Don's Birthday Ride,
Everyone had an enjoyable day celebrating Don Roy on his Birthday Ride at Gordy’s on Sunday April 12th. Club members showed their appreciation for all Don has done for NM4W, including for his many years of behind-the-scenes Webmaster activities which have made our club’s one of a kind website one of the best.
Many members contributed to making the ride a momentous one for Don: many wearing Don’s favorite colors of red and yellow, Mary Turpin and Cathy Dickey tying a gigantic yellow bow (with strobe lights) to the front of Don’s jeep, others adding smaller bows and streamers all around his jeep, Stefanie Olson making a large card with special photos of Don in it for all to sign their birthday wishes , Mary bringing tasty chocolate cupcakes with colorful red and yellow frosting, Janet Crosby baking delicious cookies, Don’s son Steve Roy riding shotgun with him, all singing Happy Birthday to Don at our lunch stop, several driving to the mountain top at the end of the ride for a photo op with Don and amazing vistas….What a wonderful group to show our appreciation and celebrate our great Webmaster’s 80th Birthday!
The Trail Adventure
The ride began by heading up Arroyo de La Parida, a stretch known for being relatively easy but quite sandy. After traveling a short distance, the group took a short break to view a challenging obstacle, maybe rated 7or 8, a deep eroded limestone washout. It was fun to look at the few possible lines through it! We talked about returning later this fall to spend some time playing there. The route then continued up and out of the arroyo onto rocky, rutted roads, where participants were treated to stunning views of the surrounding landscape. Some of the desert plants were blooming with yellow and red flowers, which was perfect for the days color theme.
We all stopped for the birthday celebration lunch at the west end of the 5-rated Coyote Canyon. After the hour-long birthday lunch with cupcakes and cookies we were ready for the notorious Coyote Canyon! Lauri Rector and Grant Mossman chose to take the main bypass out of Coyote Canyon. It was a pleasure to see that after they had made it to the meeting place at the top, they both got into Grants rig and drove almost halfway back down Coyote Canyon from the top to meet us as we traversed up the canyon. They then helped spot us through some of the harder obstacles! The trail has several very tricky areas with some bypasses, so drivers could choose their own routes, depending on the difficulty they desired. The “Birthday Boy” Don always chose the more difficult routes in his bright red and yellow YJ jeep with the big yellow bow!
Because of the number of rigs, there were 2 mid-gunners [Jack Dickey and Jeff Boggs] as well as tail-gunner Mary Turpin. Thankfully, they were there to help with the unfortunate situation of Von Stell’s broken tie-rod that happened on a hard section of the trail. So many contributed to make Von’s situation end as well as possible: Jack Dickey and Jeff Boggs and Drew Schwebke and Oly Olson and Grant Mossman all brainstorming and trying different fixes. Thankfully Cathy Dickey, Lauri Rector, Stefanie Olson and Aimee Domines all participated in the long and arduous journey which was much appreciated!
Drew and Aimee volunteered to go all the way back to Albuquerque to pick up their car hauler trailer and then return to Gordy’s and to then load up Von’s disabled rig and deliver it right to Von’s driveway at home! Jeff Boggs stayed with them all the way home too!
Something special about the New Mexico 4 Wheelers is that we have each other’s backs! If you breakdown or have an emergency, you will not be left out there on your own!
