Colorado Land Cruisers is a four-wheel drive club based out of Colorado Springs, Colorado, and sanctioned by Toyota Land Cruisers Association. We are organized to bring together Toyota owning families and individuals interested in exploring Colorado four-wheel drive trails.
We left pavement about thirty minutes ago, and have traveled about 10 miles to the trailhead, where we are in the process of airing down our tires, locking in our hubs. You can hear ABR compressors being tested and the whoosh of air escaping from both tires and ARB lockers being tested. We are finally already to go, drivers are in their rigs, with the sound of starting engines, stock sixes making a gentle reassuring sound while highly modified V8’s add an aggressive note to the air. Everyone is ready to go. Finally! But, wait; we have no leader….now what?
I have taken liberty with TLCA president Tony Twiddy’s Jan-Feb 2004 introduction in Toyota Trails to make a point. CLC, like TLCA, is at the trailhead of the coming year and we are ready to go, but, unlike TLCA, we don’t have a President or VP to lead us through 2004 and 2005.
As most of you know, in January, per our bylaws, CLC has elections every 2 years for offices of president, vice president, treasurer, secretary and TLCA representative. At our January 20th meeting, we had a very low meeting turnout, and were able to fill all offices except president and vice president. These are 2 of the most fun offices too! CLC needs you to decide you can do one of these rewarding jobs. As Tony compared the coming year as being at the trailhead, he also noted that as on the trail, problems and obstacles encountered are handled with assistance from the members present. Think of a skilled spotter, like Charlie Terrell, to guide you past a difficult spot. Or if a strap or a winch cable is needed, think of David Hayes or Vic Ramsey. If you hear a “kerunch”, think of CLC’s ASE certified Tech’s, Mike Taylor and Charlie Terrell jumping in and solving a difficult mechanical breakage in literally minutes. The point here is that help is available from the strong and varied membership of CLC. And just like being on the trail the membership will step up with assistance to help with whatever issue has been encountered.
At our February meeting we need to determine who will be our President and Vice president. Kendall remained as President and John remained as Vice President but we need to nominate and vote to fill these 2 key leadership positions.
Think about volunteering. You can make a difference in CLC.
Darryl
President – your name here
Vice President – your name here
Treasurer – David Hayes
Secretary – Mike Stevens
TLCA Rep – Troy Carlson
Now, go back and read the first paragraph again.
Have you pulled out a
stuck jeep lately?
We live for this. I mean we really do. It is an emotional high. OK, so it was a US postal truck, and it was stuck across the street in my neighborhood. It still said “Jeep” on it. And my postman was a happy camper!
Next CLC Meeting ~
February 17, 2004 7:00PM
Mark your calendar for CLC’s next meeting, Liberty Toyota, North. See you there!
Trail run – Schubarth –
February 21, 2004
Mark your calendar; CLC’s 1st club run will be Saturday, Feb 21st. Meet at the Western station, just east of Woodland Park, or 10 miles west of 31st street and highway 24. We will meet at 8am and leave at 8:30am. Bring warm clothes. Bring lunch – brats on the grill smell just fine on a winter’s day in the Pike National Forest. Drinks are good and your Woofer might want some water too. Schubarth is rated at 3 by CLC. With the snow we have had these past few weeks, bring your chains. A little snow really raises the level of difficulty on a trail!
Hayman Burn Comment
Period
Comments are needed by February 16, 2004 to support 4x4 recreation routes for the Hayman Fire area in Colorado.
The web address is: http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/psicc/hayres/travel/index.htm, and is on the web page.
The text will be on CLC’s web page, click on “Hayman Burn Comments”.
The On going Saga of a
1972 FJ40 as a daily driver.
As most of you know, I continue to use my 32 year old FJ40 as my daily driver here in Colorado Springs. In his earlier years, he liked alcohol, but these past few years he gets consistently balky in the winter months. I think he has become a teetotaler. But with March just around the corner, he won’t have to be forced to use alcohol again until next November. Of course most of you know that I’m talking about the winter fuel mix of alcohol and gasoline we are forced to use here in the Front Range of Colorado. The mix was to be something like 10% alcohol, but I think it has increased to 15% or so, and at that level my FJ40 is balky when its cold and has a consistent throttle lag. Like magic, all the balkiness and hesitation goes away when the alcohol fuel mix goes away. I used to get some relief from this by getting fuel in Teller County, but, alas, the “this fuel contains alcohol” signs now adorn the pumps up there during the winter months, which are from November through February.
And then there is the little matter that when I checked the oil the other day, I found it to be more than a quart low. That has never happened, even at 4,000 miles after an oil change, and this was only at about 2,000 miles. It is comparatively low mileage, with only 156k miles on the clock too. Until now, checking the oil in my FJ40 has only been a ceremonial task. I have never expected to see the oil level below the full mark.
Remember where your dipstick is. ~ Darryl
Eagle-Eye award goes to
Sam Grivey!
I’m embarrassed! For some time now, I have been doing this monthly newsletter with the name of it misspelled. Thanks to Sam, and his meticulous eye, he noted that I had left an “i” out of the title. And it looks like it has been missing for some time too – like maybe a year or so. But then Sam has a stake in the newsletter name: He was the one that suggested it way back in the early days, like ’96 or so.
CLC needs you and your
Ideas.
We need your ideas to spark interest in CLC. We need volunteers and ideas to chart a course through this and coming years. CLC put on a dyn-o-mite swap meet in August 2001. Mike Taylor coordinated the event, and yes, it was a lot of hard work, but the results were very good. It was a TLCA sanctioned event, which meant, Mike really started talking and planning in September and October of 2000 in order to get everything in place. CLC did have a small non-sanctioned swap meet at Liberty high school ’96 or so that did spark interest. CLC also did participate in a couple swap meets in Denver in ’97 and ’99, and CLC members were quite successful bringing home raffle prizes.
If you have an idea, bring it with you to our next meeting, February 17th. If you need more clarification on this matter of participation go read the 1st paragraph again.
For Sale:
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