FJ Restrospective (part 3)

[January 6 2003] My 2nd time in Anza Borrego, this time with a smaller group. This time we did Coyote Canyon and ended the day at Font's Point.

The trail included a water crossing, my first one, which was pretty fun. It felt like I was in control of a ride at Disneyland.

Back then Coyote Canyon was a lot more rocky and pretty intimidating, especially for a newbie like myself. Watched a few up ahead get spotted so that they wouldn't hit that one large boulder on the right, so I tried to follow a similar line.

One memory from doing this was learning how to hold the steering wheel during these rocky climbs – it will turn pretty quickly as the frontend flexes so the spokes can slap your hands around a bit if you're holding it like you were taught in drivers' ed class. One better memory was the exhilaration I got from doing the climb up and making it back down again without doing any damage to my FJ.

We stopped for lunch when we all made it up the hill climb, somewhere just before Sheep's Canyon. Aftewards we went down for an easy ride to check out Font's Point for the view of the badlands.

An improvement was made on the comms side and installed a Bandi Mount paired with a 2-foot Firestik CB antenna. No more rooftop magnetic mount antenna with a wire awkwardly snaking through a window gap into the interior.

The build so far (🟢: added)

• Tires: BF Goodrich All-Terrain KO (265/70R17)
• Suspension: Donahoe Racing 3-inch lift, Donahoe Racing billet upper control arms, Demello Offroad body mount chop
• Armor: Toyota skid plate, Demello Offroad sliders
• Performance: TRD cat-back exhaust
• Exterior: 🟢 AVS ventshades
• Interior: Toyota rubber floor mats
• Comms: Midland CB Radio, 🟢 Firestik antenna (on Bandi mount)
• Gear: generic 12v air compressor, Staun Tyre Deflators