(fwd) Re: Message to the Digest

[jlandry@domain.elided (John A. Landry)]

Digesters,
I noted with interest that this month's "Four Wheeler" magazine has an
article by Jimmy Nylund about the "Safety Seal" tire puncture kit that
I mentioned on the digest a year or so ago. I've believed for a long
time now, 5 or 6 years, that the kit was high on the list of all-time
best tools for off-roaders, but Jimmy appears to like it even more
than I. 

He either hasn't experienced, or at least didn't mention that the plug
does a great job, but after many months, the hole that the plug is in
sometimes starts to leak. This is particularly true of when it is a
radial tire that is plugged. 

He has a picture of a sidewall plug and says that he has seen several
plugs used in the same hole to stop a leak in the sidewall. Coming up
out of Botopillas in the bottom of La Barranca de Cobre , I put 18
plugs in a large sidewall hole that occurred when I ran over a Mexican
tank trap (piece of very sharp scrap iron).  My 18 plugs got me to top
of the canyon, off of the barely one lane trail from Botopillas to the
top, before the hole again started to leak and I had to put on the
spare.  Let me recommend to you the "Safety Seal" kit and also the
trip into the bottom of La Barranca de Cobre. A few miles from
Botopillas is a very old mission that is one of the most beautiful in
existence, in my opinion. To give you an idea of the extremes, we
slept under a down comforter on top of the canyon, and at the bottom
under the mango trees, I couldn't sleep at all because of the heat.
(Alright, maybe the lack of a decent bed and the excitement might have
contributed to no sleep also)

Also, in the same issue of Four Wheeler, Willie Worthy gives the
Binder Bulletin a much deserved plug.  

I can't imagine what you guys do for stories when I'm off the digest.
I'll be back on again after the Tulare get-together. 
I'll be home here for a few more days, and if you'd like to send me a
message, about how you don't miss my stories or whatever, you can  get
me at   hofs@domain.elided.  Monday will be the last day I read my
mail.
See ya in April, or if you have good judgment and some vacation time,
in the desert.
Missing the digest,
John Hofstetter