ron45

In `73 when I got accepted [by Mammoth Mt. Ski Area to their ski patrol] my wife and I were living in Santa Monica. We began looking for a 4WD something or other. It turned out to be a `60 Land Rover 88 series II A. I'd seen them in movies but that was it. I knew nothing of them or much about cars in general. What an adventure! Loved that thing!

Been a musician since Jr. High and was never into cars or sports unless it was a sport you did.

Skip ahead to `83 to find us in Central New Mexico. We've always had a 4WD around because of the location and altitude and our fairly remote home site. After three different Subarus I came across and XJ in craigslist when myFrankenstien Outback gave up the ghost.

It's the cheap version of an 87 Cherokee w/72k miles and in very good condition. It's the 6 cyl. 4.0 version and that's about all I know about it. For now. `Got it some new shocks today and a fuel pump and have a friend who is a heavy equipment mechanic for Lincoln County. He helps with the hard stuff. Since moving to an area where most things like towns and garages are a half or whole day's round trip, and then getting a compact tractor I've been dragged kicking and screaming into the world of nuts and bolts and hydraulics and backhoes.

Back when; That Land Rover made me think I could do it. When I first raised the hood I knew what everything in there was supposed to do. But not much more. There was so much room to work under that bonnet, as our mates over like to call it, it made the tasks less intimidating to dive in to so to speak. `Did a fair amount of 4 wheeling in Ca. and the Sierras, the Mojave and lots of mt. biking in Moab, but livin' here where, if we leave here we are four wheeling to get to a dirt road that leads to a town of 25 or so, and then on to a paved one.

We came looking for a place to build our hippie `tread lightly' dream of a passive/active solar adobe home. `Hand made by my wife and myself out of pocket, over a ten year period, while we both worked somehow rooted me to this little shambala.

So now, I don't think of the XJ as a recreational device anymore but as a necessary ally so to speak. I think it will be up to the task of keeping us mobile no matter the weather. I wanted land, it turned out to be 20 acres, from which I could see nothing man made unless I made it. Mesas are perfect for this.

More so if the mesa has a valley on top of it with a 7 to 10 mile view to another mt. range across the Tularosa Basin. The mountains around us are the southern tip of the Rockies. There is a 10k foot one just across the trees about three miles away. Whodathunkit!! Elk, black bear, mountain lions, bobcats foxes mule deer, eagles rattle snakes, scorpion and tarantulas yada yada. Our version of paradise. We don't see all of these critters every day but enough to make it real interesting and so far superbly enjoyable to be 72 years old and learning new stuff all the time.

I'd never built anything but had been around job sites as a house painter. Then I saw a book on Canned Heat's coffee table one day called Mud, Space and Spirit about hippies, free thinkers and creative people fleeing the city to Arizona and New Mexico and beyond.

I still think of myself as a hippie tho I quit the "everything all the time" life style in `74. I don't even drink and haven't for years.

Our Malibu based rock band had the same manager as the Heaters and we sometimes shared or swapped equipment when we toured with them some back in the DAZE. The dwellings in that book were all hand made from dirt and trees and what ever worked by people just like me so I borrowed it from Al Wilson and learned enough to know that's what I wanted to do and that I didn't want to involve the system in my building dreams. Remote land is the key. Off road, off grid off the beaten path all rolled up into so much more than I deserve.

May you all be so lucky with your dreams and aspirations. I look forward to learning from some of you when problems of the wrench turning nature arise. I look forward to that and waking up tomorrow to see what's up.

Ron

'00 XJ

Welcome to the forum, Ron.

Sounds nice there.

ron45

Thank you 00XJ, I have a lot to learn about these buggys.

Guywitha92

Welcome from Arizona. I would love to have 20 acres away from everybody

ron45

Hello and thank you, I hope you can get there, it's worth all the trouble and extra driving. Taxes aren't too out of line. It's cool to be able to spot our spot from ten miles away. At that distance no one knows it's a spot. The closest town of 25 or so, is nestled in a little valley 9 miles from a state hiway, and six hours round trip @ 82 mph if you don't eat or do any shopping, from a real city.

Ron