And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Thursday, March 7, 2024
An odd choice in cars to have out in the desert at nightfall on a dirt road.
A college geology field trip. Ten days to various sites in the desert of CA and NV. A student fought and pleaded that he take his own vehicle. He got his wish.
A VW Fastback. By day two he couldn't keep up. On the 4th or 5th day he fell so far behind a scouting party was sent back. He had a flat tire.
He didn't have a jack but the other vehicle did. He said he had a spare tire. Our jaws dropped when he pulled out the spare which was not mounted on a wheel.
Fed up with him already, this was the last straw. It was put to him, you either leave your car and go with us, or stay with your vehicle and hope someone comes by. We're not coming back this way. Decide right now.
This was miles from anywhere and before cell phones.
Even today on my excursions far off the asphalt, I have come across vehicles completely unsuitable for the terrain. Its not that they got lost or had followed the magenta line of death on their GPS. They were there on purpose. Incredible. I can only shake my head at such ignorance.
I live in Eastern Colorado where the only way to my home is driving on three different dirt roads. Looking at the photo, that road is flat, no washboards and few rocks. That Ford Mustang is equipped to travel on the road. You "city slickers" are just too sensitive...
Then you should know that that one particular spot on the road is not indicative of the entire road.
Maybe he stopped as he considers if he should turn around even though it means going back through that sandy wash. Because now it becomes plain to see the road ahead gets worse. But it looked fine on the chart.
Took my 63 Beetle everywhere. Once on a dirt road way out in the Nevada desert I ran over a huge rattler. I didn't see him in the rear view mirror and was afraid he grabbed the bumper.
It's a known fact that rattlers and sidewinders that are run over by a car or truck tire will often bite into the offending car tire and later, when the driver rubs his hand over the tire to find the puncture, he will snag the fangs and be poisoned.
A college geology field trip. Ten days to various sites in the desert of CA and NV. A student fought and pleaded that he take his own vehicle. He got his wish.
ReplyDeleteA VW Fastback. By day two he couldn't keep up. On the 4th or 5th day he fell so far behind a scouting party was sent back. He had a flat tire.
He didn't have a jack but the other vehicle did. He said he had a spare tire. Our jaws dropped when he pulled out the spare which was not mounted on a wheel.
Fed up with him already, this was the last straw. It was put to him, you either leave your car and go with us, or stay with your vehicle and hope someone comes by. We're not coming back this way. Decide right now.
This was miles from anywhere and before cell phones.
Even today on my excursions far off the asphalt, I have come across vehicles completely unsuitable for the terrain. Its not that they got lost or had followed the magenta line of death on their GPS. They were there on purpose. Incredible. I can only shake my head at such ignorance.
What would you have done if he'd died out there?
DeleteWe'd have called the Sheriff as soon as could be done. He would have had enough water and food.
DeleteHe wasnt left behind. But he was so whiney that each night we'd decide which vehicle gets saddled with him the next day. He strained the group.
His car was left. It was another week or ten days after the trip before he got his car out of there.
When you got to hide the body...
ReplyDeleteI live in Eastern Colorado where the only way to my home is driving on three different dirt roads. Looking at the photo, that road is flat, no washboards and few rocks. That Ford Mustang is equipped to travel on the road. You "city slickers" are just too sensitive...
ReplyDeleteThen you should know that that one particular spot on the road is not indicative of the entire road.
DeleteMaybe he stopped as he considers if he should turn around even though it means going back through that sandy wash. Because now it becomes plain to see the road ahead gets worse. But it looked fine on the chart.
Just pulled off to take a leak, highway right behind car.
ReplyDeleteOr it could just be their own driveway.
DeleteTook my 63 Beetle everywhere. Once on a dirt road way out in the Nevada desert I ran over a huge rattler. I didn't see him in the rear view mirror and was afraid he grabbed the bumper.
ReplyDeleteIt's a known fact that rattlers and sidewinders that are run over by a car or truck tire will often bite into the offending car tire and later, when the driver rubs his hand over the tire to find the puncture, he will snag the fangs and be poisoned.
DeleteI'm glad I didn't know that.
DeletePeople used to take all kinds of vehicles out to desert motorcycle races. I carried my bike in the trunk of a Pontiac Catalina. That trunk was huge.
ReplyDeleteThat’s a nice looking ‘68
ReplyDeleteIndeed it is!
DeleteRun what ya brung...
ReplyDeletebetter an early Mustang than a tranny/queer FWD suv:.
ReplyDeleteNothing compares to a party in the desert!
ReplyDeleteGood beginning to a horror movie or crime drama
ReplyDeleteEspecially back a ways was a direction sign with arrows pointing this way to safety, that way to certain death.
DeleteI had a sky blue ragtop Mustang 1964
ReplyDeleteShe drove it off into the night
'Till it just wouldn't go no more
She caught a ride on into town
Bought some gas and laid the top down
She burned that pony to the ground
On the desert in New Mexico
When Rita leaves, Rita's gone
How else are the aliens going to beam people up...?
ReplyDeleteThe problem with '65-73 Mustangs is they are too light on the rear end. Bad traction as a result, paved or dirt or snow.
ReplyDelete