The Rooster
April 2019
THE ROOSTER A monthly update from the Inland Empire Offroad Association
What’s New While some may be calling it a season early, we have one more long Glamis trip planned for March 22 through April 1st. Crowds should e light and the dunes should be beautiful.
MLK In The Dirt (Mud!) By Mike Bacon We decided to go out to Ocotillo Wells for MLK and met Doug & Kris at the Salton City Golf Course on Friday. It had rained on Thursday so the ground was wet, and lots of standing water all around. We rode Friday staying out of the washes as much as possible as they were very muddy.
Dumont Trip After the Glamis season is done, there’s still one more great trip to come. We’ll be at Dumont from May 3-6. Come out for some nice fast rides.
Affordable CanAm? Check out page 8 for a Can Am Maverick that starts at only $150. This could be P.J.’s next dune vehicle…
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April 2019
Upcoming Events • March 22- April 1st: Early Spring Break at Glamis, Wash 6. • May 3-5: Cinco de Mayo Weekend at Dumont. Some out for a nice weekend of fast riding to close out the dune season. • April 19-21: Easter Weekend. Let us know if you are planning a trip.
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On Saturday Dana and Daniel came out to visit so we took an easy tour of the area ending up at The Blu Inn for lunch. Daniel is enthralled with RZR’s and at one point in the ride got upset because there weren’t any RZR’s or bikes around! We soon fixed that at Blu Inn where it was very busy.
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The Rooster
April 2019
We were sitting in camp one afternoon when we noticed a guy sneaking around in a VW beetle. It turned out to be Jim Kastle on his way to Glamis to pick up his generator and he stopped by to join us for dinner at The Alamo!
We rode to the Gas Domes where Dana tried to dunk Daniel in the mud. He got away just in time! The next day we rode up to the fire hydrant, which Pat had never seen, and while there could see a large part of the Ocotillo Wells area. It was getting very green from all the rain.
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April 2019
We had a great time and are looking forward to going again!
President’s Week! By Mike Bacon Photos By Mike Bacon and Pat Starr Pat and I drove out Thursday night and arrived about midnight. We pulled up to the back side of camp behind the Fords and the Tranthams for the night. In the morning we decided we liked the spot we were in so we stayed there. The weather was cold, and windy at times, but we still got some rides in. We ambled our way across the dunes one day to Sweet Marie’s to enjoy an ice cream. We stopped in the dunes to take a break and take in the scenery and while there Janice must have found a grain of sand she liked and wanted to get up close and personal with it!
We rode out to the Swing Set one day and found they had installed a new tether ball pole. Janice showed us all her tether ball prowess!
While on a ride in the hills beyond the Swing Set I hit a small hole and heard a “Ping”. Janice immediately called to stop and I looked in my mirror and saw my rear tire at an odd angle. Once stopped we found I had broken a heim joint on my rear radius rod. We were able to take it apart and the rest of the group 4
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April 2019
headed towards the vendors to try to find a replacement. While Pat and I stayed with the car and relaxed the buggy group found us and the berating began! They had a good time at my, and my car’s expense and then took off back on their ride. After installing the new heim joint and getting back on our way we heard over the radio the buggies were having trouble with multiple cars getting stuck and aborted tow jobs. It must be true God does drive a RZR!
Multiple THANK YOU’s go to all who helped us repair the car, and to Riley who lent us her bed to keep the tools and parts out of the sand! Saturday morning (the First Saturday!) we had an omlette boil that went very well. This is something I always enjoy because it gets everyone together, and the omlettes are great!
Monday morning Pat went to Algadones with Don & Shirley. Many stories came back with them, including the over 2-1/2 hour wait to get back across the border! Pat had a great time!
Tuesday morning Pat and I went in to Brawley as we had appointments with the DMV to get our
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April 2019
driver’s licenses renewed and get our Real ID’s. Pat’s was due the first part of April and she had already got her renewal notice. She signed a document, took a picture and paid and she was done. Because mine wasn’t due for renewal until September, and I had not received a renewal notice yet I could renew mine, but I had to take all the tests to get it done! Dumb, but it’s California, and it’s the DMV, so go figure. We are federally legal now and can board airplanes, so I guess it was worth it. Wednesday we took a trip to the mines down south of Ogilby Road. We made a stop at the graveyard, then went on to find the old rock cabin, and it’s mine. Once done there we followed a trail I had seen on Google Earth that took us through a very rocky wash, then between a couple of hills to the back side of the mountains. In a feat of masterful GPS-ing and situational awareness (read that “pure dumb luck”!), and much encouragement from Jerry and Jim, I found our way around the mountain range and back to the Ogilby Road crossing!
Doug, Kris, Pat and I had decided not to stay for the big President’s weekend, but instead move to Ocotillo Wells, so we packed up Thursday morning and headed for the Golf Course. We were able to secure our favorite spot overlooking the valleys and set up. We got some sprinkles so we left everything secure for the night, and went to the Alamo for dinner. The next day we went out looking for some new trails, staying out of the washes for the most part to avoid too much mud. 6
The Rooster
April 2019
The area had really “greened up” with the rain and a lot of flowers were in bloom. We rode, relaxed, enjoyed The Alamo and The Blu Inn, and had a great time. It’ll be back to Glamis the end of March so it’s time to clean the mud off and change back to the paddles! See you all at Spring Break!
Flower Power By Mike Bacon, Photos by Mike Bacon and Pat Starr Living in Lake Elsinore, the Center Of The Flower Universe over the last few weeks, has been trying. The Super Bloom hit with a vengeance this year and it brought out everyone and their brother, sister, parents, children and dogs! It was estimated there were over 50,000 people in Lake Elsinore to see the flowers on Saturday alone. As you can imagine the traffic was an absolute nightmare.
It’s no doubt the flowers are beautiful, and I haven’t seen them bloom like this in the 32 years I’ve lived here. Pat and I avoided the closeups and went up on Ortega Hwy to get some long distance shots.
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April 2019
Unfortunately another month or so and they’ll all be gone. Enjoy them while you can!
A CanAm For The Rest of Us… Since not everybody can go out and buy a new full size CanAm or RZR, Horizon Hobby has a solution for the rest of us. The $150 Axial Yeti Jr. CanAm Maverick 4wd offers scale realism in a 1/18 scale remote control vehicle. The controller and battery are included, but just like the real thing if you want to upgrade from stock there are a number of upgrades you can buy, limited only by your budget. It would solve my problem regarding how to get a side by side without getting rid of the buggy. Of course an RC sandrail might be a bigger, faster, and cheaper option… -P.J.
This month we’d like to thank Mike Bacon for writing up some trip (and flower) reports. Next month we’ll hear more from Mike as he details a winter road trip to Washington. We enjoy having content to share, 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. 8