Moochdocking at Elephant Butte - Mariko, the Sammy, Returns!

I am presently moochdocking at Mike and Laura W.'s home in the city of Elephant Butte, New Mexico.  Mike W.is the Suzuki Samurai Guru I met quite by chance as I was transiting through the city shortly after I had bought the Sammy.

Link to that meeting: I meet a Samurai Guru, this was back in February of 2021.

Those of you who read this blog regularly know that I had a rather frustrating love/hate relationship with the Sammy.  Long story short, I ended up gifting the Samurai to Mike W. After I had failed to get it to pass new emission standards in my home county in Colorado.

The Samurai became Mike's, September of 2022.  Fast forward the three+ years to now and the Samurai will soon be signed over to me.  Mike W. offered her up when I asked about buying his other Samurai.   Some debate later, I agreed to his generous offer to simply return it to me, all fixed up.  (More on that later, basically a lot of errors on my part).

I took the Sammy for a test drive and she ran great! Multiple stops and starts no issues, runs strong, and Mike taught me the correct technique of gear shifting through the power bands correctly, I had apparently been babying ( probably lugging) the engine.  No engine coolant issues anymore once Mike put a 195° radiator thermostat in place of the 180° thermostat sold to me by a NAPA shop.

Mike had even added a new soft top replacing the beat up one I left behind.

The test drive took me to capture Fall Colors at the Elephant Butte SP.

This Bull kept following me around for a while

I was able to test out the 4WD too, having found trails and sections with loose deep sand.  The Sammy powered out just fine once I locked the front hubs and engaged 4WD .

Martha will be flying in to El Paso on Tuesday this week and I'll bring her back to Elephant Butte for a short visit.  She'll then drive the Honda CRV while I tow the Sammy north back to Colorado for the Winter.

Does the Sammy still struggle on steep inclines on the highway?  Yep!  I have to gear down to 4th to barely hold 45 mph if the hill is steep/long enough.  Like the Ural, these aren't interstate highway machines.

Is she 1500+ lbs lighter than the CRV? Yep!  Way easier to tow behind the VRRV.

Way higher ground clearance will prevent future issues similar to what ended up denting the CRV's underside cover back in Quartzite recently.

In short, for when I am camping without Martha, a more suitable vehicle for me to do exploring on alongside my TW200. For the trips were Martha is with me, we will tell the CRV as it is more comfortable.