July 2009 Rooster by Paul Kastle

On Tuesday, June 9th, Melissa’s and my second anniversary and just four weeks before we leave for Coral Pink, we began the process of updating the rear end of our car. Since it was the initial FOHI five link car, we didn’t know what was going to happen when we built it. It turns out it held up decently well, but did bend where the top five link bar attached. We quickly made changes to the design for my Dad’s car, Dean’s, and John’s and they have worked well, so we decided to go ahead and re-do mine to make it like them. Now those who think inside the box might quickly just assume that we would replace just the vertical uprights that were bending with the new configuration. John Cole, on the other hand took a look at the car and suggested we cut the back end off. As you can see in the pictures, this is the approach we decided to take. By removing some more of the original material, we avoided having to grind out the attachment between the bent uprights and the rest of the car. By replacing a little more tubing, we were able to work with new material and remove all of the old welds with very little precision grinding. We bent new upper and lower hoops, and connected them with three heavier uprights and the new design five link mounts. While my Dad and I were removing old stuff John was already bending new tubing and Scott was getting ready to weld stuff in, all while Dean was teaching a class (Continued on page 2)

 Following Coral Pink we have the annual Lake Havasu trip planned for the weekend of August 14-17th. Make your plans now to join us for some summer fun.  It's almost time for Coral Pink, which means the club picnic is not far away. After several years of hosting the picnic, Dave and Cindy will be unable to do so this

year. Does anyone have any good ideas for a place to hold the picnic? It doesn't have to be a home, we have used public parks or even the sand drags in the past. Please let Jim or any of the board members know if you have any suggestions.

The Rooster (Continued from page 1)

July 6-8th: Time in Mesquite on the way to Coral Pink! July 8th-18th: We’ll be in the park at Coral Pink! July 18th-19th: One more night at the CasaBlaca on the way home. Keep in mind that there will not be the usual July club meeting since we’ll be at Coral Pink. August 12th: Club Meeting at the Denny’s in Redlands, 7 PM.

and allowing the car to be a centerpiece in his shop/classroom for a week. After the end of the first night of work on the car, we had most of the new structure in place. We decided to return on Thursday night when Dean would be teaching another class to work Much of the new structure on more of the notching for the suspension mounts. On Thursday was in place after one night. Jim got the rest of the notching done, and we began mounting suspension tabs. By Saturday, when we had planned to do most of the work, all we had left was transmission brackets and some more aesthetic finish work. This all went as planned, and I took the car home on Saturday. On Saturday night I began masking the car to get ready for paint. Since we had done the whole process without pulling the motor or transmission, I didn’t want to pull them for paint. I spent about four hours and a bunch of plastic wrap, newspaper, and tape getting everything covered up. By Sunday all the new stuff was painted and the car was that much closer to ready for Coral Pink. I’d like to thank my Dad, John, Dean, Scott, and everyone at the high school for all their help. I’d also like to especially thank Melissa for her understanding and being willing to let me work on it on our anniversary, and not even complaining about it. That’s pretty neat!

August 14-16th: Annual club river trip to Lake Havasu at the Ford’s.

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The Rooster Janece created a word search and a crossword puzzle over the last two months. Here are the answers so you can see how well you did. Thanks again to Janece for these.

The Rooster

By Walt Fisher: I went to Don and Shirley’s for Memorial weekend and helped Don put a new rebuilt motor in the “glitter bug”. We went to I-95 Speedway to watch a 50 lap stock car race, and the winner was a green and yellow car (like a John Deer Tractor with high fins and exhaust stacks above the cab). John Cole would have got a kick out of this thing. Later they had an event called the Boat Race. This is where they hook a boat behind their car and the last one with the most boat wins, Bobby Kearns took 2nd place. This was the last race for the season, so there was a fireworks show to finish off the night’s events. (They do things different in Arizona) Larry and Barbara got a new Ranger, so Shirley and Don took me for a ride, so we could let Larry and Barbara get the feel of off roading. We went up to a Micro Wave tower, and could see the river real good. Shirley and I were taking pictures with our cell phones. (I didn’t ’take a camera) But we are having trouble downloading, so for the rest of you ”river rats”, you’ll just have to imagine the scenery. And it sure was nice to come home on Tuesday and not have to sit in traffic for hours. After 2 weeks of being home without seeing the sun shine, I loaded the birds up and headed back to Havasu. There was the annual tube float on Sat, and Bob, Don Shirley and a couple of Bob’s friends went out on the boat to assist the tubers. For those of you that aren’t familiar with this tradition, hundreds of people meet at the La Paz State beach on this weekend, with anything that will float. The theme this year was Hawaiian. There is a start time, and when the command is given, everyone starts floating down river to the Bluewater Casino in Parker. With many floating devices tied together, and a lite breeze, many of them become stuck to the beach, so the support boats help pull them back into the center of the river, so they can continue there journey down river. Karisa showed up later in the day to join in the event. The weather was great, and I got to see the sun. The next Havasu trip for me will be on the way to Mesquite and Coral Pink. I’ll let you know how that turns out.

With the desert season pretty much over until October or so, and the economy limiting taking the trailer and Ranger out often, I’ve been spending a lot of time on my bike lately. I use it a lot to run errands around town and such, but I try to take at least one longer “recreational” ride each weekend. This last weekend, after extensive study on Google Earth, I came up with a new route to take me through some new areas. I was heading south towards Fallbrook and with the weather lately I figured I’d better wait until mid-day as the Fallbrook fog is notorious in the mornings. I left the house here in Lake Elsinore about 11AM and headed up Ortega Hwy to the top of the hill and South Main Divide Road. Following South Main Divide Road took me to the area where the hang gliders jump off where I stopped to enjoy the beautiful view of the lake and surrounding area. Once past the hang glider jump off area, and some really nice houses, the road enters the Cleveland National Forest, where the road narrows down to a tight one-lane. I went by the Wildomar Offroad Area, where it is legal to ride offroad motorcycles. It’s a pretty small area, but can be fun for a quick visit. The road continues on through the valley running past the back side of Bear Creek and Teneja Ranch areas and past a couple of day hiker parking areas. The road is very tight with lots of twisty corners, and pure fun on a motorcycle! While riding through this area I saw a couple of snakes out on the road basking in the warmth of the asphalt, as well as bunches of squirrels, lizards, birds, and two coyotes. Although I didn’t see any today, I have seen a number of deer in this area, too. (Continued on page 5)

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South Main Divide Road eventually comes out of the Cleveland National Forest and past a couple of big horse ranches in Teneja and dead ends in to Teneja Road. I then took Teneja Road as it winds its way through the horse ranches and came out at the Santa Rosa Plateau. Turning south on Via Volcano I rode across part of the Santa Rosa Plateau until I reached El Gato Road which took me down in to the Fallbrook area, and I mean DOWN! El Gato Road is barely two lanes wide and lots of turns, but it goes down at an 18% grade! At the bottom of the hill I turned on Carancho Road and followed that for a while. Carancho took me through more ranch areas and avocado farms. Being the spring a lot of flowers were blooming and their scent was in the air. It was absolutely beautiful, at least until I came across the road kill skunk! That kind of “soiled” the air for a while, but it soon past. Next I turned off El Carancho on to El Prado Road. El Prado Road was much narrower and took me south. The area looked like wilderness at times and then all of a sudden I’d come across a huge, beautiful house. I past a number of creek crossings, but no water in them this time of year. El Prado Road took me to Sandia Creek Road which was pretty much like the others, tight, twisty curves, some nice overgrown areas, and some very nice houses. While on Sandia Creek Road I came across a Saturn Sky club, the small two-seat sports car. There were ten of them all in a row running the canyon roads. I followed along with them for a while until I eventually slowed back down to enjoy the scenery. Sandia Creek Road eventually took me to De Luz Road and a turn back north. More tight turns and more beautiful scenery followed. I came across this one area that almost looked like a tunnel with the trees growing over the road. I stopped for a few minutes to take it all in, it just seemed so peaceful. De Luz Road took me back to El Carancho, which took me back to El Gato Road where I climbed back up the hill I had come down earlier. Boy, was I glad I didn’t come across anyone coming down while I was going up! I turned on to Via Volcano and continued on across the Santa Rosa Plateau and stopped at the Visitor’s Center to take a quick look at the information kiosk AJ built for his Boyscout Eagle project. They now have fliers posted in it so its doing it’s job. Via Volcano changes names there so I was now on Clinton Keith Road and went down the hill and by the main entrances to La Cresta and Bear Creek, to Grand Ave. From there Grand Ave. is a ten mile straight shot home. Just before arriving at home I stopped in at the local Chevron station and re-filled my tank. I arrived home about 3PM with just over 90 miles under my tires, a wonderful relaxing ride under my belt, and $4.86 worth of gas to fill my tank! Now that’s hard to beat! Mike Bacon

The Rooster

P.J. and Melissa have a Yamaha Golf Cart For Sale: 1996 G14 Gas golf cart with lift. Floor sits 24 inches above the ground. Stock motor, runs well. $2000 obo Contact P.J. Kastle: (951) 285-8459 pkastle@msn.com

Don and Shirley have their Fiberglass Dune Buggy For Sale: 1600cc dual port engine, street legal, beautiful paint job, must see to appreciate. $6500 Contact Don or Shirley Ford: (928) 680-0657 Home (928) 846-2304 Cell

Janice Tharp 7/2 Katlin Smith 7/8 Melissa Kastle 7/20 Amanda McKenzie 7/23

The Hagens have two child’s helmets for sale: Both were purchased at Chaparral, 3 years ago. Both are full face with visors. Exterior is in good shape, minor scratches. Inside is in perfect shape, foam intact, no tears. Black one is a child Small and the Yellow one is a child Medium. $50 each. Contact Pete/Linda at 760-4510845

David Huggard 7/24 Dana Schellinger 7/24 Mark Rhodes 7/27

This month we would like to thank Walt Fisher and Mike Bacon for writing articles and Janece Grossmann for creating the word search and crossword puzzles. It is neat to have a variety of interesting content to read in the summer months. We’d also like to thank the Huggards for the picnic location for many years, and invite your suggestions on where to have it this year. Next month we’ll write all about our time at Coral Pink!!! P.J. and Melissa Kastle 6

Inland Empire Offroad Association P.O. Box 132411 Big Bear Lake, CA 92315

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Business Phone: __________________________ As with any organization there are guidelines we operate within. Please read and abide by the following: 1. NO FIREWORKS ALLOWED WITHIN CAMP BOUNDRIES 2. DOGS MUST BE KEPT UNDER CONTROL AT ALL TIMES (BLM law) 3. ON A RIDE, YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE VEHICLE AHEAD OF YOU AND THE VEHICLE BEHIND YOU. If they stop, you stop and wait for the group to return to you. This prevents separation and in this manner we never leave a member in the dunes. Remember, it’s easier to find you if you stay still: “a moving target is harder to hit” 4. PLEASE OBSERVE THE “RIDE RATINGS” ON THE CLUB BOARD AND SELECT THOSE RIDES YOU WISH TO PARTICIPATE IN. If you wish to lead a ride, put the time and type of ride you want to lead on the board and then stick to that time. No passing on rides (except #6 rides). You can always change your place in line at a break or if you are waved on by the driver ahead of you. 5. REMEMBER, WE ARE A GROUP OF FRIENDS who share a common interest in riding in the desert. Always keep in mind how your actions affect the other members.

SIGNATURE:_________________________________________DATE:____________________ How did you hear about the club?___________________________________________________ Annual dues are $35 per family. Each 12 month membership includes a monthly newsletter. Send your check or money order to: Inland Empire Offroad Association P.O. Box 132411 Big Bear Lake, CA 92315