Central New Mexico 4th of July 2007 Run

[beno]

Hey all:

Well, a few of us from the High Desert Cruisers here in NM decided we wanted to get away from work, life, etc. ad hit the road for some high desert action in Central New Mexico. There really wasn't a big plan for this trip; we were mainly interested in leaving town and hitting the open road and country.

The main protagonists:

Alia176 and Riley: 1996 FZJ80 with lots of toys.



Ruadhrigh and Lola Bean: 1977 FJ40 stock with M8K winch



Beno and Raj: 1997 FZJ80



We met at Alia176's house and had some final preparations and CB tweakings to get us ready. Alia176 KNOWS how to roadtrip and camp. This dude is prepared which is probably why he can hang with the likes of the NorCal guys. Ruadhrigh is also a completely prepared camper and sets it up right. Beno, on the other hand, is sort of the new to the heavy-duty, with style camping these guys are used to. My version of camping is a sleeping bag underneath or on top of my truck, some sandwiches, lots to drink and that's about it.

After getting everything together, we hit the road with our dogs and rigs:



We drove late into the night and got to the town of Magdelena, NM. This is southwest of ABQ and is on US Rt. 60. We got their in the dark so it was tough at first trying to find a suitable camping site, but Ali with his epic GPS system set us up nice for a beautiful moonrise and a great sunrise....this guy also loves BACON!!





Our goal on Weds. AM was to get to the Very Large Array which is located in the Plains of San Agustin about 15 miles west of Magdelena. If you have ever seen the film "Contact" with Jodie Foster, this movie was filmed here at the NRAO's VLA. They do some serious radiotelescoping here. The VLA is set up like a "Y" and runs north-south across the San Agustin Plains. This area of land is larger than Washington, DC. Seeing the VLA spread out like this makes ya wonder how crazy cities are set-up and how people live one on top of the other. Seeing the vast expanse with one camera angle was impressive....



Heading down into the Plains of San Agustin:



The north arm of the VLA looking down on it from a road high above it.









After the VLA, we started heading south trying to get into the San Mateo Mtns. to get out of the scorching heat (every time we stopped, we popped our hoods open to allow for some serious cooling considering we were running many dirt/gravel/sand roads with washboards etc. The sand collection within our trucks was pretty deep...) About fifteen miles from the VLA we had our first LC issue--Ruadhrigh's tire blew. Being the smart LC guy, Ruadhrigh did not have a spare. So we took the wheel off, put a note on the door and headed into Magdelena to see if we could find a new tire. Luckily, a small garage was open and the cool dude Chad was able to fix Ruadhrigh up in no time. Chad was also pretty cool and a Toyota guy--he had a pretty bad-azz Taco in the back that we checked out.

So, we came back and set up Ruadhrigh's tire and headed into the mountains....happily!







We made our way up the San Mateo Mountains to the top at Mt. Withington. We were happy it was cooler, with some rain clouds approaching. We decided to camp here for the night and hit the road again in the AM to get down to Elephant Butte Lake State Park for some water time...did I say that Ali loves BACON!!

[beno]

Also, along the trail, as we were descending, we noticed that Ali's spare tire from his rear bumper decided it didn't want to stay attached anymore and decided to roll off the mountain!! Luckily it went down about 100 ft and was stopped by a tree. Recovery operations were successful and I am sure Ali will chastise who ever fabricated that wimpy rear tire carrier....

This morning we were off to Elephant Butte Lake State Park. But it was hot, and we were off pretty late in the afternoon, so we decided to "creatively" get into the park and at least get a swim in to cool off, get the dogs cooled off, and to, well, get the two days of solid dust and grime off of us....we were all pretty happy after that little detour....









We just got home a little while ago, tired, smelly, but really happy with life...these types of trips really allow us to settle our heads for a bit, to leave the pressures of the daily grind and to remind us of why we are so into Cruisers in general--friendship, comraderie, good times, great food (thanks Ali and Ruadhrigh), and great stories from the road....

We also decided that we should stay above about 9,000 feet in the summer lest we fry (we've all got some good tans....er, burns in Ruadhrigh's case....)

Enjoy folks.
Cheers.
-onur
Corrales, NM

[Pyro-boy]

Looks like I missed a great trip. Nice pics by the way.

Vince

[alia176]

Yes indeed, I do love BACON when I'm camping This was a very cool trip and would love to do it again and see other areas of the Santa Fe mountain. Beno's rig had the same coat of dust inside and out. Ruadhigh got a good workout in the 40. I bet his left arm is well tanned and the bicept quite huge by now!

It's quite clear that we all SUCK at installing CB antennas (myself included).

Installing the A/C condenser fan was a very worthwhile mod for this trip. The A/C vent temps were at 40*-50* I felt bad for Beno and Ruad's lack of A/C and eating dust the whole time. If this doesn't get Ruad to finish up his HG on the 80, I don't know what will.

The trail coming down from Withington Peak was very rocky and full of puncture inducing rocks. We were coming down it at a pretty good clip while keeping our fingers crossed (no more flat tires on the 40)!

Elephant Butte lake is a very nice place to hang out. It's a huge lake and privacy for a small group is easy to find from what we saw. Lots of entrances to the shores.

Here're some pics I have:

The gang at the house before departure


Beno in the early morning (not a pretty site I must say )


VLA pics:




Mt Withington fire watch tower. The White YJ belongs to the employee who is standing on the balcony. She lives up there five days a week.



My spare tire recovery operation. I have a feeling that the Death valley washboard started the process of separation and this trip simply finished it Next time, deeper penetration on the welds!




Dusty trail

[Cajun Transplant]

Beno,

I'm starting to sympathize with Troutrunner... do you actually own a shirt? I would be concerned to be running around in the woods with that much hair on my chest during hunting season... no telling what might happen

Ali,

I like the fact that your tire fell off, and you have a pic of the two guys you were wheeling with recovering it for you. That is just awesome. You are truly the godfather!!!

[Ruadhrigh]

Originally Posted by Cajun Transplant

Ali,

I like the fact that your tire fell off, and you have a pic of the two guys you were wheeling with recovering it for you. That is just awesome. You are truly the godfather!!!

I think he learned that trick from Beo

[TroutRunner]

Great trip guys. I'll have to join in another time. It just shows what these trucks are all about...getting out and doing the fun stuff.

TR

[alia176]

Speaking of bacon, need to find resealable bacon packages next time. Bacon, it's what's for breakfast....

[cajun65]

Awesome trip guys. I noticed a few pics where no one was flicking off the camera. What happened? LOL.

[beno]

Originally Posted by cajun65

Awesome trip guys. I noticed a few pics where no one was flicking off the camera. What happened? LOL.

This trip was all about the middle finger, bacon, and heat!

[cajun65]

Originally Posted by beno

This trip was all about the middle finger, bacon, and heat!

I hear ya.

[purerockfury]

Nice pics Beno, Looks like you guys (and dogs) had some fun!
Next time flick off the camera more. LOL

[reffug]

Looks like a good time fella's.

So beno NM is a good place to be huh?

[beno]

Originally Posted by reffug

Looks like a good time fella's.

So beno NM is a good place to be huh?

Sure is Reffug...best move I made was to leave Ohio and head west (for the second time)...

Later dude.
-o-

[GeoRoss]

Dang dudes that looks like fun. I love driving across the San Augustine Plain.

Some of my favorite territory. Did you guys have any termite/flying ant swarms? I had to drive to Artesia and back on Wed. and while driving through White Sands I drove through about a mile long swarm of the suckers.

We should hook up in the Gila sometime soon.

[Ruadhrigh]

Here are the pictures I took before I thought it'd be cool to let Onur run over my camera (I drove off with it on the fender, it fell into Onur's path and he killed it )



we were trying ro reach Magdalena by back roads and this is where we ended up








First night's camping spot (in Magdalena)




We were very close to a watering tub for cows. Raj and Lola made sure the cows stayed out of camp









VLA:




and sadly this was the last picture ever taken by my camera