The Rooster
March 2021
THE ROOSTER A monthly update from the Inland Empire Offroad Association
What’s New We had a nice turnout for Presidents week, and there were a bunch of people in the dunes. The sand season isn’t over yet, as we have plans for the week leading up to Easter at Glamis, and the first weekend of May at Dumont.
Easter Week The next big Glamis trip is planned for the week leading up to Easter weekend, from about March 26-April 5.
Website Forum / Trip Sign Up Issues People are still seeing an error message after posting their trip plans on the club website. I am working on a fix, but in the mean time your plans will still be posted, despite receiving an error message.
Presidents Week at Glamis February 7-22, 2021 as remembered by Jim Kastle On Saturday, February 6th, I got a text from Jack and Dawn, saying they were coming out Sunday to set up camp. They got a large spot very near our usual spot. As the Kastles were at Walt Disney World, I explained that I wouldn’t be there until Wednesday. As I was driving in from Blythe, after experiencing a fuel filter issue on the dually, I got a text From Mark Knowles saying he was between Blythe and Glamis. He decided to wait for me at the Wash Road. I met him around 4:00 P.M., and we caravanned to Wash 6. Erik would arrive later as he had school and work obligations. We found Dawn and Jack, and Dave Huggard right where we expected them. We leisurely set up camp, and I got only my buggy box from storage and set up the strobe. We didn’t attempt a ride. John and Anna Cole arrived later. Steve and Kimmie Simpson (whose last name I just learned from a website post!) arrived Thursday with his turbo Hayabusa sand rail that debuted at New Years. He had a few “teething problems” at New Years and had addressed them. He was ready and eager to test it again. Thursday we went for a buggy ride, and it went pretty well, until Steve’s car experienced a minor electrical issue. Until then, Steve was having a ball. Fortunately, John is an expert on low voltage electrical issues, remember he is an experienced elevator technician, and he quickly diagnosed the problem. We returned to camp for a repair. Dave and Candy, who Ray met last season, joined us. They have a new Can Am and are really friendly. Adam and Serena, who joined us
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March 2021 at New Years, returned for more fun. This really excited Allie and Marshall, as they really enjoy Adam and Serena’s kids, Breely and Weston. In this time of COVID, kids really miss socializing with other kids, so having other kids to play with is a HUGE positive about our Glamis trips. For kids it seems to be as much, or more, important as riding. Thinking of kids’ riding, some of you may remember that Marshall had a new to him quad, Matthew and Briana’s old Suzuki 50, at New Years, but it wouldn’t consistently run despite John’s, P.J.’s and Danny’s best efforts. Danny graciously took it home to work on it. I had no idea Danny is an expert quad mechanic. Two days after getting home Danny sent a photo of the completely disassembled quad. He had the fuel tank derusted and coated, cleaned everything, and did lots of other magic. Danny wasn’t able to make this trip, but he was on everyone’s minds as the quad worked perfectly!! Many, Many Grandpa Thanks to Danny!
Upcoming Events • March 26 ish to April 5: Spring Break though Easter weekend at Glamis, Wash 6. Let Jim know how early you may arrive, as he is trying to decide when to arrive. • April 30- May 3: Season ending weekend at Dumont. Make your plans now for what is always a great weekend of fast riding.
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Randy Ray, his dad, son Cainen, and his daughter arrived Friday night in their new-to-them motor home, Large Marge. They are all pleased to be out of the tent. Everyone I talked to about it is happy for them. Good Job Randy! Ray and Janice uncharacteristically didn’t arrive until the weekend as Ray got his second shot and had a couple of days of rest before they came. Once Ray arrived he led some great combined buggy and RZR rides. Erik also led some rides and continues to impress me with his leading ability. He led one memorable combined side by side and buggy ride. I don’t remember why, but P.J. and my departure was delayed. But thanks to the radios, we were able to catch up around Hill 3. Steve’s car had another teething issue, and not wanting to delay the ride, Steve said he’d head back to camp. Dave and I didn’t want him to go alone, so we went back with him. We radioed the group and found they were going through the dunes from Hill 3 to Hill 5. That terrain is not 2
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March 2021
conducive to a good ride with a wide variety of vehicles. Erik’s truggy doesn’t do real well at going slow. Side by sides, especially with drivers with little dune experience; don’t do well at going fast. Erik managed to get everyone to Hill 5, but I know he had to work. Dave and I met them while they were still on a break at Hill 5. I offered to take the lead to allow Erik and Mark to take a more comfortable pace. While leading a diverse group, one of my concerns is to find the right pace. It’s hard to do from the front of the line. In an absolutely brilliant move, John offered to bring up the rear. He is such a good leader, he knew the problem I would have finding the right pace. He took it upon himself to advise me how the line was doing and tell me whether to speed up or slow down. It was brilliant! and allowed me to concentrate on finding a good line, while he set the pace. It was really easy for me to lead, and no one seemed to have any problems. Several drivers mentioned it was a good ride. John made it possible. On that ride we went through the Hill 5 valley to the Swing Set valley. I was surprised it is only two miles from Hill 5 to the swing set. As we approached the swing set, I was amazed at the huge number of vehicles and people. It was as crowded as the area around the flag is at the Veterans Day ceremony, which last year was the biggest concentration of duners I had ever seen. It was larger than Competition Hill at its heyday!
We took an extended break and watched the show as a variety of vehicles made, or attempted to make, the double jump. One sand rail, which resembles the General Lee from The Dukes of Hazard, and was supposedly one of the first sand rails to make the jump, did it again several times, and the landings were very smooth. Several motorcycles made it, and a few did not, but seemingly no one got hurt. Then some side by sides made it, but one spectacularly did not. He made the jump then landed nose first. It then endoed then barrel rolled several times, shedding parts all the way. Much of the crowd ran to the vehicle, but we never heard anything about the condition of the driver. P.J. tuned to the BLM’s medical channel and we still never heard anything. Based on the lack of any Face Book posts about it, we assume the driver was ok. Erik led another ride to the area past Olds. We were moving along at a pretty fast pace, and I let a gap develop between Mark’s car and mine, it looked smooth, so I sped up. Things were going well until I hit a 3
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March 2021
bump. P.J., who was following me, said the back of my car was at least 5 feet in the air. It didn’t feel that bad, but when I landed I heard a loud noise and knew something was wrong. I announced on the radio that “I broke something.” Upon getting out of the car I saw I had broken the bead on my left rear tire. It was unusual in that both beads were outside the rim. I’d never seen that before. With a lot of help, we were able to remount the tire, but one of the beads was still leaking. I figured I’d go back to camp and fix it there. But John said let’s break it down and clean the bead so we can keep going. I don’t recall ever intentionally breaking a bead in the dunes, but using a Hi Lift Jack under the front of my car started to work, but we needed more weight on the car. Someone took a picture of us, and I hope P.J. can put it here. It gives a clear meaning of the phase, “Put some ass in to it!” It worked, and when I checked it before loading it to come home, it had not lost any air. The ride continued and we were having a great time, especially Steve, who thanks to John, has his electrical gremlins fixed, or at least identified. Well, Steve may have been having a bit too much fun and landed hard after coming off a drop, and bent his left front shock mount. We were fortunate to have 3 mechanical engineers on the ride who collaborated on a temporary repair to get the car back to camp, and it worked. Steve is a trooper and handled the problem much better than I would. Back in camp he was given lots of advice about how to prevent a reoccurrence, and is planning on having it ready next season. That reminds me that Kimmie, Steve’s wife, is one helluva duner’s wife! She enjoys riding in Dave Huggard’s car and getting a notso-close up view of Steve’s trials. One of the season’s more memorable moments came on the New Year’s trip when Steve got stuck in some very soft sand and John offered to pull him out. John did not want to bury himself, and he had some new paddle tires. He gave it his all, and in the process completely buried Steve. It was a classic roost, and Kimmie absolutely lost it! Never have I seen anyone laugh so uncontrollably for so long. I’m laughing as I type this! On this trip she rode with Dave on every ride, not wanting to miss any of Steve’s adventures! By Monday everyone but Dawn and Jack, Jerry and Linda, Ray and Janice and Don and I had left. The pace of our days slowed quite a bit, and I really needed that. Having just completed an 11 day Disney World trip, followed by two days of intense preparation for this trip, and 5 days of vigorous duning, it was a welcome break. Many of you know I’m a TV addict, and my TV is almost always on. Several times during the rest of the trip, I just read in silence, very unlike me.
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March 2021
For the rest of the trip we took one ride a day on near virgin sand, as we had some pretty strong afternoon and evening winds. From Tuesday through Friday morning there were very few other camps. Things picked up somewhat for the second weekend, but nothing near the very crowded President’s Day weekend. I should have mentioned it earlier, but it was very crowded for President’s Day. One measure of this is that using my Verizon phone I couldn’t send or receive any texts or emails, and surfing the net was impossible. Janice’s AT&T phone was slightly better. P.J. had to telecommute Monday morning, and the service was so saturated, he opted to leave Sunday night to insure he could do his job. Another measure is that some other camps set up RIGHT next to us, not leaving room for even a quad to ride between our camp and theirs. The second Saturday another group set up camp between my trailers and the rest of camp. This in itself wasn’t a problem, as I was a long way from the others as we did have a rather large camp. But, in the afternoon we were all sitting by Jerry and Linda’s motor home, and a sand rail from that camp came in quite fast, grabbed his turning brake, and hit the gas. In over 45 years of duning I have NEVER been roosted that bad! Sand and pebbles went everywhere. Jerry and Ray immediately went over to the idiot and confronted him. His A-hole friends came to his defense and it got ugly. No fists were thrown, but it was close! I went to the shop last night, 2 days after getting home, and we were talking about the crowds and the problems we’ve had while camping fairly deep in Wash 6. We’d like to try setting up camp somewhat closer to the tracks than we have recently, in hopes it will be less crowded. At least we want to give it a try. It’s hard to believe the Glamis season is almost over! Let’s end it with a great Easter trip. With the recent increase in the number of kids, I hope we can have a kids’ Easter egg hunt. But by popular demand, I think we might have an adult one as well. I have to get the trailers out of storage, so I’ll arrive by April first, and could go earlier if others will. I plan to come home on Monday or Tuesday after Easter.
Danny Rebuilds Marshall’s Quad By Paul Kastle As my Dad mentioned in his article, Danny volunteered to work on Marshall’s quad after the New Year’s trip. Marshall is super excited with what his buddy Danny was able to do. He really did a great job, taking care of little details and making sure it was dialed in and right. This took more time and patience than we had invested on earlier Tuesday nights, where many of us had been working on it. It had taken about a year of off and on working, as well as replacing a bunch of parts (sometimes the same part multiple times) to get it running at all, which was significant progress and I am also thankful for everybody’s help there as well. Danny finished off the details, starting with coating the gas tank to prevent rust and contamination from the nearly 40 year old tank. Then he installed a new Suzuki carb that Grandpa John bought for it, so we didn’t have to deal with any more Chinese junk. He also made sure the fuel lines and air cleaner were perfect, and took the time to tune it nicely. The best part for all of us is that it performed flawlessly over the Presidents Weekend trip. Thank you all! -P.J. and Marshall 5
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March 2021
Scheduled Maintenance I often joke about my lack of a maintenance budget for the sandrail, and I still think my car wishes it had anywhere near half of the maintenance budget of Dave Huggard’s car or others, but I did decide to give it some attention. After about 8 years on what was a high mileage wrecking yard motor, mine developed a bit of a knock, and we figured it could use some work. We had my original V8, which I sanded in 2013 and John’s first V8, which developed a rod knock but had a nice top end, both sitting in the elevator shop. We devised a plan to combine these two motors, using John’s top end and my crank and one rod, replacing the one where the bearing had spun. This meant we were able to replace the crank and rod bearings without removing the heads or pulling 7 of the pistons, making it a super low budget rebuild. After the Presidents trip, I brought my car to the shop and on Tuesday night we made the swap. I was able to fire it that night, and my fingers are crossed that it will hold together and be good to go. Thanks to my Dad, John, Scott, Barry, and everybody else on Tuesday nights for helping out. -P.J.
This month we’d like to thank Jim Kastle for sending in an article, and encourage everyone else to do the same. We’re looking forward to getting together for one more big Glamis trip this season as we return to Wash 6 at Glamis leading up to Easter. Please send your contributions for future newsletters to me at pkastle@msn.com and we will publish them along with a calendar of events each month. -Paul, Melissa, Allie, and Marshall. 6