Power Line Road

(With Ford F-Series Club of Australia)

March 25, 2000

(Trip Report by Doug Schulz)

Gathering at Oak Flat Campground before the trip

Brownie Shows Off

The Powerline road has become a favorite with the ACB gang and this trip was even better with the addition of our Aussie friends from the Ford F-Series Club of Australia. Steve Altenroxel and Tom Calvert joined us to see first hand what the ACB does for kicks.

One of the many great views along this trail

Tom Calvert (l.) and Steve Altenroxel (r) of the Ford F-Series Club of Australia

They had rolled into town the week before on a parts buying trip and, not knowing the lay of the land, found themselves in one of the rougher sections of town- the Van Buren strip. They were just looking for a room, and just thought the natives were being friendly.

After we bailed them out of jail, they realized that on Van Buren Street, "Coke" is not a soft drink, and a "date" doesn't mean dinner and a movie. Our local Sheriff, Joe Arpaio, went easy on them, since he had seen Crocodile Dundee several times and remembered the scene with Dundee meeting the girls on the street ("One what??").

(Webmaster's note: these "jail" comments were penned for our April Fools newsletter issue.)

 

We soon found Steve and Tom to be exceedingly good sports, with senses of humor that have resulted in my present limp. These guys pulled my leg so many times I never really knew when they were serious or when they were piling it six feet deep. Between their accents and my unfamiliarity with Australia's customs and things, I spent a lot of time searching their faces for the tell-tale hints of a smile to see if I was being messed with or educated.

One thing you soon learn about Steve and Tom: Around them you're gonna have a whole lot of fun, and you're gonna make a couple of friends for life. They really reinforced my opinion of Australians in general. I'd always thought of them as a very tough, but friendly people. These guys are both of these things in a big way.

Steve Harwood arrived from Vegas for this trip. He's seen in the middle here.

A shot from late in the day.

When we first got to the Oak Flat Campground where the run was to leave from, I started to set up my tent trailer and soon realized I had left the crank at home. Steve quickly volunteered to give me a hand, and when I accepted, he gave me a hearty round of applause. (You see how this whole weekend went??) I just resolved to find something reptilian to add to his sleeping bag that night...

 

We left camp a while later and ambled down the trail, which soon became rough and rocky. Just a mile or so out of camp, Shad Bruce shredded a radiator, and we parked in a meadow to wait for their rescuers to return. (Shad now has to show up for the next run to hand off the Cow Pattie Award.)

We regrouped and made it a bit further until the road took a sharp uphill turn and our trip leader, Mike Brown's Bronco began to have to take a couple tries to get the right line down.

This damage did not occur on this run. It probably even made for a more care-free excursion.

I was second, and I'm convinced that is the best place- little dust and you get to learn the proper line to take. I went up easily and parked to watch the carnage that was sure to happen.

Joe Cayer ponders his tire being off the bead. Soon after getting the tire back together he suffered a small engine fire. His rig and his spirits came through in fine shape.

Sure enough, the Broncos with 3 speeds and 3.50's all had a heck of a time, with another one shredding a radiator, and one losing a bead after rolling backwards.

Tom and Steve just shook their heads, thinking how easily we tear up hardware that is so hard to come by in Australia.

The radiator was fixed using the old "cut and pinch" method, but needed water added every few miles.

We took a couple hours getting all the trucks through that obstacle, and Tom went off into the desert to strike a pose on top of a rock, apparently completely at home in our rugged Sonoran desert.

Where the slow going began.

We limped along and made several attempts to gather the group into a tighter formation, but all the radiator stops didn't let it happen.

Randy Harral makes it all look easy with his specially built rock crawling rig.

We decided to forego the second loop of the figure eight loop, and headed back into the camp. I had thought I might get a rise out of my passenger, Steve, on the toughest parts, but he was no stranger to a rough trail, and the only thing that seemed to surprise him was how sturdy and agile the Early Bronco is. Once back in camp, we started making dinner.

Shad Bruce graciously accepts the Cow Patty award for worst breakage. He broke a motor mount on a climb, allowing the motor to twist, taking out the fan and the radiator.

Tom and Steve had mentioned their desire to try buffalo meat while they were here, and I had scoured the Phoenix area, finally finding buffalo and ostrich at AJ's deli. I had never eaten ostrich, and found it to be an extremely sweet, tasty red meat. (Actually I fed those two 'roos dog meat from the Vietnamese deli and told them it was buffalo... They'll eat anything...he he).

Tom Gismondi showed up after the run to enjoy the eating, drinking and tall tales.

Steve Altenroxel models new hat.

We later gathered around the campfire and toasted the days events into the wee hours. Man, would I love a transcript of that conversation!! Later, Tom headed home with Deano and Steve crashed in my tent trailer, and the next day we packed up and headed home early.

Deano's and Doug's Trucks where we stopped to shoot.

It was real nice to have gotten to know our sister club face to face after all the e-mail and newsletter correspondence over the last year or so. I have to say that I really look forward to visiting our Australian "sisters" on their own turf some day. I have a feeling that would be a trip I'd never forget. Looks like we're gonna be good "mates" for life!

Chad Johnson and Dwight Smith

 

Doug lets fly

On the way back to camp, we stopped to shoot my 45-70 and 9mm pistols.

After Tom figured out which end went "boom," he started hitting the cans once in a while. (Actually, he was a great shot, and I could see how much he missed being able to shoot back home.)

Steve Altenroxel

I was full of coffee and couldn't hit anything., so Dead-Eye Deano had to represent the U.S. in this "event."

 

---Doug Schulz