Taking a thing out of its intended environment usually causes it to end up as something quite the opposite of entertaining, like a fish out of water, a baby with a bowl of chili or your buddy in thong. Sometimes when you mix and match the norm, though, you end up with fantastic entertainers like a blind man juggling chainsaws, a toilet with a built-in T.V. or, in this case, a monster-tired Southern wheeling out west. It isn't often that you get to see 44-inch rubber rolling over western terrain, so when Casey Groth of Wagoner Machine Shop (WMS) in Claremore, Oklahoma told us about the Big Meat Goes West tour, we put the roadtrip Jeep in overdrive and met up with Casey and the rest of the participants in Farmington, New Mexico.
Farmington doesn't really have your typical granite boulders. It's more like a giant sandstone play area with lots of smooth water- and wind-carved chutes and ledges. While many of the trails are difficult, Farmington is probably most famous for what's called the Farmington-bump. It's not an obstacle but rather a driving style, meaning you usually can't just creep and crawl up the ledge of choice. You gotta give it a good Second gear whack at the bottom to make it the whole way up. Here are some of the Jeeps from last year's meaty tour. To be a part of the future WMS big-tire runs, call 918/341-1722 or go to www.wagonermachine.com.