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This trip was nothing short of AWESOME! Although the trip was supposed to meet with the Virtual Jeep Club of Phoenix, we had a few minor hang-ups which seemed to keep us trailing only minutes behind that club the entire day. We met with Brutal (Chris, Mandy and Kids) at the Kmart/Safeway parking lot in Prescott Valley Arizona; at which point we gassed up for the day and grabbed some tasty sub sandwiches and Gatorades. For Chris' wife Mandy, this was her first time wheeling...and a memorable one at that. Once we left Safeway, I was in need of a CB antenna (as my previous antenna decided to create it's own path on the smiley rock trail with DEACON and was lost). I headed to multiple locations, none of which had any CB accessories in stock. Chris offered to lend me one of his antenna's so we headed to his house to pick it up. Because it was still early and we had time before we were to meet with the en-route Jeep Club, we had a quick devotional on the book of Exodus and talked about (leadership & trusting God to lead your life) as given by example through Moses and the Israelites. About an hour later, we got a call from the Jeepers and headed out to meet them in Cleator (near the Desoto Trail Head). So far, the day had started without flaw and we made excellent time enroute to Cleator. Just as we had the Jeepers in site, we contacted them on the CB and gave them the go-ahead to continue without us...as we would catch up. Once we entered the Desoto trailhead, we decided to take a detour to the mine (following the route of the jeep club), which gave us a variation to our usual route. Just as we were about to catch up with the Jeep Club, Chris heard a loud POP noise, and (wishfully thinking...as we like to call it) thought...oh probably no big deal. When we stopped to check it out...we noticed that his entire "driver-side" coil spring had completely severed...not in one...but two locations and the spring was ready to eject from the vehicle completely. Intuitive thinking and resorting back to the "Shotty Body Techniques", we ingeniously found a way to tightly wind rope around the two sections of the broken spring to make it "one" again! We decided to continue as we were pretty confident in our efforts. Later, after dropping from the infamous ledge found at the "Major" side of the wash, I noticed Brutal was leaking quite heavily (at least a quart of oil lay at the bottom of the ledge). When we got to the bottom we carefully inspected the vehicle and found the oil to be draining from the front seal of the engine. At this point we decided it was time to take lunch. Luckily, Chris had some gasket sealer and some metal tape, which he somehow managed to seal the gaping hole which was allowing his oil to depart so rapidly. (Also at which point we noticed the cure time for the gasket was 24 hours!...we jokingly made our plans to stay the night!) Still...despite the known problems which haunted us, we continued to the wash. We made good time to the wash, the leak seemed to stop and the spring was staying together. As we got to the wash, we finally met up with the Jeep club, which was on their way back to Mayor. After passing by, Chris and I decided to push our luck and climb the large waterfall which lay in the first wash coming from Mayer. The wash was very muddy and slick which gave us an increased challenge. Chris made the first attempt (with a broken spring and leaking oil seals) which took a few different approaches. It seemed every time he came close, he would loose traction on the slick wall and would slide into the wall. Just as all efforts were to be exhausted and Chris was about to back down, he gassed it and bounced his Cherokee up the waterfall...slamming into a rock at the top. At this point we had all thought something had broken or popped again, as we heard a loud POP noise. However this time....Brutal suffered a moderate ding to the passenger rear 1/4 panel. After this spectacle, I had to give it a shot and offer some entertainment to the patiently waiting wives and children. The first attempt seemed to continually steer me into the side of the waterfall. After sliding and spinning my tires, I too decided to just gas it and ended up bouncing my way up to the top as well (with Mandi and Mandy thinking that Chris and I were out of our minds!) We continued and had a very enjoyable time testing different obstacles in the slick environment until we left the wash. After safely arriving back in Mayer (nighttime) we all decided to top the night off with dinner at a local restaurant in Mayer! There, we reflected on the days activities and made plans for future camping trips and get-togethers (which you should see posted in the future)! Although this trip was not planned as an official ACW event...it was a great start to the 2006 activities! And like I said before...the day was AWESOME and a great time was had by all despite the minor hang-ups.