mar/apr 2009

What I Learned in The Maze - Confessions of a Rookie

by Christopher Mann

I was a greenhorn, a rookie, a newbie and a neophyte. But there I found myself, well over a thousand miles from home, with my precious FJ60 Land Cruiser (named “Precious”), that I had owned and babied for 22 years, about to plunge down the Flint Trail into one of the most beautiful and remote places in the Lower 48. Was I up to it? Was I adequately prepared? Did I have sufficient driving skills? Could my almost antique truck survive the rough trail and come out unscathed, so that I could then drive more than a thousand miles home?

A year and a half earlier, at my second Lone Star Cruiser Round Up in Katemcy, Texas, I was happy to see my favorite Land Cruiser friend again, Bob Devereux. That weekend, Bob invited me to go with him and Mark Algazy (of marksoffroad.net) to drive our Cruisers into The Maze district of the Canyonlands National Park in Utah. It sounded like a great adventure, so I accepted.

Bob invited me knowing that both of my years at the Round Up, I had become known to many as the “photo man” because all I ever did was hitch rides with others (especially Bob) and take photographs of other people’s Land Cruisers (some of which have graced the covers of this magazine). I never once took my truck on the trails at Katemcy. She was too “precious!” Accepting his invitation meant that I would have to cross the line between spectator and participant.

The trip that Bob proposed would require that I figure out what needs to be taken on a 10 day, self-supported expedition style trek, and that I acquire some driving skills. Oh, I had driven my truck on ranch roads, Jeep trails and taken it camping, but when it came to expedition style off-roading, where you travel rough backcountry trails, self-contained for well over a week, I was as green as spring grass. My truck was in good, sound mechanical shape. And I would have excellent coaches. The trip would take place in a year and a half, so I had time to prepare. Once I said yes to Bob, I had no doubt that I was going to do whatever needed to be done in order to go on this adventure.

By the following year’s Round Up, my mechanic, Randy Suttles, had added a 5-speed transmission, an Ole Man Emu heavy-duty suspension, and I had upgraded to some skinny 33" tires. My off-road bumpers had been designed, built and installed by Gary Coberly-Waggoner years earlier. So at that Round Up in 2007, I drove Aggie highway in both directions twice, with Bob coaching me from the trail or from the passenger seat.

No matter how much time I spent researching, planning, preparing, reading and asking for advice, in the end I realized that what I really needed was to actually go and learn, first hand—to learn from my mistakes. You will see that I learned a lot, because I made a lot of mistakes….

In the final months prior to the trip, Randy and I went over all the mechanical needs with a fine-toothed comb. I slowly put together a very complete spare parts box. I borrowed a safari rack from Randy and mounted my spare tire up on top of it...

 

 

 

 

 

Photos by Christopher Mann