern part of the Wahiba and driving west.  On the second day the extra distance was added for the teams that really wanted to add some challenge.  Our path is the one below.  On the second day I was headed to towards the scouting end point, marked “finish1” that’s why we ended up with a dog leg at the end.

I have only been on teams were everything is easy going and chill, maybe that isn’t always the case but it was this time.  We were in it together, helping where we could and we were going to get as far as we can without any drama.  It worked, we were only one of three teams that submitted a track with all 4 points hit, though only about half the teams submitted tracks at all.  There were not many tracks in the sand at the Saturday Mid-Point so I think we did alright.

Omantel put on another great spread in the desert.

Morning briefing. About 45 teams or 4 or 5 cars.

My first stuck… should have let the tires down a bit more.

The picture didn’t do this valley justice with the way the colors varied depending if someone had disturbed the sand.  It was almost orange in places.

This took a while.

Jeep TJ hero shot

The Red Necked Wranglers

I love tree’s in the desert. Why does this one survive in solitude.