The Rooster
October 2019
THE ROOSTER A monthly update from the Inland Empire Offroad Association
What’s New It is time to be in the sand! Dumont is just over two weeks away, followed by Anza and then Halloween.
Poker Run
Sand Sports Super Show The Year of The Honda Talon, and no RVs… The Sand Sports Super Show was held the weekend of September 13-15, once again marking the unofficial start of the dune season. I attended on Sunday this year, and enjoyed walking around with my Dad, John, Ray, and Janice and seeing other members from the group. We arrived before 8:00, but with the gates not opening until
Mark your calendars for October 19th, when Mike Bacon will be hosting the 8th annual Mona Bacon Memorial Spook Poker Run and Hot Dog Weenie Roast.
Hondas are Here As the article about the Sand Show mentions, this is the year of the Honda Talon, their new sport side by side with a belles transmission. The next question is who will be the first in the group to have one, and how will it do?
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The Rooster
October 2019
9 we had plenty of time to hang around. We were able to check out the OC swap meet in the parking lot, and Marshall got his first toy of the day, a bubble gun. We saw Dale and Rebecca outside the gates, and caught up with them for a while. While we waited Marshall made friends with random strangers, playing a game that involved “towing” random women over to our group. The kid has some skills, and everybody played along.
Upcoming Events • October 11-14: Columbus Day at Dumont • October 18-20: Mona Bacon Memorial Spook Poker Run and Hot Dog Weenie Roast at the Salton City Golf Course
Inside the show, we were pleasantly surprised at the ever increasing size of it. The entire fairgrounds area was filled in nicely, and by early afternoon there were a lot of people checking it out. We hit the big buildings first, which are separated by the “Rugged Radios Pavilion”. At Rugged I bought a single seat kit for Allie’s Polaris Ace, which included a car harness, push to talk, helmet kit, and radio jumper in one box with a decent show discount.
• October 25-27: Camp RZR Halloween weekend at Glamis. • November 8-11: Veterans Day • November 22-30: Thanksgiving
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Overall we were glad to see an increasing number of sandrails at the show, although they were still far outnumbered by side by sides. There were some ultra high end cars in the buildings, and a few more reasonable sandrails outside. What we noticed to be missing from this year’s show was the large displays from RV dealers with multiple new trailers to check out. There were almost no RVs to look at, and all the space outside the buildings where they used to be was filled with other vendors. I tend to think that the big RV dealers decided to skip the show and save money by keeping all the big RVs on their own lots. Polaris had a big stage area with giveaways, and CanAM had a big semi trailer as well. There were countless new side by sides for sale, and lots of the usual gear and accessories.
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The Rooster
October 2019
The biggest “new thing” of the show had to be the Honda Talon, which was well represented with multiple examples in different colors. I didn’t see any four seaters, but they are already advertising them, and I expect that to be a popular option. We got to look closely at a few of the new Talons, and they look nice. They seem to sit tall, with lots of wheel travel and a high roll cage that might pose an issue for some older toy haulers. (Too bad you couldn’t shop for a new trailer at the show as well…) The biggest advantage I see of the Hondas over the competition will be that legendary Honda reliability. One key factor in this reliability is they are using an actual automatic transmission, without any belt drive. While the Yamahas are also beltless, the Hondas don’t require manual shifting or use of a clutch, but they do have paddle shifters to select the gears if you so desire. Another advantage of the Hondas over the Yamahas is that they still have a low range transfer case, making them more consistent with traditional side by sides. With the industry standard “just under 1000 cc” engines and no factory turbo versions available yet they might not be the most powerful option out there, but there were places at the show with turbo kits available… Overall it will be interesting to see how the market reacts to this new side by side, and how they do for reliability after five or more years. Now that side by sides aren’t all brand new anymore, perhaps reliability will become a focus of more buyers, and the Honda is well poised to take advantage of that. Hopefully they can live up to their legacy, and be a fun and sporty option as well. Picking up a few new gadgets and goodies is always exciting, and many of us bought annual dune passes from the ASA at the show. If you missed it, and still want to get a pass and support the ASA they will mail passes to you for $153.75, which includes $3.75 shipping. Otherwise pass prices remain constant this year, with on site weekly passes costing $50 and weekly passes available for $35 if you purchase off site before you arrive at the dunes. 3
The Rooster
October 2019
Overall we greatly enjoyed our time at the show, and it got us all motivated to go home and get ready for the dunes. Let’s go Duning! -P.J.
8th Annual Mona Bacon Memorial Spook Poker Run and Hot Dog Weenie Roast To be held Saturday, October 19, 2019 Another tradition to kick off the season is Mike’s October trip to Anza. This is a great time, whether you come to experience the unique riding the area offers, or just spend a weekend camping or even just drive out for the afternoon, it is a fun time. We will be camping into usual location on the abandoned Salton City golf course. Mike will lead a ride with poker run stops on Saturday, and we will have a pot luck Weenie roast on Saturday night. Mike and Pat will arrive on Thursday October 17th and stay through Tuesday October 22nd. Salton City Golf Course is located approximately 1 mile west of Hwy 86 off the Borrego Salton Seaway/ Hwy S-22. From Hwy 86 turn west on to Borrego Salton Seaway/S-22 at the AM-PM Truck Stop. Go ap- proximately 1 mile to Sunrise Drive and turn Left. Follow Sunrise Drive 1/2 mile to the end and turn right on Saundra St. Follow Saundra St. 1/4 mile to Desiree St and turn Right. Go 100 yards on Desiree St to Laura St and turn Left. Follow Laura St down the hill about 1/4 mile to the end. At the turn continue going straight up on to the dirt. Camp will be straight ahead about 50 yards, next to the trees. For you GPS freaks, the coordinates are: 33 15.942’ N—115 59.371’ W. People will start arriving on Thursday morning. Hope to see you there! Any questions please call Mike Bacon at 951-315-7351.
Friday : Night ride through the canyons Saturday: Poker Run, Closest To The
Pin Contest, Hot Dog Roast
t and tourThis themonth wonders of Ocotillo Wells! It will be fun and challenging! we’d like to remind everyone to please share your own content for the monthly
newsletter. Without your content, the newsletter is merely a calendar of upcoming events. We enjoy swings ready! Closest To the Pin Contest on Saturday afternoon!
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 awarded to the best, and worst poker hands, as well as many others! calendar of upcoming events in every month’s newsletter. -Paul, Melissa, Allie, and Marshall.
ll be many unique, interesting prizes! We are going back to awarded prizes, prize donations are very welcome! 4
night will be a pot-luck Hot Dog Wheenie Roast. Hot Dogs and Buns will