I guess I must have made the list. I do things with my Xterra that a lot of people might feel are foolish(especially my wife). I let my nine and eleven year olds drive it on a dry lake bed. They are learning valuable lessons that may keep them from doing something stupid in the future. Just last week my nine year old learned why I tell him not to do a tight circle while moving quickly in a top heavy truck and my eleven year old learned why you shouldn't stomp on the brake unless it's an emrgency and I learned that when you are letting an eleven year old drive, you should wear your seatbelt no matter where you are and how short a time she will be driving. I've let them do this since my son was seven. I am always careful to make sure that no matter what happens, I won't hurt others or damage others' property or the environment. I can live with the damage I do to my truck, but I could never live with the damage I might do to others if I weren't safe about it. I've been with Axle on several trail runs and he always seems sane and safety concious. He has had bad luck and I don't doubt that he was driving in a sedate, sane manner when this latest mishap happened. I think he did the stand up thing when he put his truck in a ditch, rather than damage others. I think that given the same situation, many others would have just plowed their big steel bumper into the soft plastic ass of the people in front of them. That's probably what I would have done. I think Axle is a better offroad driver than I am. He walked up the easy side of the wall in one attempt during GOX. I had to try a few times to get the right line to clear my bumper. He's always the first one to help others when they're in a tight spot. I think it's OK to rag on him, but I don't know why he gets special attention. I never saw him cut down a tree(sorry Brent, but at least you know why Ian rags you). I can only guess that it's his non-apologetic, "I did what I thought was right" attitude. I prefer that to blaming his mishaps on the incompetence of others(not saying that you do that). I think the two of you just need to spend more time together.

Anybody second my "Monster Garage" nomination yet?