Newsletter 0818

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The Rooster

August 2018

THE ROOSTER A monthly update from the Inland Empire Offroad Association

Coral Pink 2018

What’s New We had one of the best trips to Coral Pink ever, with great weather and some rain each day. Read all about it in this month’s newsletter.

CanAm and RZRs Once again the Coral Pink trip was all side by sides, but not all RZR’s this time as Walt brought his CanAm for the first time and throughly enjoyed the extra power.

First Time 4 Seater Another first for this year’s trip was bringing a 4 seat RZR. We borrowed Don and Shirley’s 1000 (which was awesome, thanks guys!) and it did great. We enjoyed riding in it with the kids, but we aren’t trading in the buggy for one just yet.

Tuesday July 10: We set the alarm for 3:30 AM and got ready to head out. We left by 4:20 and were on our way. The new truck pulled the Cajon pass at 55 mph, and then we stopped for fuel and breakfast in Barstow. We had a very easy drive, arriving in Las Vegas after 9:00, and stopping again for much cheaper fuel at the Moapa Indian truck stop North of Vegas. Then we got to Mesquite just after 11:00, and got set up in the RV park. After lunch, we swam at the pool. Marshall and Allie both had a ball. Then I went to the Pawn shop and to cash in coins at the Eureka. We scheduled dinner for 6:00 at the CasaBlanca Cafe, which

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August 2018 gave time for Mike and his friend Pat, Kris and Doug, and Walt to arrive. We had a nice dinner, followed by ice cream and a trip to War Mart for some shopping. Then I played in the casino with my Dad for $20, which lasted about an hour. Then I went to bed about 10:45, where everyone else was asleep in the trailer.

Upcoming Events • July ? - 11: Pre-Coral Pink time in Mesquite. • July 11-20: Coral Pink! This is the best trip of the year for those of us who make it.

Wednesday July 11:

• July 20: Night in Mesquite, NV on our way home.

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We planned breakfast for 9:00 at the cafe, so we got to sleep in a bit. I got up before 7 with the dogs, but everyone else still slept for a while. We started our packing, then met with everyone for breakfast. We decided to leave at 10:45, so we hooked up the truck and loaded up the RZR. We were on the road by 11:00, and had a great trip through the Virgin River Gorge and up to Hurricane. After regrouping alongside the road as we got to Hurricane, we went up the steep hill. The new truck did great, accelerating through the gears all the way up. We stopped at Apple Valley for our traditional break, and Mike changed a trailer tire. Then we left for the last part of the trip to the dunes. As we headed down Cane Bed road, we found that it had been paved where it used to be dirt. This continued all the way to the Utah state line, eliminating a slow rough dirt road, which greatly shortened the trip to the dunes. It was less than 25 minutes from the highway to the park, and it was so smooth. Then we begun fitting the rigs into the campsite, which went very well. Within an hour we had all the rigs in the site, and we figured out how to park the flatbeds so that we could get to any of the pickup trucks without moving anything else. Since it was still early once we were unpacked, we decided to go out to the dunes for a short ride. Allie and Marshall decided to go too, which was made

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possible by Don and Shirley letting us take their 4 seat RZR. We had a nice trip through the lower dunes, watching the clouds in the distance. We took a break and watched the clouds get closer, then headed back to camp. Once we got to camp, it started raining within about 10 minutes. The rest of the night we hung out at the picnic tables and watched the rain and lightning. I didn’t go inside until 10:00, which rounded out a perfect first day at Coral Pink. Thursday July 12: The dogs got me up just about sunrise at 6:40, so we went for our traditional morning walk. It was the first time we didn’t have Diesel with us, so we missed him a little bit. We walked over to the new campground area by the day use parking. It has 9 sites which are fairly level, and each site has water and power at the site. All but two are pull through loops, and those other two are back ins. There aren’t any trees in the area, but it is nice for the park to have another campsite option to attract RVers. We left camp for a ride about 10:15, headed for the Overlook and Shirley’s waterfall. The kids were still sleeping, so I went by myself in the RZR. We had a nice trip to the corral in wet sand, then went up to the overlook where we could see camp. We also had cell service, so we sent texts to Shirley. I also flew the drone and took lots of pictures. Then we went further up the trail, and took a new fork to the right which led to another Y further down the trail. Mike had been studying the trails on Google Earth, and had a pretty good idea where they went. The right fork had short path to a neat overlook facing South with beehive rock formations. After taking pictures there and flying the drone we went back and took the left fork which Mike expected to be a longer trip to an overlook above Kanab. He was right, and the views were impressive. After flying the drone again there, we returned to our original plan and took trail 52 to Shirley’s waterfall. It came up quick once we were on that trail, and we again flew the drone over the edge to check out the undercut rock cliff below. Then we headed back towards the corral, and on the way the clouds got darker and it began to sprinkle a bit. We decided to make a run for it, and moved quickly through the upper dunes. Then as we came down the Disneyland trail we could see it was pouring by camp. Midway through the lower dunes we caught the rain, and soon it began to hail. It was cold and very wet, but didn’t last long. We made it back to camp and covered the cars. It wound up raining most of the rest of the day, and Mike, Pat, Kris, and Doug went to town. We cooked dinner and ate outside as they got back, then we all sat around and watched videos from the day’s epic ride. Everyone was inside by 9:00, since we planned to head out for a 10:00 ride the next day towards the dinosaur tracks.

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Friday, July 13th: I got up with the dogs about 7:00, and took them for our usual walk. I took the big camera with me and played with taking high dynamic range pictures to get the sunrise and the shadows. Jim went for a walk to the meadow and back, while we ate breakfast and got the kids ready for the dinosaur tracks ride. Marshall was excited that Melissa was going, and Allie was excited to go look at tracks. We left right at 10:00, and Mike led us out of the park and through the wash along the paved road. We saw cows right in the middle of the trail, which made Melissa happy. We went past Dixie Knoll and out to the parking area for the Dinosaur tracks. The kids enjoyed the ride, and were excited to look for tracks. It had rained a lot the day before, and there was evidence of there being quite a bit of water in the wash. I flew the drone and got some more shots, then headed back towards camp and the lower corral. We took another break at the lower corral, and flew the drone again. Then we tried to get to the old slot canyon, but climbed out of the wash and into the dunes. When we got back to camp we had lunch while everyone else went to town for lunch. Then we followed them and met up with my parents at the thrift store. We went to the Pawn Shop and Hardware store and then Honey’s, making it a nice day of Kanab shopping. After Ice Cream and WiFi at McDonalds we headed back to camp. On the way in the Ranger mentioned that he almost didn’t recognize us since we got a new truck. He remembered the white Excursion and K9 stickers. We chatted with Rangers Lyle and Dean for a bit, and got Allie a new shirt. Then back in camp everyone else was back from town, and we sat around and talked for the rest of the afternoon. The clouds built up around 7:30 PM, and we could see lightning in the distance. I set up the GoPro to try to catch some lightning, and about 10 minutes later there was a super close bolt of lightning and immediate thunder, which was impressive for all of us. Later I downloaded the video and was impressed at what it showed. We got some rain showers about 8:30, and everyone else was inside before 9:00. Marshall stayed up past 10, but finally fell asleep watching TV so we put him in his bed. Saturday July 14th: I slept in until 8:00, then took the dogs for their walk. We said hi to the campground host, and saw that there was a large group in sites 1 and 2. We did notice the crowds had picked up for the weekend, but we knew they’d believing while we got to stay. Our ride plan for the day was to go to the Thunderbird for lunch. Allie didn’t want to go, so we decided to meet her and Melissa there while Marshall rode with me. We planned to meet up about 2 hurt after we left, but without cell service we couldn’t do much more to let her know when to be there. The ride went well, and we went West of camp towards Dixie Knoll to head towards the Virgin River from that side. Marshall wanted a break before we got to the river, so we stopped and gave him some fruit snacks. Then we continued down to the river. We were glad to see that it wasn’t flowing too 4


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strong after the recent rain, but it was clear that it had been. At about the third crossing point the trail was so eroded that there was about a 5 foot vertical eroded cliff to climb. Some vehicles had already done it, but it was steep. After looking at the options and even flying the drone to check things out, Mike decided to help blaze the path. It took him a few tries, but he made it up and over the hill. Then he came back down and circled around to do it a few more times, hoping to make it better for the rest of us. Next we decided to have Jim try in the 900. He got stuck a couple of times and had to back up, but the third try was the charm and he made it up. Then it was my turn with the four seater. I got stopped and had to back down a couple of times, then got high centered. We hooked Doug onto the the back to pull me backwards, and Marshall got out to wait with Grandpa. I got high centered again, but after another pull and some time spent filling the holes with sticks and rocks and dirt I finally made it over. Everyone else made it up, and we continued up river. Soon we came to another difficult crossing, where it appeared our options were a vertical drop or having to climb through some brush on the other side. Jim tried, but the brush stopped the car. While scouting a path Doug sunk in mud up to almost his knees, and had to pull himself up with a tree branch. We figured out that if we followed the river a little ways we could get to the easier climb on the other side. Jim made it his first try, and then so did Marshall and I. We got video of everyone else making it through. My now it was well after noon and our initially planned meeting time for lunch, but we continued on and were glad to see that the rest of the crossings were less eventful. We all were relieved to see the cabin and zip lines at the other end of the canyon, showing that we had made it to civilization. Just past the cabin we saw some big horn sheep grazing in the meadow, which was impressive. As I got cell service, I got a flash flood warning for the area. I tried to text Melissa, but she had already left the restaurant. The clouds were getting darker and it was starting to sprinkle. We got to the Thunderbird at 2:15 and headed inside. We left trails of dirt clods from the front door to the restroom and to our table in the restaurant. I called the ranger station to let them know we were OK, and Ranger Dean had the camp host let Melissa know. We also got a text from Nancy saying she had been stuck in Kanab because the main road had washed out. We ordered our lunch and then waited a long time for it. When it arrived, it was quite good, but maybe because we were all hungry. We topped it off with pie, and Marshall discovered that he really enjoyed Grandpa’s chocolate creme pie, which he helped him finish. The waitress was particularly bad, and didn’t give anyone the 10% discount she repeatedly said we would get for arriving n OHVs. About 3:30 we were just finishing up our pie when we saw Melissa pull up in the truck. This meant she could take Marshall back to camp, and he wouldn’t be stuck out in the RZR in the rain. She had also brought trash bags and a sweatshirt for us. Kris decided to ride back with her, and they offered Pat a seat too, but she decided to stick it out with Mike. We left the restaurant 5


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about 3:45, then topped off the RZRs with gas and hit the trail. We decided to take a different route back because we didn’t want to be in the river during a flood. We climbed right along the highway towards the dunes from Mt Carmel and saw some impressive cliffs right next to the trail. Then we took trail 40 through the valley towards camp, and saw that it had been eroded significantly by water flow but was generally dry. We made it all the way to the Meadow in about an hour and 20 minutes, and we stayed dry the whole time. We stopped for a break there, and watched a Bull move the wood fence out of his way with his head. Then we took a ride through the dunes and back to camp. We even played a bit, sliding around on the nice wet dunes. When we got to camp, Walt went up to let the rangers know we were back. After leaving just after 10AM we mad it back about 5:45 PM. It was an epic ride. The RZRs were completely covered in mud, so we decided to hose them off in the campsite. We spent a while cleaning them, then had dinner and pie that Melissa had bought at the restaurant while she was waiting for us. Allie and I walked up to the dunes overlook and chatted with the campground hosts, who are from Fredonia but getting ready to move back east to live full time in their RV. We spent the rest of the evening sitting around the computer looking at pictures and reliving our journey. We were inside by 9:30, and when I went to take a shower at 10 there was a large crowd waiting, so I went back to the trailer and took one there. Sunday July 15th: I got up before sunrise and took the dogs out about 6:30. We walked towards the dunes and got some sunrise shots, then walked through the campground. The campground was completely full, and there was even a tent in one of the new RV sites by the day use area. This was our omelette day, so we fired up the burner to heat the water while I sat outside and wrote this report. We brought out ingredients and started making them at 9:00, and had lots of good stuff that people brought to share. After the omelets we got ready for a ride, and Marshall changed his mind at least four times about wether he was going, but he wound up in the RZR, and we headed out the West side of the park again. Mike’s destination was the Barracks overlook, that I had never been to before. Marshall did well, but wanted a break after about 45 minutes. We stopped at a trail junction for a break and he was fine. Then we continued out to the end of the trail, and it was pretty impressive. We were above the Virgin River just downstream from where we crossed it yesterday. I flew the drone and got some impressive shots. Marshall collected a family of pine cones, and named them as a Mommy, a Daddy, a boy, and and an Allie. He held them on the ride back, for which we decided to make it a loop by taking trail 28 towards the meadow. The clouds were starting to build, and Mike asked if we should go for it, but we did. The only issue we had was with Jim’s radio, which didn’t like getting wet when he washed the RZR yesterday and was stuck transmitting. As we neared the Meadow, Marshall wanted another break but we were concerned about the weather. We crossed sand dunes road and decided to stop at the meadow. Marshall 6


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calmed down quickly, and everyone got out their ponchos and rain gear. I gave Marshall some fruit snacks and got him buckled back in. We had another good run through the lower dunes, and we again avoided the rain. We got back to camp and had lunch while we watched the videos. Then the rain came in and we covered the cars and sat around and enjoyed watching it from the picnic tables. Jim tried taking apart his radio, but needed a T-9 torx bit and we couldn’t find one. He decided to go see if he could find one in Kanab, which was a challenge on a Sunday. We just sat around in camp and when the rain ended we walked up to the Ranger station for ice. We chatted with Ranger Franklin and some of the park employees for a while then got the ice. It sprinkled on the way back, but was sunny. We couldn’t find a rainbow, but the temperature sure was nice. In camp Jim got back without a torn bit, but we found one while looking for an allen wrench that might work. We got the radio apart and dried it with a hair dryer, which got it working again. Then Marshall and Allie drove their Power Wheels buggy around the campsite. This provided great entertainment to the onlookers in camp, who particularly enjoyed watching me chase Marshall around. Marshall knows how to shift into high gear, but hasn’t mastered steering yet, so it can be exciting. I also pulled a tire off the trailer, because it had gone flat while parked in the site. Then we sat around until about 9:00 watching videos until everyone went inside. I tried to take anther shower at the restrooms, but met Mike and a crowd of about 10 people waiting. I decided to again shower at the trailer, and watched TV with the kids before going to bed. Monday July 16th: This morning Allie got up to walk the dogs with me, and we went out about 7:30. Allie enjoyed seeing the service road and a deer skeleton. We went up to the dunes overlook and walked on the nature trail. Then we went back to camp and got ready to go to St George for the day so that Melissa could do the payroll for work. We left camp about 8:40, and were to the McDonalds in Hurricane just after 9:30. The paved road was great, but did have a significant amount of sand washed over it in some places from the recent rain. We got breakfast and used their WiFi, and the kids really enjoyed playing in the new play area they had just opened. We stayed there for an hour and a half and she got her work all done. I took the trailer tire in, and they couldn’t repair it but replaced it because I had the certificates from America’s tire. With that done we went to some Pawn Shops and the Cal Ranch store. I also got Diesel fuel for $2.99 a gallon. We headed back to camp about 7:00 and got there a little after 8:00. We found along the ay that the road had been washed over in multiple places, including the creek that we often ride in on RZR rides. We spent the rest of the evening talking about the day, and the nice ride the RZRs had to the bee hive and other areas on the other side of sand dunes road. They had made it back before the rain, and when they went in to Kanab had seen a lot of water damage, including some really hard hail that collected along the roadside. We went inside about 9:40, and the campground was much quieter than it had been since some of the crowds had left. The plan for the next day was to ride in the dunes, which I was looking forward to since I really do love those dunes. Tuesday July 17th: I got up and took the dogs for a walk about 7:30, and noticed how the campground was much quieter. I got out the computer and sorted pictures while eating my donuts for breakfast. I got ready for the dune ride, and we left before 10:00. When we got to the corral, we saw that a big tree had fallen blocking the easier

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path between the dunes and the corral. We had to turn around and head back up to avoid cutting through the closed area next to the fallen tree. Then we headed down the Disneyland trail, but at the bottom it was washed out and there was a 2 plus foot deep crevice down the middle. During the break there I flew the drone and got some great shots of the storm damage. We looked at crossing the washout, but wound up turning around and heading all the way back up the trail. Then we went down by the meadow and through the dunes back to camp. Once back at camp, Jim and Walt headed for Kanab while Melissa, the kids and I went towards Hurricane to check out Sand Hollow. We stopped at the antique store and found some cool toys for the kids, and then they went and played in the water splash pad at the city park. Then we went to Sand Hollow, which is a Utah state park a few miles from Hurricane with a lake for boating and similar colored sand to Coral Pink. They even have the same type of ranger station building, but they see a lot more visitors than Coral Pink does. They have an on site vendor with a store and restaurant, where you can also rent ATVs and/ or boats. We checked out the different campgrounds there, many of which have power at the individual campsites, which is good because it tends to be a lot hotter there than at Coral Pink. We had a nice dinner of hamburgers at the restaurant, then headed home just as the thunderstorm started. We had hard rain through Hurricane and Colorado City, but had no issues with the road being washed out. We got to camp about 7:45 and chatted with Ranger Lyle for a while about the Ranger who moved from Coral Pink to Sand Hollow who used to know us and liked our fancy sandrails. In camp we heard about how it had rained and hailed hard at least twice in camp, continuing our trend of having rain every day. We looked at ride videos with Jim and Walt for a while, then went to take a shower about 9:30 and to bed by 10. We had plans to get up and head to breakfast by 8AM tomorrow. Wednesday July 18th: I got up about 7:00 with the dogs and just took them around the campground loop so I could be back to get everything ready for the group picture. I got the camera and tripod set up so that we could get everybody just before we got in the trucks to head to breakfast at 8:00. The pictures went well, and Marshall was running around being himself. Then we headed to the Thunderbird for breakfast, slightly concerned that we’d have the same slow waitress from lunch a few days before. When we got the re we were all seated together, and the old waitress wasn’t around. Vanessa, one of the managers waited on us, and we mentioned the issues we had before. She was aware of the issue, and promised to make it right this time and she did. Everyone had a great breakfast, and the service was great too this time, and we got the 10% discount we had missed out on before. After breakfast Melissa and I went to check on the Zion Ponderosa campground for a friend of mine from the train, and everyone else headed back to camp. We found that the campground was up in the hills near Zion, but quite far off the main road. We met up back in camp and decided to head to the shooting range, which we always enjoy but didn’t get to do last year. 8


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Mike, Doug, Pat and Kris joined Walt, Jim and I, and we had a great time. It was a particular treat to get to shoot Mike’s 44 Magnum Rifle, by far the biggest gun I have ever shot. After shooting it was time for Ice Cream, so we went in to Kanab. We also mailed a care package to Don and Shirley, who we were missing. Then we went back to camp and while Mike and Pat did some more exploring around town the rest of us went for a RZR ride through the dunes. We had some light sprinkles while on the ride, continuing our streak of having some precipitation every day. We took a break near the dead tree we used to take pictures on, and got some great drone shots of the dunes and surrounding cliffs. We went back to camp for dinner, and sat outside watching videos from the ride. We were treated to a light show with awesome lightning in the distance around camp, but no more rain that night. I flew the drone and got some neat lightning shots from the air. I didn’t go in until after 10:00, which wrapped up what might have been a perfect Coral Pink day, and definitely one of my best duning days ever. Thursday July 19th: I got up about 6:45 to take the dogs for our usual walk, and then worked on pictures and writing about the trip. I also got the RZR fueled and ready for the ride, which we had planned for 9AM since we were going to the Peek A Boo slot canyon, which is usually a long trip. We left shortly after 9, and headed through the dunes to the corral. Then we continued out to the road, and on trails to the trailhead, which took an hour and ten minutes. We saw some commercial tours meeting clients and heading out to take them to the slot canyon, which is a few miles from the paved highway. We headed out in the RZRs, and went slightly off to the right and got to explore a different river bed, which actually had flowing water. When we turned around it didn’t take long to get up to the right trail, and then we stopped to explore the slot canyon. It was largely unchanged from last year, but Mike noticed that one large piece of wood that used to be above us had washed down and was in the floor of the canyon now. From there we decided to look for new trails on that side of the highway headed to the Thunderbird. We followed trail 106 and its many lettered variants, and basically followed the highway toward Mt Carmel. We crossed the highway part way down the hill, and then et up with a trail we took home earlier in the week, which led us to a good lunch at the Thunderbird. The waitress was great, one that we’ve had before in years past. After some really enjoyable burgers, followed by pie, we headed home. We saw the clouds were building, so we avoided the river canyon and took trail 40 home. On our way the rain was basically chasing us, and we got some light sprinkles which were enough to help cool down the temperature nicely. We didn’t take any breaks on the way home, sine we thought we would get wet if we did. We made it back to camp about 4:00, having 9


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completed over 62 miles of riding. We sat around and relived the epic ride, than Melissa, Marshall, Jim and I decided to go to Kanab for one more meal, a dinner at the Junction burger place that we hadn’t been to yet. While we were on the ride Nancy and Allie went to St. George to see a play and spend the night before meeting back up with us in Mesquite on the next day. Our dinner was great, and we bought some bread and diesel fuel before heading back. We got back about 7:45, and it was starting to rain in camp. We worked on starting the process of packing up by moving Jim’s trailer and loading the back of my truck. Then I sat and worked on putting together pictures and videos for the Rangers. I finally went inside about 10:00, and it was still raining. It was another great day, and the long ride completed the riding very nicely. Friday July 20th: I got up with the dogs about 6:30 so we could do our last walk and then continue packing up. It had rained most of the night, but was a beautiful morning. Packing went very well, and we had most of the outside stuff picked up and put away by 8:30. Then we moved the flatbed trailers so that we could move Mike’s trailer at 9, followed by Kris and Doug’s motorhome. It all went well, and we got the rigs out of camp very quickly. We all stopped by the dump station and met up at the day use parking. We went and delivered some newsletters and a flash drive with 32GB of pictures and video to the Rangers, and saw that they just got a new order of clothes, including a new logo with a RZR on it. They hadn’t even been unpacked yet though, so we told Ranger Franklin that we’d wait until next year to get one. We pulled out of the park at 9:51, and had an easy trip down the now paved cane beds road. We got to Hurricane at 10:47, and pulled in to Mesquite right at noon. They again tried to give us a space the trailer wouldn’t fit in, but the lady at the desk fixed it and we got space 44, on the far end but with nice access to back in. Marshall had finally fallen asleep as we got off the freeway, so he slept until about 2:00. In the mean time Allie and Nancy got there, but we heard that their play had been rained out the night before. They till had a fun time on their own in St. George, and Allie handled it great. We went to the pool just after 2, and swam until about 3:30. Then we went for a drive to check out the pawn shop, where we got a couple more Craftsman tools. We met for dinner at the cafe at 6:00, where we celebrated Melissa’s birthday. I feel bad for her because it is such a busy day and we couldn’t do much special for her, but it was neat that we got to do something. After dinner we went in search of cake, because everyone should have cake on their birthday! We found that Smiths had a lot to choose from, so we tried individual size pieces of three different flavors. Then we got the kids settled down and I went up to the casino to play Video Poker with my Dad for a while. I earned some players club points and made $10 last about an hour and a half, so I was happy. Then I came back to the trailer and went to sleep. Saturday July 21st: I got up just before 6:00 because Ratchet wanted out, so we went or a nice walk around the neighborhoods around the resort. We saw Kris and Doug pull out, since they were getting an early start on the trip back. We had breakfast planned with Walt and my parents at the buffet for 8:30. It was a nice

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breakfast, with made to order omelets and waffles. After breakfast we said bye to Walt and went to pack the trailer up. It went pretty fast, and we were on the road by about 10:00. We caught up to Walt and followed him until he turned off to bypass Vegas by going through the Overton arm of Lake Mead. We stayed on the freeway, since we planned to get fuel at the Moapa Indian reservation. As we got there a window had blown open in my parents trailer, so they pulled doff as well. We could see the line of blowing sand in the distance, and it approached as we got off the freeway. As I was fueling we got a wind storm warning on our phones, and the wind blew so hard that we couldn’t see the trucks across the parking lot. Once I was done filling up I went over to where my parents had parked and helped my Dad screw the window shut, because it didn’t seen that tape would hold it. We waited a while for the wind to die down, and Melissa made sandwiches in the trailer to save for later. After about 15 minutes it seemed better, so we all got on the freeway. It was definitely still windy, but not terrible. We did have a gust blow open our outside shower door, even though it was locked. We pulled dover at the Apex offramp to secure it and then continued on uneventfully through Las Vegas to Jean. My parents had some rain as they crossed the river, but made it home fine. In Jean we stopped to stretch our legs and let the dogs walk, and we ate our sandwiches. They built the World’s Largest Chevron (according to the sign) with 96 fuel pumps and 60 restrooms. It is a far cry from the vacant lot where we often have stopped. We continued on our way and the truck did a great job, cresting the Baker grade at 60 miles per hour. We filled up with fuel just before Barstow at the new travel center, and then had dinner in Victorville with John and Anna. We got home about 7:30, completing the 1320 mile trip with an average of 10.5 miles per gallon, which probably would have been much better if I didn’t put my foot as far into it seeing how the rig would do… It was an awesome Coral Pink trip, and I can’t wait for many more. P.J.

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Angels in The Outfield By Mike Bacon My Mom is a big Angels fan so we try to get to at least a couple games every year. This year she wanted to do something special. She was thinking about renting one of the boxes at the stadium and while looking it up online found they have Dugout Boxes available. A Dugout Box is located at the same level as the players dugout between the players dugout and right behind home plate. She was able to reserve a Dugout Box for the game against the Blue Jays on Friday the 22nd of June! The box holds ten people. It has a room where you can sit in air-conditioned comfort and watch the game of closed circuit TV. You order food beforehand and it is catered during the game. It also has its own private bathroom! If you want to be close to the action you walk out of the room and up a few steps to the seating area which has ten padded seats right at eye level to the ground. The Angels on deck batter stood just to our left. It was a very unique perspective! My Mom had invited my friend Pat and me, plus AJ and Lameah and some of my cousins. It was an exciting game, including the time the on deck batter spit his gum out right in front of us! We had a great time, especially since the Angels won, and can’t wait to go back again! 

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Coral Pink Crossword Answers 2018:

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The Rooster

August 2018

This month we’d like to thank everyone who has joined in on a Coral Pink trip, and let everyone know that the 25 anniversary trip is just about 50 weeks away, so you can start making your plans now. Thanks again to Don and Shirley for letting us borrow the RZR for an awesome trip. We’d also like to thank Mike Bacon for writing an article, and encourage everyone else to do the same. 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. 14


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