Uncle Bill and Marc in Uncle Bill's "land crusher" 4 wheeling in El Paso Mountains Wilderness.	Tom munching on nutritionally challenged food in the back seat of Uncle Bill's "land crusher", with frozen sheep in the background, in El Paso Mountains Wilderness.

SATURDAY - 4 Wheeling with Uncle Bill and Tom

After and awesome breakfast and visit with Aunt Pat and MarLyn and Tom and Hunter, we returned to our hotel to prepare for 4 wheeling with Uncle Bill and Tom. We stopped at the MATURANGO MUSEUM along the way to buy gifts for Adele and Keri, then on to Uncle Bill and Lynne's house. After loading up Uncle Bill's "Land Crusher", we drove over to El Paso Mountains Wilderness to see some petroglyphs and maneuver the "Land Crusher" over challenging terrain. The petroglyphs turned out to be totally crowded with cars, so we drove on to the Burro Schmidt Tunnel. I have to say that the "road", as it were, was definitely not designed for normal cars or even my SUV. Along the way we encountered a flock of frozen sheep. They were just standing around doing nothing. Fortunately for them they were not on the road, so no free lamb for dinner that day.

The Burro Schmidt Tunnel

Me standing in front of the entrance to the Burro Schmidt Tunnel in El Paso Mountains Wilderness.	Marc and Tom inside the Burro Schmidt Tunnel.	The exit to the Burro Schmidt Tunnel on the opposite side of the hill.

The Burro Schmidt Tunnel was a long tunnel that went straight through the mountain. Pretty neat. Tom, Marc, and I braved the deadly tunnel, while Uncle Bill guarded the "Land Crusher" from carnivorous kangeroos and other dangerous animals. The tunnel was refreshingly cool, while the outside temperature was pretty toasty. Of course I had to bang my head on the tunnel ceiling just to see which was harder: my head or the ceiling. I called it a tie, although my head complained louder than the ceiling! After surviving the dangers of Burro Schmidt Tunnel ,we drove off for further excitement.

The SEARS Cabin

The front of the SEARS Cabin in El Paso Mountains Wilderness.	Tom and Uncle Bill exploring the inside of the SEARS Cabin.

The next interesting thing that we encountered was the SEARS cabin. Kind of a non-descript cabin out in the middle of nowhere. Although the outhouse was serviceable, which counts for something after experiencing these bumpy, steep, unpaved roads! The cabin included a guestbook, so we signed in for posterity. No food or booze around, so we quickly moved on to the next adventure.

The Pumice Mine

Uncle Bill and Tom exploring the pumice mine in El Paso Mountains Wilderness.	Tom carving his initials, with Uncle Bill and Marc in the background, in the pumice mine.	Tom and Dan in the pumice mine.

We drove on to a pumice mine, which was literally and fashionably cool. Very refreshing to be out of the heat. And the pumice looked like a soft liemstone. We searched the autographs carved into the pumice for familiar names and found a few (who shall remain nameless!). After walking around the mine a little bit, we hopped back into the "Land Crusher" and headed home. Plenty of bumps and steep inclines later, we made it back to home base alive and in 1 piece. I guess that we didn't 4 wheel hard enough!

Of course it wouldn't be a Maddux story if something really exciting did not happen. And that was my department this time. When we got out of the "Land Crusher" I could not find my car keys. I was dreading the thought that I might have lost them somewhere out in the wilderness while 4 wheeling. We searched the "Land Crusher" thoroughly but could not find them. And of course I did not bring my spare keys. Fortunately, my keys turned out to be in my backpack. So I only suffered a few more gray hairs and lots of sweating. All was well, and I was definitely ready for dinner at that point.