May 2008 |
What do you do when you find yourself alone in Oracle in the afternoon with nothing to do that day? Oracle Control Road, of course. After departing the group after the final leg of the AZFJ Chiricahua Mountains Expedition, I embarked on the OCR to hit up Mt. Lemmon and come down the south side of the Santa Catalinas into Tucson. More information on the Oracle Control Road can be found on AZFJ.org: At lower elevations the landscape along the OCR is sort of burnt-grassy (official flora term)... |
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The plan was to break down camp early and leave via an offroad route Miss R2 had devised which would lead us through Pine Canyon. In order to do this and have enough time to hit the dirt all the way back to Oracle we needed to get up a reasonably early hour. To my surprise, we were all up around 7:00 with the exception of one who I had to rouse by ringing a pot and making loud turkey calls. By 9:00 the trucks were lined up and ready to pull out. The jeep trail through Pine Canyon was fun and went through a dense forest. |
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Sunday morning we took down camp with the intention of finding a more primitive and remote place to stay, setup, and spend the day wheeling. On the way out, James from New York in the recently purchased Expeditions West Tacoma was having problems keeping the truck running. Funny how it's always the most uber rig that breaks down! James decided it was best to cut his adventure short and head back to the main road. They see me rollin'... (rolling because the engine stopped?) |
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After a hearty (read, HEARTY) breakfast at the Triple-T Truckstop, I met up with the gang from Phoenix and the folks from Tucson in the parking lot. The necessary oogling of the rigs took place as always with many people sporting cool new toys. After that and being accosted by a guy with a nice Tacoma (check out my black headlights!) we were off. Reaching Wilcox we met up with spertierra from California and gassed up for the last time. With one more truck in the group, we had to re-oogle. Looks like Jim had a lil' Captain in him that morning! |
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