As five or six thousand pounds of Land Cruiser hurtled backwards down the steep trail towards the abyss – with me strapped into it – I pushed on the brakes as hard as I could and hoped it would stop sliding. The loose soil was the deciding factor now, and the knobby BFG Mud Terrain tires tore long grooves through the brown dirt.

I had just enough time to wonder if it would stop before things turned somewhat disastrous. I was slowing, but was it enough?

My heart sank as I suddenly felt the rear wheels slide over the edge behind me.

This was not good.

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The day had started when the alarm went off at 0645, far too early for a weekend morning. I really wanted more sleep but I got up and got going to the Starbucks in south San Jose where I was meeting some other local geocachers. I had suggested that we convoy down but in typical cat-herding style this didn’t really happen. We had three vehicles in our group, several more in another and some solo drivers as well. I think there were probably about ten vehicles from our local geocaching organization (the GBA), most with multiple passengers.

We were heading to Hollister Hills SVRA for their “1st Annual Hollister Hills SVRA Geocache Bash” with which they hoped to lure more geocachers to the offroad park. In addition to the traditional Upper Ranch 4×4 area, we’d have access to the Hudner expansion property, which was normally only open to paying groups. For twenty years they’ve been putting in trails, post fences, signage and such and I think they are finally close to opening it up to the general public.

After arriving and greeting friends, we filled out our registration forms and received day passes for our windshields, and booklets for the event. Hidden all around the two sections of the park were around 30 new geocaches, most of which contained a unique information card. We were to use the information on these cards to answer questions in our booklet, and for each correct answer we’d receive one ticket for the raffle which would conclude the event.

After a quick opening briefing, off we went. I think most of the attendees – including me – headed off to the Hudner expansion area. We passed through the gate and the convoy of vehicles headed out onto the narrow trail. It was packed pretty tightly at first, but people made individual choices that helped to spread things out. Some stopped for the first geocaches along the way, while others continued on at their own pace.

The Hudner property has the feel of a typical regional cattle ranch. The trails were normal fire/ranch roads that led over and around the rolling hillsides. There were a lot of scenic views and it was a nice area to drive through, and not especially technical. There were some steep hills and some sharp hairpin switchbacks, but little in the way of rocks, ruts, or other obstacles.

After taking my time at the first three geocaches in order to get some breathing room, I settled into a routine for a while with a few other 4x4s and ended up stopping at the same points with them. This worked fine until we got onto a “black diamond” rated trail. It was still pretty easy, but narrow, and it was there along the southeast corner of the park that I had my little excitement.

I’d arrogantly been in high range the entire time, turning on the rear lockers just once for a steep climb. At one point there was a short turn which was very steep, and without enough momentum my forward motion came to a halt about two-thirds of the way up. Dammit!

What I should have done (Hello hindsight! Hey, thanks for eventually showing up! Maybe next time you could be there in the first place?) was to put on the foot and hand brakes, switched to neutral and gone into low range, then powered the rest of the way up the hill. Should have. Instead I tried to back down to make the switch at the bottom of the hill, and then try again with more momentum.

And so it was I found myself as the recipient of a nice adrenaline dump, as the Land Cruiser finally ground to a last-second halt. After a deep breath, I tried to drive myself back onto the trail, but the step the rear wheels had gone over was too steep and loose. Even in low range (better late than never?) and with both lockers activated, it was no go. I was stuck.

I got out the radio to call Sam who was ahead of me in his FJ, who I figured could strap me out. I had a drink of water first though, as my mouth had gone completely dry! When I called on the radio it seemed they’d gone farther ahead than I had thought, but Sam replied that they would come back and help, it might just take a bit.

I had started pulling out my recovery gear when Sam came on the radio and said that they might be delayed longer, because now they were slightly stuck as well. Soon after, he followed up by saying they were now very stuck. I had spotted a good tree uphill from me, so I told them him that I would self-recover and then come and get them out, which they felt was a fine plan.

I grabbed my tree strap and the winch cable, which I dragged up the steep, slippery trail. It was hard to walk up it while unspooling the synthetic cable, but I made it to the tree and set up the line. I returned to the Land Cruiser and started to feel better when I took up the slack in the winch line, knowing that the vehicle was now definitely secure.

As I started winching myself out, people started to arrive from both directions on the trail to see what was up. I got the Land Cruiser back on the trail and then up the hill, while now also having to be careful of people meandering around the side of the trail. But it was blessedly uneventful, and I was good to go again. Hot damn! Life is good.

I drove up to where Sam had accidentally backed the two right wheels of his FJ Cruiser “Tidy Tip” off the side of the trail. He’d tried to drive back up onto the trail but the loose dirt edge had crumbled and things only got worse, so he did the right thing and waited for help to arrive.

After examining the situation (and the inevitable “Tidy Tipping” jokes), I consulted with fellow geocacher “4wheeler” John who has been a highly-experienced offroad instructor for many years. He felt that we should pull the FJ backwards using the winch and a tow strap, hooked to a hitch-mounted recovery receiver he had with him. We set everything up properly, and got ourselves in synch with FRS radios. Sam would be in the FJ (lucky him), John would coordinate, and I’d winch from the cab of the Land Cruiser.

It was a hard pull to overcome the resistance of the rear wheel on the edge, and I had to be on the brakes full in the Land Cruiser so it didn’t move instead of the FJ. I bet it felt much more exciting for Sam inside his FJ though! Happily, he was soon back onto the trail proper and a cheer went up from the gathered crowd, followed by a round of applause. Relieved, we quickly stowed our recovery gear and were more than happy to return to our regularly scheduled fun.

From that point we hunted a few more geocaches before riding some fun trails out of the Hudner area and making our way to Area 5 for a free lunch of hot dogs, chips and cookies. After lunch, we resumed the search for geocaches for about another hour and a half before we had to get back to Area 5 and turn in our booklets before the raffle.

We drove around the Upper Ranch area, mostly on trails I was familiar with but we did get into a narrow area where I had to squeak between trees again. There was a ton of poison oak in some of the areas too, and it was probably all over the outside of the Land Cruiser by the time we were done.

We got to one very rutted hill climb and Sam was ahead of me, and I heard his editorial opinion of it come over the radio as “Uh… No.” Quickly after that our friend Matt was in the awkward position of backing his Grand Cherokee down the hill after his left-side wheels had slid into a huge rut. We spotted him down safely, his diffs dragging a path through the soil at one point.

Finishing up, we returned to Area 5 and handed in our booklets and traded stories. My friend Bill had gotten tippy in his Discovery and then also had to back down a hill. To add to the fun, his seat belts had both locked up, so he had the uncomfortable experience of not wearing any restraints until they decided to work again: at the bottom of the hill, of course. Also Rick got high-centered in his vehicle at one point but was quickly strapped free.

The event concluded with a generous raffle with some great prizes, including tow straps, t-shirts, hats, an annual state OHV day pass, a nice dirt bike helmet, riding gloves, and a special state park pass that was good for entry, parking, and even camping for a year, something you can’t even purchase. I was lucky enough to win two different sizes of tow straps and a tire pressure gauge.

The raffle took place at the same stage that was used for the slide shows and other presentations at the Overland Rally & Workshop last year, so that also brought back good memories for me. As the event wrapped up, we enthusiastically thanked the Hollister Hills staff for a wonderful event and a job well done, and the attendees broke up to head their individual ways. For me it was time to head home to spend time with the family.

I felt especially fortunate to have dodged a figurative bullet this time out, and on the spur of the moment I stopped at our neighborhood grocery store and picked up a bottle of champagne. I was reminded that Life is Good and should be celebrated every now and again. I think it was Jeff Cooper who said that the best feeling in the world was being shot at – and missed. After a dangerous moment passes, the air seems fresher, the skies are bluer, and there was even more appreciation than usual when I walked into the house and hugged my wife and daughter.

It had been a fun and memorable day, and conking out for a late afternoon nap on my couch never felt so good.

Cheers, everyone.

It’s been about a month since my last post, so I hope you’re settled in for a long one today…

As I hadn’t gone anywhere especially interesting for the entire month of February, it was a relief when March was time for a semi-epic road trip to Desert Rendezvous 2012. The exact location was something of a mystery which would be disclosed only at the last minute, but it was obviously going to be somewhere in the Anza Borrego desert, southwest of the Salton Sea and north of the Mexican border.

It’s not really a proper road trip if there isn’t some insanity involved, and driving well over 500 miles each way to enjoy about a day and a half of fun out in the middle of the desert certainly met that requirement.

I was fortunate that Anthony of Overland Nomads was going as well, so the long drive wouldn’t be as tedious as it would have been had I been locked up with only my own brain to entertain itself for ten hours behind the wheel. We departed from my house before dawn on Friday morning, and bee-lined straight to a local Starbucks before getting on the highway and setting the cruise control for the long journey ahead.

Our route took us down I-5 to the northern part of the Los Angeles basin, where we cut east and then south again to Palm Springs, and then Indio. I’d not been to the Indio area since the ’70s, when two of my hippie uncles lived on a commune in the area. From there we drove south past the Salton Sea, then a bit west again to the first checkpoint in the Anza Borrego desert. We arrived around 4pm. It was at this checkpoint where – after some mild and good-natured hazing – we were given the final location of the Rendezvous, about 10 miles to the east.

From there we were on a sandy, very dusty dirt road that paralleled some railroad tracks. At certain sections the dust became a fine, deep powder which would threaten to strand your vehicle if you weren’t careful with your driving and maintaining forward momentum. Anthony was in front of me, and I could tell that I was approaching one of these dustbowl sections because his Land Cruiser would abruptly vanish in a large brown dust cloud and I’d have to halt and wait for the track to become visible again.

It was a fun drive and before long we found ourselves at the Desert Rendezvous campsite, located in a large wash crossed by a short railroad bridge. There were already a lot of vehicles parked at the site, tents (both rooftop and conventional) were up, and people were gathered around on the west side. After checking in with the event’s main organizer – Dave, aka Tacodoc – we selected a spot to park & made camp.

Once we had settled in, we made our way over to the main gathering place was and socialized for the rest of the evening, enjoying the company and campfires. After dark we also did some night photography, and I gave my new Goal Zero camp lights a trial run. As another test, I slept in the back of Toyotie which worked out pretty well, if just slightly cramped.

Starting around sunset, the desert winds kicked up. By the time we went to sleep they must have gusting at 30mph+. The winds howled and battered us until they abruptly died off around 1am, when everything became still and silent.

We awoke early the next morning, socialized a bit and ate breakfast before Anthony had to scramble to break down his RTT and get over to the other side of the camp area for the “Desert Challenge”. About a half-dozen vehicles took part in the various timed challenges, which included jacking up your vehicle; deploying your tent; repairing a punctured tire; creating a sling for a broken arm; and opening up an ammo can that was locked up with various sizes and types of nuts & bolts.

Between the various physical challenges, the pressure, and the desert sun, Anthony was pretty whacked after he went through the ringer of the challenges. For the rest of the day we took it easy and I kept an eye on him to ensure that he re-hydrated himself and was feeling better. We did more socializing, took part in the gathering of trash from the area (we each filled up a trash bag of all sorts of garbage), and more socializing. We spent some time checking out the “80-series corral” that was set up near us, and I purchased a used Engel MT45 fridge/freezer from Zach at Overland Gourmet. Woot!

There are a few things that I have notice in both of the “overlanding” events I have attended. First off is that overlanders tend to be very hospitable and friendly people. Like me, they enjoy traveling and exploring interesting and remote places,  and sharing those experiences. There are some rough edges here and there but you would expect this from independent-minded folks, and I’m probably no exception. I think that the less social types tend not to come to these events anyway, so there’s a natural filter to some degree.

It’s also a diverse group, from Marines to new-age hippies, from $100,000 custom rigs to well-traveled 40-year old rust buckets, from gung-ho outdoor types to normal families… It was fun to see how little the various differences mattered while everyone shared a common enthusiasm.

Desert Rendezvous was a very positive event and I didn’t hear a single complaint about it, the organizers, or the attendees the entire time I was there… This was good times!

That evening Zach from Overland Gourmet delighted the crowd with a free hot dog dinner with four types of dogs on offer: Coney Island, a hot & spicy dog with bbq sauce & cool slaw, a reuben dog, and a “Thanksgiving turkey dog” that included gravy, stuffing and cranberry sauce! There was also a raffle with lots of prizes (I won an “overland junk drawer” by the folks who make the Trasharoo), and more time socializing around the campfire.

It was windy again but still warm, probably in the upper 60s by the time we went to sleep. Eventually the wind ramped up to the level it had the previous night… And then some! It was windy enough to rock my heavy Land Cruiser around, and I could hear Anthony’s RTT flapping around like mad. Occasionally I heard something get blown over, and I hoped that my camp table wouldn’t sail off into the desert.

The next morning revealed a blown-over bottle but everything else had survived OK. I was very glad I’d put away everything except my table and chair. It also helped that the wind seemed to come from the southwest & never seemed to change direction. After breakfast I did hear that some of the Overland Gourmet merchandise had gotten blown around overnight, and that someone had sustained some pole damage to their regular camping tent.

As we had a very long return drive ahead of us, we quickly packed up & said our goodbyes, and reluctantly headed out. I know I could have used another week there in the desert, but I had to get home that night and pack for a flight to Austin the following morning. Bleah.

The drive started off nice, even with a big headwind around Palm Springs. Then we hit LA which brought traffic, rain and accidents. We even were snowed on as we neared the peak of The Grapevine, just a couple of hours from the warm desert! We pushed on and eventually parted ways as we neared the Bay Area, and I think we both made it to our respective homes around 7pm or so.

It was a whirlwind weekend and I had a great time. Now I’m looking forward to the 2012 Mountain Rendezvous scheduled for September, and of course for Overland Expo 2012 in May.

Desert Rendezvous is a free event, put together by a group of folks from the ExPo forums and led by “Tacodoc” Dave. Organizing and running an event like this takes a lot of time and effort. The volunteers do all the work in return for nothing but gratitude from the attendees. In addition to the free Saturday night dinner, there was a pile of donated raffle prizes, free decals and t-shirts paid for by sponsors, and Friday night happy hour including peach mojitos. I would be amiss to not mention my gratitude and thanks to the volunteers and sponsors of Desert Rendezvous 2012. Thank you all!

It was great seeing Anthony & Zach in person again, other folks (like Tacodoc) who I’d briefly met at the Overland Rally in Hollister, and meeting Wolf, Apryl, Tony, Trump, and many others for the first time. It was worth every mile and hour of the 1100-mile drive. I’m looking forward to Mountain Rendezvous in September.

Desert Rendezvous 2012 Photo Gallery

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More posts are coming up on my visit to Texas, mods & gear (of course) and some other activities. I’m also supposed to rework the iPad post I started on a few months back, now that I have more practical hands-on experience with it… If you have any questions or requests, be sure to let me know.

After all the work done with the roof rack, lights, batteries, snorkel and such, you’d think I’d be done with that sort of thing, at least for a while. Well, excuse me while I break out in haughty laughter until I pass out from a lack of oxygen.

Just as with the Jeep, there always seems to be more to do. Like when my father-in-law contacted me out of the blue, offering a nice Kenwood dual-band, APRS-enabled ham radio that he no longer needed, complete with a Garmin GPS puck. That sounded perfect, so I thanked him and said “yes please” and suddenly there was more work to be done.

When it arrived, I spent some time checking it out. It had a remote head unit, with an interesting mount that allowed for some interesting installation possibilities. The GPS had a nice long cable, which was helpful as well. I determined that I would install the radio body under the driver seat. The head unit could mount in the center column between the shifter section and the cubby box with no drilling or other modification. It was a great location and it also meant I could reclaim the spot where I’d installed my Yaesu in the dash.

The first step was to completely uninstall the Yaesu mobile radio. That included the radio, handset, power cables, etc. I also needed to pull back the antenna cable and undo the cable ties and such. This turned out to be a fair amount of work.

Getting the new radio body mounted under the seat was the most difficult part though, because the space there is very cramped and awkward. I used cable ties to firmly attach the body to the underside of the seat. It took quite a lot of time to get it done right, and both my hands were pretty scraped-up when it was finally done. Routing and attaching cables to complete the installation after that was straightforward and painless.

The radio takes a bit of getting used to since it’s effectively two radios in one, plus it has the built-in APRS TNC and such. Despite that, I got APRS up and running pretty quickly and was able to confirm that I could be tracked online. This will be a useful addition to using the SPOT Connect.

While I had the center shifter cover up to install the radio’s head unit, I also replaced the bulb for the shifter illumination. The light hadn’t worked since I bought Toyotie but it does now. Naturally, I also discovered that there is – somewhat inexplicably – a similar light for the ashtray. Yes, an ashtray light. Like the shifter light, the bulb on this one had given up the ghost who knows how long ago, so at some point I will have to take the ash apart for the Nth time to replace it.

I also obtained a replacement passenger-side sunvisor to replace the existing one, which hung down about an inch or two. The new one stays fully up as it is supposed to. At the same time I got a replacement for the right/rear mud flap which is in bad shape. I’ll have the exhaust pipe lengthened and routed around it before I replace the existing flap.

Then there’s the odd driver-side carpet clip that is missing; the center diff switch I want to put in; finishing the steering wheel wrap lacing; doing something about the tear in the driver’s seat leather; fixing the leaky engine seal; and surely a never-ending string of other things. And add an awning, a freezer/fridge, yada yada yada.

On the plus side, when I have the time I don’t mind a wrenching project. Good thing, too.