February 2020 Newsletter by Paul Kastle

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February 2020

THE ROOSTER A monthly update from the Inland Empire Offroad Association

What’s New We had a great long trip to Glamis for Christmas / New Years, and are looking forward to more fun in the dunes.

MLK Weekend Currently we don’t know of anyone in the group going to Glamis for the dune cleanup weekend, but Mike Bacon will be heading to Anza if you want to join in.

Christmas 2019 / New Years 2020 at Glamis By Jim Kastle As you may remember, Southern California was hit with quite a bit of rain a few days before Christmas. I remembered how wet it was when we arrived at Thanksgiving and feared a recurrence. I arrived at wash six Thursday the 26th at approximately 5 PM after a pleasant drive from home. The ground was much drier than it was when I arrived for Thanksgiving. As I arrived at Glamis I noticed Jerry's tall mast and a very well coned off area very near our usual spot at Wash Six I saw Mike and Pat, Jerry and Linda, and Don and Shirley, and Jeff Oliver. I thanked Jerry for using every cone he had to mark our camp. It turns out he and Linda arrived on Monday and together they placed all the

Presidents Week The next big Glamis trip will be Presidents Week in February, and some members are planning to stay out through the weekend after, allowing for a nice off weekend trip as well, so plan on February 14-24 at wash 6.

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February 2020 cones. That's a lot of work, and as Don and Shirley didn't arrive until Wednesday, the two of them did it all, plus putting up the iconic mast and double flash strobe. Remember to thank those who arrive early to set up camp, and end up collecting and storing all the cones. Without their efforts we wouldn't have a place to camp.   I set up the fifth wheel then got my buggy box from storage and set up my mast and strobe, as I knew P.J. and Melissa were due to arrive in a couple of hours. I waited until after P.J. was set up to get the yellow trailer.

Upcoming Events • January 17-20: MLK Weekend at Anza / Salton City. • February 13-24: Presidents Weekend and the weekend after at Glamis, Wash 6. We’ll have omelets on both Saturday mornings.

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P.J., Melissa, Allie, and Marshall arrived as scheduled and quickly unloaded and set up near my fifth wheel. Janice texted that she and Ray would be delayed as Ray was installing a state of the art solar system on the trailer, and he had to not only reassemble, but install, her RZR’s transmission. She did say, however, that she had invited two groups to camp with us. One was led by Scott who has camped with us before, and the other a guy and his son with a “flatbed” behind a Chevy and wanted us to keep an eye out for them. She felt bad she had invited them and wouldn’t be there to greet them. I figured there was no way we’d find them,

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or them find us; but Friday morning there were three new rigs in camp: Scott, his brother Gary, and Randy and son Cainen. I didn’t see a flatbed Chevy truck and figured they couldn’t find us. Then P.J. pointed out Randy was towing a flatbed trailer, DUH! We got the yellow trailer, and Dave Huggard soon arrived.

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February 2020

We went for a buggy ride with me leading P.J., Dave and Scott, Gary, and Randy and Cainen. The ride was at the typical somewhat fast buggy pace. I made no accommodations for the side by sides, as there was no need to. All three kept up on a full fledged buggy ride, and enjoyed doing so. Randy really loved the pace and loved camping with us. Cainen is one of the nicest 13 year olds I’ve ever met, and as you may know, I’ve met a lot of them!! Kudos to Janice, who actively monitors Facebook looking for duners looking for a group to ride with, and then tells them about IEOR, as she hit a homerun with Randy and Cainen. Side by sides have evolved greatly since I bought mine just seven years ago. There is no way I could have kept pace on that ride. This reaffirmed my decision to retire my RZR from Glamis. But later Steve, Kimi, granddaughter Elsie, and mom Char arrived and Steve’s 900 kept up on all but the fastest rides. So it’s not entirely the vehicle, the driver has a lot to do with it. I still need something different. I said I made no accommodations for the side by sides, but we DID have to stop twice to replace Gary’s belt. The preceding sentence, although true, is for John Cole’s entertainment. Thinking of Steve, he has been working on a completely home made, Hayabusa powered mini sand rail. About four years ago he started with a pile of tubing, just like we did with the High School cars. Unlike our cars, he used a set of commercial plans. He has been making steady progress over the years, and we look forward to his updates each trip. This trip’s photos show a nearly complete car with lots of fine detail work. The car is within days of completion. If not for a miscommunication with the Arizona MVD, the car might have made its debut this trip. It seems it will require a level 3 inspection, not the level 2 Steve expected. Level 3 inspections require an appointment and the first available was in late January. As I write this, I just got some photos of the now 95% complete car with justpurchased wheels and tires. I really can’t wait to see it in person, and Steve is obviously super excited about its upcoming debut. That’s another reason I’m looking forward to President’s day! The Hagen clan: Pete, Linda, Jeremy, Karissa, and Jason arrived with new CVs and axles on Jeremy’s car, and a rebuilt transmission in Pete’s car, along with retuned shocks. Pete told us he just had the motor home’s Aqua-Hot system serviced, but that it was not functioning properly, denying them both comfort heating and hot water. Pete contacted the repairman, who was booked up, preventing a “coach call” to Glamis, but stated the control unit was probably defective. He was in the Indio area, and had a control unit with him, so Pete decided to forgo the morning ride and take Jeremy’s truck to Indio to get the control unit. After the phone call the unit mysteriously started working, and as it turned out, worked the rest of the 3

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February 2020

trip, but since his crystal ball wasn’t working any better than the Aqua-Hot, Pete made the trip anyway. The guy also lent Pete a test unit to check out the other parts of the system. While Pete visited Indio, several of us went on a combined buggy/side by side ride. Jeremy’s car worked great, much to his relief. On this and several other rides we headed towards the swing set and into the former closed area between it and Gecko Road and usually found pretty good sand. The ride turned out to be a rather long one, and one of the side by sides ran low on fuel. Since my buggy has a fairly large fuel tank, and a small engine, and is set up to easily transfer fuel to another vehicle, I usually have spare fuel. We put some fuel in the side by side and continued the ride. For the last couple years my sand rail has had an issue wherein it was hard to start, and seemed to run rich. I tried several things, including replacing the intake manifold and the fuel injectors, but couldn’t fix the problem. When I was unloading it this trip, I saw raw gas coming from the air cleaner: a most unusual situation I couldn’t explain. While filling the side by side, I mentioned the problem to Dale. He thought about it and absolutely brilliantly said that one of the vacuum lines going to the throttle body must be getting fuel in it, and we should pull the lines one by one and check them out. I decided to do that back in camp. The ride resumed, and after a few minutes, thanks to Dale’s suggestion, a very bright light bulb turned on in my head and I figured out what the problem has been: the fuel pressure regulator diaphragm had ruptured, leaking fuel into its vacuum line. Soon I had a chance to share my revelation with the others as my car ran out of gas! The long ride, combined with the fuel leak had used more fuel than usual. P.J. was able to spare some fuel and we made it back to camp. Immediately upon arriving in camp, I pulled the vacuum line to the regulator and there was gas where there shouldn’t be any. I called Auto Zone, and they didn’t have a regulator in Brawley but had them in both Imperial and El Centro. We quickly scheduled a Kastle family dinner trip to Imperial. I offered to buy dinner in exchange for a ride and company; their choice of restaurants. The only person with a preference was P.J., who loves Rally’s! I got off cheaply! Auto Zone had the regulator, and Melissa needed a few things from Target, so we had a successful trip. The next morning it only took five minutes to install the regulator, and the car now starts like it used to. THANKS DALE!! Mike came up with the great idea of a New Year’s Eve Duner’s Diner ride. It sounded good to everyone so we planned to leave around 10:30 with the buggies and side by sides on a combined ride. We woke up to find the predicted strong winds had arrived, just on schedule, much to my surprise! In an interesting use of technology Mike sent out a text saying they were going to cancel. Most of us could see some justification for that and agreed. But then the wind started to lighten, again, just as had been predicted. I think it was Danny 4

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February 2020

who started another group text saying he would be willing to go if others would. Danny’s suggestion snowballed into a good sized ride. Some decided to take trucks, as it was still windy, but several of us took our toys. P.J. changed from his buggy to his truck, thus providing seats for the whole family. Jerry and Linda, Pete and Linda, Ray and Janice, and Jeff and Lavonne ended up dividing among three trucks, and all went. The trucks took gas cans for the toys, allowing us to explore the area after lunch. The buggies: Danny and Pam; Dave; Jeremy, Karissa, Jason; me; and several side by sides: including Randy and Cainen, Dale and Rebecca, Steve, and Walt, and probably a few others I’m forgetting, headed off towards the swing set. The wind had covered most of the tracks, and was still obscuring the ridges, so the first part of the ride was slow and not a lot of fun. After the swing set things got better, and once we hit the sand highway, they got real fast. Randy

loves to drive fast and made several sprints ahead of the group, Steve’s 900 had a hard time with the 50 MPH pace, but we all regrouped before crossing the canal. We were able to use the radios to talk to P.J. who lead the trucks in a caravan down Ogilby road, as they were getting on the freeway. We all met up within 10 minutes. Bobby, LuAnn, and Kaiden met us. We had over 25 people. It was Melissa’s first visit since the remodel, and she was impressed. Her first reaction was that the building was designed as a place to party. If you’ve read my previous reports about the new Duner’s Diner, you know what’s coming next. I love the remodel, but am more impressed with the staff, who are always smiling and who want to please. It’s a far cry from the old management’s “He won’t cook it that way. You won’t like it.” attitude. After a relaxed lunch, which I think has one of the top five burgers ANYWHERE, we took the opportunity to top off the toys’ fuel tanks. The wind had completely died! We then headed to Test Hill, where Bobby took the lead and led us on a great ride through the dunes. I was very surprised at how much of the area is closed. I knew they had added to the closures, but had no idea how much they added. Bobby led us north well past Patton Valley, which we couldn’t get to without backtracking several miles due to the expanded closures, and we had a great time. There were just a fraction of the tracks we see further north. We stopped and said our goodbyes and again made a 50+ MPH run up the sand highway until we turned off towards the

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February 2020

swing set. Randy needed some fuel, and Danny had brought extra, so we stopped and Danny fueled the RZR. We got back to camp with no issues and had a pretty good run through the dunes. We got back just in time to finish preparing for our New Year’s Eve potluck. Jeremy brought his trailer over near the yellow trailer and we set up the food serving tables in it. Everyone then set up their tables outside Jeremy’s trailer. It was a huge improvement over Thanksgiving, as we all got to eat together. The weather was quite comfortable; especially notable was the total lack of wind. The feast was again outstanding, and is my favorite IEOR meal of the year. I MUCH prefer pasta over Turkey. Thinking of turkey reminds me of ham, and that reminds me that Pam prepared some of the best ham ever! It was the talk of the meal. THANKS PAM! We had plenty of great food, including plenty of pasta and several sauces. Thanks to everyone who prepared food, I loved it! After dinner P.J. set up a video projector, and showed videos of some of the trip’s rides, and shared photos and video of his recent business trip to India. The presentation makes us realize how fortunate we are to live in the good old USA, and how different things are in India. We had a well attended campfire, and many of us made it to midnight, including Allison, who at 10 years of age, made it to her first New Year’s Eve Midnight. While waiting for midnight we burned several Christmas trees, thanks to Pete. We were also entertained when a drone made a low flyover over our camp and flew directly into Jerry’s mast. The drone got the worst of it. P.J. and Jeremy recovered it and decided to take the video card out of it to see where it had come from. While they were doing so, a quad rode into camp and the rider said his uncle had lost a drone, and had seen Jerry’s mast via the drone’s video. P.J. returned the drone. The kid said they were in wash 4 and were flying it from there. New Years Day there were two rides: one for the side by sides, and one for the buggies and those who wanted to go a little faster in their side by sides. The side by side ride seemed to go near Hill 5, but I’m not certain of that. Pete, Jeremy, Dave Huggard, P.J., Walt, Jeff, Randy and Cainen, and I again headed towards the swing set and the dunes between there and Gecko road, the area where a couple of years ago a helicopter followed us on a buggy ride. We enjoyed the somewhat smoother sand and the widely spread out dunes which allowed us to go pretty fast. We took a break at the site of Shady Eve, the “Tiki Hut” that was destroyed over the summer. We were greatly annoyed by the pointless destruction, and blamed angry locals. We are convinced it was not the work of the BLM. We left the site and headed towards the swing set. Shortly after 6

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February 2020

passing it, the right rear of my car began to make a very ugly noise. I thought it was a CV, and decided to head for the sand highway near Gecko Road, in hopes the car would make it to pavement before it stopped rolling. I was fortunate to get to some pavement off Gecko Road, which I found out later was actually the Keyhole loop. I waited there while everyone else headed back to camp to pack up or get a trailer to get my car back. Some very considerate campers offered me drinks and snacks, but I had plenty as our group took care of that before heading off. I was able to listen to them on the radio and heard that P.J. ran out of gas, and Pete had a flat tire. Back in camp P.J. radioed me using the radio in his trailer, and it was like he was sitting right next to me, clear as a bell. He said Pete and Danny were bringing Jeremy’s trailer to get me and my buggy. P.J. stayed back to pack, as he had to be at work on the 2nd. In what seemed like no time at all, Danny and Pete arrived, and I started to load my car. Fortunately, the considerate campers reminded us to take down my whip before I damaged it. Jeremy’s trailer is very wide, and my car fit in with lots of room to spare. I had worried about that from the time I found they were bringing Jeremy’s trailer. Pete backed it up to the yellow trailer and we unloaded it. I took off the wheel and discovered the right rear wheel bearing had disintegrated. It was brand new at the start of this season. It didn’t appear to have any grease on it, and it’s a sealed bearing. I seriously think the manufacturer made a mistake. But it is possible that it got so hot when I continued to drive it after it started making lots of noise that the grease melted away. Usually you have to remove the CV from the axle to gain access to the bearing retaining bolts. But this one had so much slop it was easy to access the mounting bolts. I was still faced with reinstalling the bolts, but with the help of a long ball driver I bought when I installed the bearing over the summer, and Danny’s optimism and help, we got a new bearing (that five of us went in on years ago just for such an occasion) reinstalled without removing the CV. I got the car drivable, but not fixed, as I have to replace a brake caliper and have the rotor resurfaced for the second time in four months, and only the second time since we built the car over 10 years ago! But there’s only an hour or so more work to do when I get back to the dunes. Jeff came over and inquired about the possibility of a ride the next morning. I explained that although the car would be drivable it wouldn’t be duneable. He returned later and said he’d really like to go for another ride and made me an extremely generous offer, that I probably should have refused, but didn’t. He said he would drive LaVonne’s new RZR, and let me drive his 240+ horsepower Can Am! I thought he might come to his senses, but Thursday morning he drove his Can Am over to my trailer, said, “You’ll need these,” as he handed me a pair of ear plugs, and told me, “Have a good time!” I asked Ray to lead the ride, as I didn't want to lead in a car I had never driven. Ray led Walt, me, Steve and Kimi, and Jeff; in Lavonne's RZR; on a great ride to hill 3 and the dunes near Olds. The Can Am was fantastic, one of the fastest accelerating vehicles I've ever driven. There was never the

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February 2020

slightest question about keeping up. I was more worried about rear ending the side by side in front of me! I had a ball. THANK YOU JEFF! Back in camp we began leisurely packing up. I was able to store the yellow trailer, and pack the white one. We had a campfire and enjoyed one last, at least for some of us, night. Ray and Janice, and Jerry and Linda extended their stays. Walt and I headed back towards Kingman and dumped in Blythe and had a Carl’s Junior breakfast/lunch. We had an uneventful trip the rest of the way home. I really enjoyed this trip, and was glad it was so much better for me than the Thanksgiving trip. It’s gonna’ be a long wait for President’s day.

Petersen Automotive Museum By Mike Bacon & Pat Starr I have been a member of the Petersen Automotive Museum for a number of years and try to get up there a couple times a year to see the different exhibits. Last year Ashley moved back from Texas and ended up in the La Brea area of Los Angeles, and about a mile from the Petersen Museum. A couple weeks before Christmas Pat and I went up to visit Ashley and we stopped by “The Pete” for a look-see. Here are some of the highlights!

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February 2020

Glamis Train Crossing Update Recently a flyer has been going around soliciting input to the Imperial County Transportation Commission regarding a potential project to improve the railroad crossing options in Glamis, which could potentially result in OHVs once again being able to legally cross the tracks and access Boardmanville and other areas East of the tracks. They will have an information meeting over the MLK weekend, and we will keep you posted with what they announce. There is an online survey, which you may access until January 31 at: http://sgiz.mobi/s3/SR-78-Glamis-Crossing

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February 2020

SR 78 Glamis OHV Crossing Feasibility Study Get Involved: The Imperial County Transportation Commission is holding a public workshop and conducting an online survey to collect feedback for a potential Grade Separated OHV Crossing in the Glamis area.

We want to hear from you!

Public Workshop at the Dunes Cleanup Event:

• • • • • • •

North Dunes Main Stage Area – Glamis Flats Saturday, January 18, 2020 9:00 am to 3:00 pm

Locations for crossings Design preferences Types of vehicles Access needs Key points of interest Safety concerns General input

Online OHV User Survey: To take the survey, visit:

For more information, visit the project website: http://www.imperialctc.org/sr-78 -glamis-crossing/

http://sgiz.mobi/s3/SR-78-GlamisCrossing The online survey will be available from January 1, 2020 through January 31, 2020

Project Contact: Virginia Mendoza Senior Transportation Planner Imperial County Transportation Commission 1.760.592.4494

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February 2020

A New Dune Ride Barry and Ann Baker recently showed up at Tuesday night with a new toy, a beautiful grey Dodge 1 ton crew cab dually! If you’re looking for them in the dunes, this is the new truck to look for. They hope to make its first dune trip the weekend after Presidents.

This month we’d like to thank Jim Kastle and Mike Bacon for for writing articles and Janice Petersen for sending in the info about the grade crossing. As always, we encourage everyone to submit content as well. Last month I mentioned the possibility of not producing a monthly newsletter if people aren’t interested in it. I did hear from some people this month who clearly enjoy the newsletter, so I will continue to make sure we post something each month. Please send anything you want to me at pkastle@msn.com and we will publish what content we have and a calendar of upcoming events every month. -Paul, Melissa, Allie, and Marshall.