During our previous meeting, Arizona Christian Wheelers decided to enter the Prescott 4th of July Parade for the first time!  The parade consisted of approximately 150 entries; Arizona Christian Wheelers was entry # 133 with a viewing audience over 15,000 people!  The road planning the event up to the parade was rough, however, the event turned out to be a blast!  Friday, the day before the parade, it seemed that the moral to enter the parade was quite low and our ability to enter at all was in question.  We had little planning in effect and several last minute cancellations....however...thankfully, God works in miraculous ways!  Within minutes of learning that ACW might not be able to make the parade, Taco received several unexpected phone calls from those who wished to participate and were eager to help!  Several trips to Walmart and Kmart to round up candy and decorations were made...and things were looking much better!  CJ5Driver (Tye Jones) graciously lent us his trailer and RTI ramp, Jesusluver (Donavan) offered his newly obtained Ford F-250 for a tow vehicle, family and friends pulled together to obtain large quantities of candy, and now...rather than 1-2 vehicles in the parade, we had five; including an awesome rock buggy and monster truck combo!  Dale (from Northern Arizona Offroad) allowed his son Brandon (a club friend) to bring his buggy to the parade.  In all, we had five rigs actively participate in the event:

Jesusluver- 1993 Ford F-250

Cj5Driver- J20 "Low Buck Monster Truck"

Rexname- 2001 Toyota Tacoma

Brandon (Northern Arizona Offroad)- Rock Buggy

Taco- 2003 Toyota Tacoma

In addition we had friends Shad and Casey Coulson, friends of Donavan (jesusluver), and family of Taco (Dillon, Aliyah, Russ and Rita) all offer a huge amount of very appreciated help towards our parade entry!

The night before the parade was spent in preparing decor and organizing parade attire.  After hours of prep, we took a late night break and yanked the RTI Ramp off the trailer!  Taco and Jesusluver flexed their vehicles and tested their capability on a 30 degree ramp.   Later, they even tried out flexing Hungrybear's (Amanda Smith) 1999 Honda Civic!  Everyone who was there had a great time watching the vehicles twist their way up the ramp; including people driving through the Granville community unexpectedly coming across our unusual display! 

The morning of the parade, we loaded up the vehicles and headed down to our staging area around 7:00AM.  Upon entering Marina Street (where our staging area was located), we found out that we were supposed to be located across Willis Street and on the other side of Marina.  The problem being that the intersection was completely blocked and we had to turn around our truck and trailer within a very busy staging area.  Once turned around, we headed to our staging area where we met up with Rexname and his wife Cookie (who was dressed in clown attire for the parade....thank you Cookie!).  Cj5driver, Brandon, Shad and Casey, among others met up with us and threw in a hand pulling everything together and preparing the vehicles!  Once we were done decorating, ACW put on a BBQ for all in our staging area!  We cooked over 100 hot dogs and fed nearly everyone!  The day was turning out to be pretty AWESOME and ACW was meeting all kinds of new people!  It was amazing to see the popularity of a hot dog and water at 9:00 in the morning!

Around 10:15am ACW rolled out onto the parade route!  The parade was nearing its end and people were looking tired!  As soon as ACW rolled out onto the parade route it was amazing to see people go from a near sleep to seeing their eyes wide open!  In addition, the massive quantity of candy that we obtained for the parade was a definite crowd pleaser (Thank you Russ and Rita!!!)  Russ, Rita, Dillon and Shad walked nearly the entire parade handing out candy to spectators and wishing them a happy fourth!  Even at our slow pace, there were so many people and they had a difficult time keeping up with the float as there was so much candy to hand out!  Dillon (Taco's brother) brought along an awesome remote controlled hummer with ACW banners attached...that kept all the kids attention...including the big kids too!  The candy and fourth of July greetings lasted the entire parade!  Donavan and his two friends took the opportunity to sit in Taco throughout the parade and wish the spectators a happy fourth!  We continuously heard people oooing and aweing and shouting in excitement!  Comments like..."don't roll it its not worth it" as Taco rolled by on the trailer and "no way...check that out...thats awesome!" as Brandon crawled over the 53" tires of Beeter Jeep II in his rock buggy!  One spectator yelled, " Isn't that a sight, a Ford pulling a Toyota!"  Even the Judges were amazed at the spectacle we put on!  At the first announcer station, we were actually asked by the judges to perform the tire crawling action once more so the judges could get a picture!  Other times, Tye Jones would maneuver Beeter Jeep II in a four wheel turn through an intersection, offering parade watchers an upfront and quite personal look at his massive 53" tires!  At one point, Tye had a chance to show just how accurate his maneuverability was when he came within inches of a parade watchers blanket...followed by the crowd shouting..."WOW...check that out!"!  Another time, he came extremely close to a police motorcycle...with the officer standing inches away!  However, undisputedly, the most exciting part of our entry...and quite possibly the parade as a whole, was watching Brandon continuously crawl over the massive tires of Beeter II.  At one point, I (Taco) recall looking in the rear view of the tow vehicle watching Brandon talking on his cell phone as he was nearly on his side in the buggy!  I am not sure how many times we did this over and over, however, I do know that the crowd kept shouting for more!  Another judging station announced..."you can hardly top that folks...that was AWESOME!...Lets hear it for those Arizona Christian Wheelers!"  As we neared the end of the parade, I think we were all wishing we had a chance at a second pass through the parade.  We climbed the hill back to the staging area, cleaned up, and headed to IN-N-OUT for lunch!  This was an awesome opportunity to hang out and have fun as Christian brothers, family and friends!  The Double Doubles and soda hit the spot for a longs mornings work!

After heading home, some went back to Taco's house where an air conditioned home and a cat nap was welcomed by all!  Before returning the trailer and RTI ramp to Tye, we couldn't resist yanking the RTI off the trailer one last time flexing out our vehicles in the front yard!

This event turned out to be incredibly blessed and successful!  After the previous Christmas parade, I would have said that it was hard to top!  But this parade entry was clearly a winner!  I think it will be exciting to see what is planned for the future! 

            Donavan flexing his new F-250!                                Taco Flexing on the 30 degree!

                  Donavan and Russell lifting the Civic in the Air!...didn't realize how light they were!

                   Cooking Hot Dogs!                                    Cookie the Clown checking our Beeter II!

   Shad Coulson and Russell directing the setup!

    Donavan's F-250 ready to go!                             Taco loaded and ready to go!

Rex, Russell, Tye and Donavan!

Some of the ACW gals!

                     Russ and Rita                            Donavan with his friends in Taco!

Entering the parade route!

Beeter and the Buggy!

Rex and his wife "Cookie the Clown"

Dillon and Tye in Beeter II!

Lunch at IN-N-OUT!

Flexing the vehicles after the Parade!