The Rooster
March 2016
THE ROOSTER A monthly update from the Inland Empire Offroad Association
Whats New We had a very large camp at wash 6 for Presidents Day Weekend, and plan to return in one month for Easter.
Easter Week Plans After discussing it at the dunes, members will plan on arriving the weekend before Easter and stay through the day after Easter. Like last year, this year’s trip will be at wash 6 in Glamis.
Eugene LeBlanc Jeannie LeBlanc’s father passed away on February 1st at the age of 88. He was the man who built the Glamis store into what we all know today, and he was a duner who spent his life in the dunes. The group would like to extend our condolences to Jeannie and the entire LeBlanc family.
Glamis Presidents’ Day 2016 By Jim Kastle After some uncertainty about whether or not I would be able to make this trip as Nancy is recovering from a total knee replacement, she said I should go. Thanks to her sister who recently relocated to Kingman from Michigan, and was willing to help if Nancy needed it, I felt she was in good hands. Wednesday afternoon I went to load the RZR, and found it wouldn’t start. Apparently the starter has failed. I immediately went about removing it in an attempt to fix it. I found the starter is nearly inaccessible to anyone with average or larger hands. It will take at least two hours to remove it, so I made the decision not to take the RZR to the dunes. Thursday morning Nancy had a 7:00 AM physical therapy appointment (carefully chosen by Nancy to allow me to get an early start for the dunes.) I was on the road by 9:00. The drive
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was easy and I arrived at Wash 6 to find Mike Bacon; Jerry and Linda; Ray and Janice, along with Ray’s brother Clancy and his wife, Barbara; Ray and Janice’s friend Vic; and Bobby Amador’s trailer. I quickly set up the fifth wheel and Ray followed Mike and me to the storage yard where we hooked up both my buggy box and the yellow trailer and towed them to camp. Dave Huggard and Pete and Linda soon arrived. I don’t recall a ride that afternoon. Walt arrived about sunset. I went to bed early in an attempt to catch up on sleep lost that morning.
Upcoming Events • March 18-28: Easter Week at Glamis, Wash 6. Let’s have an adult Easter egg hunt after an omelet breakfast on Easter Sunday. • April 10: Sand Sports Super Swap Meet at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa.
Friday morning I awoke to find John and Anna, along with Brandy and John had arrived.
• Late April / Early May Dumont Trip. Let’s close out the season with a fun trip to Dumont.
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It took until after noon to get ready for the first buggy ride. Pete, Dave, John, Brandy, Walt, and I went for a ride. My recently built radio harness wouldn’t work, so I had no radio. I greatly missed it. We were having a pretty good ride when I heard an unusual noise coming from what I thought was the front of my car. I stopped and ran the engine and heard what sounded similar to the noise I had heard, coming from my passenger side valve cover. I diagnosed it as a terminal valve train failure. I did notice my newly installed light bar was loose, and attempted to tighten it. I decided to head back to camp. About 5 minutes later I caught something out of the corner of my eye coming off my roof. I found later that John was frantically calling me on the radio telling me my light bar had come loose. I couldn’t hear him because of my radio problem. We removed the light bar, and I was pleased, but embarrassed, to find my “valve train noise” was gone! We made it back to camp without further incident. Just before sunset John said he’d like to take Anna for a slow cruise to the big bowls. I think all the buggies went. John’s idea of a slow cruise is considerably faster than mine, but we had a good time, and my bettersecured light bar worked great when it got dark. We got back to camp with no problems. Brandy, John, Bobby, and I went to Yuma for a Texas Roadhouse dinner. Janice told us before we left to call when we were on our way back, and she’d have some cobbler for us. We called and when we got back she and Ray got the cobbler back out, and Pete got the ice cream and we had great peach cobbler. We really didn’t deserve the cobbler, having been gone for the preparation, but we sure enjoyed it. Thanks again! Barry and Terry arrived after we returned,
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March 2016
followed by P.J., Melissa, Allie, and the guest of honor, two month old Marshall Paul Kastle. Marshall was too tired to share. Saturday morning I saw that Matthew Cole and Courtney had arrived overnight. As we were getting ready for a ride, Dale Downsworth pulled into camp without his trailer behind the motor home. We asked what had happened, and were told the trailer hitch had broken just as he turned off the highway onto the wash road. He left Rebecca and the trailer in the middle of the wash road, and came to camp for help. Bobby took his truck to rescue Rebecca and the trailer. Back in camp we found the hitch had been held on by just 4 grade 5 bolts, and was a Class II hitch, rated at 3500 lbs. Hardly enough for Dale’s 24 foot enclosed. Dale measured every truck in camp, figuring one of them would have a hitch with similar dimensions, and he would go buy one. Well, the hitch was unique to the motor home. Dale and Rebecca made several calls, and found no hitch was available. While most of us went for a buggy ride, Dale started planning a repair of the hitch using metal found in the yellow trailer. After the ride, Barry offered to weld up the repair. The rest of us did what we could to help, and the hitch was soon much stronger than new. Barry even welded up a couple of cracks in the frame near the hitch. We installed the hitch and Dale hooked it up to the trailer. I’m writing this Tuesday night, and I’ve heard nothing to the contrary, so I assume the hitch worked fine on the way home. Saturday night several of us, with buggies and RZRs, went to Olds. It was very quiet for a holiday Saturday night, and the warm weather made it comfortable. Clancy and Barbara got to see Olds at night and we did have a fire, complete with some Jiffy pop uneventfully prepared by Ray. Sunday morning we had a very well-attended omelet boil. Later, John led the buggies on a long ride. The sand was soft, and the V-8s had little trouble outrunning Matt’s and my Shortstars. At one point Matt popped a bead. We tried to use a plastic valve core remover from a bottle of Slime to remove the valve core to increase the air (CO2) flow, but the plastic broke off in the valve stem. We all tried to remove it with sharp objects, but had no luck. Finally John came up with the idea of heating the valve stem to melt the plastic. We had no source of heat. Not to worry, we had Barry who again showed us his MacGiver trick of putting gasoline and sand in a can and 3
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March 2016
lighting it with a spark from a set of jumper cables. It burns like a chafing dish burner, with no explosion or flare ups. John heated the valve stem until the plastic softened enough to allow the valve core to be removed. It was IMPRESSIVE! We were able to inflate the tire and made it back to camp with no problems other than the Shortstars, and especially this Shortstar driver, showing their limitations, requiring some help from the V-8s. This, combined with a still malfunctioning radio, made this a less than pleasurable ride for me. Back in camp, Allie rode her new-to-her quad, a 50 that Mike Bacon generously gave her. Mike showed P.J. how to set the throttle stop and connect the leash, and P.J. went about doing a workout chasing Allie and the quad. She absolutely loved it! Thanks Mike! I decided to skip a night ride to the hill, as did most others, except for P.J., John, and Ray who headed for the hill around 9:00 PM. They soon returned to camp with Ray complaining about those darn buggies breaking bolts in their front ends. It turns out John had broken a Heim spreader bolt. Ray enjoyed providing a length of threaded rod to fix the broken BUGGY. The three of them finished the repair by 11:00 and following our lead, went to bed. Monday the buggies went for a long, relatively uneventful, ride. I led, so I didn’t have to worry about keeping up with the V-8s. We had a pretty good ride that included most types of terrain found at Glamis, including a 70 MPH stretch along the sand highway south of Roadrunner. We decided to go for ice cream on the flats. On the way there P.J. broke a front end bolt, fortunately on a slower part of the ride, and we quickly improvised a repair, literally using a bungee cord! We made it to ice cream and camp. I got in a little roadwork chasing Allie on the quad, and I think I had more fun than Allie, and I know I got more tired! P.J., Melissa, Allie, and Marshall had to leave, but both grandpas weren’t yet ready to leave. John arranged for a combined buggy and RZR sunset ride to the flag. Dale and Walt joined us, and we weren’t quite ready to leave when the RZRs were. So we told them to leave and we’d meet them there. On our way, John saw the RZRs off to our side and mentioned we 4
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could go find them. I was pretty sure it was more important to beat them to the flag. When we arrived, John of course, radioed Janice and asked where they were, and why they weren’t there yet. Janice had the perfect response, “We got tired of waiting, so we left.” We met up at the flag and took a break. Neither the buggies nor the RZRs wanted to lead, but Ray finally agreed to lead us back. By now it was very dark and Ray did a fine job of getting us back. Dale had an electrical issue so Ray got to complain about those darn buggies, but it was all in fun, and Ray was quick to offer help. The evening ended with a campfire and some last minute CNC Dutch oven pineapple upside down cake. We didn’t eat until 11:00 PM, but it was well worth the wait. Tuesday morning Walt, the Downsworths, Bobby and I took our time packing up and storing trailers. We left the Coles, the Tranthams, Ray, Janice, Clancy and Barbara to fend for themselves. The Coles left later in the day and I think the others planned to head home Wednesday. Looking back this was a really good trip with a great turnout. The weather was fantastic, with temperatures in the 80’s, and only one day of wind. Both Janice and Mike had new club flags, filling a gap of several years in the club flag supply. Janice used her “sign guy” and Mike used Dana, Kris and Doug’s daughter. Both flags appear to be very strong. Janice’s look very much like our last generation of flags, but are from a heavier material and multi-stitched, and have our logo silk screened. Mike’s are also from heavy material and multi-stitched but with an embroidered color logo, with a blue border surrounding the field of the flag. Mike ordered 50 flags so he has them available for $30.00 each, and Janice can get any number of flags within a week for $45.00 each. Thanks to Janice, Mike, and Dana for arranging for flags. I will soon have 4 new flags, two of each type, replacing my very tattered old flags. Another fun thing about this trip was the rivalry of buggies vs. RZRs, much like the old mid engine vs. rear engine, or water cooled vs. air cooled. They’re all good! For the first time in years there was lots of firewood to glean after the majority of people left. P.J. figured out this was due to the unseasonably warm weather. Jerry and Linda filled the back of the truck with split wood. I was also happy about the large number of participants in the omelet boil. And from a very selfish point of view, I was pleased with our newest duner, Marshall, and the great reception he received from everyone. Thanks to all, especially Melissa who had to work extra hard to bring a two month old to the dunes.
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Presidents Week By Mike Bacon President’s Week actually started early for me. Ray’s brother Clancy and his wife Barb were visiting from Wisconsin and wanted to see the desert so Ray & Janice took them to Ocotillo Wells for a couple of days. I joined them for a day trip the Saturday before President’s weekend and we toured all the hot spots, Tetherball Hill, Fire Hydrant, Pumpkin Patch, Pooch Canyon, Gas Domes, and stopped for lunch at the Blu In.
I went home Saturday afternoon and they moved down to Glamis on Sunday. I had work to do and got it all completed by Tuesday afternoon so I loaded up and headed for Glamis. I got there just as it was getting dark, to find Ray & Janice, Clancy & Barb, and a new friend, Von from Tennessee. Wednesday morning Clancy & Barb decided to go in to Yuma and see the sights. Ray took Von in his car and we all headed south to tour Hills 5, 6 & 7. It was very soft sand down there and being cautious I got stuck twice. No problem though as Ray just hooked on and pulled me out. The last time out Janice had noticed the “6” sticker on the sign post at Hill 6 had faded so she brought a new one and put it on so no one would wonder which hill they were at. We went by the Flagpole on the way back. It was a long, tiring ride.
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Friday AJ arrived to spend a couple days and he got put on camera duty, shooting many pictures as we rode through the dunes. I rarely get to see the line behind me when I’m leading so I really enjoy these pictures.
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March 2016
I’m not the only one who gets stuck, as Ray demonstrated, but we just gave him a little shove and he was on his way. On one ride Rob had a belt issue with his new Turbo and while fixing it Jerry tried the Turbo on for size. Could there be a new Turbo in the Trantham house soon? Time will tell!
On one ride we had stopped for a break when over the horizon we saw black smoke. We have learned this usually means a RZR fire so we headed over to see. Sure enough there was a RZR fully engulfed over by Olds. I later read they were on their way to Duner’s Diner and had strapped a gas can in the back with a bungee cord. DON’T CARRY GAS CANS IN A RZR! We had to fix a broken belt on Jim’s big four-seater one day, and went by Hill 5 again where there were a lot of visitors this time.
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One day we were riding over by Gecko when we came across this very elaborate tent. Janice was all over it taking pictures and asking the security guard about it (yes, 24 hour security!). Turns out it was set up for a Bentley promotion of their new SUV. On my way out Tuesday afternoon I saw a line of what looked like Bentley SUVs on the road headed for Brawley so now that all clicked. Janice was fascinated with the tent as it was very sturdy, had hardwood floors, a big bar, and a chandelier! The Bentley SUV looked pretty good, but we didn’t see any climbing Olds!
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Sunday morning was Omelet Day! Jim had both pots of water boiling and everyone brought their favorite fixin’s. They were great as always.
I had to go home on Monday as I had work lined up for the week. Some others stayed on for a few more days. I’m already planning to be back out for Easter starting Friday March 18th. See you all there! 10
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Glamis MLK Cleanup the Quartzite January 13-21, 2016 By Jim Kastle I arrived at wash six on Wednesday around noon. I went and got the yellow trailer and my white buggy box and set up camp. I took the seats out of my sandrail in preparation for some wiring and welding. It was getting dark and cold so I retired to the trailer for the night. When I woke Thursday morning I was surprised to find that Ray and Janice had arrived overnight. I thought they weren't going to get there until Thursday afternoon. I continued to work on the buggy and spent the rest of the day and most of the day Friday installing a new light bar and some fuses to hopefully beat some electrical gremlins I'd been facing over the last year or so. Ray and Janice went for a few rides and reported the sand was pretty good, but wet and rutted in spots. They went as far as hill 7. Friday afternoon LuAnn arrived and was surprised to find Don and Shirley, who were hosting her for the weekend, were not yet there. A quick call to Shirley found they and Jerry and Linda were in Blythe after delaying the start of the trip to allow Don and Jerry to replace a broken spring on Linda's RZR trailer. Shortly after the Fords and Tranthams arrived, Ray offered to hold RZR clutch school. As our fleet of RZRs ages, we have been having lots of clutch problems. In talking to some experts, we found they usually last less than 2500 miles. Nearly all of ours have over 4000 miles on them. So we are clearly due for some maintenance. We have ordered tools to share among the group. Their arrival has been delayed, prompting Ray to build his own set of tools. He did a great job, and before the trip rebuilt Mike's spare clutch, thus becoming our resident RZR clutch expert. Jerry's clutch broke on the New Years trip, and because of a lack of parts and tools, had to delay repairing it until this trip. Ray showed Jerry, Don, and me how to rebuild a RZR primary clutch. We earlier found Polaris does not sell most clutch parts, instead selling complete clutches for nearly $600. By careful Internet surfing we found them for just under $500. But more importantly, Ray found EPI Performance online sells all the parts we need, at prices about half of what Polaris charges for the parts they do stock. He bought two rebuild kits, one of which he used to rebuild Mike's, and one to rebuild Jerry's. Saturday morning we participated in the 19th annual ISDRA Dune Cleanup. It should be noted that Don and Shirley Ford
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have participated in every one of them. It seemed to me there were more participants than last year. They had plenty of food for everyone, unlike last year. Also unlike last year, and most other years, IEOR had very little luck in the raffle. Jerry and Linda won two prizes, and Don and Shirley won one. After the raffle we went on a RZR ride. On the ride Jerry's rebuilt clutch worked perfectly. Ray led Janice, Jerry, Don, LuAnn along with her sister, and me on a great, perfectly paced ride. Luann's sister was not wearing goggles, prompting her to close her eyes, not a good thing to do on your first buggy ride. She became car sick while we were on a break. Ray tamed back the ride, and we returned to camp. At the campfire we had apple cherry cobbler, again it was superb. I dubbed Ray and Janice the CNC team, clutch and cobbler. They are great at both. Sunday morning we went for another ride, minus LuAnn, but plus Rob, one of Ray and Janice's friends and a great RZR driver with a new turbo 1000. We were down around hill 4 when my clutch broke, just like it did at Halloween. We have since discovered that weights fail only after a roller fails, and just replacing the weights results in a quick failure, necessitating a clutch rebuild. I had to limp back to camp, and everyone stayed with me, even passing up Sweet Marie's ice cream to stay with me. Thanks to everyone. I was disappointed, because I planned to use the RZR at Quartzsite in the next day or two. Ray had Mike's rebuilt clutch, and suggested we install it. I selfishly quickly agreed. We all worked to change clutches, and when we were "finished" learned another lesson, 1000 clutches and 900 clutches are NOT interchangeable. I was ready to push it on the trailer, then Ray sounded like a character from The Six Million Dollar Man, and said we CAN rebuild it. Using some parts from a used clutch Jerry had found on Craig's List, and some new parts I had purchased for Jerry, and with Ray's expertise, and everyone's help, we did it. As of this writing Sunday night it's as good as new. After fixing the clutch, the Fords, LuAnn, and I went to Yuma for a Cracker Barrel dinner, some fuel, and my new favorite, Firehouse Subs. We returned to camp for some great peach cobbler from the CNC team. Monday morning Janice, Ray, and Jerry went for a RZR ride. I stayed in camp and began loading the trailers and taking them to storage. I spent a leisurely day packing, loading and preparing for Quartzsite. As I write this it's February 8th and I just found the iPad and realized I never finished the article, so details of Monday's events escape me. I know we ended the day with a campfire, but I don't remember what flavor cobbler, if any. I need to do these reports immediately. Tuesday morning we all left together. The Fords, Tranthams, and I headed off to Quartzsite, and Ray and Janice headed for home.
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March 2016
We had an easy drive to Quartzsite, just over an hour, and set up camp at the Rose RV park as we have the last few years. I couldn't wait to try the new RZR clutch and do some shopping. It just amazes me how much stuff there is to look at. Every RV part imaginable, often with a choice of new or used, and plenty of tools. The RZR clutch worked perfectly, the smoothest it has in a couple of years. Apparently they wear slowly, so you don't notice the deterioration in performance, then they break. We decided to go to the town of Brenda (which I made a 40 plus mile detour to last year, thus missing the buffet) for the buffet we missed last year. It was really good, but with a limited selection. I think everyone found plenty to their liking. We made it to McDonalds for McFlurry deserts, because we knew we'd miss that CNC team cobbler . The day ended with a campfire. Wednesday we spent time shopping. We don't shop in a group, instead each family going off by themselves, then later sharing where the best deals could be found. If someone finds something interesting we'll call the others. I really enjoy it and find lots of interesting things I end up buying, then often finding they were interesting last year too, as I still have them from last year. Once I got home I found I have a lifetime supply of ratchet straps and buckles, test lights, and screwdriver type valve core tools. I hate it when I run out of something, because I will overbuy that item for ever! Obviously, at one time or another I ran out of ratchet straps, test lights, and valve core tools. Dinner Wednesday was at a restaurant they use to like, The Stagecoach, but which had been closed for a number of years. It recently reopened, and was very busy. Our waiter was actually the owner's son who was in town to help with the rush. He was very busy, but did a pretty good job. The food was definitely "home style" and very good. Desert was a well-traveled frozen coconut cream pie I have been taking on each trip since New Years. It seems it always lost out to CNC cobbler! Thursday I made one last shopping run, before heading home. I think Don and Shirley left later that day. I'm not sure when Jerry and Linda left. It's hard to believe we have only two or three Glamis trips left this season. By the time this is published we'll probably have completed the President's day trip, and may only have the Easter trip left. That is unless we schedule an early March trip. Let's go duning!
If You Can’t Beat Them… John Cole can be pretty vocal, and perhaps even a little opinionated (I know this comes as a shock to anyone who has met the quiet, reserved elevator man), so he has added plenty of fuel to the RZR vs Buggy debate. Well, after he used parts from Ray’s RZR clutch tool to fix his front end Sunday night, John decided to beat the RZRs to the punch and join them. Thus, the special John Deere Green limited edition RZR 5300cc was conceived. He shared the love and put one of the badges on my car after it broke later in the day. -P.J. 13
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Marshall’s First Dune Trip Marshall made his long awaited during debut over the Presidents Weekend trip, since he refused to let his sister beat him to the dunes (since her first trip was Thanksgiving when she was two months old). Actually, his true during debut was at Easter last year, when Melissa found out she was pregnant. Fast forward to the next Glamis trip for us and he got to be there. It was a lot of fun sharing him with everybody, and we tried to get as many pictures as we could. For those of you who didn’t get to meet him yet there will be lots more opportunities, the next of which comes up over Easter weekend when we will again go out for three days. Allie is particularly excited about getting to play with Aryah, who she missed this trip. She is also really looking forward to getting to ride her “real” quad some more. Mike and Paula generously gave her Mykel’s old 50 and she had a ball with it over Presidents weekend. As many of you noted, a side benefit is I get a new exercise program as I run along behind her holding on to the shut off tether. Thanks so much guys she is going to love it, and Marshall is already eyeing it. He took his first buggy rides in camp over the weekend too, and it won’t be long until he’s going for ice cream in the car. We can’t wait. -Paul, Melissa, and Allie
This month we’d like to thank Jim Kastle and Mike Bacon for writing articles and Janice Petersen for sending pictures. We’d also like to thank everyone for welcoming us and Marshall back to the dunes. Now let’s have a couple more fun trips before the weather heats up. The next newsletter will be out just after the Easter trip in late March. Thank you all for your contributions and for being part of a great group of friends. -Paul, Melissa, Allie, and Marshall.
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