Prescott "metro" cruisers.

[Brian Macgyver]

BTY;
We talk a lot about meets in the Prescott area. But we have not really talked about where and how we meet. The meets in the Phoenix area have certain accepted protocals, and so do we. Our practices are as follows;
We meet at the IHOP in Prescott Valley on Glassford Hill Road at 10AM on the third Saturday of each month. Most of the time that is the morning after the valley Copperstate Cruiser group meets in Tempe. This gives them the chance to call us with club updates after their meeting. Many of us are members, and more of us should be.
While we meet at 10 AM, we do not meet in the restaraunt. We park and meet outside on the north side of the parking lot. While we use the location for our meet, we do not presume to tie up a section of the restaraunt for our meet on a busy weekend morning. If we are hungry, we arrive early and have our pancakes before the meet starts. I arrive at 9 AM to have breakfast with my family. I am outside usually by 10 AM.
We meet and park on the north end of the parking lot near Wendy's. That place is closed at that hour. The meet begins at ten, and ends when we all decide to go wheeling, or not. Often, some of us plan to meet at another place and time to go and play. We use the time to plan outings and other things.
If you live in, or visit, the Prescott area this is how you can find us. One, three, ten or more Cruisers will always be parked at IHOP on the third Saturday of each month. We will all be telling tall tales, and making plans.
WE'LL SEE YOU THERE!

 

[Brian Macgyver]

There are several people that I hope to see tomarrow.
John, Igotyoubabe, you, your lady and your Troopie have been missing lately. We miss you! You are usually early, and we miss you at the breakfast table.
Ben, always reliable, it was fun wheeling with you. You inspired one of our Christmas gifts.
Cody, always ready to play. Personal issues have kept you away lately. Don't let that stop you!
Kbill, your 40 is exceptional. We hope that your 60 build is as good! I plan to see all of you there.
Also, there is a lady from the Verde Valley who has promised to come. This is her second promise. If she makes it, it would be great.
As usual, there is no cost to be a part of the Prescott Land Cruiser group, except that you show up at IHOP. Bring your truck, your kids and all!
But we do recommend membership in Copperstate Cruisers and TLCA. Both of those groups offer much more than any local group could. They are both well worth the annual membership. They supply a wide range of goods and services. It is worth joining.

 

[Wile E Coyote]

Just a note of observation while spending a few days in Prescott this week:
Damn there are a lot of 80's, 100's etc in town. (I spent most of my time at or near the hospital) Plus the red 62 that sits at that gas station across from the airport (??) when leaving Chino south on 89.
I'll be back in Feb, as well. It's for business, so I'll only have evenings free. I do plan to drool over some 'hardware' at J&G Sales again, however.
No real point to this gibberish post, except to say I wish I noticed/ met a Mudder or two while in town, and saw some nice older Cruisers.

 

[Brian Macgyver]

You are right. There are a lot of fine trucks here. We are targeting a number of them. The truck that you spotted at the circle K by the airport is a special target of ours. That is one fine rig.
Don't let this slow you down. Any FJ north of Cordes Junction is fair game to invite to a meet-up. We usually meet at IHOP in Prescott Valley on Glassford Hill Rd, at 10 AM on the third Saturday of each month. We park on the north side near Wendy's. We meet outside at 10, so if you are hungry, be early. I usually arrive at 9, so I can eat.

We would like to get a consistent gang going up here, so that we can invite them into CSC.
Copperstate is one of the most relaxed, mellow gangs around. Some really great people even manage to sneak into the club when we are not watching. We are careful about them! I would like to get a group up here to join. That would be cool! Copper State Cruisers is a gang of really cool people. Membership is highly recommended.

 

[Brian Macgyver]

The Feb. deal is on the 21st. I am free that day and I'll keep it that way. I have some ideas for wheeling that day. We could have some fun. I have a couple of places that we could go.
I will lead if needed, but I will keep it open. There are others who may have better ideas.
If it is up to me, I would prefer to go to a place where we can all have fun. It allows all of us to decide our skill level. There is a stream running and some history to explore.
The area is private property, and is allowed by permission. It is a river area with running water most of the time. The roads are mostly tame, while there are some rougher trails leading to mines. There are places for shooting.
There is ample room for kids to play in the creek if it is running. I have never seen it dry. It is the Agua Fria River. It runs well.
If we do not have a better plan, we can go there and have a great afternoon. We can wheel, splash, shoot, and have a picnic. What better way to spend an afternoon?

 

[Brian Macgyver]

Well, Bill didn't have a better idea.
I will lead a trail run for anyone interested. This would be Feburary 21. That is the date of the Prescott meet at IHOP. The meet point will be the meeting in Prescott Valley at IHOP at 10 AM as usual, or in Mayer at noon for those in the valley. Meeting in Mayer will be at the Circle K at high noon. Anyone from the valley wanting to join should call me at 928-277-6622. Then we will meet in Mayer.
We run out on Copper road. It is a tame road, stocker-friendly. It runs for about 15 miles to the Agua-Fria river. In that area we have a choice of several loop trails to explore mines, or we can settle in an area to relax and have lunch or a snack. I have not had the chance to see the local mines and would like to do so. There are several obstacles on the mine trails, as well as some places where no vehicles have traveled in 50 years. There is the potential to find trails that are not on the maps. Some of them could lead to I-17 or to Poland Junction. It will be fun to find out.
There are places where no humans have been in 50 years. Many trails are overgrown. There are traces of a ghost town there. We can find out.
I was not kidding above when I said that there is a perfect shooting range there. If you need to sight the range on your rifle scope, you can do it there. I set my scope on my 7.62x54 Nagant sniper at 200 yards, and I hit every time. It is also kind of fun to plink cans off of the top of the cliff with .22's, just to see them fall down the cliff! We even play with pellet guns. Of course we pick up our junk.
The big guns are ok, but we have the most fun with .22's. We just plink the junk off of the cliff tops with light rifles. Then we watch them fall down. It is a point of pride to see a can fall down the cliff, after we hit it with a light rifle shot, using only iron sights from 200 yards. Plinking the cans from the cliff top is a lot of fun. Only .22's are allowed for that.
While some of us do that, others explore the area. We have a whole day to play. We can all do everything.

 

[cruzer971]

My rock crawling competition is this Sat @ Table Mesa Rd. So I am gonna have to bail out on this meet. Sorry

 

[cruzer971]

Tierra Del Sol Desert Safari

Just throwing this out there. Kinda last minute I know.
A couple of us from Prescott are headed down to Truckhaven for the 47th annual Desert Safari. It is a pretty awesome place for wheelin. Anyone who wants to caravan down or meet us there is welcome. Info can be found @ tds4x4.com
There is a special request for a huge Lexus to come on down.

 

[Brian Macgyver]

March meet is on the 21st. Saturday at ten AM. I will have to miss it. I will be somewhere near the coast, San Diego or LA. Actually, on the 21st, I will be at Dizzyland. I am sorry to miss the meet.
In the past, most of you have not been able to meet when I am not there. Shame on you! It is not as if I am a great trail leader! You guys do not need me to get together and have some fun! Get together and do something to make me envious while I am away! Go wheeling together! My truck has the boring duty of driving to the beach and back. High maintenence, no wheeling! That sucks! I'll do anything for my family, within limits.
We are taking our vacation early this year. We are tired of spending every summer vacation in late summer on Cape Cod, and the Connecticut islands. The routine is getting old. So this year, we have opted for a different ocean and an earlier date! Spring break! San Diego, Sea World, the beaches, and Dizzyland is us! Here we go!
See you all in April!
Just don't blow off the meet while we are gone! Show up, go on an adventure, and tell us a story when we get back! We will be waiting to hear all about it.

 

[Brian Macgyver]

April is on the 18th. A group called AZFJ has some interest in joining us. They are FJ Cruiser people. This could be really cool, and a boost to our small gang.
In our little group, we have some pretty cool trucks. A RH Drive Aussie troopie diesel, a HJ60 diesel rig, a well restored green 40, and several built 80's. You know which one is yours. If we could get them all together at one time, it would be like a mini LC showcase! Let's try to do it in April! Be at IHOP at ten for the meet, or at nine for breakfast. Park your truck near Wendy's and be proud of it!

 

[igotyoubabe325]

The Troopie should be there. I am sure we don't have anything going on for a change. I might even have the new tie rod ends in by then.

 

[Brian Macgyver]

Good to hear from you! I thought you fell off the planet due to the spinning! Call me!
I'll PM you right now.

 

[expeditionswest]

My schedule is still pretty crazy (we just got back from Central America), but we have a new shop, and the club is welcome to use it for meetings, etc.

You are all welcome to stop by:

3035 N. Tarra Ave
Prescott AZ 86301

 

[Brian Macgyver]

Thx, Scott.
We might take you up on that on an off-meet weekend. Your place would be interesting. We have seen you come up with some great ideas. Wish you would come out to IHOP and show us.
Unfortunately, your shop can't top IHOP for hungry Cruiserheads on a meet Sat. Just in case we go wheeling, we need to be fed first!
You have some great inventions. But you have no waitresses, and no eggs or bacon!
All "ribs" aside, seeing your place is not a bad idea. We all could use some ideas, and you might even pick up a bit of biz. How about joining us at IHOP on 4-18. We would all have fun, and you could offer a shop tour event later. We could all learn something.

Edit; 4-18 is here and gone. May 16 is next.

 

[Brian Macgyver]

Today was a banner day for the CSC redheaded stepchild in Prescott. Few of our "usual" croud showed up. Yet we still had 6 LC's at IHOP, plus a Montero.
I had been approached by the FJC club. Two of their guys came out. Chris and Dave both have lifted FJC's. Dave brought his wife Sue. They are great people. We all had a lot of fun.
We elected to have Steve lead trail in his Montero. Not only did he know where to find the trail, we figured that anywhere he can go, we can go better. We went just minutes out of town into the area behind Stoneridge. It was rough, but not too much so. We spent two hours and several miles on ATV trails. The trails are not wider than 5 feet. The brush is thick and unavoidable. I have so many "pinstripes" on my truck that even the wheels are striped!
At one place, we stopped to jaw-jack for a while. My 8-year-old daughter came to me and pulled my hand. She asked me, "Daddy, why are you letting the air out of that tire?" She showed me where there was a hole in the sidewall on one of my 315 Nittos. Smart kid! Somebody is paying attention!
She held her finger in the hole while I got out the patch kit. The guys were interested to see me pull out a patch kit and plug the leak on the trail. I am not going to change a 35" tire on the trail because of a little hole! My daughter was the hero! She's a pretty good kid. I'm starting to like her! I only fear that she may want a 4WD for her first car. I hope that the price of LC's comes down in the next 8 years. She is going to want one of her own. She may not accept anything less. She is not a fool.
The sickness goes on. from father to the sons, and to the daughters in the next generation. The inability to accept an inferior vehicle is hereditary. We are going on the third generation of Land Cruiser drivers. It is scary!

 

[Brian Macgyver]

Well kids, the next meet is May 16. It is a week earlier than you might think. Be there or be left out.
In between, lets plan some trail runs to beat the boring everyday. Post here is you have an idea.

 

[Brian Macgyver]

Sorry to be off-line for a while. We have three computers, and all of them on our network were infected. We were pretty much shut down for 2 weeks. It was IT Hell! It was hard to even make a living!
Now we have four machines. Most of them work! Jill has a new laptop, and our IT people are kicking the virus out of the others. We may even be able to have all of our computers working without viruses all at one time! That would be cool!
With 4 computers in the house, one of them should be available to keep track of friends on MUD! This virus slipped in as an anti-virus program, and screwed up our whole system. It was under the name Semantic, and Norton anti-virus. The cost of the removal of their junk from our network is $400 so far, and we are not anywhere near done with it. The expense is mounting. I am mad. I want to find their office and burn it down! These people purely suck!!
In order to beat the Norton virus, I had to buy a new computer that uses a different operating system, (Lenix) That is the only computer that actually works. It is the one that I am on now. None of the microsoft based machines are functional. All of them are virus infected. Only the Lenix computer is still functional. The other three are dead. I tend to have a problem when a good machine is killed by an outside power. This tends to make me mad! Does anyone know where these people live? Can we kill them?

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

Sorry to be off-line for a while. We have three computers, and all of them on our network were infected. We were pretty much shut down for 2 weeks. It was IT Hell! It was hard to even make a living!
Now we have four machines. Most of them work! Jill has a new laptop, and our IT people are kicking the virus out of the others. We may even be able to have all of our computers working without viruses all at one time! That would be cool!

Just install anti-virus software in the beginning(its free after rebates) and you will have no viruses.

 

[Brian Macgyver]

Great idea, Phil. Thanks.
Unfortunately it didn't work! A word to the wise.
We had a network of three, and now four computers. It is starting to look somewhat like a corporate system at home. It gets confusing sometimes. It is run through a wireless router and a network to run the common printers and scanners. It's ugly, and keeps growing.
We have firewalls and virus scans out the wazoo! We are protected three ways from Sunday! We have a regular family IT guy to control all of this. He has never seen anything like this.
This one slipped in as a virus protection program. It did not infect any computers at all. It just downloaded easily. Everything worked perfectly, except the internet. It was a blackmail adware program. It kept insisting that we were at risk of virus, while we knew that we were not. We had to pay them or take the consequences. Since we had not ever subscribed to their protection, we ignored the warnings.
The messages said "Your protection has expired. Click here to pay for updates" The usual update cost was $29.99 per month. This is pure blackmail, whether it comes from a legitimate company or not.
After two weeks, they decided to eliminate our internet access in order to "protect" us from viruses. As we refused to pay them, they cut us off from the internet. This is pure blackmail! The auto default choice was to block access, while we never saw the choice window on the screen. The system blocked access without our permission by default!
We bought another computer. They cut off access from that one within two days, not only from our network, but from all others! We cannot even connect the new one at Starbucks!
The only one that still functions is the one that is not affiliated with Microsoft in any way. The operating system is called Lenix. The adware does not work well on this one. So we can still communicate.
The company names involved are formerly reputable ones. Symantic, and Norton anti-virus. I do not know whether it is these companies, or hackers using the names who are behind this. Either way, the problem is costly and damaging. We have spent well over $600 on this problem so far. All that we can do at this point is to go through the messages line by line on every computer and block every access that these companies or the hackers have used. If the companies are innocent, as I suspect, this damages them greatly. If they are at fault, the FBI will be on them like flies on sticky paper!
Unfortunately, even though the companies named have been around a while and have an incentive to behave honestly, I have to suggest that we all remove any trace of their names from any computer systems. That means canceling any of the services offered, and removing any trace of them on every drive and memory. In the likely event that they are innocent, this will hurt them a lot.
If the companies are innocent, then God help them to clear their names. In the unlikely event that they are not innocent, then God help them! They are in big trouble! The FBI does not take kindly to internet blackmail!
Some of my machines will be examined for traces of the start of the problem. It will mostly involve my ISP. They will find it!
I have had four computers destroyed by these people. I will not take it laying down.
I am PISSED OFF!! And I will KICK ASS!!

 

[igotyoubabe325]

You know it is too bad we are so dependant on these freaking things. Personally I like to keep it simple. I don't even have a cell phone my wife who is my junior by a decade or so has one she carries for the both of us if for some reason the world might end if someone can't get a hold of us.


If I break down I walk, been doing it for 25 years. I will take my chances. Around here unless you can call 911 and explain to someone in great detail where you are you will wait a long time to get found. Phase II wireless is working on getting to northern AZ, but hasn't quite made it. Myabe early next year. For those who don't know Phase II lets dispatch centers know where you are with GPS coordinates when you call 911. Right now the nearest tower is all we get and we have to call the cell phone provider to get that info. Wholly crap; what a tangent. My bad.