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| Explore Your World! | Short Cuts | ||||
39th TDS... There and Back: Part One, Part Two
Report by: Mark M. DeNittis Editor: Berkeley Johnston
| Part Two: On to TDS 2001 |
Well, it was no easy task leaving Moab at 6pm on Tuesday, Feb. 27th, but not due to mechanical issues or anything like that. I just didn’t want to leave. It would’ve been cool to just find a job flippin’ burgers or something, get a place to stay, and crash in Moab for the rest of my days. Wait a minute... I am on VACATION! Back to reality! Onward to Salton City... another 750 miles to go... stopping in Sedona, Arizona, to see some great friends. My wife and I lived in Sedona back in '96. What a beautiful place and great place to go wheelin’.
After reaching the Arizona border the rain and snow started coming and didn’t stop. Sleepy eyes and the ability NOT to see the road was a bad combination. I must’ve pulled over about five times to sleep. Finally, I gave up and slept for a good four hours. What normally is about a five-hour trip, took fifteen hours. Flagstaff was icy and it was only a short trip into Sedona. I had a chance to hang out, wash the road off both the Jeep and myself, and enjoy some great times and food with some great friends.
Central Arizona has some of the best four-wheeling I have encountered, with the varying terrain from red desert washes to rock-strewn streambeds and alpine highs. I speak specifically of the Crown King area south of Sedona off Interstate 17. This area should be the subject of a trail report, covered in detail during a future trip.
I got back on the road on Thursday, March 1st. Pulled into Phoenix about noon and tried to take care of some last minute fixes, the kind that pop up when least expected. It ended up being about a three-hour lay over. My stereo/cassette deck from ’93 crapped out, and the need for cassette tapes through some areas of the trip is a definite necessity; I got a year’s worth of church going traveling through Utah. My passenger side KC Daylighter fell off as well. No one seemed to have a single black Daylighter available, so unfortunately I wasn’t able to take care of that, but did get a new cassette deck. My wife teased me about getting a cassette deck because I should "get with the times, get out of the Eighties and get a CD deck." Shoot, how would I listen to my tapes from my high school days on a CD player? Silly wife.
Now it was only a short jaunt to Salton City. I pulled into the area about 9pm and set up camp. Rosebud was happy to be on solid ground. First things first... FOOD. Time to crank up the American Camper stove and cook up some chorizo, potatoes and eggs. I will have more coverage on the American Camper stove in a future Trail Bites article. With the combination of a long day ending and a belly full of food, it was time to crash for the night.
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| After a long day, chorizo for dinner. | The Tierra del Sol sunrise. |
Daybreak came and the sunrise was great. I had heard the sun was a great break from the rain the area had received the past few days. As the day went on more and more folks began to arrive, I had never seen so many off-road vehicles in one gathering. I think I died and went to heaven. I saw everything from mild stockers to wild custom rigs.
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| Cambell Enterprises | Fat City blue |
The official TDS event wasn’t for another day, so it was time to venture around. Just over the hill from the TDS tent site, some folks were playing in a wash, checking out articulation and sheet metal durability. Yes, sheet metal bending! There was a small group, the Tin Benders, of about eight to ten trucks. Interesting concept... intentionally rolling their vehicles on their sides. I believe there was one roll over that really did some damage to a tricked out TJ, but the driver, thank goodness, had only a minor injury.
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I unhooked my new JKS sway bar disconnects and joined the fun. I don’t think I could be a member of the Tin Benders, though, because my wife clearly stated before I left, not to "break" the Jeep. The rest of the day was spent catching up on some much needed rest and, of course, doing what you're supposed to do on vacation... kicking back and relaxing. I met up with some kind folks from Geared Four Fun 4-Wheel Drive Club. Thanks to Audie, his daughter and all the other folks from Geared Four Fun for extending the very gracious hospitality to Rosebud and I. Audie's Jeep, or as his daughter referred to the CJ-7 as "her" Jeep, was very well built and handled extremely well on the trail. If any of y’all make it out to Colorado give me a holler.
We set up camp for the evening and cooked up some vittles, Red Chili Tacos to be specific. I used the Kozy Cook butane stove unit supplied to me from Tony’s in Loveland, Colorado. You will be able to find the recipe & Kozy Cook review in a future Trail Bites article.
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| For dinner? Red Chili Tacos on the Kozy Cook stove. | |
Saturday morning came and it was time for check-in and safety inspection. The check-in point went smoothly and I did not see any vehicles get a thumbs down. I heard there was a rough estimate of about 1500 people that showed up this year. As I got my pre-order shirts, sweatshirt, and cap, I got a chance to meet OutdoorWire's John Stewart. He was on the organizing committee for the TDS event. Great job to you, John, and all the other folks that made this happen. Here is the map of the official run.
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| Map of Tierra del Sol runs. | The start of Tierra del Sol 2001. | |
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| There were a lot of great opportunities for photos at just about every turn. | ||
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| About half way through the run, there were some hillclimbs to the top of a nice viewpoint. It was a great place to take a break. | ||
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| I know Rosebud enjoyed the stop. |
All in all, TDS was well planned and the runs were fun. I only got hung up on my transfer case skid-plate once. Thanks to the folks in the white TJ for the quick tug. Anyone have a lift kit? I must say proudly, though, that my fairly stock 4-banger did great. With worn Pirelli Scorpion 31s, a set of JKS disconnects, and NO lockers or lower gearing, it kicked some butt. I did all red trails, and some unmarked trails I couldn't identify, without any trouble. I must say that the desert trails are much more forgiving than the solid rock of Colorado, Utah and Arizona.
As the day came to an end, it was time for the 90+ item raffle. In anticipation, of course, I envisioned winning one of the items: from a set of new rubber, to gears, a power welder, a lift kit, and a ton of other great prizes. Unfortunately, I was not as lucky as I had hoped and didn't win any prizes. There were some technical difficulties with the microphone system during the raffle that were quickly taken care of by one of the vendors who had a spare loud speaker setup. ("See, it doesn’t hurt to carry just-in-case stuff," I told my wife.)
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| Time to go home. |
It was now time to go. At 10:30pm Saturday evening, Rosebud and I headed out for what was to be a looong drive back. We arrived back in Denver 26 hours later on Sunday about midnight. I did get to go back through Moab, but just a drive through though... no jobs available. I had to get back to reality and my real job. I am glad I decided to attend TDS. It was my first time at an organized event, and a big one at that. So many people... about 1500 as an estimate, give or take a few. TDS raised a good bit of money to fight land closures, as well. If you haven’t attended, plan on it in the future. It was a great time, and not just for the lone rider, either. There were a ton of families creating long lasting memories for themselves.
Some of the vendors at the main tent area included BF Goodrich, Fat City, Power Welder, GV, Currie, CORVA & CAL 4 Wheel (great selection of stickers), Four Wheel Parts Wholesalers, and a handful of others. My favorite sticker made it on my bumper immediately, along with these others now proudly displayed. No offense to YJ or Cherokee owners, it’s a round headlight thing you wouldn’t understand, ha ha.
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| A gear vendor tent. | Some of the many stickers available to jeepers. |
Trip Tip of the Month: I filled a five-gallon water jug with a tight fitting lid through which I fit long clear tube. I pushed the tube so it went down to the bottom of the jug, and the rest of the tube I kept tucked above in my roll bar. I secured the full jug down behind the center console. Whenever I needed some H2O, I pulled down the tube and drank away. Whenever Rosebud needed a drink I siphoned water into her bowl, all without ever having to pull over and stop. When I got back to Denver I still had two gallons left. I used this trick on trips into Big Bend, Texas and to Hot Springs, Arkansas. It works great! I’ll have pictures in a future article.
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