Where Have You Off-Roaded Today? 3rd Gen

Moved to Phoenix for this, scouted in fall 2020 so I knew it was oven-heat. I feel a deep and abiding loss in October when the heat disappears in seemingly one weekend, and it is just now becoming what I want.

Yes, it seems crazy, but I have talked myself into this.

 

I swear the summers get longer and longer every year here. Last year was so brutal. Record number of days over 110. Back in 2004-2005 it wasn't nearly as hot. On the plus side one can get by with t-shirts, shorts and sandals almost year round.

 

Kuhl zip-on-leg pants (without the legs) and paper-thin short-sleeve shirts, no-see socks ... year round basically. I could burn most of my wardrobe (except for the expensive Brooks Bros suit) and not even notice.

 

I don't miss that at all, and I didn't usually get that in one shot. My last two years in MI were record setters with front loaders and road graders doing the heavy lift in the subs as the county just could get to it. Much better in VA and TN will be even better.

Stay safe and be smart about the task ahead. Not worth getting hurt over.

 

I’m a native and have lived in CO my whole life. Only a handful of storms like this over a few decades. Rare events like this remind me to continually be prepared for whatever craziness the weather may throw at us. Not a fan of the heat you folks in the southern US get but it is cool that there is so much diverse terrain in North America to explore and enjoy. I always tell my kids- it’s a good thing we all don’t like the same stuff, wouldn’t be enough to go around if we did! Keep on keeping’ on!

 

Great little eco-story.

https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/environment/where-ghost-bird-sings-poison-springs/

 

Wow. Thank you for sharing. That piece was written in 2002... I wonder what the state of the water and wildlife is now.

I'm not sure how accurate this statement was, but it freaked me out a bit and also put things into perspective, if it's true:

“They're certainly not nearly as nasty as some of our samples from Brazil, Singapore, and China.”

Makes me a little sad, how we are treating Mother Earth. I felt this way after reading Sapiens too.

 

Hell of a day at Hungry Valley today. Lockwood Valley is still closed, as well as 8n12.

 

Is that without a swaybar?

 

Yup

 

I read somewhere that some of those canals going into the Salton Sea are some of the most polluted waterways in the US. Kind of a wild adventure, "Hey guys, who wants to float one of the most polluted waterways in the US?"

 

We have a duck club in Niland. We're about 2 miles to the edge of the sea. The big issue is evaporation and the fact more of the lakebed is being exposed. There is a lot of fertilizer and other nasty stuff in the silt and that will continue to get airborne and will only get worse. Imperial Valley has some of the highest cases in the nation of asthma and other health issues due to the poor air quality from the toxic dust.

The New River is nasty and no one should be in that water. The Alamo is slightly better but still not good. It's a continuing ecological disaster.

https://nbcpalmsprings.com/2024/03/...ook-at-lithium-wetlands-and-the-10-year-plan/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vZq7IRxf5w

 

Here is some more historical info on Lake Cahuilla (What the Salton Sea is now)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Cahuilla

 

Swami's

 

Just some random woods

 

Pic from last weekend, Ardbeg Ontario.

 

I explored three alluvial fans today in the desert off the 395. Great country. BLM land seems endless.

 

Southern Cal, mountain range after mountain range. Awesome views from the desert.

 

I thought I cleared this boulder, but clipped it with the right rear. But the Taco wanted more. Like a freight train, where to next?