Newsletter 0218 by Paul Kastle

The Rooster

February 2018

THE ROOSTER A monthly update from the Inland Empire Offroad Association

What’s New We’ve had two Glamis trips since the last newsletter, but there’s another one coming up for Presidents Day, starting February 9th through the 19th.

Omelette Boil at Presidents We have been having great turnouts for the freezer bag omelets this season. We will have another on on Sunday, February 18th during the Presidents Week trip.

The Burns Family is Back As reported in the December Newsletter, long time club members Danny and Pam Burns and family bought a sandrail and joined us at New Years. It was just like 20 years ago with Danny and Bob…

Christmas 2017/ New Years 2018 at Glamis by Jim Kastle Christmas day I received a text from Walt saying he broke an axle on his Can Am, and was going home to get the buggy. He and several others: Don and Shirley, Jerry and Linda, Mike, and I believe Dave and Roni, Jeﬀ and Lavonne and some others had arrived as early as December 21st. I don’t know much about the early part of the trip, but I do know they had some great sand and not a lot of others to share it with. Walt reported that on at least one ride he and Dave were running 65-70 miles per hour in the big bowls between Comp and Olds. Who knows if the high speeds caused both Walt’s Can Am and Dave’s RZR to experience front axle problems, but they did experience failures requiring trips home for repairs or vehicle swaps. There was a Christmas dinner, but I have no details. Nancy and I spent the 23rd through Christmas day at the camper at John and Anna’s and attended one of Allie’s dance mini recitals. Christmas Eve we spent traveling down memory lane visiting South Gate where we grew up, met in high school, got engaged, and married. We drove by our homes, elementary, junior high and high schools, the church where we got married, the park where we spent lots of time as kids, an apartment Nancy shared with her sister and a friend when we got engaged, and our first

The Rooster

February 2018

apartment. We then continued our tradition of eating Christmas Eve at Clearman’s Northwoods Inn in Covina. This because the Cole side of the family have their Christmas celebration at John’s Mom’s house in Fontana. The Coles have graciously invited us to their family gathering, but we don’t want to intrude on tradition.

Upcoming Events • January 12-15th: MLK Dune Cleanup weekend, Wash 6. • February 9-19th: Presidents Week at Glamis, Wash 6. We will have an Omelet breakfast on Sunday, February 18th.

Christmas Day we celebrate at P.J. and Melissa’s. We open presents, visit, and Melissa cooks a wonderful meal. John and Anna were able to attend for dessert, making for a great holiday for us. Nancy and I drive home late Christmas night, and I go to Glamis on the 26th and Nancy usually spends a few days in Las Vegas and then the river.

January, 2018 S

February, 2018 S

On the 26th, I arrived at Wash 6 around 2:00 P.M. to find Walt and the birds with his buggy, having returned from his Christmas trip home, and the rest of the early arrivers. I got the trailers from storage and set up camp. Frank and Denise soon arrived, and when they asked where to camp, graciously moved to allow room for P.J. and Melissa to park near me. I appreciate their flexibility. Frank recently had the engine on the buggy rebuilt, after it self-destructed on his last trip, and had his side panels wrapped. They did a great job which includes some “ghost” graphics. Wrapping a car sure seems like the way to go now, as evidenced by Frank’s, Dale’s, and Barry’s buggies. P.J. and Melissa arrived shortly after sunset. Wednesday morning we were surprised to see Ray and Janice had arrived over night. They had been busy on the fire lines of the many fires that hit Southern California over the last few weeks, and thought they might not make this trip at all, yet alone on the 27th. We also saw a new 4 seat RZR parked by Don and Shirley’s motor home. We talked to Don and found that he was able to get a killer deal on a 2014 with very few hours and miles on it from a friend 2

The Rooster

February 2018

of his son in law. Don further explained that he and Shirley own three two seat RZR’s giving them a total of 6 seats, by buying the new 4 seater they have a total of 10 seats, so they can sell two two seaters, and still have seats for 6, and hopefully net a profit. He will drive the 4 seater and Shirley will drive Don’s former 1000. Wednesday P.J. and I followed the side by sides on a morning ride. We covered a lot of distance with no real excitement until late in the ride Mike, who was leading, dropped into a witch’s eye. Those of us who were following him saw the front of his RZR stop, and the back wheels come oﬀ the ground. As we came around him we saw he had hit a very-hard-to-see drop with a near vertical wall on the other side. All of us were pleased when the only injury was some soreness in his neck. We returned to camp with no further incidents. Kris and Doug arrived, followed soon by Dave and Cindy Huggard. There have been a lot of posts on Facebook about a “plane crash” in the dunes. Many of us were skeptical, as there had been many conflicting reports about it, but we decided to see if we could find it. We decided to make a side by side vs. buggies contest of it. The buggies I remember were P.J.’s, Walt’s, Frank’s, Dave’s, and mine. Pretty much all the side by sides, with the possible exception of the Fords’, seemed to be looking. We had conflicting reports of where it might be, and set oﬀ in two groups to try to find it. The two groups were in radio contact, and went to the same general areas, but after an hour or so, the buggy group grew tired of the search, and

changed our objective to searching for good sand. We found some, and were having a pretty good time, when Ray called us with the news, “We found it.” Mike gave us some directions, and we soon met up with the side by sides at the plane. Score one for the RZR’s! The plane is a single engine high wing with fabric covering. All the instruments and engine had been removed. 3

The Rooster

February 2018

Opinions vary, but we believe someone transported it to the site with the wings removed, then reattached the wings, with the intent of creating another point of interest in the dunes, much like the swing set or flag pole. Opinions on the wisdom of leaving wreckage vary, and unfortunately the plane has been vandalized. It clearly did not crash, despite a common rumor it was on a drug run when it crashed. I have renamed it the “plane trash.” A lot of people were at the site the two times we went, so it did create a destination, but one which many hope will not create a trend of depositing wreckage in the dunes. As I write this on the 9th, I just saw a Facebook post with a photo of a Ranger buggy towing what appears to be one of the plane’s wings. Early clean up on the Rangers’ part? (Or more internet Photoshop work? P.J.) Bobby and LuAnn arrived, left a trailer or two, and then departed to return later with more trailers and Lynette’s buggy. Barry, Terry, and Amanda arrived Thursday, as did the Hagens, along with Jeremy and Karissa and her fiancé, Jason. Pete just had his radiator relocated in an attempt to eliminate some continuing overheating issues. On its first ride it got hot once, but it burped as it cooled and was flawless the rest of the trip. Bobby had CBM rebuild his buggy engine and it is now a 383 stroker putting out over 500 horsepower. It worked well all trip. Later Thursday Danny and Pam Burns and family made their long anticipated return to IEOR. It was great to see them, and the kids have grown up to be great young adults. It’s been a long time, and it was obvious the Danny Burns we remember has not changed much. He and Pam don’t look any diﬀerent. That’s great for Pam, not so much for Danny. But I wish I hadn’t aged any more than Danny in the last dozen or more years. They bought Barry’s neighbor Shawn’s yellow Suspensions Unlimited sand rail, a beautiful and very capable car. Friday morning most of the buggies went for a ride. Dave, Walt, P.J., Frank, Pete, and I left with a plan to meet Barry and Danny at Olds in half an hour or so. The radios make such a plan so easy. We passed Olds and played in the big bowls for half an hour or so, and then returned to Olds. Within 5 minutes Barry with Amanda, and Danny with a car full, arrived at Olds. Danny immediately made a couple of high speed passes, as if he hadn’t missed any time in the dunes. Barry made a run up Olds, and a third of the way up, came to a stop. So did P.J.’s and my breathing, as we feared the trans the buggy night group just repaired had failed. Our breathing resumed when Barry radioed that he had broken an axle. Axles are cheaper than transmissions, and we hadn’t touched the axles. Most of us returned to camp with P.J. towing Barry. Danny had waited too long to dune to immediately return to camp, so he stayed in the dunes. P.J.’s car did a great job of towing Barry’s heavy car, but at the flats one of his CVs started clicking. Dave finished towing Barry back to camp. In camp Dave mentioned that Barry’s car is one of the heaviest he’s

The Rooster

February 2018

ever towed. Barry was not about to give up, and asked Amanda to find a driveshaft shop in Yuma. She did, and Barry called and the guy said he could do the repair for a reasonable cost and would be there this afternoon. Barry pulled both axles and headed for Yuma. Barry also took a bunch of our gas cans to fill at Arizona prices. This allowed the Kastles to load up the Excursion and head to Yuma for dinner and some shopping. We kept in touch with Barry and met to buy fuel, and get a status report. The driveshaft guy seemed very good, and did find a broken weld in addition to the broken yoke, and repaired the axle and replaced all four U-joints. We all returned to camp and Barry installed the axles, only to find the repaired one locked up. Barry made a hasty call and the guy said he’d meet Barry at the shop at 8:00 AM. That was 8:00 AM Arizona time, meaning Barry had to be on the road before 6:00 AM California time. We decided taking the whole car would be a good idea and Bobby let Barry use his flatbed. Late Friday evening, Allie’s trip was made when Aryah, Bobby’s granddaughter, arrived with Lynette. Saturday morning we had one of our best-attended omelet boils. We had three pots boiling, and they were all full. P.J. greased the noisy CV. We then had both side by side and buggy rides. The buggy ride featured some pretty fast riding in the old closed area between the swing set and Gecko. We then ventured to Shady Eve, the tiki hut past Gecko road. We were surprised to find some of our side by sides there waiting for some tires to replace one that had failed. We didn’t want to leave them stranded, but we had to get back for lunch. We were pleased to see the others return as we left Shady Eve. Back in camp we found Allie and Aryah had played all day and even rode their quads. I hope they didn’t cause any concerns. They had a ball. Barry returned and reported it was good he took the car, as they had to install the axle at least six times before it was clearanced enough, but it seems good now. Some of us made a night run to Olds to be entertained by Ray cooking Jiﬀy Pop, and the number of vehicles running the hill and jumping oﬀ the top. Nothing real exciting and we didn’t even notice any heavy law enforcement activity. Sunday morning, New Year’s Eve, I noticed Barry looking for something around the campfire site. It turns out he had lost his wedding ring at the fire last night. Apparently he had the ring and his phone in his pocket, and when he got out his phone the ring fell. Janice has a metal detector she willingly lent him, and also had a really neat sand strainer. She took charge and marked a search grid it in the sand. The metal detector sounded many false alarms, so Barry kept straining the sand. He had more patience than I would have had and searched for well over an hour before he yelled, “I got it!” Everyone was excited. After

The Rooster

February 2018

his good luck there were separate buggy and side by side rides. I know there was radio contact between the two rides, but I don’t recall any details of the side by side ride. The buggy ride was in the area between the swing set and Gecko when Lynette stopped. We returned to find her right rear wheel was pointed to the right at a 45 degree angle. Upon investigation, we found the micro stub axle had broken. We discussed the situation, and because we were within half a mile of Gecko road, decided we’d remove the tire and wheel, and drag the car to the pavement where we would again use Bobby’s flatbed to get it back to camp. As we ALL worked together to remove the tire and wheel it was great to have Danny back with us. The back and forth between Danny and Bobby was classic. It was as though the clock had turned back 20 years. WELCOME BACK DANNY, YOU WERE MISSED! Dragging a rear engined V8 that’s missing a rear tire and wheel is quite a task. Bobby hooked up to Lynette’s car and started pretty easily, but then dug in as he pulled her up a pretty steep hill. Her car was leaning to the right, and the right side of the car was on the downhill side, making the possibility of it rolling over very real. Lynette was justifiably nervous, and wanted to get out, but we felt by her being in the driver’s seat, she was helping to keep it upright. (In looking back on the situation, there were several of us who are better equipped to serve as a counter weight, but none of us volunteered. SHAME ON US!) With the help of everyone we got the car back to level ground, and Bobby tried but again dug in. Barry hooked up to the front of Bobby, who was still hooked up to Lynette. In an awesome display of power and skill, accompanied by the best dusting anyone has ever given Bobby, Barry and Bobby pulled Lynette and the broken car to Gecko Road. Video was posted almost immediately, prompting Marvin Shaw himself to compliment the double tow. I’m sure the video will be on the club site. It’s worth the time to view it. Half of us went back to camp to get Bobby’s truck and trailer, while the rest stayed with Lynette. Those of us who were waiting decided that this was a great opportunity for some Sweet Marie’s ice cream, so Danny and I took orders and made an ice cream run. We got back and soon after finishing the snack Bobby

The Rooster

February 2018

arrived with two come alongs, a floor jack, and almost a full truck of helpers. With ALL the help we were able to get the car on the trailer and we all made it back to camp. We had scheduled our annual New Year’s potluck for 4:00 P.M. but weren’t able to make it back in time. We REALLY appreciate everyone’s flexibility in delaying the meal. Special thanks to Kris and Doug for moving their trailer to the center of camp, providing a great central place to set up the food. It was certainly worth waiting for. It’s my favorite potluck of the year. We had a variety of Italian themed delights. Many thanks to all the chefs. There was a campfire accompanied by a few Christmas tree burnings. None of us went to the hill. For the second year in a row,

I went to sleep well before midnight. At 11:00 P.M., Midnight Arizona time, I heard quite a few fireworks, but stayed in bed. I barely noticed any noise at midnight, but heard later that there had been quite a fireworks show. The Hagens made it to midnight and burned a few more trees. Monday, New Year’s Day, there were again buggy and side by side rides. Pretty much all the vehicles left in camp were on one of rides. Out near the swing set we heard a call from Janice saying we had just passed them, and they needed help. It’s scary that we drove near them and I never noticed any of them. Fortunately, Barry had seen them and led us back to them. When we got there we found that Kris and Doug’s clutch had malfunctioned in a way new to us. It wouldn’t engage. We often have had the opposite problem where it won’t disengage. Ray and others were working on it and somehow managed to get it to engage, much to Barry’s frustration, as he was all ready to tow them. We decided 7

The Rooster

February 2018

to head to hill three where we’d meet and get a status report. At hill three Doug reported no further problems, so we decided to continue the two separate rides. As the RZR’s left, Janice’s clutch locked up, just as others have in the past. With some “helpful” instruction from Ray, Janice was able to get the RZR started and we continued our ride. (Once they got home and Ray had a chance to look into the problem, he found both clutches were bad. I’m not sure if they can be repaired or must be replaced.) Editorial comment follows! IEOR has always had some lively debates. First between mid and rear engines, then air cooled and water cooled, and most recently side by sides vs. buggies. Early in the side by side movement some suggested we should sell our buggies and get side by sides because they are so reliable. This greatly bothered some otherwise pretty thick-skinned buggy owners. As our side by side fleet ages and increases in number, it is becoming obvious they are not 100% reliable. This despite the fact the ones that failed this trip are less than 3 years old. Buggy guys wonder how reliable they’ll be when they approach the age of our buggies, many of which are almost old enough to vote! But it needs to be noted that none of the side by sides delayed any meals! Remember this comes from a buggy guy who enjoys his RZR. End of editorial comment. The buggy ride continued, and we heard enough on the radio to convince us the side by sides made it back to camp. We took a break at the swing set. Soon after we arrived, another group was arriving when about 100 yards from the swing set, a side by side in the group rolled. Many bystanders ran to the roll over. The leader pulled up near us, oblivious to what had just happened. Several of us told him a “RZR” (That’s what we said, but we don’t know what type of side by side it was.) in his group had just rolled and pointed to it. He hurried back to the scene of the accident. As we took our break we noticed they had sent someone up a dune, apparently to make a call. P.J. soon heard on his scanner that the driver had broken his arm and the Rangers were dispatching a buggy to the scene. It seemed odd to us that in the 30 minutes or so before the Rangers arrived, the side by side was still upside down. It was time for us to head back to camp to get ready to head home. On the way back to camp P.J. heard that they had the victim in the buggy and were transporting him. We made it back to camp with no further problems. The Christmas/New Years trip is always one of my favorite Glamis trips, not only because it’s the longest one that P.J. gets to make, but also because of the great turnout of great people. This one seemed exceptional with all the help everyone oﬀered in every situation. It exemplified the reason IEOR works! It really was great to have the Burns family back with us. Danny is unique, and a very special part of IEOR to me. I can’t wait for President’s Day. Let’s go dunin’! 8

The Rooster

February 2018

MLK Glamis Clean Up, January 11-15, 2018 by Jim Kastle Walt and I met Thursday morning for breakfast and caravanned to Glamis. Neither of us brought a side by side, as his is in for some warranty work, and when I found out Ray and Janice wouldn’t be able to make this trip, I didn’t think there would be any other side by sides. I later saw a post from Dave and Roni, saying they would be coming, but I had committed to tow just one trailer this trip. We arrived around 2:00 P.M. and got the two trailers from storage. Walt and I swapped generators in the yellow trailer, as the one we have been using is due for some service and repair. We also reinstalled the repaired air compressor that failed during the New Year’s trip. Dave and Roni soon arrived and got their trailers from storage. We didn’t do much else other than set up camp and have a campfire. Friday was a work day for us. We remounted the Cyclops light on my sand rail after breaking its mount over New Years, and I took the time to adjust the nitrogen in my shocks, and gave the buggy a long neglected once over. I tried to repair a leak in the water system on the yellow trailer, but found it was a more complicated repair than I want to attempt without talking to John, as it IS his trailer. Walt spent quite a bit of time working on some new-to-him paddles that insisted on leaking. The two buggies and the RZR attempted a mid afternoon ride, but we had to cut it short when about a mile and a half from camp, one of Walt’s paddles went flat. We used my CO2 bottle to refill it, but had to stop to fill it a second time on the way back to camp. In camp, in an act of near desperation, we used 4 tire plugs, and they apparently worked, as his tire is still holding air as I write this Monday evening. We then went for a short, but relatively fast paced, afternoon turned sunset ride. We had another campfire and went to bed fairly early. Saturday was the 21st annual clean up. This was the first one Don and Shirley have ever missed. The four of us participated. As I stopped by camp before turning in my trash, The Trevetts, Dave and Kirsten, and kids arrived and set up camp with us. While waiting for the drawing and lunch, I visited the ASA booth and spoke with Nicole Gilles, the Executive Director of the ASA; and the ASA Vice President, whose name escapes me. They asked if I was an ASA member, and I was proud to tell them I am a supporting member. They were pleased and said that only a very small percentage of duners, I believe they said one percent, are supporting members of the ASA. I am still surprised by this. I firmly believe that if not for the ASA, Glamis would now be closed to us. Most of you know I’m a cheap SOB, but I willingly pay the $25.00 a year to support the ASA. Besides the support I am proud to give, I get a $25.00 Rocky Mountain ATV gift certificate in return, so being a supporting member costs me nothing, and helps fight to keep the dunes open. Speaking of the fight, Nicole told me the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), our arch enemy, has lots of money and several highly paid lawyers to use to “protect” as many as 14 other species of plants in other Pierson’s Milk Vetch type fights. The fight will go on for years. I urge all duners to become supporting

The Rooster

February 2018

members. Nicole asked to be put on our mailing list, and I explained we don’t have one, but we have the website, and urged her to visit. She said she’d like to attend a meeting, and I explained we don’t have those any more either, but did invite her to one of our omelet boils. She thought they sounded interesting and hopefully she’ll attend the Sunday morning of President’s Day. I hope we have a great turn out. The Clean Up lunch was better than usual as they barbecued hamburgers and hot dogs on site. No cold pizza this year. Monster again provided the drinks. The clean up seemed better attended than it has the last few years, but we didn’t have much luck in the raffle. However, Walt and Roni did each win a goody bag. There were a lot of prizes, including $500 in gift certificates from Gilmore Off Road, a $100 food certificate from Daddy’s on the Flats, several items from Coyne motorsports, two $300 LED Buggy Whip whips, a nice 42inch light bar, the donor of which escapes me, and many goody bags apparently provided by Wal-Mart. The lady who runs the drawing did her usual good, but strictly business, job of running the show. We returned to camp and the three vehicles went on a pretty fast ride on some very smooth sand. Dave and Kirsten passed on this ride. Dave Trantham had only followed me in my RZR, and was surprised at the difference between me in the two different vehicles. I definitely am more comfortable in the buggy. The ride stressed Walt’s CVs, and at least one was clicking loud enough for him to hear it through the radio headset. We made it back to camp and enjoyed another campfire. Sunday was Walt’s birthday (and also Mama Jeannie’s.) Walt was going to pass on the ride, but when I promised it would be mellower than yesterday’s, he decided to go. The whole Trevett family hopped in the buggy to join in the fun. But about where Walt had tire problems Friday, The Trevett-mobile went into limp mode. We followed them back to camp then the other three vehicles went for a mellow ride that got as far as the flagpole when the call of birthday ice cream was to loud to resist. We decided to try the Flats for the wide variety of ice cream; especially the hand dipped Thrifty’s ice cream at Daddy’s. Much to my dismay, when we got there, the ice cream trailer wasn’t there. We found soft serve a couple of vendors away, and it was pretty good. While we were eating, the owner of the business saw Dave and Roni, and came to visit with them. It turns out they are regular customers, this being the 4th of 5 weekends in a row they are spending at Glamis. They caught the dunin’ bug bad! We went back to camp and just relaxed before Dave and Roni left, and Walt and I headed to Texas Roadhouse for a birthday dinner, and for some cheap Arizona gas. The Trevetts stayed behind. The restaurant was exceptionally busy, but we had a great server, and our food was perfectly prepared. We found gas for $1.99 per gallon with our Smith’s points discount. I was glad to see the Trevetts still at the campfire when we returned. Both Dave and Kirsten are middle school teachers, and I was reminded of how much I miss taking with other middle school teachers. We are a different breed, and the three of us have a LOT in common. We talked until midnight! Probably bored poor Walt to death! Monday Walt and I leisurely finished loading up said good bye to the Trevetts, and caravanned to Blythe where we both took advantage of the city’s very modern and clean dump station. It is among the best I have ever used, and well worth the $7.00 charge. We then had lunch at the Blythe Carl’s Junior, my favorite Carl’s, which happens to have a large easily accessible RV parking lot in the back. We then made a trouble free trip to Kingman. This trip was one of the least stressful I can recall. I don’t really know why, but I guess it was a combination of a productive Friday, the Clean Up, only doing one ride a day, Walt’s birthday, and having the most time I’ve 10

The Rooster

February 2018

had to talk with Dave and Roni, and Dave and Kirsten. I hate to think the lack of stress might be related to the shortness of the trip, only five days. Usually when I get home I’m exhausted and only want to shower and go to bed, but tonight I’m writing this at 10:30, and feel relaxed. President’s Day weekend is less than a month away. I can’t wait, and hope that we can visit with Nicole and make her visit worth her time. Let’s go dunin’!

Plane FOUND! Mission Accomplished! I mentioned in the January newsletter that we would try to find the yellow plane made legendary on the internet. As Jim reported in his article, this search was successful during the New Years trip. Leading the group of side by sides, Mike found the site about a mile South of hill 4. It is West of the Swingset and Flag Pole, but on the West side of a ridge of dunes in a fairly high elevation location. It is in a section of dunes we didn’t travel through very often, although now it has become quite a destination. With the large crowds of dunes attracted to it, it was actually tough to find a parking spot on the busier days. Once we returned home the internet continued its questionable reporting, with some pictures of BLM buggies supposedly removing the plane. Time will tell, but as with any information about this from the internet, I am skeptical… This topic is just perfect to get people online all fired up, and it is easy to post an incorrect statement or altered picture. Time will tell though, so we’ll have to head out there on the Presidents trip.

This month we’d like to thank Jim Kastle for writing about the Christmas / New Years and MLK trips. We would love to have more content, and will print whatever anyone takes the time to write and send in, so please share your trip experiences. If you have 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, and we look forward to your contributions to expand it beyond that. -Paul, Melissa, Allie, and Marshall. 11