Live like you are dying (2024)

Hey Guys,
I don't do social media or even participate in other forums. I am very active here because I am a truck guy and this forum is fantastic, almost free of trolls, and very informative. I have learned a lot here. So I have spent the last three years contributing what I can and sharing my off road TB adventures. I am a very private person and you will never find anything personal about me on the net. I am well aware this is a truck forum but I am going to go out on a limb and tell you guys a couple personal stories.

I have said here several times my Trail Boss is part of my lifestyle. I off road a full size rig because it does everything I need it to do. Work truck, daily driver, tow vehicle when I take the wife and friends camping in the travel trailer an more. Most importantly it allows me to do something else I love to do. I have posted on here several times about adventures where I go off roading and camping in places so remote I may not see another vehicle for a few days. Sometimes I go alone but often on those muti-day trips I am with a great friend that has been a buddy of mine for over 20 years. When we go out we roll as minimalistic as we can. That means we take a tent but only for bad weather, the rest of the time we throw a tarp and a sleeping bag on the ground. That is part of the way I like to enjoy the outdoors. Sleeping under the stars as I have done all my life. I'll get to the part about why I am putting this in the camping forum with some humor.
Here is the personal part, for the last year and a half I have been battling cancer. I went through a major surgery to remove it. Less than a year later it was back. So it was another big surgery. At the moment we are not sure if I still have active cancer in me or not. Bottom line is Doctor says I have a 50/50 chance of being alive in 5 years. I'm telling you this because for me, the Trail Boss is a major part of my cancer treatment. I'm still doing all the things I love to do where I find my peace. I consider my self a country boy stuck in the city. I am an AZ native so I am a desert rat. I also lived at 7000 feet in the Rocky mountains for over 15 years. I love everything in the outdoors and hate the big city. Pushing the limits of my TB off road until I find incredible places to camp is what makes me happy. It it a lifestyle for me. Enough said.

Here is the recent camping part with some humor. In the last three months I have done four 4 day camping trips. I didn't post about them because on two of them I was in a Jeep Wrangler. My off road driving partner is shopping for a used one so he has been renting them so he can check them out. Two weeks ago we spent 4 days and three nights sleeping on the ground 4wheeling in the desert in a built rental Jeep on trails harsher than the TB can do. The daytime temps were 105 to 115 dropping to 80s and 90s at night. We handled that kind of heat by camping on water so we could jump in and cool off. I am turning 65 soon. It is not as easy as it used to be to spend 4 days in that kind of heat but I can still do it. On day one we got caught in a major summer monsoon right at the first tail head. Monsoon rains here can dump an incredible amount of water and it quickly turned the trail to mud and wet clay. We had 15 miles of trail to make it to our lake shore campsite. it was a new trail for us but TrailsOffRoad rates it as only a 3 but impassable when wet. We went for it anyway. After 8.5 miles of mud slinging we went around a very tight off camber turn. The Jeep slid sideways off the trail. My friend tried to save it and brought it to a stop with the front tires on the edge of the trail and rears completely off trail, perpendicular to the trail and the nose pointing up with a small ravine below us. So we put everything we had into the first shot at recovery because I knew we were only going to get one shot. Once I put it in motion I knew the back end was going to slide the wrong way deeper on the ravine side. The winch line went up to an old dead mesquite tree I doubted would hold. Traction boards under 2 tires, and a tag line from the rear bumper to an uphill bush to keep the rear from sliding into the steeper part of the edge. All I had to do was get it back up on the trail. It had to work the first time or we were spending the night litteraly on the trail and walking out in the morning. It went well, between the winch and the boards I gave it gas slowly and then it slid sideways until the tag line caught it. At that point I was on the boards and hit the gas and bounced back up on the trail. Quite a rush knowing it was a one shot recovery or the consequences were not good.

Now here is the funny part. On the third night I tried to sleep clawing at my skin covered in bug bites and was not happy. When it is in the high 80s you don't sleep in a sleeping bag you sleep on top of it. In a previous thread @Jimsvet had asked me if I have problems with animals when sleeping on the ground? I said, not really problems, but I see them and I don't worry about it. When I finally started to dose off I heard something on the tarp and the water bottle near my head crinkle. It was a full moon night. I opened my eyes and I was face to face with a black faced animal with big black eyes inches from my face. It starteled me so badly I let out a yell. That scared the animal just as much and it sprung into the air like a scared cat. It did an airborne 180 and I realized I was now looking at the business end of a F**cking skunk in my face! It ran off without blasting me directly in the face but I was startled. The friend on the tarp was obviously awakend when I yelled and he started yelling "WTF Steve? WTF Steve?" and I was yelling "It's a F**cking skunk, it's a F**king skunk!" It all turned OK after a bad nights sleep and it is funny. After a lifetime in the outdooors and sleeping under the stars I now say the only thing that ever scared me is a F**cking skunk! It all happened so fast I never even had the thought to reach for my 1911. You don't shoot skunks anyway, you loose that fight every time.
Again, the reason I'm telling all this I suppose, is because my Trail Boss is more than a truck or possession to me. It's my freedom and my peace of mind that takes me where I want to be. When I got back from that trip and told my 24 year old son the story about the skunk he said everything the best for me, "Dad, as far as your cancer goes, I am not going to start worrying about you until you quit going into the desert and the woods." Well said son. I'm not planning on that happening.

Steve

mrcolieman said:

Steve,
This is always hard news to hear, even from someone known only through posts on a truck forum....Thank you for reminding us how truly precious every adventure is. Keep adventuring and keep sharing. Although we can't travel that specific trail with you, we can share in your awesome stories and maybe sometimes, lighten that specific emotional burden a little bit... Here's to the 50% that keeps you in the desert and the woods, getting a bad nights sleep with a skunk in your face, for many years to come. Fu@k Cancer...
All the best to you and your family,
Colin Jackson
Battalion 9, Retired
Former IAFF Peer Support Team Member
and of course,
Fellow Trail Boss Enthusiast

Click to expand...

Thank You.

A few pictures from the trip. I don't have any shots of the recovery set up. We were too busy saving our buts.

This is why I sleep on the ground. Moon rise.

Camp two.

Spotting and tire placement is everything.

I have had 6 4wd drive vehicles. One was a 1943 Willies surplus Jeep. First rig I ever bought at 16. Drove the wheels off it. Also had a CJ5. Been doing this for a while.
Steve

Ich hoffe, Sie gewinnen Ihren Kampf gegen den Krebs.

Auch ich habe deine Geschichte verfolgt und bin immer wieder fasziniert von deinen Outdoor-Trips und vor allem den Bildern, die gepostet werden.

Interessant ist auch, was das Trailboss wirklich im Gelände kann und wo seine Schwächen oder fehlerhaften Konstruktionen liegen. GM sollte Sie als Testfahrer für das Gelände einstellen, anstatt Ihre Garantie zurückzuziehen. Grüße.