WYO, YELLOWSTONE, OR AND NEW MEXICO IN LANDUSE NEWS

OREGON, WYOMING and NEW MEXICO in the LANDUSE NEWS

New Mexico OHV Association has news about Carson National Forest.

Wyoming, Yellowstone Park opens to snowmobiles on a limited basis (but it is open)

Oregon, Baker area and BLM news.

Landuse is starting to hit the headlines again in 2012 with stuff popping up everyday.  Stay tuned; stay involved; and stay on the landuse team.

More on all these topics at http://www.sharetrails.org, the home page of BlueRibbon Coalition.

Summer Land Use Trip, Jeep Upgrades

We are at "ugly" in our Jeep rebuild.  Parts are everywhere.  The whole underbelly has been removed.  Old long arm kit: gone.  Old belly pan; gone.  Old skid plates; gone. Old shocks; gone.  Old brackets; gone.  YIKES.

T&T Customs has removed all the old parts, even the Atlas (that appears to have been clocked wrong).  Everything is being shaved and made ready for a clean install of new parts.

Mike, the magician mechanic, is making sure we've got everything lined up to do the best possible install ever.  T&T takes serious pride in "doing it right."  I can now attest to that.  They do not let anything past them -- even the small stuff.  Do it right is engraved into their foreheads.  :)

Here the T&T owner, Bob Levenhagen is performing some welds that would impress the best stick man.  Can't wait to see these axle trusses on my Ford 9 in the rear and Dana 44 up front.

Here's another shot of the "ugly" that we will now call BEFORE.  Just wait a day or so until we have the AFTER pics.

Parts hanging....even little things are being tended to, making sure the fit is right and the install is tight.  Wow, I'm impressed.  This is an amazing operation; very professional and very strict in attention to detail.

Summer Land Use Trip Day 6, T&T Customs

Getting a tour of T&T Customs, Cheyenne, WY, where the Jeep is going to undergo major changes in the engineering and ride.

The "boys" in the welding/fab side of things give Stacie the tour.

Mike, the mechanic magician, shows some T&T work being done on another rig in the shop.  T&T suspension components are well-engineered and quality controlled.   This takes you jeep to another level where you can brag that you "Go Equipped."

the in-shop powder coating is a system that recycles the coating and really gets the parts protected.

Can't help but have a little fun with the machines in the shop. Everywhere we looked, it was apparent the T&T folks are professional and caring about the products they make and install.

More on T&T Customs at http://www.tntcustoms.com/

Summer Land Use Trip Day 5, Wyoming

Wyoming takes pride in its wildlife.  Here we are viewing a habitat area from a Rest Stop along I-80.  Stac is working the spotting scope, looking for antelope and deer. 

We saw a ton of antelope alongside the freeway all day today.  Some with big horns too!!!

Can't say the whole drive across the bottom of Wyoming is one of our favorites, but we sure did enjoy the critters.  AND we had very little wind.

  Considering the winds sometime blow pretty regularly at 70MPH in this stretch of road....yikes.

This is the view we were enjoying from the Rest Stop. 

The other thing we saw were miles of snow drift fences right along I-80.  Found out these things also help keep patches of grass exposed for the winter herds of elk in the area so they have a source of browse.  Cool.


Del

Summer Land Use Trip Day 4, Utah

No stop in Salt Lake City, UT is complete without a visit to Temple Square.  We wanted to make sure Jessica got to see this unique part of our country's history, as well as the beautiful architecture.  It's impressive up close and personal.  SLC is a very clean town as well....nice people everywhere.





The campground even had a free guided shuttle over the the Square and plenty of volunteers are there to give you a tour and more on the LDS religion. 

This momument to "seagulls" is about the most unique I've ever seen.  In fact, I know of no other to a bird.  When the Mormon settlers were about to get wiped out by bugs (Mormon  Crickets), they prayed for relief and bingo.  The gulls swooped in by the millions and ate the crickets, thus saving the crops and the settlers.

Of course, the Great Salt Lake, like other inland salt lakes, attracts gulls and birds of all kinds during their migrations.  So toss in a few bazillion crickets, and I suspect these seagulls were packing some heavy bellies.




Temple Square is well tended and manicured.  The landscaping is colorful and beaufitul, with a large variety of flowers and shrubs.

As a musician, I must say this pipe organ was mind-boggling just to stand near it.  Marvelous piece of history that is still in use. 

Next stop is Cheyenne, WY for our Jeep rebuild at T&T Customs.  Here we come.

Del