BORDER WALL RUN - a Blast from the Past

wayoflife

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With all the stupidness that's been going on with illegal immigration, I thought I would be fun to revisit a run that we used to do way back in the day and it was one out to the Mexican border. Of course, no matter how bad we thought things were almost 15 years ago, they were a far cry from what they are now. Needless to say, this isn't something I would advise doing now and especially in the area that we were in.

That said, here's a Flashback Friday post from 2010 😁

Here's a shot of Chris, Jen, mituk, Moochie and 08YELLO-RUBI at an IHOP down in El Centro before our run...
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As you can see here, soon after leaving the town of Calexico, the tall steel border fence you normally see was reduced into cut up and welded old railroad track and look something like what you'd expect to see on the beaches of Normandy during World War II...
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You can clearly see how well this formidable barrier would stop illegal immigrants from crossing into the USA.
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Near by, we found the first of many panic buttons that the U.S. Border Patrol established for weary travelers...
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Here's a shot of Moochie testing out the lamp that draws it prey like moths to a flame at night...
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Chris trying hard to resist the urge to follow the instructions and push the red button...
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The power and lure of the red button is just to great for 08YELLO-RUBI...
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A close up shot of the diagram intended to communicate and explain in both alien and zombie, how to use this device...
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Posing for a shot at the panic button...
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Here's everyone trying to reenact the zombie images depicted on the sign...
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This silhouette is probably a more accurate depiction.
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Checking out one of many obelisks that were errected along the border a long long time ago to indicate the boundary between the United States and Mexico....
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What it says on the north side of the obelisk...
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and, what it says on the south side...
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Chris pointing out a weathered old school 4WD decal still afixed to the obelisk...
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Further west, we found another obelisk that was in much better condition and so, we hopped back into Mexico again to take this group shot...
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View looking back to the east...
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Interesting "BP" made of chain and welded to a tank obstacle we found along the way...
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On the way back out to the highway, we stop at one of the many "AGUA" or water stations planted all across the desert. It's funny how back then, we used to look at these as bait stations but today, they'd clearly be some kind of NGO station with information on how to apply for asylum.
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08YELLO-RUBI demonstrating through performance art, how to use the AGUA station....
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After driving west on Interstate 8 for a bit, mituk blew up his super charger and needed to make his way back home. The rest of us continued back to where the border fence is accessible again and looks more like something out of the Lord of the Rings...
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Parked at an observation shelter near to a point where there's a gap in the fence...
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Where the imposing steel fence reaches the mountain side, there is a gap and you can actually get around it to take a peek from the Mexican side...
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Help me...
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Of course, if you did cross over at this point, you would have found a friendly Border Patrol Officer paying you a visit within minutes. But again, this was almost 15 years ago and in a galaxy far far away.
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Parked up on top of a Border Patrol observation point...
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Looking back down across the border fence spanning the valley below...
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At the top of the hill, there is an impressive steel door with a medieval looking slider bar to keep it locked...
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And finally, on the other side of this door, you can see yet another border obelisk. Kind of a sign of the times when a piece of America has to be on the other side of the wall.
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Hard to imagine just how much has changed in such a short amount of time.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed my little Flashback Friday post :cool:
 
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hard to imagine how good things were 15 years ago and honestly, the worst has completely buried what little good has happened since.

I never imagined I'd be wishing for the 70-80's again, but yeah, the pre-internet/cell phone years were pretty damn good.
 
hard to imagine how good things were 15 years ago and honestly, the worst has completely buried what little good has happened since.
It really is hard to imagine and it really is sad. I don't think you could do a trip like this today without being genuinely concerned for your life.
I never imagined I'd be wishing for the 70-80's again, but yeah, the pre-internet/cell phone years were pretty damn good.
It's funny because, I once heard someone try and explain how "make America great again" is far from wanting to restore this country to the days of Jim Crow or the like but rather, to take us back just a little - to a time like that, minus the cold war. Was it perfect? No but a hell of a lot better than it is now.
That's cool.
Glad you liked it :)
 
Next time the internet rockstars try to get you to disclose one of the 'secret' trails you show, you should give them gps coordinates to this place.
:ROFLMAO: Seriously!!

I should note, this is out by Jacumba and it's become the hot spot since Texas wired up Eagle Pass. And, even back then, the border patrol agent in the JK we talked to warned us about how dangerous it was to be there. In fact, he was showing us how his JK was also setup to be an ambulance with a gurney and everything and as I was giving everything a closer look, I noticed there were a couple of ARs mounted up inside. When I asked what they were for, he again reminded me about how dangerous it was out there.
 
Very cool pictures! Whose white 2 door is that??? Looks like exactly what I want to build my Jeep up into.

Having been down there recently (not at the wall though, yet) I can definitely confirm the scarcity of running into BP officers, even as you're closer to the 8.
 
The problem is the border patrol works for the feds. And unfortunately the feds no longer work for the American People. Most countries secure their borders to protect their citizens. Kinda like Russia does.
It's so crazy how much things have changed and in this way. 15-20 years ago, you could go to the border and there would be impromptu check points set up along all the major highways and even side routes and the guards typically had zero personality. Cindy and I had been stopped countless times back then and they were all business and to the point of being lame. Today - IF they can be found, they're the welcoming committee.
 
Very cool pictures! Whose white 2 door is that??? Looks like exactly what I want to build my Jeep up into.

Having been down there recently (not at the wall though, yet) I can definitely confirm the scarcity of running into BP officers, even as you're closer to the 8.
That's piginajeep's first JK.
 
We were down there on a fire in 2013. Talked to a lot of BP. Also check out Chris' shirt. Thays when that company used to be good. He actually sold me my lift 12 years ago. It's been great and his customer service then was too.
 
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