The Rooster
November 2016
THE ROOSTER A monthly update from the Inland Empire Offroad Association
Whats New The season has officially started! We had a great trip to Dumont and are looking forward to Anza and then Glamis for Halloween in the next few weeks.
Anza Spook Run
Dumont Sept 29 - Oct 2 2016 A complicated weekend By Jim Kastle I arrived at Dumont Thursday around 1:00 P.M., and found Steve Sturm at the prearranged spot, near restroom 10. I started to unload, and Steve soon came out and invited me into his air conditioned motor home. We spent most of the afternoon talking, and were soon joined by Walt. We left the coolness of the motor home, and finished unloading and setting up camp. We went for
Mike Bacon will once again be hosting the Mona Bacon Memorial Spook Run and Wheenie Roast. Read more on page 5.
Thanksgiving is Coming The first big trip of the season is less than a month away, and many of us will be heading for Glamis and camping at Wash 6 for Thanksgiving. We will have the traditional pot luck Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday night.
the first of several good rides, with Steve and me in our buggies. Walt stayed in camp and finished unloading and setting up. The
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The Rooster
November 2016 ride had the first of many of the weekend’s complications when I ran out of gas, having forgotten to fuel before the ride. Walt had been listening on the radio, and volunteered to bring me some gas. Walt was buggy-less this trip, wanting to repair the buggy trans before using the buggy again, so he loaded up a can of fuel in his RZR and delivered it to us. In a further complication, I still couldn’t get the buggy to run, so Steve towed me back to camp. We worked on my car and finally got it running after replacing a fuel filter. Steve invited us to a smoked rib dinner. The ribs were wonderful! Certainly better than my planned Subway sandwich. Steve lit a campfire and we sat around it for quite a while. We had heard that Ray and Janice would arrive around 9:00, but by 10:00 they were not there yet so we retired for the night.
Upcoming Events • October 22: Mona Bacon Memorial Poker Run at Anza • October 24-31: Halloween at Glamis, Wash 6. • November 10-14: Glamis for Veterans Day, see Mike Bacon. • November 18-28: Thanksgiving at Glamis, Wash 6, with pot luck on Nov 24. • December 23 (or so) - January 3rd, 2017: Christmas / New Years at Glamis, Wash 6
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Friday morning I awoke to find Ray and Janice in camp, unloading. We went for a ride. The only complication was Ray’s RZR breaking a belt. The field repair was made a little more complicated by the new, slightly bigger shocks added to Ray and Janices’s RZR’s over the summer. It is now necessary to remove the left rear shock to remove the clutch cover to allow the belt to be changed. We used the jack I carry on my buggy to support the RZR while the shock was off. Yes Bobby, my jack worked! After the ride we sat around camp until a late afternoon ride, and as I recall it was uneventful. John and Anna arrived shortly after sunset, with Barry and Terry about an hour behind them. Barry and Terry’s drive out was complicated when the headlights on the motor home mysteriously turned off on the (very dark) road between Baker and Dumont. P.J., Melissa, Allie, and Marshall, with the new trailer arrived around 1:00 A.M.
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The Rooster
November 2016
Saturday morning P.J. and Melissa gave tours of the new trailer, longer and wider than the old one with three axles and nearly twice the weight capacity of the old trailer. P.J. reports that despite its size, the trailer towed beautifully. It has much more room, greatly easing packing and unpacking. More importantly, Melissa loves it. We went for a ride with all the vehicles, 4 buggies and 3 RZR’s. Back in camp, P.J.’s complication was the boot on a brand new CV had come loose, requiring removal, cleaning, and repacking. During the process we managed to lose a ball on the other CV on that side, requiring more work, complicated by a problem with an adapter P.J. has to run due to his trans having 934 flanges. He had to replace the adapter, making what should have been a 1 hour repair into a complicated 3 hour ordeal. He stuck with it, though, and we went for a sunset ride. On this ride it was Janice’s turn for a complication, and she lost a belt. Again, my jack held up the RZR. When we fired up to go, another complication, my car wouldn’t start. John, Barry, and P.J jumped right in and ended up hotwiring it to get back to camp. We had our now traditional carne asada burrito potluck. It was outstanding. Thanks to John for manning the grill, and to everyone for their contributions. At the campfire Ray and Janice prepared apple cherry cobbler, but in keeping with the theme of the weekend, there was a complication. In an attempt to hurry the baking, it burned badly. Not to worry, they had the fixings to make a peach cobbler; it was wonderful, as always. Sunday morning John and P.J. started working on my car, and after working on it for nearly an hour, discovered I had pulled a wire loose in removing the jack the night before. Reattaching the wire and reconnecting all the stuff they did to get me back to camp took another half hour, delaying our morning ride. Ray had another complication with his clutch on the way back Saturday night, and was unable to take his RZR on the ride. After much coaxing, he agreed to ride with John, in the BUGGY.
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The Rooster
November 2016
On the ride we were having a pretty good time when Barry noticed John had lost a CV boot. Yep, another complication. We were stopped while John reattached the boot, when two 1000 RZR’s pulled up and asked if they could follow us, as they were having trouble with visibility in the late morning sun (their complication.) We said sure and they brought up the rear. I found out later Ray told John that the RZR’s were going to overheat or lose a belt in an attempt to keep up. Of course, when someone wants to join our ride, I try a little harder (well OK, a LOT harder) to keep a fast pace. Remember, Walt was in his 800 RZR, and was able to keep up using his driving skill and an occasional short cut. It had to drive the new guys nuts! After half an hour or so, they had dropped out. I felt the need to check on them, and they soon rejoined us for a while. When they dropped out a second time we again went looking for them, and found them stopped in the dunes. They reported that the first time, one of them had a complication when the RZR overheated, so they slowed down for a while, and then they had to stop because of an additional complication, one lost a belt! Ray and John chuckled over that. They said they’d be fine and one would tow the other out of the dunes. When they tried, they moved about 3 feet and got stuck, another complication. Steve offered to tow the broken RZR, but wasn’t able to get it out. Damn complications! Barry hooked up and following P.J., towed them to our camp. They were camped at Little Dumont and were able to tow from our camp to theirs. We packed up and caravanned to the Mad Greek for the traditional end of trip feast. P.J. reported that despite a pretty strong crosswind between Dumont and Baker, the Excursion handled the bigger trailer very well. The others headed south, while I headed north. Everyone made it home with no further complications. We plan on doing Dumont trip at the end of the season. I hope it’s not a complicated as this one was! Mike’s annual Mona Bacon Memorial Poker Run and Wheenie Roast, Camp RZR, and Thanksgiving are just around the corner. I look forward to seeing everyone.
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The Rooster
November 2016
Friday : Night ride through the canyons Saturday: Poker Run, Closest To The Pin Contest, Hot Dog Roast
Come out and tour the wonders of Ocotillo Wells! It will be fun and challenging! Get your swings ready! Closest To the Pin Contest on Saturday afternoon! Prizes will be awarded to the best, and worst poker hands, as well as many others! We have many unique, interesting prizes! We are going back to awarded prizes, however prize donations are very welcome! Saturday night will be a pot-luck Hot Dog Wheenie Roast. Hot Dogs and Buns will be supplied. Please bring your favorite side dishes to share!
Salton City Golf Course is located approximately 1 mile west of Hwy 86 off the Borrego Salton Seaway/ Hwy S-22. From Hwy 86 turn west on to Borrego Salton Seaway/S-22 at the AM-PM Truck Stop. Go approximately 1 mile to Sunrise Drive and turn Left. Follow Sunrise Drive 1/2 mile to the end and turn right on Saundra St. Follow Saundra St. 1/4 mile to Desiree St and turn Right. Go 100 yards on Desiree St to Laura St and turn Left. Follow Laura St down the hill about 1/4 mile to the end. At the turn continue going straight up on to the dirt. Camp will be straight ahead about 50 yards, next to the trees. For you GPS freaks, the coordinates are: 33 15.942’ N—115 59.371’ W. People will start arriving on Friday morning. Hope to see you there! Any questions please call Mike Bacon at 951-315-7351.
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The Rooster
November 2016
Blurred Lines Everyone in the group is aware of the growing rivalry between the RZRs and the buggies, but Greg Cottrell (of Rugged Radios) has put together a pair of RZRs that could fit in either group. First, he built the Baja RZR, which debuted at the 2015 Sand Sports Super Show. Now, he has followed it up with the Beach Buggy RZR. Both of these started out as RZR 1000s, and through a bunch of fabrication work turned into the custom vehicles you see here. What a cool way to advertise your business to the diverse off road community, and make something lots of people will be talking about.
Whether you prefer the Baja style or the Manx Fiberglass buggy, these small scale cars definitely make you look twice. They both retain the RZR drivetrain and 4WD, but get a performance boost from aftermarket turbos. These are so nicely built that both the buggy and RZR groups would be proud to claim them.
This month we’d like to thank Jim Kastle for writing about the Dumont trip and Mike Bacon for contributing a flyer and organizing the spook run. If you have more to share, please write it up and send it in for use in the coming months. Sharing your trips with the group helps make sure you’ll have someone to ride with. Please feel free to write up whatever rides or activities you have been up to. We can’t wait to see everybody in the dunes. -Paul, Melissa, Allie, and Marshall.
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