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After airing down, the day started off a bit rough as the group got separated from the leader almost immediately and wandered through the desert a bit before being re-assembled.

After that we hit the first real obstacle in White Knuckle Hill. Wow. That intimidated me, but the more experienced in the group just shrugged and gave it a shot. The first to attempt it was Kurt LeDuc of desert racer fame.

He had a fuel pump issue that sidelined him before he made it up the steps. Others tried, failed, and got the hook from the anchor vehicle up top.

Then, along came the threesome of Jon Bundrant (All-Pro off road), Julio Munroy (Trailsport) and Larry MacRae (Inland Empire 4 Wheelers). Jon took his Tacoma up the steps without even spinning a tire. Julio had his wife drive their YJ up the scary line to the right and she got that done. Larry followed in kind. OK then. So THAT is how it is done!

We were kindly invited to accompany the Skyjacker folks and guests on a trail run on Behind The Rocks trail. We met at the Spanish Trail arena where the expo would be held later in the week. Besides our group, there were all kinds of other folks there getting ready to go out. It was hard to know where to look first, there were so many cool rigs running around. I ran into old friends Team Purple who were heading out with Dustin and Becca Webster of Team Red Bull.

I also saw this Jeep that began as a dream in the eye of Tony Becker from Four Wheeler TV. I saw it first as a bare body and parts in the shop of Jim Cox at JC Fab and Design in Southern California and now here it was, barely finished in time for the Safari. It is soooo trick, but I loved the mini Jeep tailgate.

I also spotted some stealth tires on one Jeep. I heard they were special race tires for desert type trucks. Bet I can't afford them!

Later in the trail we played on the rocks some more until everyone had had enough fun and called it a day. The Dome was a favorite play spot. It was so steep you could barely walk up without crawling. The trip out toward town offered a few more twisties and then a long dirt road back to the highway. Did I mention that the Jeep I was riding in had hard, plastic seats? It did and I think they are getting harder. Hmmm.

On the way back to camp, we took a detour to Area BFE to do a photo shoot for Dirt Truck magazine. Both Brad and David Austin's Jeeps will be featured in that mag in some future issue. BFE will be the location of an XRRA rock racing event on Saturday. While the shoot was going on, I turned my lense on some guys checking out possible course lines for the race. I am more of a trail Jeep guy than a buggy/rock crawling guy so I am always surprised and amazed at what those things can do before getting into trouble.