The next set of photos are of my first truck. I bought a Toyota 4x4 pickup truck. I loved that truck.
I also had a lot of fun with that truck. I took it snow skiing, mud bogging, 4-wheeling, hunting, camping,
stuck in a ditch, stuck in the snow, stuck in a pond, etc. What a great truck!!
The first time I did this stunt, it scared the be-jesus out of me. Then I realized I could do it
over and over without tipping the truck. It was a freaky feeling though when the truck
tipped and that rear wheel came off the ground. My Mom is the one taking these photos :-)
This picture give a better idea of how steep this trail was. The reason the truck tips is there is a deep
hole on the right side that you fall into when decending this path.
Ok, this is the last shot. I don't know how bad this was for the truck suspension, but I did it several
times. Actually, I think there is a shopping mall at this location now. They took away one of my favorite
local four wheel drive spots. Oh well, Arizona is a long way from Virginia anyway. Plus, now that I am older
and have a more expensive 4-Runner, I am not sure I would be as daring.
This day was a blast and I remember it well. Chad and I drove up north in Arizona towards Clint's Well. We
went specifically on a rainy day in the quest for mud. The mission was a success and we did some serious mud
bogging. Here we took a pit stop to clean the windows. We had to use that cup because the wipers weren't up
to scrapping the chunks of mud off. It was fun, but it took me hours to get all the mud off when I got home.
Chad's turn to pose by the mud, snow, and filthy truck
Most of the mud flew off when driving. The worst part to clean was the underside. I think I brought half the
forest floor back down to Phoenix
Another time, my friend Josh and I went four wheeling and found this big pond. If I remember right,
I was afraid to drive through it first. I couldn't tell how deep it was. Josh was always a nut though
when it came to fear. He picked up snow skiing faster than anyone I taught. The guy would just
point his skis down hill and go until he crashed. Crazy! Anyway, I believe he took his newer
Toyota 4x4 through first and discovered it was safe. LET THE FUN BEGIN!
Wait, is that my truck there to the left? Its hard to see through all that water :-)
Well, that was fun. I am sure my truck was more than ready to get out of the water. I guess we were
pretty lucky we didn't stall out in the middle of that pond. You can see part of Josh's truck there to the
right. My worst experience with water though was with Chad in Tucson, Arizona. On one rainy night
while we were both attending the University of Arizona (don't worry, I only stayed there a year before
returning to graduate from Arizona State University :-) ), we got bored and decided to go and find some
mud. Well, we succeeded and were having a good ol' time until I got going too fast and couldn't stop
before plunging into a pond. My rear wheels were up in the air and the rest of my truck was
submerged in water. We were totally stuck. To make it worse, we were in a river bed and a storm
was brewing. Arizona is known for flash floods where a wall of water will suddenly come and wash
cars away. I was pretty nervous. Chad was nice enough to hitch hike back to town and call a tow truck.
No one would come. I eventually had to pay some guy with a huge 4x4 to rescue us. Phew!!
I have a few other bad experiences. One was with Darren. We went snow skiing in a total snow storm.
On the way home, I was driving way too fast. My truck spun out of control on the highway, did a 360
or two, and flew into a ditch backwards. It took a couple friendly trucks to get me out of that one.
Another time, I was goofing around in the rain and sliding in the mud. This was in the city. Turns out
I accidentally slid into a ditch and totally got stuck. I had to run all the way home and call Darren before
the cops came and cited me. It was really embarrassing because we had to stop traffic to get my truck out.
The last bad experience was also with Darren. We went four wheeling one day. We saw this really steep
mountain. Darren dared me to try going up it. I looked at it and said no way. Anyway, we left and kept
driving. On the way back, I got stupid and figured I would try going up that mountain. I made it
3/4 of the way, when I slip back down sideways and high centered on a boulder above a bunch of cactus.
I was so afraid my truck would tip. Darren, who had a big awesome Dodge Ram 4x4 used his truck to
pull the boulder down. The problem arose when the boulder kept rolling and was heading right towards
his truck. Never let a boulder come between a man and his truck :-) Darren jumped in front of the
boulder to stop it and ended up with a broken arm. We had to take him right to the hospital. Anyway,
Darren lived and I got my truck off the mountain. Teaches me right for ignoring my first instinct.
Anyway, its a funny memory now (well, maybe not for Darren) :-)
Does anyone like scuba diving?