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.
At the May meeting we discussed the meeting location. Liberty Toyota seems to be the best meeting site we have had. I proposed that we keep the meeting location at Liberty Toyota year round and in the fall move the meeting time to 7:00 PM instead of 7:30 PM to accommodate the business hours of Liberty Toyota. We will vote on this at the July 15th meeting. We also added a trip to 370C and 379 on June 28. Check out the trip schedule on the web page.
“Brighten the Sangres” will be the next trip and will be on June 14th. There will be two leave times from the south location (Loaf ‘n’ Jug Hwy 115 and Starr Ranch Road). Camping will be available at the Fairgrounds or at Alvarado Campground just outside of Westcliffe. Andy will be leading a group down on the evening of June 13th (meet at 7:00PM leave at 7:30PM). I will lead a group down on the morning of June 14th (meet at 6:00AM leave at 6:30AM). I spoke with Jeff Outhier at the Westcliffe Forest Service office a couple of months ago and he said that since we are there every year he would list our club on the official flyer from the Forest Service as co-sponsors. The Pueblo Horseman’s Association will be putting on a dinner afterwards again this year. We will need to RSVP with how many will be having the dinner by June 11th. I will call if everyone will let me know by June 10th if they will have the dinner or not. Lets have a good turnout this year.
On a sadder note, one of our club members was injured in an accident on 21 road a week or so ago. Paul and Cindy Beaudean were on 21 Road with another club that they belong to. Cindy was struck while taking pictures by vehicle that rolled over. She was in pretty serious condition with several broken bones. She could not be treated in Grand Junction and was flown to a hospital in Denver where she is currently. She has had several operations and is recovering. She is expected to be in the hospital for a month. Colorado Land Cruisers sent her flowers and are praying for a full recovery.
With the thoughts of this accident, we as a club and individuals need to take safety seriously at all times. On the trail we need to always make sure the path is clear all around the vehicles and that observers are all out of range if something were to go wrong. It is easy to forget how much stress a winch cable or strap is under during recovery or what damage a 4-5000 pound vehicle can do if it rolls or hits something. We also need to realize that it may take quite some time to get medical assistance if someone were to get hurt. We have very capable vehicles and most emergency vehicles can’t get to where we are. We have a lot of fun on the trails, so lets make sure that we all stay safe.
Happy Trails,
Kendall Carlton
President
On Safety…and Accidents…and Prevention
The headline read: “Woman Hurt”, and the text related how a woman was hurt in a roll over accident while standing below the vehicle while four wheeling in Hunter Canyon near Grand Junction. When I read the article, which was in the May 25th issue of the Grand junction paper, I wondered, like everyone else, why would you stand below a vehicle that was in danger of rolling over while watching? I later learned that the woman was Cindy Beaudean, wife of Paul and long time associate members of CLC. Paul and Cindy are experienced four wheelers with years of experience and in talking to Paul; he related just how the accident happened. Cindy was down from the vehicle, but ahead of it and was taking pictures. She was in a safe place at that point. Her only error was being below the trail. (I have done this many times to get a picture.) The obstacle wasn’t really an obstacle, but had a rock on the up side of the trail, and in transversing, the up hill front tire went up on the rock, and suddenly the vehicle’s balance was lost. In trying to salvage the situation, the driver hit the gas, which instead of salvaging the situation, it served to launch the vehicle forward as it started to roll down the hill towards Cindy. The entire event took about 2 seconds before Cindy found herself beneath the vehicle. The article further related how long it took to get Cindy out of the remote area. We know Hunter Canyon as 21 road. We all need to understand that when things start to go wrong, they tend to go bad quickly, and we are no match for a rolling, falling vehicle. The doctors are confident Cindy will make a full recovery, but it will take a year. We need to learn from this tragic event. We need to take care that when we are out enjoying our sport that no one is in a danger zone around a vehicle. Be wise, be safe, know how quickly good can turn bad, be prepared, be a good example.
Our wishes and prayers are with Paul and Cindy, for her to make a full and quick recovery.
See you on the trail. Darryl
I didn’t receive any details on how the trail run went, but I did learn that Bart was able to save a rock from hitting David’s tire carrier. I wouldn’t recommend Bart’s method to anyone! You take your basic rock, medium sized, and a nice solid tire carrier on the back of a FJ80 and then you take your basic finger and just what would you not want to use as a cushion between the first two? Is there an accident report somewhere in this? Yes. Ask Bart about it.
I always speculate on what pictures a designer has on the drawing board when they are working on a vehicle design. I think that back in the late 80’s and early 90’s when Chevy was designing the Caprice 4 door people hauler, the designer must have had a photo of a 1947 Hudson for reference, and when Toyota was designing the ’03 4 Runner, the photo was surely a Chevy Avalanche. I have no idea, however, of what Honda was thinking when they designed their new 2 door SUV. I saw one recently, and as I was looking at it with ‘awe’ in my eyes, the owner was walking up and he noticed I was looking at his new 4WD SUV of which he was so proud. I could see it in his eyes. He misinterpreted what was in my eyes. I was thinking ‘awe’ful, and not SUV or 4WD, but rather ‘MUT’, or Mighty Ugly Thing. (I can’t say ‘Truck’) It may be a good reliable 2 door people hauler/grocery getter, but I’ll wager we’ll never see one in the trail head parking lot much less on the trail.
Next run- June 14, 2003
Remember ‘Brighten the Sangres’ is this weekend. Leave times are Friday evening, June 13th, meet at 7:00PM leave at 7:30PM, and Saturday, meet at 6:00AM leave at 6:30AM, from the South location at the Total on highway 115 at Star Ranch Rd.
Give your dad something he’ll enjoy. Take him 4 wheeling! Let him drive, see if he can still make your eyes get big!
Next Meeting: June 17,
2003
Liberty Toyota North – 7:30pm
370C and 379. Meet 8:00am; leave 8:30am, from InTown location, Safeway on S. Nevada and Cheyenne Road.
CLC has a few hats with logo, as well as stickers. Hats are going for $13 and stickers are $4. See David and he will fix you up!
CLC Dues: “To Due or not
to Due…”
IF your CLC dues are due, then due(ly) see David in due time and do your duty by bringing yourself up to date.