The day started off nice and early as the group was meeting at 8:30am in Ellensburg and I had a two hour drive ahead of me. Once the group started to gather we had a bit of a stare down between a few of the members. Sadly they will not be friends, but the rest of us said our hellos and got back into our jeeps quickly as it was around 33 degrees.

We headed out of town towards Coleman canyon and once we hit the dirt we stopped and

aired down. It was suggested to me that we check out Coleman falls and it was just up the road a short way. When we stopped where the falls was marked on my map it was a steeper climb down then anyone wanted to do. We did talk about using Marks winch to help pull us back up.

We continued up the road and wondered our way up a ridge and stopped in the sun for a bit. We all chatted about the jeeps we enjoyed the warm sun and lovely views. Our group consisted of four new Cherokee Trailhawks and one XJ. Since the last time the New

Cherokees were together for the BDR in August Matthew had traded in his 2018 limited for a new 2019. We jumped back into our jeeps and continued on our way. Wounding back down the valley and heading over to Swift and up to the Summit of Naneum Ridge.

The roads were nice and well maintained but as we got closer to the ridge the road did get a little rougher and steeper, but nothing to worry about. We were all getting hungry at this point and agreed the summit would be nice place for lunch. We all lined up along the ridge for lunch and pictures, but this is when our trip got real interesting. As i got out of my Jeep i head Grant said we might have a problem. We gather around Grants Jeep and we look under it to see that one of his lower control arms had broken. Everyone jumped into action and got out their tools and jacks. We quickly had his jeep in the air and worked on getting the arm in the correct position. Once Grant got it back onto the bolt we used three ratchet straps to hopefully hold it in place as we drove out.

While the jeep repair was going on people were able to have some lunch and take in the view. I have to thank Mark and Vicki since our jeep pets didn't get along they put Lilly away

so Ellinor could get out and stretch her legs for a bit. As alway she found the closest dirt patch and rolled and got completely covered in dirt.

With the Grants jeep back on the ground we had agreed that it we would take it nice and slow and try to get his jeep as far as we can under its own power. We put Grant in the middle of the pack so someone could keep an eye on the arm as we drove. We made our way slowly down and lucky for us the road was relatively smooth. Jeff was the first one in the group to get enough cell serivce to call the Jeep dealer in Wenatchee to see how late service was open and they said 4pm and at the speed we were going we would be cutting it close. In the end we arrived at the dealer at 430pm. Once we got closer to town we did call a few U-haul locations once we realized we would not make to jeep in time, but none of them had a way to transport a vehicle. Grant and his wife grabbed the items they needed and hoped into one of the other jeeps and we headed to dinner as everyone was hungry. We enjoyed a nice meal and chatted about the exciting day. Lucky Jeff lives close to Grant so they were able to get a ride home as it would of been a bit of a drive for the rest of us to take them home.

We all said our goodbyes and hopped into our jeeps to head home.

Distance: 41.6 miles

Move time: 5.5 hours