From: muratlanne@gmail.com   
      
   "Bob La Londe"  wrote in message news:vh0otb$1r6ir$1@dont-email.me...   
      
   A Bulgarian designer I have worked with perhaps said it best.  "The more   
   off road capable is your truck the further you must walk to find a   
   tractor."   
      
   -----------------------------   
   Well said.   
      
   My interest was exploring the back country, not tearing it up, the tread   
   lightly ethic, so unlike my buddy with the Land Rover I didn't have to climb   
   the steepest hills just to prove I could. That was the hold-my-beer episode,   
   letting others feel superior for useless stunts doesn't bother me. Highway   
   performance was important for me, to get to the mountains an hour or more   
   away.   
      
   At the time I bought the Ranger a work friend from India used his engineer's   
   paycheck to satisfy his long-time yearning for a Jeep, so we rode around in   
   both. Though I didn't say so I felt that the 4WD Ranger was a much better   
   choice for mainly half hour daily commuting with a little relatively mild   
   exploring. With the 7 foot bed it was excellent for collecting firewood   
   because it could access untouched areas where wider full-sized pickups   
   hadn't. I used the winch to pull logs to the trail but never needed it to   
   extricate the truck. After I had collected all the dead wood the truck could   
   reach I switched to the narrower garden tractor and trailer. By then kids   
   had discovered and torn up the trails such that in spring the low areas   
   became mud pits I needed the winch to pass through.   
      
   The Ice Age melt filled in sand and gravel between the rocks and we don't   
   have a bare boulder-strewn Rubicon to challenge us, only power line access   
   roads and old dirt trails a horse and wagon could handle. The trail system   
   here is very extensive but mostly suited to and maintained for snowmobiles   
   which aren't so good on boulders or steep slopes, I found I could climb   
   straight up a steeper grade than they could on properly waxed cross-country   
   skis, and cross a filled-in gully they would sink into. The snowmobilers   
   have built trail bridges across streams that would be too dangerous to cross   
   on ice that running water kept from solidly freezing. Winter snow really   
   opens up the woods to travel by freezing swamps and covering rocks and   
   fallen trees that block trails in summer.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)