@Teslaconomics I wonder if only HW3 people who have bought will be eligible for the hardware upgrade. This might actually be the cutoff to get in on upgrading HW3.
@Adventuring_RE I always notice the landscaping on the sides of our freeways look so dead and bleak and when you take a drive north up to LA almost everywhere else is so lush and nicely kept. Like radically different.
The story of Animas peak in NM illustrates how easily access is lost without true public ownership.
Much of the NM bootheel was owed by the Grey Ranch, since the late 1800s. As was common in older times, the Grey Ranch informally allowed public access, they didn't "post." My dad climed Animas peak in the 1970s while under Grey ownership.
In 1990, the heirs (who never really restricted access) sold or donated the property to the Nature Conservancy for its permanent protection.
There were hopes that the property would be incorporated into the adjoining Coronado national forest, but in a very "unclear" process the entire 321K acres ended up incorporated into the new "Diamond A" ranch.
The Diamond A proceeded to aggressively prohibit public access, and seems to function largely as a hunting preserve for the super-rich who fly in.
The end result of this debacle is the loss of long-standing public access to one of the most interesting and remote peaks in New Mexico.