The Rooster
May 2017
THE ROOSTER A monthly update from the Inland Empire Offroad Association
What’s New The season is almost over, but we have had a great time and are still looking forward to Dumont, Coral Pink, and more.
Easter? at Glamis We had a nice early Spring Break Glamis trip, even though the group had headed home by Easter weekend.
Glamis Early Easter April 6-13, 2017 by Jim Kastle Nancy and I left home Thursday the 6th about 8:15 AM and soon received texts from PJ and Walt that they were also en route. We had little traffic, but expected PJ, Melissa, Allie and Marshall to beat us. As we neared Blythe we saw that they were eating in Brawley and figured if we didn't stop for lunch, we could get there about the same time. We arrived before them and and found Mike, Don and Shirley, and Jerry and Linda already there. As we were setting up the fifth wheel, PJ and family arrived. It was the first time in a long time they arrived during the day. Walt soon
Dumont is Next The season isn’t over yet! We have one fast weekend left to go, from May 5-7 at Dumont.
New Toys Dale Downsworth has upgraded to a sequential transmission in his and Rebecca’s sandrail. It should be impressive and strong.
followed, with the birds and the buggy. I got the buggy box and yellow trailers from storage for the last time this season. We spent the rest of the day setting up camp and waiting for John and Anna who arrived shortly after dark. Allie loved the way we parked, with Allie between her grandmas. She called it a "grandma sandwich". With her being the meat, and grandmas the
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May 2017
bread. She made good use of the convenient location, making many trips between the trailers all trip. I don't think anyone went for a ride Thursday, but the RZR's may have. We had a campfire.
Upcoming Events • April 6-17, 2017: Easter week (and more) at Glamis, Wash 6. (Easter Sunday is April 16)
Friday we awoke to find Ray and Janice had arrived overnight. We asked Walt about his new electric power steering, and found it worked at home, but was not working now. We were
• May 4-7th: Dumont Weekend. We have had some amazing Dumont trips over the last few years, and this one should be great as well. Come out for a fast ending to the regular dune season.
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curious, and found a fuse had blown. PJ did some online research, and found GM uses a 60 amp fuse in their power steering, whereas Walt had a 20 amp. We installed a 30 amp, and it blew. We needed heavier wire and a bigger fuse. John offered to sacrifice his jumper cables, and we found twin fuse holders in the yellow trailer, and soon made a heavy duty cable with twin 30 amp fuses, netting a 60 amp rating. With the new cable the power steering worked great. Four buggies went for a ride, but the lighting conditions were terrible, making it very difficult to see any details in the terrain. We heard the RZR's were suffering the same poor lighting. Dean and his grandson Taylor arrived Friday evening, as did Brianna and Matthew. We had a campfire. Saturday morning the buggies went for ride with Brianna riding with John, Matthew with PJ, and Taylor with Dean. Dean's car started missing after a hard run up Olds. We returned to camp and tried to fix it, but had no luck. We rode again with 2
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May 2017
Taylor riding with Walt, and Dean with me. We had a pretty good ride, then John called on the radio that Walt had stopped. It turned out he lost a CV, in a most inopportune spot. It took quite a while to remove the axles so we could tow it. We weren't sure we could make it out of the bowl we were in, but John hooked up to him and seemingly with very little effort towed the car with Walt and Taylor in it out of the bowl. It was impressive. PJ and I spent quite a bit of time scouting out a route back to camp, and finally decided there was no great way, but planned a way out via a valley west of Osborne to the sand highway. It wasn't a great route, but John and his car did a great job and towed it all the way to camp. The RZR's were monitoring our radio conversation, and were willing to help if we needed it. The radios really make it easy for the two rides to keep in contact. Back in camp we spent quite a bit of time working on Dean's car, and diagnosed it as having 3 clogged fuel injectors. We tried our best, but were unable to fix it. At least we know what is wrong. Later when PJ got home he found he had three sets of Shortstar fuel injectors from his string of engine failures. He eagerly donated a set to Dean. Allie rode her quad, without PJ following with the leash. She did a great job. We spent some time reorganizing the yellow trailer. We made a dedicated wood bin, and replaced the old file boxes with new stronger plastic storage boxes. It got too windy for a campfire. Sunday morning I woke up early to set up for the omelet boil. I walked outside, and saw that everything, pots filled with water, burners hooked up to propane, tables, EVERYTHING! was set up. PJ got up earlier and did it all. THANK YOU KID! The breakfast was well attended and enjoyed by all. Ray and Janice offered RZR seats to Dean and Taylor. We went on a combined RZR and buggy ride. The lighting conditions were again pretty bad, but Mike did a great job and led us all to the swing 3
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May 2017
set and beyond. Back in camp John led us in another yellow trailer improvement project in which we (well mostly John, with a little help from the rest of us) made a tire rack to make room for Allie's quad, which made its first trip of the year on this the last trip of the year. It will be there every trip next year thanks to John's efforts. After another Allie quad ride, PJ and his crew loaded up and headed home. Mike led us on another combined ride to the swing set. John was having fun taking wide turns and sliding all over the place. Back in Wash 6 John took off and made some fast slides, he made a mistake, however, and hit a kiddie track at speed, breaking off his left front wheel, and destroying his left front A arms. He three wheeled it back to camp where he had another set of A arms in the yellow trailer. Nancy and I headed off to Yuma and Texas Roadhouse, and when we got back to camp the car was back in one piece. Monday morning Dean and Taylor headed home and I took the RZR off the trailer and swapped on the paddles in preparation for some RZRing. I then loaded up the buggy and Nancy and I headed home. I planned to return that evening for a few days of RZRing. Part way home I got a text from Walt saying he found my gas cap. That meant I had loaded the fully fueled buggy in the trailer, with no gas cap. We stopped, and there was wet fuel 4
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May 2017
everywhere, a recipe for disaster. I carry a spare fuel cap and installed it. After letting the trailer air out for a while, we closed it up and finished the trip home. At home I immediately opened up the trailer to further air it out, and I could hear something dripping. It turns out my fuel line had sprung a leak, and seven gallons of gas had spilled in the trailer! It easily could have caught fire. Had I not received Walt's text, I might have left the trailer and returned to Glamis! I PUSHED the buggy from the trailer and hosed out the trailer with a garden hose. A terrible thing to do to a finished buggy box, but I had to do something to get the gas out. I replaced the fuel line and put the buggy in the garage. Due to the delay, I decided not to head back to Glamis until morning. I left home early Tuesday and was black at Wash 6 by 11:00. John and Anna, and Ray and Janice were gone, and Don and Shirley, and Jerry and Linda were loaded up. Don lost a truck tire Monday night on the way back from Texas Roadhouse, and had to go to Yuma before heading home. Don, Jerry, and Linda went to Yuma for tires and lunch. Walt, in his just-repaired buggy followed me in the RZR on a short ride to the bowls near Comp. With just two vehicles, and me in a RZR leading, the ride was quite mellow (I'd rather call it mellow than SLOW!) Back in camp we all enjoyed a campfire. Wednesday morning the Tranthams and the Fords headed home, and Walt and I went for another ride to the big bowls. Again, caution was king, but we managed a few 50 MPH runs around the very smooth, well-lit bowls. It would have been fun with more vehicles. We returned to camp and were both ready to leave at about the same time. We caravanned to Carl's Junior in Blythe, which has great RV parking and pretty good food. We then continued to Kingman, with a quick stop to change one of Walt's trailer tires. I really can't believe how fast this Glamis season passed. I had a great time and love the friendship the club provides. Don't forget Dumont, Coral Pink, and if we can get others to go, the Cinders at Flagstaff. Post on the club website if you plan any river trips and want company. We'll start next season with an early October trip to Dumont, usually Columbus Day weekend which would be October 6-9, but we'll post a confirmed date as it gets closer. Let's keep dunin'!
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May 2017
Don Ford’s 80th Birthday By Shirley Ford
Don and I would like to thank everyone that came to celebrate Don's 80th birthday party. It was absolutely awesome. He had a great time. He dance ( and yes I danced too and had a ball) and laughed and at times came close to tears. Now does that sound like Don. Especially when Bob Keirns gave his speech. We know Bob came close to tears.
The 50's outfits were outstanding. The men's were easy.Some even had leather jackets. White T-shirts with a pack of cigarettes rolled up in there sleeves Levis the cuffs turned up. And of course some could still comb there hair in a DA. The ones old enough to know what a DA is. What blew our mind was John Cole winning the bubble gum blowing contest. One of our granddaughters Alexys winning the hula hoop contest and what wasn't fair was my cousin Paul winning the 50's trivia contest. He got nine out 10 right. Back in the day he had a rock and roll band. Of course he knew the answers. Our grandson and his girlfriend and her 2 children and our 2 great-grandchildren flew in from Florida. Our grandson and his wife and great-grand daughter, from Flagstaff, my 96 yr aunt came from Lake Elsinore. It was a surprise for her also. She had no idea where so was going. She just knew it was sure taking them a long time to get where ever they were going. My cousin Paul said she hasn't laughed like she did in a long long time. Well lets put it this way, there were a lot of nieces and nephews Don's sister they came from all over. And a whole lot of great great friends. My daughter Donnette did a fantastic job all by herself arranging the whole event from northern California. -Shirley
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May 2017
More of Don’s Birthday Party Pics: It is great that so many people attended Don’s birthday celebration, and many were from the club. Thanks to Don and Shirley for inviting everyone and putting on such a fun event and to Janice for sending pictures live from the event.
This month we’d like to thank Shrilly Ford for writing about Don’s birthday party and Jim Kastle for writing about the Glamis trip. Feel free to send in updates about whatever you are up to this summer. We all enjoy the variety, and it helps make sure there is something interesting to fill the newsletter with when there aren’t as many trips to report on. We can’t wait to hear from you and to see everybody soon. -Paul, Melissa, Allie, and Marshall.
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