On Saturday at the rally, I had the privilege of having the oldest truck at the rally (TeriAnn’s 1960 Series II Dormobile) and the newest LR4 (Joanne’s) on my trail. Plus, we had all women drivers. I had emailed with Joanne a few times before the rally and quickly realized this was all new to her. She had seen one of our rally cards at the dealership and thought it sounded like fun. So, she signed up. I was kind of nervous that we would scare her off, with the mud and scratches on our cars.
Joanne had never had her truck off pavement when she pulled into the staging area Saturday morning. She had her friend, Debbie, and two sons along for the ride. Once we got to the trailhead I helped Joanne shift her LR4 into low range. We chose the “Mud and Ruts” setting. Then she put it into Extended Mode. TeriAnn’s Dormobile, of course, is lifted enough that it’s always in extended mode.
We set off on the trail. It was a little bumpy and so when we stopped at the old wagon tracks her son said, “That was fun! Let’s do it again!” They were so excited about the mud on the tires, so they took pictures to show Dad.
During the trail we visited an area to collect Apache Tears, then the old Pinal townsite. We took a wrong turn (James was acting as my navigator), and did some unplanned driving around the desert which required some pruning of trees by James. Joanne and her LR4 were so great and she was up for any challenge. Her enthusiasm was infectious.
We got to the lunch spot and joined up with all the trail leaders who did not have a trail for the day. This included Chuck and family, Andreas and family, Chad, Pierre and Koly. We had seven trail leaders in all. Nice to see a lot of guys who usually do much tougher trails enjoying an “easy” trail. It was quite a funny sight, especially when Chad put out his chair and fell asleep in the middle of the lunch circle.
At lunch we all talked Rovers, tires, fridges, Overland Expo, and other general off-roading stuff.
After lunch we headed up to a rock shelter complete with pictographs and petroglyphs. Then we headed back to the resort. I bragged at the rally to anyone who would listen about how we had “baptized an LR4” on the trail. I love to see Land Rovers in the dirt.
After the rally, Joanne sent me a thank you email for the trail run. The email was so great and helped me remember why we do this whole rally thing. In her email she said, “I am trying to decide about my tires at the present time…and rock sliders…and an ARB fridge…CB radio and antennae…etc :)” She also is a brand new member of the AZLRO. Welcome Joanne and family!!!
So in one day, Joanne went from never being off road or using low range to figuring out how accessorize her car for off-roading and camping. You got to love it.
I am proud to be a member of the AZLRO because the club has room for all types of Rovers and people. Some of the club wants to do really hard core 4-wheeling trails. Some want family friendly trails. Some want scenic trails. Some just want to hang out with other Land Rover Owners. I am so glad there is room for all of us.
Happy Trails to all!!
