Well, after a 11 hour drive leaving SA @ 4pm, River Rat and I arrived in Las Cruces, NM at 2 am (Las Cruces time). After 3 hours sleep, alarm went off at 5:00 am and began preparing for the first day of what could be the last Chile Challenge. We arrived at the fair grounds at 7:00 am for tech inspection and arrived to a sad reminder. Only a few RV's and camp sites taken, this years participation was around 150 rigs far from the 350+ that this event use to host. Talks of this maybe being the last run brought some sadness to the atmosphere, but at 8:05 am we headed to Tabasco Twister trail head. With about 7 in our group we began the trail and enjoyed the 30 degree morning temps with plenty of wind and sunshine. The freshness of the air reminded me of one of the reasons I enjoy coming to the Donna Ana Mountains. The scenery brought back memories of our first visit here back in 2006. Everyone in the group did well with most of the time spent testing the rigs to their limits. River Rat lost all transmission fluid on the animisms ledge. Everyone in the group helped tow him out of the trail and headed back to the fair grounds where we found that the 4 bolts holding the transmission to the t-case adapter were loose. We tightened up and found a small hair line crack on the top side. We added transmission fluid and put jeep in gear and looks like it may hold up. We are set to run Racotillo Rapids tomorrow morning and will see if repair holds up. Here are a few pics of our group.
Second day of wheeling began with a low temperature of 31 degrees. We headed to Racotillo Rapids with 22 rigs in our group. We had a mix of Toyotas, Jeeps, Blazers and buggies. We made it through all the obstacles without incident, but they were deeper than in the past. This trail and group was the best day of the week. River Rat's jeep held up good until the last ledge where it leaked a little trans fluid. We had him back down, retighten bolts and try it again. Transmission worked well, but with leaking more fluids we will call it a weekend and begin heading home in the morning. Went back to fairgrounds for dinner and ice cream, and to say goodbye's to fellow wheelers in hopes of seeing them again next year at the Chile Challenge. Even with only two days of wheeling, it was well worth the trip especially meeting up with good friends from different parts of the US and Mexico. Here are a few pics from today.
I had an Awesome time at the Chile Challenge,:toast:
Meet with old friends & Made some new one's. always a good time running them trails. they all got deeper and steeper since i was their 2 years ago..
My transmission held out long enough to run the second day (Rocotillo Rapids). but with it leaking more fluid, we called it a weekend. did'nt want to push my luck on it...:evilbat:
Haha I was hoping nobody got me falling off the tire of the Tacoma after we got it rolled over. That **** hurt when I hit the ground. I was counting on it to still be in drive and the tire not rolling when I stepped on it.
just wanted to give a big shout to river rat and midnight crawler!!! it was great meeting you guys and running rocotillo together I am looking at heading east maybe for thanksgiving so maybe we can do some wheeling!!! and hey the shirt fits great!!! :toast:
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