Springtime is upon us. People in the northern states are finishing up their winter projects on their rigs getting them ready for the wheelin' season ahead. The lucky ones in the south and west have been wheelin' all winter long. Me? My YJ is covered in rust from the wonderful Buffalo winter I just went through. I wish rust was a "precious metal!" By the time I'm done stripping and grinding, my YJ is gonna look like a Samurai!!! I could just take the ground-up rust and make a fortune from it.

Of course, the people of Las Cruces, New Mexico have it real hard. Not only do they have great year-round weather, they also have what I (and many others, I'm sure) consider to be one of the holiest places on the map for rockcrawlers. And the Las Cruces Four Wheel Drive Club has one hell of a playground in their backyard!!!

I wheeled with this group of great people for a few years. Their premier event is the Chile Challenge held at the end of February every year. This is where I got hooked on rockcrawling. Even though they have some of the toughest, if not THE toughest, trails in this solar system, they offer all levels of trails from the beginner, who never heard of a transfer case before, to the rock buggies and rockcrawlers.

This bad-ass lil Willys belongs to Ray Torres. Now, Ray and I have something very much in common. I met Ray at the 1996 Chile Challenge. Our rigs were pretty much stock, except he had a V-6 in his. We both had pathetically small tires and no suspension mods. Fast forward to the 1999 Chile Challenge. I pull up to the staging area with my built YJ. And here comes the all-too-familiar Willys. I have to get a second-take on what I am seeing. Here comes my trail leader, Ray, in his heavily modified Willys! Now, three years prior, we were on a trail called Box Canyon, an easy rated trail. Here we are, this chilly morning in Las Cruces lining up for the baddest of the bad trails, Rocotillo Rapids. This trail is downright NASTY!!! In the span of only a couple of years we had both built rockcrawlers to handle the toughest trails Mother Nature could throw at us.

The rocks. The waterfalls. The ledges. Las Cruces. This is where the rockcrawlers congregate to enjoy a "leisurely" ride through the desert. Once you go on a trail in Las Cruces, you are hooked. No doubt about it. Then the rest is up to you to build a rig to do it all. Like the saying goes, "It only takes money."

If you want to have a great time with a wonderful group of people, Las Cruces should be your destination of choice. Tell them Mongo sent you.

Airdown and Lock Some Hubs!

Mongo