October 1, 2005    The Official Newsletter of the New Mexico 4-Wheelers    www.nm4w.org

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Jeff started the meeting at 6:38 pm.  Carlos and Laurye Tanner were our gracious hosts.  We all enjoyed dinner on their deck with awesome views of the East Mountains.

Jeff remembered the meeting minutes.  Much discussion abound, everyone was so excited!!!!  Mark Wolf got as far as getting it to vote, but alas, all was silent.  Then by a miracle, a voice in the crowd motioned for dispensing the reading of the minutes, and then another voice seconded the motion.  Jeff was on his toes and immediately asked for a vote and it was unanimous.

Guests:  Heath Hislop – ’86 Samurai (and like most Sami’s – it’s in the works).  Bryan & Sarah Gauntt – ’84 Toyota

Members Present:  Abbate, Baca, Bontly, Brady, Chapin, Duggar, Eklund, Greven, Juarez, Kausche, Kelso, Lavy, Meier, Norton, Ohnesorg/Coe, Rector, Rodacy, Simenson, Tanner, Whiston, Wolf

Vice President’s Report – Jeff Rector:  Only fines were for a member that was not present.  Motion was carried to table these until the next meeting; cuz it’s not as funny to see their face and hear their whining . . .I mean comments. 

Secretary’s Report – Lauri Rector:  1 meeting minutes down and 11 to go.

Treasurer’s Report – Paul Thompson (absent):  gave balance in an e-mail that he sent out to several people, but none of us remembered what it was.

Historian’s Report – Laurye Tanner:  She has been working on pictures that are about a year old.  She had a nice DVD playing on her TV for the guests to watch.  Please remember to send her pictures of runs.  Reduce any pictures you e-mail to her to 500 x 500 pixels.  Please say who took the pictures and what they are.  Watch the internet from this meeting – there will be attendees in thongs – they turned their head when she tried to take their picture. 

Trip Chairman Chairman’s Report – Jason Lavy:  Dixon Patrick led Tank Trap, he was absent and did not speak about it.  Jason said that there were about 8 vehicles, a good trip, and no breakage.

Jason Lavy led trails in Moab over Labor Day Weekend.  Jeff broke down on a short run to Gemini Bridges on Friday afternoon.  Broke a leaf in the front left spring.  No fines were assessed because he was not leading the trail and he was able to drive back to camp.  It also allowed the women to sleep in the next morning while he was fixing it before we hit the trails again.  Behind the Rocks was run on the 1^st day and Hell’s Revenge on the 2^nd day. 

Frank G. (as in the younger one) Whiston lead Conejos, also over Labor Day Weekend.  On the 1^st day the trail chased the train.  Went to La Jara Reservoir the next day where they found more roads closed, but they made it to the reservoir.  The Whistons traveled on to the Great Sand Dunes the next day and went up to the pass. 

National Public Lands Day was the weekend following Labor Day.  Our Club, NM Tech, and a Virtual Jeep Club participated in helping the BLM put up signs and pick up trash.  It really was a poor turnout, but a lot of work got done. 

September 23^rd to 25^th Tom Hurt will be leading Red River.  He wasn’t there to talk about it, though.  From the web site - the 23^rd is optional.  The 24^th will be a run to Goose Lake to take advantage of the free fishing day.  The 25^th will be quick run up to Greenie Peak.

Paul Thompson and Chuck Peeples will be leading trails in Silverton from the 18^th to the 26^th.  They will be easier trails; Poughkeepsie Gulch will be the hardest.  Carlos & Laurye Tanner are doing Gumbo & Rice for dinner for everyone on Thursday night.

October 14^th to 15^th - SWFWDA Fall Quarterly meeting in Clayton, Oklahoma, hosted by FWD-FWD.  Mild to wild trails.  And if it rains, it will be muddy.  Should be a good trip

Glenn Bontly will lead Caballo Lake October 22nd – 23^rd.  Weather should be much better this year; it is a whole month earlier.  See event schedule for details. 

Mark Wolf was contacted by Cibola Search & Rescue for us to give them basic 4x4 training.  Date has been set for Oct 8^th at 9:00am.  It will be held in the field where our course is at Auge's.  Need a minimum of 12 people.  There was a raise of hands and it looked like there will be 8.  Pat Brady and Mark wanted those who will volunteer to go up and talk to one of them; they want the volunteer’s cell phone number so they can call them if they don’t show up.  We will be training and demonstrating to the search & rescue on various aspects of 4 wheeling and the equipment that is used sometimes.  He & Pat have been working on this and have worked on our 4X4 101 pamphlet.  It should be done by noon or 1:00.  We’re hoping in return that they will train us on some stuff.  They can’t certify us on anything.  It will be like CPR and basic 1^st Aid.  Maybe we can do this training/demo with other organizations.  Don’t need to drive your 4X4; they will be having them use their vehicles and equipment so they can get use to them.

Environmental Chairman’s Report – Bob Norton:  Good news/Bad News/Good News (OK, we’ll try to follow along) Good News: Appeals court ruling that reversed a ruling in Utah.  The ruling gave back control to the state and city of roads.  District court agreed that the local & state have jurisdiction.  BLM and wilderness groups must get a handshake before doing anything.  Now for the bad news:  Federal court upheld ruling that Salt Creek Canyon (Needles District) National Park was not wrong in closing roads to motorized vehicles.  And then more Good News (OK, good beats bad 2 out of 3 – that’s not too bad):  Adena Cook is a Blue Ribbon consultant that has gotten on the national review board concerning Roadless areas.  This is a committee of 12 that is involved in reviewing plans for declaring areas roadless and providing recommendations on these forest areas being declared roadless.  This committee has until December to name roads that they recommend to be closed.  Governor Bill Richardson is working with the enviro-extremist groups and will likely be pushing to add further restrictions to considerable so-called Roadless Areas in the Gila National Forest.  That would in effectively increase the size of the huge Wilderness that already exists in the Gila. 

He went to Montana to the United Four Wheel Drive convention in July.  Effective in 2007 – dues will be a full $5 higher for each club member.  So they can keep afloat, keep moving and keep advocate on board and interested.  They are reorganizing membership and types of memberships. 

Program Chairman’s Report – Leon Duggar:  T-shirts and stickers are available for us to buy after the meeting.  Die cast dash plaques with NM4W logo were found and are for sale.  $80 in the 50/50 drawing.  Tom Woods hats to be raffled – a flash light and bumper stickers. 

Old Business:  Wolfie was asked if he had old business – he only has new stuff. 

New Business:  Wolfie was ordered to stand up and state his cause by Jeff – Joan told Jeff to have Mark do it because he’d been sitting all day.  Mark’s item was not related to 4 wheel drives.  But, since he hadn’t talked since the Trip Chairman’s Report, he thought that he’s speak about the liberals sited that the pledge of allegiance can’t be said in schools in Senate Bill 1046 - write your Senator and tell them what you think.  Mark will e-mail or post on the web the information.  And Mark then thanked us for listening. 

Mark also said that it had come to his attention that in the SOP’s the Associate Membership has a restriction that you must live more than 30 miles before you can be an Associate.  It has recently come up and he feels that it needs to be changed due to growth in Rio Rancho.  He would like to put in a revision in the SOP’s and he recommends that it be changed to 50 miles.  He made a motion and Jeff 2^nd it.  Wolfie will pen something and send it to the President and Vice President.  There was a discussion on this too.  I recommended that the word radius be used, to clarify how the distance is measured.  50 miles will be used.  Associate member was also explained for the newer members who may not be aware of what an Associate Member was.  Associate Members is for those that live far away, but still wanted to be in touch with the club.  An Associate Member can’t vote and only pay half the dues of a Voting Member.  Motion amended that we would get it typed up, review it by the board and present it at next meeting and vote on it.

Proposal by Pat Brady to raise the dues for next year by $5.  This would help offset the new dues for next year to SWFDA.  Before we voted, there was some discussion on what new members would be paying for dues.  We would need to update the Pro/Rata dues schedule for new members being voted in during the year.  It was decided that we would vote on this next month. 

Mark still had some extra hot air in him, so it was decided that he would speak about this.  Mark Werkmeister e-mailed several of us that he and the president of New Mexico Off-Highway Vehicle Association want to present Mike Bilbo of the Socorro BLM office with something to show our appreciation for all of his work with off-roaders of all kinds to open up roads, such as Gordy's Hill and other places.  The cost would be split between the 2 clubs and could be as much as $75.  If you’re not a member NMOHVA– become one.  They are not well organized and need help.  Bilbo contacted NMOHVA first and Mark is on the board and that is how our club got involved this time.  Gordy’s Hill area is cooling down and becoming more comfortable.  Should be really good about the 1^st of January.  NMOHVA has strong support with New Mexico government.  The difference between NMOHVA and SWFWDA and United is that NMOHVA is more state orientated and SWFWDA & United are more of a national or US regional focused.  Rick with R&S Kawasaki was influential in getting ATV laws changed to be more reasonable.

Glenn Bontly said that rumors were going around at Gordy’s Hill event that Cedro Peak trails are being torn up and there is talk that they will be closing those trails.  Marcia Duggar tried to talk to the Sandia Rangers awhile ago and they told her to go away.  The rumors were that it was big vehicles from a local club.  There are 2 other local clubs and some virtual clubs.  Marcia said that she will go and try to talk to Sandia Rangers again. 

SWFWDA is updating list of supporting businesses.  It will include those businesses donating to the raffle at the SWFWDA Winter Quarterly Meeting in Las Cruces.  If you patronize these business, please let them know that you are a member of NM4W, who is also a member of the SWFWDA. 

New members voted in: Bryan and Sarah Gauntt.   Welcome to the NM4W!!!!

Laurye Tanner is thinking about the Summer Quarterly that we are suppose to host, but haven’t gotten a volunteer to organize it.  She wanted to throw out an idea to us.  She wants to do an 18 month calendar that we could sell at the Quarterly as a fund raiser for the club.  She spoke to someone at Auge’s at the 4X4 101 event and they would sponsor the calendar.  We would need to provide the photos and we could also do advertising on the calendars as well.   Not just extreme 4-wheeling photos.  Let her know which month the picture was taken in, she would like to put it on the corresponding month for the calendar.  Multiple pictures submitted for any month would be voted on in on the web-site or at a meeting. 

Frank G – would like for us to be thinking about what we will do as a club for Christmas.  Please bring your ideas forward at next months meeting – during Old Business. 

Marcia Duggar said that she was going through old notes and found where we were to do something with the Air Force in September.  Mark said that the person who brought it up told him that it was not going to be done.

Meeting was adjourned.  Time was not noted by the Secretary (should we impeach her?)

The big winners of the evening were: Phil Rodacy – 50/50, Ed Kausche – flashlight and Keith Chapin – hat.

Greetings from the shop, er, the desk of the President!  Thanks once again to Jeff (and Lauri) for covering for me at the September meeting.  While they have proven it is indeed feasible and perhaps even desirable for me to stay away, I do plan on attending the next meeting.  I suppose I will need to construct a “Shut up Pat” sign first….

A big thank you to everyone who participated in the National Public Lands Day activities at Gordy’s Hill.  We had a large number of people from our club show up and everyone put in a hard six hours of trash clean-up, sign installation, and Wilderness Study Area (WSA) boundary posting.  We were accompanied by several members of the New Mexico Tech Off-Road Club as well.  In fact, there was only 1 person at the NPLD that wasn’t a four wheeler or a BLM employee.  I don’t think that fact was lost on the BLM either!  The world is run by those who show up (and those who work at it) and hopefully our deep involvement in the projects at Gordy’s Hill is rewarded by the creation of a world class four wheeling playground.

We managed to slip up to Silverton last weekend for three days to celebrate our anniversary (we had spent our first anniversary camping out of the long-gone CJ5 and checking out the fall colors in Colorado).  There were almost no golden aspens when we arrived on Saturday but by the time we left on Monday, the color change was in full swing.  I am sure that the club members who were lucky enough to go this last week managed to hit the area right at the peak of the season.  And judging by what is going on at the top of Sandia, the folks journeying to Red River probably caught some beautiful sights also.

This month is a busy one with the SWFWDA Fall Quarterly and club’s annual trip to Caballo Lake.  Don’t forget that our meetings change over to the 2^nd Thursday of the month back at the church.  I hope to see you all there!

Eight years of mountain biking in Moab led Dixon Patrick to buy a Jeep.  An avid mountain biker, he and co-workers covered many trails during annual biking trips to Moab.  Three years ago, he rented a Jeep to show his wife Moab.  It was such fun that he came back to Albuquerque and bought a ’97 TJ.

After acquiring the TJ, he learned about NM4W from webejeepin.com and joined NM4W about one year ago.  Dixon recently led his first club run and it was on a favorite trail, Tank Trap.  The run went smoothly except for one person breaking a tire bead.  As he learns more about four-wheeling and area trails, Dixon hopes to lead more runs.  One goal is to return to Moab and do Poison Spider to Golden Spike to Goldbar Rim.  This takes 12 hours by bicycle--he hopes it will be quicker by Jeep.

He’s built the TJ to handle tough trails, “I basically plagiarized Glenn Bontly’s TJ”, he explains, “I didn’t want to break.”  His white TJ has a 3” Teraflex lift, 33” tires, a slip yoke eliminator, Tom Woods driveshafts, Kilby onboard air, Durango bumpers and rocker guards, a Tomken engine skid, ARBs front and rear with 4.56 gears, and a Currie 9” high pinion rear axle.  He did the lift last, which is backwards from how most gearheads do it—but it worked.  And his wish list?  Dana 44 front axle.

It’s a good thing his wife, Zelda, enjoys riding and driving the Jeep.  In addition to Moab, they enjoy traveling to Durango, Silverton, and Red River.  Their daughters are Samantha, 20, a TVI student and Brenda, 17, a senior at Eldorado High School.  Samantha is lukewarm to four-wheeling but Brenda likes it and is becoming a good off-road driver.

To help support these activities, Dixon works as a Systems Engineer at Sandia National Lab’s in the Navy Program.  He’s a Project Leader in Systems Integration and commutes to work by bicycle—12 miles one-way!  Dixon came to Albuquerque 17 hears ago from Atlanta, Georgia,  where he was born and raised.  (That’s all I could get out of him so he must work on Top Secret stuff.)

Besides family, work, and biking, other current pastimes include competitive shooting and camping.  Dixon used to hunt for bear and trap in Alaska during a stint at Eielson Air Force Base outside of Fairbanks.  “Alaska is the real outdoors,” he says.  But now that he’s in New Mexico, he’s happy to enjoy the outdoors by bicycle and Jeep.  He likes the friendliness and expertise of NM4W members and has recommended the club to others.  Welcome, Dixon, and we’re glad you found the club.

Over Labor Day weekend, we went to south central Colorado to explore the back roads around the Conejos river valley.  It had been many years since I had been in the area and felt it was time to re-visit.  Cliff & Jeanne Meier, and Erwin & Jeannie Greven both joined us in their TJ’s.  We all arrived at the Conejos River Campground Friday night. 

Saturday, we headed out from the campground to explore the back roads along the Cumbres and Toltec train route.  It had been many years since I had taken this route, so by discussion on the CB radio we designated it an “exploratory trip” to avoid any fines for wrong turns.  Just two miles down Highway 17, we hit the dirt.  We first drove by Buckhorn Siding.  This is an area where there are tracks for the train to back up and off the main route.  It lies just in New Mexico along the border of the Carson and Rio Grande National Forests.  From there, we followed the tracks to the west toward the mid-point of the train route at Osier, Colorado.  Along the way, we pulled off the road a couple of times to take in the spectacular views of the canyon and the Rio De Los Pinos below.  We got to Osier about thirty minutes before the first train was to arrive at the lunch spot.  We looked around at the section house and water tower, and then we all headed to the concession building.  Cliff and Erwin discovered that they would be serving an all-you-can-eat lunch, so we waited for the trains and so they could take part in the feast.  Good thing that they got in line before the 400 some people arrived on the trains from Chama and Antonito.  From Osier, we crossed the Rio De Los Pinos and skirted around the Cruces Wilderness to Lagunitas.  We had light rain most of this time.  We passed many hunting camps and were amazed by how may people dragged their RV’s over at least 30 miles of rough road to make camp.  Continuing around the Wilderness area, we finally reached the Rio De Los Pinos again near San Miguel.  We climbed back out of the valley and took a direct route back to the Conejos due to the late hour.

Sunday, we went north of the Conejos valley in mind of reaching the La Jara reservoir.  Just a short jog across Highway 17, we hit the dirt and climbed out of the valley.  We followed Forest Road 101 along the ridge top and took a short side road to a beautiful overlook of the Conejos Valley.  From there, we continued on toward Hidden Lake.  We left FR 101 to get to the lake and found a “road-closed-to-motor-vehicles-sign” about ¼ mile past it.  Things had changed since I had been there last.  We went back to FR 101 and continued along.  The trail went back and forth between State and National Forest property, through many cattle guards and gates.  We reached one intersection and were unsure of where we were on the map, so we went to the Meier’s GPS and used the waypoints to find our location on the forest map.  A left headed toward dry lake, which sounded like it might be a nice lunch spot, so away we went.  Not long and we hit another one of those dreaded signs: “No Motor Vehicles”.  Still no lake, so we back tracked and went back into the State land to found a lunch spot in the trees.  After lunch, we came across a couple of motorcycle riders that had come down from La Jara reservoir.  I visited with them, and they were locals, so I trusted their route and we went the way that they had come.  At that point, the trail did not see much traffic and was not shown on my map.  When the trail hit the large open meadows, it was grass covered and a little hard to follow.  We spotted a section marker and used it to get our bearing again.  Soon we were on more traveled trails and began to see the wonderful white arrow that marks designated routes.  The pace picked up and before long we made it to the reservoir.  It was getting late again, so we decided to take the gravel road out to Centro, and then back to camp on the pavement. 

 That evening, the Meier’s offered up their grill, so we all made hamburgers for dinner.  Beth and I shared some garden tomatoes and fresh roasted green chile.  The Meier’s also had a campfire both evenings.  We all enjoyed the beautiful weather and good company.

Monday morning the Meier’s and the Greven’s headed homeL.  Beth, Kimberly and I stayed and had a relaxing day in the Conejos valley.  Tuesday we broke camp and went to the Great Sand Dunes National Park.  We set up camp and went and played in the sand.  Wednesday we went up to the top of the Medano pass road and back.  Thursday, we drove to Crestone, Colorado.  This is where my grandparents lived when they were starting a family.  It was fun to think about my family history and experience the beauty of the area.  That afternoon, we took a hike to Zapata Falls.  Friday, we returned to Albuquerque.

Saturday, September 10^th, marked the celebration of National Public Lands Day at the Gordy’s Hill OHV area.  The event was hosted by the Socorro office of the BLM.  The New Mexico 4 Wheelers were represented by 20 members and guests (in fifteen vehicles) and were joined by members of the New Mexico Tech Off Road Club out of nearby Socorro.  After a short safety briefing and orientation, the participants split into four work groups.  Three of the groups headed down the three major roads that pass through or adjacent to the OHV area to erect directional signs and post Wilderness Study Area (WSA) boundary markers.  After the signs were all posted, the groups policed the ditches along the three graded roads and managed to pick up a full ton of trash!  The fourth group stayed back at the staging area and erected the new steel “welcome” sign provided by the New Mexico 4 Wheelers.  Putting post holes down through several feet of river rock and pouring cement two miles from the nearest water is never an easy thing to do.

The day wound down with a potluck dinner and a community campfire for those lucky enough to be able to stay down and spend the night.  The following Sunday, members of the two clubs (twelve vehicles strong!) headed off for the trails and cleared and traversed another new trail (Hidden Valley).  The group then split with one group playing in the rocks of Upper Amado Canyon and the other working to insert a permanent winching point above Pucker Falls.  They reported that the heavy rains of recent weeks had eroded some of the ramp at Pucker Falls, and added substantial difficulty to the ledges above the Falls.  Sounds like a return trip is order!

The New Mexico 4 Wheelers and friends have now invested well over one thousand hours into the development of Gordy’s Hill.  The Resource Management Plan that officially designates the trails within the OHV area is due for public review late this fall.  Keep watch for notices on how to make comments and ensure that this great new four wheeling opportunity is developed to its maximum potential!

Coming up on my first year as a member, I figured it was time to lead a run somewhere.  I pondered all the “what ifs” of things that could happen to others on the trail.  Fact is, all the rides I have been on had more help than any single person would ever need.  So “which trail” was the big question, my favorite so far was Tank Trap, Glenn had led it in March, so I figured it would be easy to find and not much way to get lost.  Also I figured out that to stay out of the dust you got to be in the lead.

My first goal was not to get lost; following what others have done before me, I went to find the trailhead in advance.  With the price of gas, I did not want to lose any funding to the Sheriff finding out I had to U-Turn.  I must note, finding the trailhead before a run is a good thing, going alone, a bad thing.  On a run, I always have food, parts etc, but this was a quick run to the trail head and I did not pack all that stuff.  Remember what happen to Glenn when he simply went to find the trail head in March?  Well no problems, but the potential sure was there and I was reminded of it, and it got me thinking, where is that cowbell from last year?

So Saturday 27 Aug, 9 vehicles met at the Conoco Station, Brad Opatz, Glenn Bontly, Jason Lavy, Dixon Patrick, and visitors Dan Pritchard, Heath Hislop, Keith Chapin, Eric Capener, Tony Roybal and James Randolph.  Everyone drove up to Santa Fe, just above the airport.  After airing down, we made our way all the way out and up to the trailhead.  While airing down, I took a look at the range of vehicles.  At one extreme, we had Jason who showed up with his chopped ‘96 ZJ Grand Cherokee that he had rolled on another run.  He promised that all of the ugly parts had been removed, but we’re not quite sure.  At the other end of the spectrum was Keith Chapin’s Suzuki call “Short Bus”; not sure of the model but it looked like a small school bus, maybe it takes people to 4X4 School.

The trailhead on Glenn’s map is where the trail ends, makes a loop, but I think the real start is the Dam that is the Tank Trap itself.  The Tank Trap part of the run may not be the hardest obstacle, but the exposure sure makes it the scariest; the 20 deg off camber actually feels like 40 deg. 

Being the end of the summer, the water was down quite a bit and Glenn noted an alternate route to the right of the normal starting point.  It is normally under water and would not have been much fun earlier in the year.  Well, several people tried it with no one making it.  It didn’t look that bad, but this one rock was just perfectly placed to hag up everyone.  The short wheel base guys got stopped, and even the long Grand was subdued.  You just got to know when to move on.  Everyone used the typical route, and all the vehicles got through with minimal trouble.

We made it past the dam and dropped into the streambed.  The day was perfect, temps in the 70’s and a little overcast, it did rain for a few minuets, but no one noticed.  We crept along the rocky streambed that lets you avoid areas of concern or add to your difficulty level as you like.  Everyone that had been before noted that it was different; we guessed that the large amount of water earlier in the year must of moved stuff around.  It took us about 4 hours to drive the 2-mile trail and I think we had one winch use.

At one of the many optional obstacles, all but two went left.  On the right was a narrow and deep mini canyon.  If you slipped off one side, it would be body damage above the rocker panels.  Well guess who gave it a go, the impressive Jason “I don’t need to pick a line” Cherokee made it without a problem.  Then to our surprise, the Short Bus was in the gates; we had to stop and watch this.  That little thing crawls like a bug with little effort; it buzzed on through.  We crossed several pools of water and rock gardens.

A short while latter, we were at the last major obstacle; yea, it’s the one at the end of a wide area.  We had our first breakage; well I am not sure if it would be called breakage if you do not replace parts.  One of the Rubicon’s lost a bead and the tire went flat.  It was amazing as everyone made suggestions on what to do and the best plan was executed promptly.  The tire was reseated and aired up while still on the vehicle.  I bet Richard Petty never got that kind of service. 

We finished the day earlier than I was thinking we would, and as we were packing up to leave, we got the idea to find La Bajada on the way back.  Dan Pritchard and I were the only takers; using our GPS and maps we finally found the north end of the trail.  We took the road that is north of the airport, traveled southwest, turned right to get up on a hill, and then south following the power lines.  I will have to get GPS coordinates for future runs as an optional add on run.  Going down La Bajada was like going back in time; I was thinking, it’s hard to complain about how bumpy it is when you think about the old cars and wagons that had made this hill.  And then looking to the left, you can see I-25 and cars going 75 MPH.  What will transportation be like in another 100 years?

New site address for the club pictures.  It will change every time I add new slideshows.

http://www.snapfish.com/share/p=486261127740185602/l=61390021/cobrandOid=1000111/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

There are now 11 slide shows to view.  Remember if you do not want to personally register with Snapfish, you can use nm4wphotos@earthlink.net as your login, and jeepers as your password.

Do not order pictures using the above login and password, however, or your credit card information will be available for others to use.

Please e-mail me at lauryetanner@earthlink.net, or give me a CD of the pictures you have taken.  Please let me know the name of the event and who took the pictures.  Please resize your pictures to a 5” by 7”, or around 500 by 500 pixels, before you e-mail it to me.  That will really help me in the downloading time onto my computer.  Remember to save your originals and do a Save As on the pictures you plan to send to me.

At the October meeting, I will be bringing up a motion to make a NM4W calendar to sell at the 2006 summer quarterly next year.  Be thinking about what pictures you would like to see in this calendar.

This month’s quote occurred at the National Public Lands Day at Gordy’s Hill a few weekends ago.  To set the stage, Jeff and Lauri were assigned to work in separate groups.  Jeff was part of the “sign” crew, and Lauri helped post WSA signs and pick up trash in Paul Thompson’s group.  I was also assigned to Paul’s group.  Shortly before we departed for our various work locations, the following short dialog transpired between me and Lauri:

Lauri:  “Glenn, do you have room in your cooler for my sandwich?”

Glenn:  “Sure, Lauri.  Do you need a ride also?”

Lauri:  “No, I’m riding with Paul in his new Rubicon.”

Aluminum Cans: Our club saves and recycles aluminum cans.  Money from the sale of cans goes into our club treasury.  Please bring your crushed aluminum cans to each meeting, and somebody will take them to the recycling center.

To Our Guests: If you attend a club meeting or event and provide us with your e-mail address, you will be added to our guest e-mail list, and will receive monthly notifications of when the Trail Tales newsletter is posted on our Club web site.  If you are interested in becoming a member of the New Mexico 4-Wheelers, please contact one of our officers for membership requirements, or visit our web site at www.nm4w.org/join-the-club.htm.

Trail Tales on the Web Site: In a continuing effort help save natural resources and to control costs, you are encouraged to read the Trail Tales newsletter on the Club Web Site in lieu of receiving a hard copy in the mail.  Around the first of each month, the current issue of Trail Tales is posted at www.nm4w.org/newsletters.htm and an e-mail notification is sent to all club members.  In addition, a minimum of 2 years of back issues of our newsletter is also available on the web site.  So if you want to help “save some trees”, please send an e-mail to TrailTales@nm4w.org stating that you do not need to receive the hard copy of the newsletter.  Thanks for your participation in this program.

Submission Due Date: The Trail Tales is published on the first of each month.  Submissions for each issue must be received by the Editor not later than the 25^th of the prior month.  Submissions can be sent to TrailTales@nm4w.org, or Trail Tales, 21 Rattlesnake Ridge, Tijeras, NM 87059.

Please see the Events Schedule Page

Trail Tales
21 Rattlesnake Ridge
Tijeras, NM 87059-7440

TrailTales@nm4w.org