Day Seven
Dan and Tom woke early so they could replace Tom's broken axle from the day before. Harold was kind enough to let them use his shop, Off Again Off-Road. John and Tom later helped Dan weld a cracked and sagging spare-tire rack in the hotel parking lot, while everyone else choked down breakfast.
By now most of us had noticed a trend of increasingly more difficult trails on this wondrous adventure. We could only speculate as to what was in store for us at the last trail we'd traverse on this trip: Die Trying.
The drive between Farmington and Montrose was perhaps the most scenic and relaxing of the whole trip. We did, however, run into two separate road crews working on the two-lane mountain road, which held-up traffic for about 45 minutes apiece. The drive was short compared to the previous on-road day, and the scenery made it much more endurable.
We made it to the hotel before nightfall and geared up for Die Trying. The locals told us a little about the trail and how a short wheelbase would benefit on the tight corners (finally, a trail for flatfenders). We also found out that this was the longest trail of the adventure (in time, not distance).
John and Cole weren't the only ones making mods to their 4x4s before this trip. Brian had installed new springs and crossover steering from All-Pro and regeared his 4Runner. Everything had worked bitchin' to this point. At the top of that climb, the Toy rolled back a few inches, snagging the front tires. The front suspension was at full droop, and the slight tug at the front tires was enough to pull the front driveshaft apart. And of course, the splines twisted just a tad at the end. Brian filed the slipjoint, shoved everything back together, and motored on. | 
We thought we'd be enjoying the drive until this point, but the cool temperatures, fall colors, and scenery along the Half-Million-Dollar highway from Farmington to Montrose was simply heaven. It was so nice we didn't even mind two 45-minute delays due to construction. | 
In Albuquerque half the tour waited for new tires while Steve found that one of his M.R.T. bead-lock wheels was damaged. Some of the weld-nuts were broken off so he broke out his onboard-welder, followed by a drill and tap to get the wheel ready to go. |