The Rooster
November 2018
THE ROOSTER A monthly update from the Inland Empire Offroad Association
What’s New
Dumont October 2018
The sand season is under way. We have already been to Dumont and Ocotillo Wells, and are looking forward to Glamis soon.
Veterans’ Day Through Thanksgiving Mike, Jim, Ray, and possibly others will be spending the three weeks at Glamis from Veterans Day through Thanksgiving. Make your plans now to join in on part of this big trip.
Thanksgiving Dinner We will again be having a pot luck Thanksgiving dinner in camp on Thursday, November 22nd. Sign up online to make sure we cover the basics.
This trip was planned for a week earlier, but when John finished installing his transmission on Tuesday September 25, the engine made a very loud knocking sound. Looking back at the last ride last year, we remembered that P.J. had towed John back to camp because his “transmission” was making lots of noise, especially a loud knock. In thinking about it, that explains why the wear in the transmission did not seem severe enough to make all that noise. John was very bummed, not so much because he had to replace the engine, but because he was going to miss the fall Dumont trip. Calls were made to those of us who planned to go, and we could all reschedule to the following weekend. All we had to do was find an engine and R&R it in 2 1/2 weeks. This was complicated by the fact Brianna’s wedding was Saturday, September 29th, precluding
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November 2018 working on the buggy until after the wedding weekend. The wedding was one of few things that were more important to John than Dumont.
Upcoming Events • November 9-12: Veterans Day at Glamis, Wash 6 • November 12-26: Thanksgiving at Glamis, continued from Veterans Day. • December 26 (or earlier) January 2nd: Christmas / New Years Week at Glamis, Wash 6.
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Scott had an extra engine he had planned to put in his Jeep, but he had changed his mind. The engine was on a shelf at the elevator shop. It was soon John’s new buggy engine. John and Scott worked on it after work Monday and Tuesday the 1st and 2nd. By the time I got to the shop Tuesday around 5:00, they had already removed the old engine, and had the new one hanging on a chain. Soon Barry, Ray, and P.J. arrived and together we swapped the necessary components to the new engine. Things were going very well, so we decided to install the new engine. With everyone working like a NASCAR crew, we were able to start the engine that night. It started on the first evolution, and was as quiet as a Honda generator! Over the weekend of the 5th John, with some help from P.J., finished up the details and loaded the car in the trailer. Walt and I left Kingman Thursday morning, and had a nice leisurely drive to the Mad Greek, where we had our start-of-thetrip lunch. As always, it was great. We made it to Dumont, and were surprised at the number of camps, about ten of them, many more than our traditional fall trip. We leisurely set up camp in a new location, just across the road from restroom 11, a place we scouted out last fall. Neither of us was in a hurry, so we took a lot of time, and didn’t go for a ride. With only my buggy and his Can Am, we feared breaking a vehicle with only one back up available. Friday morning we went for a rather mellow ride, not wanting to tempt fate. It was OK, but not very fast. John arrived around noon, and after he got set up, we went for a more normal paced ride. I don’t recall any problems. Before dark we went for another trouble free ride. We had a campfire, and P.J. arrived around 10:00. P.J. unloaded and set up camp, and we sat around the fire for a while before deciding to go to bed, but only after checking one more time to see if we could see Barry. Sure enough, Barry was cresting the hill, so we waited to greet him and his friend, Ann. We retired well after midnight.
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November 2018
Saturday morning we went for a ride all over Dumont. The only problem I recall was a front end bolt backing out on Barry’s car that we soon tightened, and Ann loved the ride and our ability to fix things in the field. She even handled our male vs. male hassling each other very well. We went for another ride that afternoon and were moving along pretty well when John broke a tie rod end; bending both A arm rod ends. Fortunately, Between John and P.J., we had all the parts we needed to replace. However, as we were finishing up, someone noticed a broken weld on the rack spreader on John’s car. With the yellow trailer at Glamis, no one had a welder. We did, however, have some hose clamps. It was as Red Neck as Hell, but it worked. We continued riding and made it back to camp for our “unplanned, Mexican-themed potluck.” Gene Sherman, Barry’s long time friend, came out on his new-to-him Honda 1000 dual purpose motorcycle. It has a 1000 cc engine, and weighs over 500 pounds. Gene has for a long time wanted to do some serious motor cycle touring over all kinds of terrain, kind of like the Paris to Dakar rally. This was his maiden voyage and he brought everything he would need for an extended camping trip. He set up camp, and joined us for the potluck. It was quite windy, so we ate in John’s trailer. We had plenty of great food, highlighted by lots of Carne Asada that John provided and cooked. Sunday morning Walt and I figured with John’s somewhat sketchy front end repair, we probably wouldn’t stay Sunday night, and started packing before the ride. Gene came with the intention of seeing how the beast of a motorcycle would do in the dunes. On the ride, the first time we ran up the front face, P.J.’s car lost a CV. John towed it back to camp and we all worked to replace it with one of John’s spares. Ann is car-savvy enough to be impressed by our repair. We went for a long, relatively trouble-free ride. Gene did remarkably well handling the huge motorcycle, but did drop it a few times. I was impressed with how well he did. He did opt out of following us everywhere, but stayed in our general vicinity. On one of our breaks, John and Barry decided to stay Sunday night as well. As we had already begun packing (and for no other reason) Walt and I decided to head home Sunday. P.J. had to work Monday, so he packed up, and Walt and I finished packing, and we watched as Gene packed all of his camping gear back on 3
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November 2018
the bike. It was quite impressive to see all the stuff he was able to carry. Walt, P.J., Gene and I headed for home via the Mad Greek, and Barry and Ann decided the call of a famous Mad Greek shake was too loud to ignore, so they left the trailer and John in camp, and met us at the Mad Greek. We had great food, and talked at length about all the fun we had. We plan to return to Dumont after the Glamis season
ends, and again next fall. In talking to John and Barry Tuesday, we found the wind blew very hard much of Sunday night, but calmed down by morning. They went for a nice ride on virgin sand, but were slowed by the lack of a back up buggy. They did say, however, it was well worth staying the extra night. Dune season is here! The last I heard, Mike and I will start the Glamis season Veteran’s day weekend with both of us staying through Thanksgiving weekend. I hope to see lots of you there.
7th Annual Mona Bacon Memorial Spook Poker Run and Hot Dog Weenie Roast By P.J. Kastle The next weekend after Dumont, we had the pleasure of attending the 7th annual Mona Bacon Memorial run to Salton City. Despite the fact we’ve been to each one of these events, this was our first time bringing our trailer and camping for the weekend. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the area, it is near Salton City, just behind the Arco on Highway 86 on the way to Glamis. There are lots of trail riding opportunities in the adjacent Ocotillo Wells State Vehicuar Recreation Area. Mike has been camping at this same spot for over 30 years now, and with the versatility of the RZRs
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November 2018
they can have lots of fun riding there. Despite offers to borrow dirt tires for the sandrail or even to borrow a RZR, we decided just to hang out and camp for the weekend and had a great time. There was a nice turn out this year, with Mike and Pat, Doug and Kris Schellinger (along with their daughter Dana and their grandsons), Bill and Sue Martine, Don and Shirley Ford, Greg and Evonne (friends from Arizona), Pete Hagen, Dave Huggard, and Chuck Grossman, along with the four of us. It was strange not to have my parents there, but they were at their 50th high school reunion, which barely edged out this trip. Pete Hagen brought out his Bronco, and Dave Huggard had his Jeep, and they were able to find some nice trails to explore and met up with the RZRs. We all met up for lunch on Saturday at the Blue Inn, which caters to off roaders off of highway 78. It is a fun little place, with good burgers and fries. We had quite a group there, with the 8 side by sides, the Jeep, Bronco, and our truck. We heard tales of a great RZR ride, with traversing river beds and even some three wheel action from Walt. Mike even had pictures to back it up. Chuck Grossman also shared his pictures of the ride, which are shown here and on the club website. Pete Hagen also shared photos of their 4x4 adventures, so be sure to go check out the website. Thanks for sharing, guys!
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November 2018 Later in the afternoon we worked on Mike’s trailer axle, since he had lost a wheel (like literally gone, they never found it as the hub had come off the axle) on the way out in his newly acquired fifth wheel. He had been able to buy parts and get an axle made in Indio on Friday, and we got everything installed Saturday afternoon. Then it was time for the golf contest, which Don Ford won with a shot that landed just a
few feet from the flag. We had a great pot luck dinner, with hot dogs provided by Mike and Pat and lots of great food from everyone else. For the poker run, Mike pulled the best hand, winning with four of a kind. We had a nice campfire, and it was particularly nice not to have to drive home that night like we usually do. On Sunday we got up and hung around camp and relaxed. I flew the drone and drove the truck up to the trash cans while some packed up and headed for home and others went for a RZR ride, and Pete and Dave did more exploring. The kids had a great time this trip, especially with Marshall playing with Daniel and all the kids playing in the inflatable bouncer that Kris and Doug brought. I think he’s got something new on his birthday list. The kids had fun at night too with the toys and glow sticks that Mike gave them as part of the Poker Run prizes. Allie looks forward to this trip every year, more for the toys and prizes than the riding, but that’s ok. We packed up and headed home about 12:30, and were able to get home in under three hours. It was a nice camping weekend, and is a fun chance to do some different riding while still hanging out with great friends. -P.J.
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November 2018
Radio Programming and Custom Channels As VHF business band radios (like those sold by Rugged and PCI) have gotten more popular in the dunes, the traffic on the pre-programmed channels has increased. Especially on the bigger weekends at Glamis, there can be lots of annoying chatter that makes the radios less useful. Our solution to this is to program the radios with channels that not everybody has. This is a bit of a big job, since there are at least four types of common handhelds and at least 5 different mobile radios in the group. I have been working on acquiring the software and cables to program these different radios, and have begun to add the additional channels. I programmed 11 handhelds and 5 mobiles at Dumont, and some more at Anza, so hopefully there won’t be a huge backlog of radios to program at the dunes and we will be able to switch to the new custom channels before long. I appreciate everyone’s patience as we get the programming done, but it should be nice once it is done. -P.J.
This month we’d like to thank Jim Kastle for writing an article, and Mike Bacon for again hosting the Poker Run. We’d also like to hear about your trips from your perspectives, so please feel free to write up a report and send it in. 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. 7