Member Spotlight:
Rich & Camille Capener
From the August 2002 Issue of Trail Tales
by Bonnie Bannigan

What can I tell you about these two that you don't already know? If you've heard the stories about the broken Bronco and the "parking lot incident", then you probably know this couple! 

Rich, Camille, and daughters Rachel & Carlie have been members of the New Mexico 4 Wheelers for a little over 3 years. I remember attending a Memorial Day campout in the Jemez when Rich and his father came upon our group of loud mouthed 4-wheeler's around the campfire and being quite surprised when they still came to our next meeting! 

The Capener's primary trail vehicle is the infamous White '73 Bronco and their secondary 4 Wheel drive is a '99 F250 (Well, I'm not sure if this is ever used for wheeling but it is used for towing the Bronco which comes in handy sometimes-ok, a lot!) Rich gives tribute to Broad Canyon in Las Cruces as his favorite trail and the fender-eating "Pickle Barrel" as his ultimate challenge. While obstacles like "The Wall" and "The Snake Pit" have been memorable, the "Pickle Barrel" has been one obstacle he hasn't been able to conquer…hey Rich, I'm right there with you. Even though we haven't made it all the way through it, it makes for great photo ops. We'll get it next year! Rich states the main reason this is his favorite trail is due to the fact that it's one of the few trails he hasn't broken down on! 

Rich works at Intel and has been there for 12 years. He does maintenance on the tools that make computer chips. Maintenance ranges form electrical, mechanical, and process. For those that know more about the semiconductor industry, he works in the Planer area of the fab. Camille works for a government agency. 

Rich and Camille have lived in Albuquerque all of their lives and Rich says he's been into 4-Wheeling every since he was a child and has the best memories of riding around in his dad's Jeep, yep he said JEEP. He likes getting outside of the city limits and also likes to look at all of the vehicles out there with homemade extras. 

Rich said his most memorable trip with NM4W was his first trip to Cruces when he broke an axle. He had been told that if he didn't fix it quick enough while fellow member Pat Brady was around, then Pat would push him out of the way and do it himself. Well, Pat didn't do it himself, but laid out all of the tools to help him do it and together they fixed it in record time! What a great show of teamwork!! I'll let Rich tell you about his worst "stuck" in his own words. I don't think he ever got to tell the full story and here it is: 

I would have to say the "parking lot" incident would be my worst stuck. So here's what happened: My dad and I in my Bronco along with Dave Trappet and his girlfriend in his Jeep meet up with Clint Pilgram (from CO Springs) in a bar at Silverton CO. From there we were going to camp out at Clear Lake that was around 12,000 feet elevation. So we headed out with me leading. When we got to the top of Clear Lake and I pulled into the little parking area that had a little slope. I threw the Bronco into park (auto trans) and jumped out. My dad was on his way out of the Bronco when it started to roll backwards headed for the lake. As I scrambled to get the door back open my dad started to turn the steering wheel from the passenger side to get it to go up the embankment, rather than into the lake. Unfortunately there was a big bolder that the Bronco started to climb. By the time I got the door open and steeped on the break with one foot and the other on the ground. The Bronco stopped but the right rear tire on the Bronco traveled to far up the bolder and did a slow flop on to the driver's side. As it was rolling onto its side I jumped into the Bronco with my dad. As every thing came smashing down my dad ended up on me inside the Bronco and preceded to climb out of the Bronco threw the passenger door. My dad said his arm was hurting but it would be OK. Now we were loosing fluid out the Bronco and started to think of how we were going to get the Bronco back up. The other two Jeeps that were with me didn't have wenches to pull me back over but a fellow wheeler from California that was at the lake did. Well, with a lot of wincing we got the Bronco to a safe FLAT campsite. After setting up camp I found the reason why the Bronco rolled backwards. The B&M shifter cable got hot enough and melted the outer shell that the cable travels in and wouldn't contain the cable, so when I put the shifter into park the cable flexed and put the transmission into neutral. With a trail fix and a run down to Checker for a new cable we finished out the week wheeling over the Silverton area: Black Bear Pass and Imogene Pass. A week later my dad found out he tore his ligaments in his right arm biceps because he was still holding the steering wheel when the Bronco landed on its side. Looking back at it all it could have been a lot worse. 

Some people would lead you to believe that I was driving in a parking lot and rolled the Bronco, but that was not the case. 

Rich had this final thing to say to any newcomers to our sport, "Be careful, four wheeling is addicting and could or should I say will cost you more than you think. If you're married, be sure to have a loving, understanding, and supportive spouse. It will make life easier!" I don't think anyone could have said it better! Thanks to the Capener's for all of their involvement with the NM4W!!!

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