I'm still updating my picasa web album of the expedition, slowly going over the GPS tracks and trying to coerce the place names from memory and from Google Earth. The album can be found here.
The FJs are possibly still lingering in some storage area in Denver as I type this, but hopefully will be back on Friday, if we're lucky.
Erik, my fellow FJ expéditionnaire and best spotter there is, posted an excellent overview of the trip [had to remove the link because it went to a restricted area of the FJ Bruisers forum. See full text in newer post in this blog.] in the FJ Bruisers forum. He left a few funny/embarrassing bits out, like for example when we spent more than two hours winching my truck up the lower stages of Rose Garden Hill because my truck was performing like crap. And it was performing like crap because I forgot to engage 4-wheel drive... Now, in my defense, I have just installed a new transfer case right before this trip, and it has two gear selection sticks instead of the single-stick set up with the old one, and neither stick has any markings on the nobs -- one stick selects 2wd/4wd, the other selects between high or low gears (there is no mistaking between those). So I usually remember if I'm in 2wd or 4wd based on what I was running before (and some dash indicator lights, but who pays attention to those?). So I beat the crap out of the truck and tires trying to climb half way up this very difficult, steep hill with lots of large, loose rocks, ledges and whatnot, in 2wd, all the way irate with the poor truck because it was not performing up to snuff, or so I thought. At least we got to practice some winching...
Bill Burke, our guide through the Colorado trails, did an exceptional job taking us through five days of gorgeous back-country and back and forth over the Continental Divide a few times. The campfires at the end of the day were always a pleasure, and we got to know a bit about the man's life and background. My favorite Bill story doesn't have as much to do with off-roading, but with telling a world-class driver not to drive like an idiot. We were chatting by the campfire about different automotive sports and the discussion reached Formula One, a sport both Ellen and I enjoy following. Bill starts telling us about when he was hired to take the Renault team out for a spin in Moab, with some Nissan trucks (Nissan owns or owned Renault, which I didn't know). "Probably two or three years ago," he said, "can't really remember any of their names." "Well," I said, "if it was two or three years ago they were probably Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet Jr." "Yeah, I think that was it." I can't really remember how we got into it, but I was telling him of my dislike for Fernando (who's a two-time champion and comes across as a douche sometimes) and how the Renault team crumbled last year amidst cheating accusations in previous seasons, when Bill says something like "Yeah, Fernando Alonso, I held him by the collar of his shirt at the top of Rose Garden Hill! He almost flipped a truck over and I had to talk down some sense into him. The team principal was there and he couldn't believe it!" My jaw dropped. Bill Burke held Fernando Alonso by the collar of his shirt, over atop Rose Garden Hill, Moab, Utah. For driving like a moron. Someone should erect a plaque at the place to commemorate this. I may just have to start collecting donations.
This was a fantastic, epic trip. Colorado is a state of awesome beauty. I'm seriously trying to find some way to move there, maybe buy a ranch in the mountains and telecommute via satellite, or maybe raise sheep. Erik and Dana were great traveling companions, we couldn't have asked for better people to spend two weeks with. And the FJs, boy did we beat the crap out of those trucks! We did some pretty hairy stuff with them (some of it due to driver incompetence or inattention), and they held up amazingly. These trucks are fantastic off-roaders, no question.
No comments:
Post a Comment