Does my heart good to take out my 62-year old restored Jeep and put it to work.  Each component doing just exactly what it was designed to do so many years ago.  Many feel that I shouldn't take it out into the desert, canyons, and mountains that surround my home town, but that is exactly what I had in mind to do as I was overhauling each and every component, and even when I was applying the glossy yellow paint.

Unlike the days of my youth, I never venture out without another Jeep along (even if the other Jeep is a Samari--you have seen it before in my posts of previous summers).  




Rough road ahead.




Over the top.




Fun trail.




Planned on stopping by the stream under the cottonwoods for lunch.  Creek was dry, but the cottonwoods provided cool shade.




Local wildlife joined us for lunch.




Sandy hill to climb presented a challenge that took multiple attempts.




Heading home.

Were shut down due to fire danger and high winds.  No off-roading. The "Monument" fire in Sierra Vista is 40 miles south of us, and set to explode again, probably today, with predicted 50 mph winds.  Already 47 homes burned. The humidity was 1%, with measurements of 0% up the hill near the fire. Our temps have been at, over, or just under 100 all week, with hotter weather coming Wed. The Horseshoe II fire is 60 miles east, and about contained, but the winds may raise a fuss with it also today.  The big fire on the AZ NM line is slowly being contained and is over 500,000 acres.  I elk hunted that area.  and My Willys sits in the garage, waiting for the monsoons (usually around the 4th of July) so they will lift the restrictions throughout SE AZ. Pray for rain.  Jim

Tom,

Thanks for your kind remarks about the pics I post of my excursions.  I often fear that I take up too much space with my photos and comments.

Of the Jeep trails I have shown in my posts, only one is on private land.  That private trail is close to town (less than a miles from my home) and easy when I want to run the grand kids on a quick 4-wheeling trip.  All the rest I have shown (trail heads less than 10 miles from town) are on federal land.  Seventy percent of Utah is federal land: BLM or Forest Service.  When I was young my entire county was remote, unwanted, and unnoticed desolation.  There were no BLM or Forest Service offices within hundreds of miles.  The only rangers or agents that ever came here were sent here as punishment.  Locals didn't know how good they had it.  There were many farmers and ranchers trying to make a living in this arid land. They all had a Jeep or two.  Jeeps were very practical and served well.  Families would often make plans, get together, pack up their Jeeps and head out for a few days to the far reaches of the land.  Sometimes they would follow old pioneer wagon trails, or go into unexplored regions where there were no roads.  When I got my driver's license such was the case.  My first car was a CJ-2A.  For the next several years I tagged along on almost every Jeep excursion that was planned.  It was great sport.  We traversed everything from desert sand dunes, to deep canyons, to mountain tops, to sagebrush flats.  We often had the early settlers with us who would tell stories around the campfires at night.  It was always a challenge to see if one could get his Jeep into an area when no one had been before, and then the group would follow.  Since we were farmers and ranchers we cared for the land.  We respected it.  That respect was handed down from the early settlers who were just a generation or two older than I was at 16.

Then the Forest Service and BLM started taking notice of our little corner of the world.  They liked what they saw.  Before long, rangers and agents who had been raised and educated in places far from here started showing up.  They came to care for and protect our land.  It bothered me then and still does now, that they don't go back to where ever they came from and care for and protect their own county.  We will protect our county. And even worse, environmentalists from other states relentlessly agitate and needle the Forest Service and BLM to "properly" do their jobs and restrict access to our land to an even greater extent.  

So where do we drive our Jeeps?  We certainly can't just head of into the beautiful badlands any more.  Since the arrival of the federal offices with their agents and rangers the entire county has been "closed".  That means our travel is restricted to roads only.  One good thing for us is that during the 1950s and 60s there was a lot of exploration for uranium and oil.  A lot was found.  Several crude roads were cut to access the wells and mines that were opened up.  Most of them are still passable in a Jeep.  At present the federal offices are telling us the we can travel any road that is not posted "Closed".  However, many of the federal officials are trying to get it changed so that all roads are closed unless posted "Open". Sorry to say, that is probably not too far off. That would make it so easy for them and get the environmentalists off their backs. Till then I'm going to try to get out as much as I can, and I'll take some more photos.  The invitation is open--come and join us.

Thanks Mike,
  Yes, yellow is good.