Rocks and difficult trails do not bother me, I don't really care if I smack my shock mounts, skid plates, differentials etc. on a few rocks. But, there is no need to drag a tree branch across the side of your truck. My last truck (F150) was a poster child for Arizona pinstriping, just trying to prolong that if possible on the new rig, the mini chainsaw will be riding shotgun.
This reminded me of the time we showed up to a 5-acre parcel in the northern upscale part of Scottsdale. If you're familiar with the Phoenix greater area, you know where I'm talking about.
Naturally, once people see us set up our equipment and break out our surveying gear, they flock over to us to find out just how much land we're stealing, what impacts we're doing to the land, airports and sewer treament plants we're building or how much disturbance we're going to create - because of course, that's what people who measure land do.
Sure enough, out comes the neighbor, who's residence was about 660+ feet away, marching over to us to find out in great level of detail, as if he were part of the approval committee, to find out just what all was going on in his "neck of the woods."
At this point, I already know where this is going so I just play stupid for the most part, and I can't spill any real details even if I wanted to.
Before heading back to his sprawling 8,500-square-foot estate, he made sure to tell me he would be speaking with both the property owner and the city development department to ensure we minimized any damage to the natural desert landscape. He emphasized that he had spent over 25 years preserving the area in its pristine state. According to him, allowing someone to move in and start building would disrupt the natural washes and creeks crossing the parcel.
He even assured me he knew exactly how many trees were in the area, because apparently, tree is what makes the land “prestigous.” Meanwhile, the irony of his estate’s footprint never once crossed his mind. It’s fine for him to carve out his kingdom, but heaven forbid anyone else tries to develop their own little piece of heaven.
Moral of the story: Sometimes humans move into a habitat, complain about its natural quirks, and then act like very landscape they disrupted owes them an apology. Meanwhile nature just has to deal with us being, well humans.