We started early as the Table Mesa area is 25 miles north of Phoenix  and 70 miles from home.  I picked up Pete and Sammy just after 6am and Virgil at about 6:30.   A lot of time to talk but we finally made it to the cleanup base camp about 8:15.  After getting registered and talking to a few people, the main intro meeting started and we were told what the day would entail.  They needed winches for hauling vehicles out of the ravines so we volunteered for winch duty!!  After airing down the Jeep and putting up the 4×4Him banners, we grouped up with Joe and a few others to head to the main shooting area.  I must make a few points here, 1) Table Mesa is a beautiful area and looks to be an incredible place to wheel and 2) I have not seen a wheeling area so fouled with garbage as this one and it was really sad.  People can say what they want about the wheelers but the majority of garbage I saw was from the shooters and people dumping.  Back to the cleanup, there were 3 vehicles at the bottom of the ravine in this area, an old Dodge van, an old Chevy truck and a small car maybe Chrysler product.  I lined up on the van and another Jeeper lined up with me to bring it up, it may have been possible with one winch but with all the extra garbage loaded into it and the 4 flat tires, it was best to split the work between 2, safer also.  Three vehicles lined up to pull the truck up and the work commenced!  Through this time, Pete and Sammy were at the bottom of the ravine hooking the winch hooks to vehicles and Virgil was helping a group of others shovel trash into bags.

With the van and the truck safely up on flat ground and the other group of winches starting on the car, we headed off to another spot where there was supposed to be 2 more vehicles abandoned in a ravine.  When we got there, the vehicles we already up on a flat surface and since the pickups were still busy hauling the the other wrecks out, we decided to tow these 2 back to base with the Jeeps.  The white jeep hooked up to the first wreck and headed out and we hooked up to the second.  A short way down the road after bouncing across the rocks at 5mph, we ripped the rear cross member out of the car and had to hook to the front cross member and turn the car around.  About 3/4’s of the way back, the lower part of the car broke in half and the only thing left holding it together was the roof.  We limped it the rest of the way to base and the strap broke as we were starting to pull it into place so we borrowed a chain and finished the job.  One other point to make here is a big thanks to Pete and he walked behind the wreck a big portion of the way back to base to pick up the pieces that kept falling off.  There were now 4 wrecked vehicles at the base camp.

With the wreck safely back at base camp we went back to the area we picked up the wreck to help in the garbage collection.  There was a roll-off dumpster in that area to handle  the trash so we started working.  Virgil was raking garbage into piles and the guys with shovels were picking it up, Sammy and I were picking up bigger stuff and filling bags and Pete was farther back helping a guy with a Jeep XJ, load big pieces on a mattress and tow it over to the dumpster to unload it.  It seemed that in no time the dumpster was 3/4’s full and we were being called back to base for lunch.

.  Once back at base there was more evidence at the amount of work that had been done, the dumpster there was full and there were 6 wrecked vehicles around it, there were also allot of happy people, happy about how the effort was going!!  .The BLM supplied pizza and drinks  and the Dirty SOB Quad Club was there cooking hamburgers and hotdogs for lunch. 

After lunch it was almost time to head back to Mesa but, since it was Virgil’s first time off-roading, we decided to run him down to Lower Raw Deal and hit the first part of the trail.  The trail looks like it will be real interesting to run full length but we just did not have time.  We went in as far as the crack and then turned back, besides, we couldn’t scare Virgil too bad on the first run!

After our little jaunt in the rocks, we headed back toward base to air up and head home.  Part way back we came upon a little (about 6″ diameter) wildlife trying to make it across the road.  Not wanting him to get run over, I got out and coaxed him with a stick.  he was not very happy with me but at least he lived to get squashed on the road another day!  From there we hit the base camp and aired the tires back up and took one lat look at part of the trash that had been collected.

All total there was 114 people that showed up to help clean the desert and these people FILLED 3-40yard roll-off containers full of trash and hauled off 6 wrecked vehicles.  Even the truck driver that came to take the roll-offs out commented on the amount of work that was accomplished.  Of the 114 that showed up it was estimated that about 85% to 90% of them were from organized OHV clubs.

I also want to give credit and thanks to the support agencies and 4×4 shops that helped and supplied materials, food and drinks for this event.

BLM
Game and Fish
Sheriffs department
4 Wheelers Supply (they were also a sponsor for our Jamboree)
Absolute Offroad
AZOHVC.

Thanks all for the help and support of our desert areas.

God Bless
Kreation Krawlers

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