The Rooster
February 2019
THE ROOSTER A monthly update from the Inland Empire Offroad Association
What’s New We had a great trip over Christmas and New Years with over 20 rigs in camp over the course of the week as some came and went.
Surprise Wedding Ray and Janice surprised everyone by getting married at their Christmas Party on December 23rd. None of the guests knew they were attending a wedding. This set the couple up for a Glamis Honeymoon trip.
Keeping it in the Club
Christmas 2018-New Years 2019 at Glamis Don and Shirley, Jerry and Linda, and Jeff Oliver arrived before Christmas, I believe it was on the 21st. Mike and Pat were there when I arrived, having arrived shortly before I did on the 26th. I didn’t keep notes on who arrived when, but we had a good sized group: John, Anna, and Brianna; newlyweds Ray and Janice; P.J., Melissa, Allison, and Marshall; Pete, Linda, Karissa, Jason, and Jeremy; Dale and Rebecca; Lavonne, who joined Jeff before New Years; Barry and Ann; Frank and Denise; Dave and Cindy Huggard; Ray and Janice’s friends Troy (aka Huck) and his family, Joe and Nathalie, Jeff and Renee, and Tom and Sarah, and their kids, Aubree and Jacob; and special guests Erik and Mark Knowles (more on them later.) Melissa had a doctor’s appointment on Thursday, the 27th, and was given the OK to start gradually putting weight on her ankle that she broke on Halloween. She left the doctor’s office and headed to Glamis. She was slowed down, but made the best of it after missing the Veterans Day and Thanksgiving trips. Her ankle was obviously tender, but she used her knee scooter and stuck it out.
Last month we mentioned Dale Downsworth’s car being for sale, and Jeremy Hagen paid enough attention that he bought it! Congratulations to Jeremy for diving in the deep end of sandrail ownership.
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The Rooster
February 2019 We made one night ride to the hill, where Ray used the new Jiffy Pop cooker that John engineered and made, and presented to Ray. It’s a long story, but Ray, John, and Jiffy Pop have a funny history. If you haven’t heard it, ask Ray to tell the story, he does it so well.
Upcoming Events • January 18-22: MLK Dune Cleanup weekend at Glamis, and Mike Bacon will be leading a trip to Anza. • February 7-19: Presidents Week at Glamis, Wash 6. We should have a good sized group starting the weekend before Presidents day.
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I mentioned Erik and Mark Knowles earlier. A few years ago Dale, P.J., and I were on a break and we saw what at first glance seemed to be a larger than normal side by side. We took a very long closer look, and found it was a father-son project. We were all very impressed with the quality of the car and the engineering that went in to it. We now know it is a mini truck. It features a 5.3 liter LS, an automatic trans, and a traditional rear end. We talked to the driver, Eric, and were immediately impressed with the then high school senior. He was extremely knowledgeable about the car and presented the information extremely well. His father, Mark, was content to stand aside while Eric described the truck in minute detail. We found that Eric was going to college the next year as an engineering student, and that Mark is an engineer. The father-son team left a very positive impression on all three of us. Over a year later, we were at Coral Pink, and we heard a V8. In looking at it, we realized it was the same truck. We again had a very pleasant conversation, and P.J. and Eric exchanged contact information. Shortly before this trip, P.J. received an email from Eric saying they were going to Glamis and were wondering if they could camp with us. We were pleased. P.J. sent directions to, and photos of, our camp. Mark and Eric arrived with a large fifth wheel flatbed with a camper, the mini truck and a Chenowth
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The Rooster
February 2019
buggy. These are obviously our type of people! They joined us on several rides and impressed us with their driving ability, their knowledge of duning in general, as well as their great attitude. We hope they’ll join us again. I also mentioned Tom and Sarah, and their daughter and son, Aubree and Jacob. Tom and Sarah grew up in Big Bear, and are just a couple of years younger than P.J. Aubree is seven, and Jacob is three. Allie had a ball playing with Aubree, and on New Years Eve she stayed up and played the latest I have ever seen Allie. I know Allie hopes they’ll camp with us again. As usual, we had two potlucks. We had freezer bag omelets on Saturday the 29th. There was a tremendous variety of ingredients, and they made for great omelets. It was cold enough we had to move the pots out of the wind to get them to remain boiling. Out of the wind it wasn’t too cold. On New Years Eve we had our traditional spaghetti dinner. I always enjoy our potlucks, but this is my favorite each year. I was not at all disappointed. The food was outstanding, with a wide variety. It was cold and windy all day, so we used two trailers. Sincere thanks to Pete and Linda, and Ray and Janice. We used Pete and Linda’s for the food, and Ray and Janice’s parked nearby to eat in out of the wind. It turns out instead of eating in it we used it as a very effective wind break. This along with two washer tub fire pits and the propane space heater from the yellow trailer made it quite comfortable. Several of us sat around after dinner and watched Go Pro videos of several of our rides. In the last newsletter we mentioned that Dale and Rebecca were planning to escape California, and as a result, their sand rail was for sale. It is such a great car, and a tremendous value, P.J. and I felt it was a great opportunity for someone in the club. Jeremy and Pete Hagen agreed, and contacted Dale. Dale said he was coming to Glamis for this trip. Pete and Jeremy began giving serious consideration to adding a second sand
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The Rooster
February 2019
rail to their fleet. Dale took Jeremy for a demonstration ride, and Jeremy now has a new, very capable car. Everyone is very happy for both Jeremy and Dale. It was an ideal transaction. Congratulations to all!
We had several rides. There were separate buggy and side by side rides, and unlike what usually happens, the two rides never met up. I never unloaded the RZR, instead making up for buggy rides I missed when P.J. was not able to come. I don’t recall hearing anything unusual about the side by side rides. The buggy rides generally were in the area of the swing set and the former closure. Many were trouble-free, but we had a few problems. P.J. lost a CV joint about a mile from camp. We used John’s spare axle to get back. While the rest of us went on a ride, P.J. replaced the CV. On another ride P.J. broke a rod end flush with the end of an A-arm. We strapped it up, returned to camp, and P.J. was able to use a screw extractor to remove the broken piece and with help from everyone we were able to replace the rod end and continue the ride. On the last buggy ride we were in the big bowls near comp which were very smooth due to the wind, and were on a fast ride when Barry lost a u-joint. We used one of my spare axles to get Barry back to camp. As we were on this rescue mission, I noticed an unusual noise, seemingly coming from my transmission. It made it back to camp, but it needs to be looked at. Most people headed home New Years day, but a few of us stayed a day or two extra. I used the extra time to pull my transmission, as the buggy trailer stays at Glamis for the season. I also made my only Yuma visit of this trip and went to Texas Roadhouse. This was a memorable trip for several reasons: Melissa’s return to the dunes, getting to know Eric and Mark better, and of course, Jeremy getting his new car. It makes losing Dale and Rebecca a little less painful. We will miss you. Please keep in touch, and feel free to camp with us if you visit California. Let’s go dunin’. 4
The Rooster
February 2019
Radio Update The ongoing process of programming radios to add new custom channels is going quite well, and we have been using the new frequencies since Thanksgiving. Up to this point, we have programmed 49 radios, which includes 35 handhelds and 14 mobiles. I now have software and programming cables for seven different types of handheld radios, including the original Standard Horizon HX 370 marine radios, the newer HX 400 marine radio, the Yaesu FT-270 and Vx-6 Ham handhelds, two versions of the Rugged RH5R “blue” handhelds, and the Baofeng UV5 handhelds from Amazon (which are available for less than $30 each if you are looking for another radio at a low cost). For mobile radios, I have cables and software for seven different radios, including the original Vertex VX2200, the new Rugged RM60, three different Yaesu Ham mobiles (the FT2800, FT2900, and FT7900), the Icom IC-F121, and the Luiton LT-580. What this means is if we haven’t programmed your radio yet, we likely do have the capability of doing it. Let me know and it should usually just take a few minutes to take care of before a ride out in the dunes. So far the results have been quite positive, with considerably less chatter from other groups.
Encrypted BLM Radio Traffic: Another related radio issue is our new inability to listen in on the BLM law enforcement radio traffic. Over the last few years, many of us have come to enjoy using the VHF radios to listen to the BLM activity, which included traffic stops and other law enforcement activity. Unfortunately the rumors we reported on earlier in the season about the BLM switching to encrypted radio traffic have proven to be true, and now all we hear on the “BLM LE” frequency of 169.7125 is static. While this is a bummer, all is not lost as we did confirm that the medical / EMS traffic on the “BLM MED” frequency of 171.1625 is still unencrypted and available for us to hear. Over New Years we were able to hear updates from many of the EMS events that took place over the week, including multiple air ambulance calls.
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The Rooster
February 2019
More From New Years We were very happy to be back in the dunes for the New Years trip, and I especially appreciate Melissa being willing to hang out in the trailer with her decreased mobility. We made it work though, and she made it out to the camp fire multiple times. We won’t be able to make it for MLK, but hope to do two weekends for Presidents Week. Here’s some more pictures from New Years. -P.J.
This month we’d like to thank Jim Kastle for the trip report. Next month we’ll have more trip coverage to share. We’d also like to hear from you, so if you have pictures, text, comments, jokes, or anything that you want to share, please send it to me at pkastle@msn.com. We will publish what content we have and a calendar of upcoming events in every month’s newsletter. -Paul, Melissa, Allie, and Marshall.
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