Congrats on the gps!!! Thats a pretty sweet little unit... but i wouldn't want to give up the storage compartment for it. I really like the garmin 60csx i have mounted to my drivers side "oh s***" handle.
Thrill on the Hill event, Ruidoso (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter BionicCruiser
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So, where are the pics?
Great to see everyone!
And hope to again soon.
juane
And hope to again soon.
juane
Mike,
Steve won the GPS and the guy that won the bumper already had an ARB. Your name got drawn for a coffe mug, but they wouldn't let me collect for you
Good to hear Zoe is doing better. Frank and Beans slept the whole way home, it was a great drive.
I was very surprised by how well the 40 did. The drive down was great, I averaged about 65MPH. I even had to slow her down on a couple of hill descents. On the trail was even better, the first gear is so low. I experimented with how little gas I applied, and for the most part the idle was enough to get down/up the trail. I even tried letting it stall out in second, but the damn truck wouldn't do it! Saturday night back at camp we felt it though. The 40 is a rugged machine and we were both sore. Many thanks to Jon for the sleeping pads. I think they saved the trip.
Also wanted to mention to those that have a Jet-Boil. Primus makes an awesome lantern (Easylight) that fits to the same bottles that feed the Jet-Boil. It packs small (fits inside the Jet-Boil pan) and puts out a lot of light. Another savior from our trip.
to those that made it. I know we are looking forward to another trip!
Steve won the GPS and the guy that won the bumper already had an ARB. Your name got drawn for a coffe mug, but they wouldn't let me collect for you
Good to hear Zoe is doing better. Frank and Beans slept the whole way home, it was a great drive.
I was very surprised by how well the 40 did. The drive down was great, I averaged about 65MPH. I even had to slow her down on a couple of hill descents. On the trail was even better, the first gear is so low. I experimented with how little gas I applied, and for the most part the idle was enough to get down/up the trail. I even tried letting it stall out in second, but the damn truck wouldn't do it! Saturday night back at camp we felt it though. The 40 is a rugged machine and we were both sore. Many thanks to Jon for the sleeping pads. I think they saved the trip.
Also wanted to mention to those that have a Jet-Boil. Primus makes an awesome lantern (Easylight) that fits to the same bottles that feed the Jet-Boil. It packs small (fits inside the Jet-Boil pan) and puts out a lot of light. Another savior from our trip.
to those that made it. I know we are looking forward to another trip!
So, where are the pics?
Onur (and anyone else that couldn't make the trip),
It was a great weekend. The event came off just as planned by the nice folks at Desert Sun Toyota and the Toyota Trail team. The mix of trails was appropriate for those that attended. I think everyone got to drive the type of trails that they like at some point, including a trail for those that wanted to risk some damage... and some of us got a little damage though nothing that disabled a vehicle.
The people were nice...
The trails were good...
The band was fun...
The beer & wine flowed...
Campfires... S'Mores... and lotsa laughing...
The food was not only free but it tasted great...
Ruidoso is a neat little mountain town...
Great T-Shirt and Trail Team gifts ( Outback style hat )
The campground was excellent and located right on the river...
There were 40 registered vehicles; probably 20 FJ Cruisers and 20 other Land Cruisers...
We got to watch an FJ Cruiser (Robbie's) strap a Nissan Titan out of the river... (James has pics!)
Lots of kids, wives, dogs, and new friends...
Birthday Brownies (mmmmm good!)
Good gifts and prizes (I think everyone in the club had their name drawn to win something)
I got to drive Robbie's FJ Cruiser for about 2 hours in the MUD
I think the final count was 13 HDC vehicles; not counting Mike Perez who isn't a member but he visits the forum occasionally.
Brandon told me that he is hoping that this will be an annual event. We (all of us!) just need to help him convince the General Manager that this is good publicity and that it makes sense to their business to spend advertising money on things like the "Thrill on the Hill" event.
List of High Desert Cruiser attendees:
===========================
Evan & Ellen [FZJ80]
John (Tobascofish) + Dad [FZJ80]
Rory & Molly [FJ40]
James & Linda + Alex & sister [FZJ80]
Dan & Sarah + Ben & Pat & Sarah's sister Jody [FZJ80]
Mike & Connie + Ross [FZJ80]
Greg & Janet + Ryan & Garner [FJ60]
Steve & Wendy [FJ40]
Kevin [FJC]
Vince [FZJ80]
Marc & Denise + kids (sorry, I'm terrible with names) [FJ60]
Mike Belcher [FJC]
Dave & Jennie McGraw [Tacoma]
Did I mention that the beer and wine was flowing?
This one's for Shawn.
Did I mention that everyone had fun and the beer and wine was flowing?
-Mike-
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Minor correction. That white 80 (Cruiser80 here on 'Mud) has a 2-1/2" OME lift and 33" tires which is what they recommended as the minimum for the Coyote Canyon trail. Everything else on his truck was stock though and it does not have F&R lockers.
... and the stock running boards are now junk.
-Mike-
Okay, okay, you twisted my arm -- sign me up for next year (pending time off: what as kept me home this go-round).
What can we do to start the convincing?
Sounds like everyone had a blast Mike....
I'm bummed I couldn't make it considering I got my roof almost pounded back to true and my sunroof works now too....;p
I was hosting my mother this weekend who flew in to make sure that I actually do live in ABQ and that I have a roof over my head and that I am fed...she took care of this last part real nice. We went to Santa Fe yesterday late afternoon/evening and did some cantina hopping along with some good snails and french onion soup at Cafe Paris near the town square....
What a cool town Sante Fe is....lots of cute girls too....
See you all soon.
-o-
ps: pics!!
I'm bummed I couldn't make it considering I got my roof almost pounded back to true and my sunroof works now too....;p
I was hosting my mother this weekend who flew in to make sure that I actually do live in ABQ and that I have a roof over my head and that I am fed...she took care of this last part real nice. We went to Santa Fe yesterday late afternoon/evening and did some cantina hopping along with some good snails and french onion soup at Cafe Paris near the town square....
What a cool town Sante Fe is....lots of cute girls too....
See you all soon.
-o-
ps: pics!!
What a cool town Sante Fe is....lots of cute girls too....
ps: pics!!
Ok, let's see 'um ... and not the snails.
Jon
Minor correction. That white 80 (Cruiser80 here on 'Mud) has a 2-1/2" OME lift and 33" tires which is what they recommended as the minimum for the Coyote Canyon trail. Everything else on his truck was stock though and it does not have F&R lockers.
... and the stock running boards are now junk.
-Mike-
Same, right?
Jon
Ok, let's see 'um ... and not the snails.
Jon
Couldn't snap any....was with the mother unit....
Nope. The white 80 belongs to a great couple from El Paso (cruiser80 on 'Mud)
Mike Perez brought his FJ40. If you will remember, this was almost a basket case FJ40 that someone from El Paso was selling as a project. They posted pics a couple of years ago. Anyway, Mike bought it and got it running.
FYI, it has a bikini top like you are planning to run. He was wishing it had a hard top on the drive up from El Paso, or that he had decided to bring his FJ60.
-Mike-
I think we have some we'll dig up. There might even be a video or two of a really weird/neat obstacle on the second day - 50 degree slope drop into an arroyo followed by about 30 feet of almost as steep sets of offset whoopdeedos that required every bit of articulation a rig had. Was interesting because locked trucks required a different technique than open ones to get up.
Mike didn't specifically mention it, but the trail that most HDCers did on Sunday was almost an afterthought by the event sponsors. It was added to satistfy participants that wanted a little more challenge than what was originally offered. In the end, it was a great decision because everyone got what they were looking for.
A nice, semi-local event that I'll do again.
Brandon told me about this trail and about the one to the top of Sierra Blanca on Mescalero land (12,000' peak). He was hoping to get permission to do the Sierra Blanca trail because there are maps that he could give to the trail team to find the trail and it is supposed to be a hard trail, through the forest, and has beautiful views from the peak. [Maybe next year!]
I believe that I mentioned the possibility of Coyote Canyon at the May meeting. Brandon told me about the trail but at that time he didn't have anyone that knew how to get there and all he knew was that locals said it was a good/hard trail. He also didn't want the "leader" to be driving a Jeep and he wanted Dave (the guy that led it) to ride with Robbie ( didn't happen.
) To Brandon's credit, I told him the HDC group would be willing to run a hard trail if he could get one organized. He came through for us even though there was only 1 FJC that was signed up for the trail. That truck was driven by a GREAT couple even though it didn't meet the minimum requirements (lift and 33" tires.) They rode with Robbie when we got to the Three Amigos portion of the trail.Chris (the FS guy that selected the trails) told me he had to battle with the FS to get permission to let the group on the trails without going through the whole bureaucratic BS; permits, etc. Chris said the FS limited the event to 75 vehicles and that had to be spread over 5 trails. He indicated to me that he had to promise that everyone would be "watched" and that everyone would stay on the trails, drive responsibly, etc. He may have been embellishing his role but from the way he described it, I got the impression that the FS wasn't too keen on having the event on their trails. (One wonders why we pay taxes to fund government organizations with that mentality.... Sorry David.)
-Mike-
Brandon gave me the name of the GM for Desert Sun Toyota but I have slept since then so it is lost in the dead brain cells of an old man.
I plan to give him a call later this week and get contact information. He suggested a letter/e-mail would go a long way toward making the point that the event was a success from a "customer" view point. I'm sure the GM would rather hear how well things went from us rather than from Brandon and the other employees that were involved.
I will post contact information for those that are willing to give them feedback.
-Mike-
hokie dokie, thanx...
Berms
One of the things the FS guy down there said was that we couldn't go on across berms - they meant the road was closed. So, I was a little suspicious - confirmed later when he told us we couldn't go through a closed but not locked gate with no signage...
Berms mean high clearance is required...
One of the things the FS guy down there said was that we couldn't go on across berms - they meant the road was closed. So, I was a little suspicious - confirmed later when he told us we couldn't go through a closed but not locked gate with no signage...
Berms mean high clearance is required...
You left too early on Sunday night, Mike. After 10:00 pm or so the beverage of choice became "Rock Star and vodka".
I even tried some of it, right before being chastised for abandoning my family. I think they were called "Cherry Bombs", even though they couldn't find cherry vodka and had to settle for raspberry.
Concur. Rasberry was the order of the day. Quite tasty, I might add....
Hard to believe cherry would be better. May have to do a taste test in the near future...
Hard to believe cherry would be better. May have to do a taste test in the near future...
