Brendon's Grand Adventure in the Hundred Acre Woods...

HAPPY 4th of JULY

This is a picture I found on another blog and LOVED it!

When thinking of the Fourth of July most people think of parades, fireworks, family, friends, hamburgers, corn on the cob, swimming and camping. Not this Fourth of July. Gordon and I were both working and were planning to watch fireworks with the kids when we got home and Brendon was scheduled to work starting at 4pm. That did not go as planned because at 3pm he decided to take a quick drive up the canyon with every intention of getting home in time to get to work. But that did not happen and his Grand Adventure up Middle Canyon takes a drastic turn which does not end until the next day.

Gordon, Kelsey and Hailey went to dinner when Gordon got home from work. After dinner they thought about going to Wendy's to get some frosty's but changed their mind when Brendon's Montero was no where to be seen. A little miffed, Gordon asked Kelsey and Hailey where he was and the last they had heard is that he had gone for a drive up Middle Canyon, and then assumed that he had gone to work. Well.....he wasn't at work and Gordon was MAD!!!! Now if any of you know Gordon, be glad you weren't there. Because once he found Brendon the gasket blew! Brendon had been 4-wheeling in his Montero in places he should not have been in and had gotten his vehicle stuck in the bottom of a creek bed.

Gordon and Brendon went up Middle Canyon that night so Gordon could assess the situation. The further up the canyon they went the madder Gordon became. The Lord does bless parents with patience when it is needed the most, but it didn't seem to take with Gordon. At 10:30pm Gordon and Brendon arrived home without the Montero. Brendon was scheduled to work so he quickly changed his clothes and went to work, while Gordon went to sleep. The adventure continues the next morning.

Brendon went up the canyon with his friend Cody in his Jeep around 8am and they could not get it out. Gordon called off for a vacation day so that he could help. At 10am Brendon came home and called more of his friends, but none of them could help out. A little embarrassed and humbled he called our Bishop, and another guy in our ward, Chris Day to help. This time I decided to go along for the adventure and now I understand why Gordon was so upset. This was a trail that 4-wheelers have a hard time on, let alone a BIG vehicle like his Montero. Half way up Gordon says, you should have brought your camera so you could blog this. I had my cell phone, but the pictures became distorted when I enlarge them. The pictures you are about to see are pictures we took after we got the Montero out and went home to get the camera. Please do your best invision the Montero. You should get a pretty good laugh.This is the first creek bed he went through. Look at all the rocks, it is hard to understand when a 17 year old should know better, but we give him credit for thinking he can do this all by himself. I would have thought he would have turned around at this point.
Can you feel the enthusium of his choice? Is your stomach in the pit of your throat? Mine was. This is the second creek bed he went through. Good thing he still has a muffler, radiator, and all the necessary parts a vehicle needs to run. Really, what was he thinking? These pictures do not do it justice.

As you can see from this picture and his tire tracks that maybe he should have turned around, and there was a place behind the photograph that he could have done so, but no, he did not THINK to do so, and he had to keep going to prove that he could do it. Let's hear it for the macho man. To the left of the trail is where he lost control and went down into the creek. But let's not forget that he had gotten stuck between a tree and side of the hill. He could not get enought traction to get out of this situation and this is when Dad came to the rescue. The boys rigged up a winch and was able to get him situated so that he could get out of this situation, but as he was getting out of his mess, the trail gave away and he almost rolled the Montero. Luckly he was able to guide the Montero into the creek bed.















This is where Brendon ended up. The Montero was stuck between the boulders in the front and the boulder in rear and is about where the back of the Montero ended up (good positioning on his part, not). Now let me remind you, that Gordon and Brendon are up in the canyon at about 9pm trying to get his vehicle out with no luck in sight. Once we all got there, Gordon, Chris and the Bishop used a huge boulder down the creek to use as a anchor for the winch to help get the Montero unstuck from the the smaller boulders it was behind. As the come-along and tow hitches would tighten the rear end of the Montero would go up in the air. It wasn't until Brendon's friend Ty and his dad, Dave, came and helped that we were able to put some weight on the back of the Montero (Bishop, Chris and I believe Ty were on the bumper of the vehicle) were able to move the Montero so it could follow the creek down to the turn out point.
When you enlarge the picture you can see the boulder in the middle of the creek. Brendon was able to get around it and drive out of the creek bed and there were a couple of times that we thought he was stuck again, but he did a good job bouncing the Montero through the creek. It was amazing that he was able to get it out. This is the exit point. He did get stuck for a minute, but he was able to get himself out. To right of the boulder in lower part of the picture is where the tire marks are for him to get out. We are just glad at this point he is still alive. What was he thinking??????? Only he knows. I'm the Macho Man.
The Montero is home safe and sound. Only time will tell what type of damage has been done, but at this point he lucked out. If anything is wrong HE IS PAYING FOR IT!!!!!!!!!!!