Ah yes.. Corporate saving money...

"The tires look a bit dry rotted, can I submit for replacement?" I asked. "No, we have to keep OPEX down these days" was Management's reply. I shrugged my shoulders, and jumped in the truck.

Heading down Interstate 10, you are met with a long stretch of, I don't know, not much of anything, I guess. Dirt, rugged mountains, cactus, tumbleweeds, lizards. Same as all the long highways here. This journey was to concur Cunningham Mountain then Guadalupe Mountain to test out some old crusty amplifiers. The rocky trail up to Cunningham Mountain is a nemesis for a lot of people. There have been lost souls on that hill, and some folks that embrace this slice of wilderness that few ever see. This hill doesn't scare me, but I do respect it. It was in better shape than I've ever seen the day we took the sturdy Tundra up it. We typically haul the ATV out for this 3305' climb, but today as steep as it is, the path was smoothed out from recent concrete work. Guadalupe Mountain at 2555' should be a breeze after that one. Right? Well the actual road is all concrete now, so outside of some hairy points where the concrete ripped into shards leaving large crevasses, it really was an easy short trip up. We took a couple of sweep tests to see of the amplifier filters were breaking down, packed the gear up and headed down the hill.

Fist rule of thumb, if you pop a tire, keep rolling until you get to flat land for jacking. If you pop two, well you'll need turn around space for the flatbed truck from California to come get you. If nothing else, you retain a great sense of humor as you are being dragged to California for 2 brand new tires. Since the fleet service company would only replace the ones that popped, I guess you need to wait a few weeks to see where the next rest pop! Saving OPEX, and laughing all the way!

One spare tire just isn't gonna work!