Millenium Run
January 1, 2000

 
What's the best way to celebrate the beginning of a new year, new century, and new millenium? OK, maybe not exactly century or millenium, but of all the reasons to leave the warmth and comfort at home - to beat the $%^& out of your jeep out on some cold, windy, and lonely trail, is just the one that is reflected in popular license frame - "It's a jeep thing..."

I didn't think we'd make it. The honors go to Nick Matusov who was the most determined from a loose bunch of three (including myself and Al Metzel). He even cranked up a couple of our friends (who just drove from the East Coast), and all of his family to join the party. My son joined me shotgun (for him any weekend spent other than in the boonies is lost forever), and we hit the road after some lazy start.

We had three full-size jeeps in the party -
Al Metzel's '64 Wagoneer (to call it modified is an understatement), Nick Matusov's '80 widetrack Cherokee, and my '79 widetrack Cherokee. 

Nothing remarkable was planned - just a warm-up run in Los Coyotes Indian Reservation. We expected to see some snow at higher elevations, but the latest storm almost missed San Diego county, with just a little touch of rain.
The Reservation greeted us with a wide open gate, and no guard to collect the usual $10 fee. Aired down a bit, just to take it easy on the washboard. We took the Dead Cow Road off the main fare, to flex the suspension and rejuvenate the trail feelings. This trail is mostly washed-out dirt road, rutted, twisted, and
sometimes steep - but we've seen it done in dune buggies. A little side excursion revealed some fuel delivery problems - both 4bbl Rochester on top of Nick's AMC 401 and 2bbl Holley on top of Al's 351 wanted to squirt in a bit more gas than needed. Old faithful 2bbl 2150 Motorcraft (not quite a racing carb) kept running nicely all seven working jugs its my tired AMC 360. 

We took'em to the top of Marshmellow Hill; normally, it's an easy two-wheel drive scenic drive. Once we did it over some fresh snow; this time, it was a cloud to decorate the run. The visibility dropped down to ~100 ft at times; wind carried the ragged pieces of fog across the trail. It was rather chilly - all bushes around were covered with thick layer of ice. Never stop wondering how could some native desert plants survive in such an environment, but, apparently, agave plants and many cacti can take some cold without much damage.
First stop at Dead Cow Rd.

Near the top of 
Marshmellow Hill

Manzanita and sage brush were 
covered with ice and snow.
After a quick look around and photo session, we turned back on to check out the Appian Way. 

Read On, or rather see the pictures
 

Oh yeah, I keep forgetting to say that if you click on a picture, you will get a larger resolution image. So, if your breathing straw into the world is a phone line, it might take some patience!