Desert landscape Tacoma Thread

I was out riding my dual sport bike in a fairly remote area in Northern NM when I came across a elderly woman carrying a small dog out in the middle of nowhere, she was literally in tears, out of water and not much gas left and she was walking at this point. She had left Albuquerque that morning headed to Minnesota, her son told her to just type in the Minnesota address into GM and follow google. Google routed her up a remote county dirt road that does go through but about the time she hit the dirt she lost cell service and her map went blank. The road she was on had some unmarked splits where you could go either way, of course she took the wrong one and almost ran out of gas driving around out there. I got her straightened out and back to a convenience store.

There's so many things wrong with the situation and it could have turned out really bad. Clueless where she was, what road she was on and 100% reliant on a piece of electronics, no maps, no clue as to where google was routing her and the biggest one, not enough fuel and water. All basic stuff.

 

One more navigation story. About 10 years ago, a friend and I were driving up Silver Canyon near Bishop. We got to about the bottom of the switchbacks and bumped into a Lexus? car coming down -- its front right tire was low on air. It was an older couple who had been visiting the Bristlecone Pine forest where they had entered "take me to Bishop" into their nav -- it routed them the fastest way, down Silver Canyon. They were freaking out over the drive down (they had no idea they had tire issues until they met us). We tried to swap the spare for them, but couldn't break the lug nuts loose. We ended up driving down canyon to where we could receive cell service and got a tow truck on its way. Given the steepness of the switchbacks and the condition of their tire, the day could have turned out much worse.

 

“Low on air”.

 

I guess technically there is still a "sidewall" ... after a fashion.

 

Somewhere in the Sonoran Desert...

 

Mancos River Canyon


Eastern Sierras


Eastern CA


Southern UT

 

I’m home!

 

Jeeze… What part of NM?

 

Fantastic, inspiring photos.
Thanks for posting.

We are truly lucky to live in the USA.

 

Asking the wrong person. Follow the post I sent to ask.

 

Some of these pictures are incredible.

Very jealous of the locations you all have to explore

 

"Go west, young man" -- Horace Greeley

 

Death Valley

 

8/12/24 — Anza Borrego State Park; During the peak of The Perseids meteor shower

6/13/24 — Ocotillo Wells

8/17/24 — Anza Borrego State Park

7/21/24 — Ocotillo Wells

 

What antenna do you have on there? Been looking for a roof-mounted antenna for my HAM radio handheld

 

We had to drive 13 hrs + to go from Washington to Eastern Oregon, but it was worth it, 3x more times since!
The pictures come naturally, so much to work with!!!

 

3db Racing Antenna

 

South of El Vado lake.
THis is a picture of the area, Apache reservation to the west, Rio Chama river Valley to the east, both impassable, lots of dead ends in between.

 

The type of antenna you need depends on the kind of Ham radio you have - is it a dual bander 2meter/440 radio or a single band like a 2 meter only? The longer straight antennas like mambojohn’s in his truck photo are typically for 2 meter, as with dual band antennas you will see a coil in the middle of it.

That second antenna of his with the thicker top is a antenna for his cellular amplifier to extend the range of his phone.