Newsletter0315

The Rooster March 2015

MLK Cleanup / Quartzsite January 15-23 by Jim Kastle!Nancy and I left the house about 9 o'clock with the fifth wheel and razor In tow. We stopped for a two-for-one breakfast buffet at the Edgewater and then proceeded to Glamis. We arrived at an empty

wash six around 3 o'clock. We picked a spot that seemed to be near where we've been camping and within 15 minutes Jerry and Linda Trantham arrived. Jerry and I went and got the yellow trailer. Bobby Amador soon arrived and I did a makeshift attachment of the strobes to the fifth wheel. Jerry helped Bobby get the second trailer from storage and we had a campfire. Nancy and I returned to the trailer and we heard a knock on the door and found Walt had arrived.

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Whats New

There was a good turnout for the MLK weekend trip, and this newsletter comes out right before another long trip to the dunes for Presidents day.

Dumont in Bill

Dianne Feinstein has proposed an amendment to the 1994 California Desert Protection Act that would designate Dumont Dunes and four other areas as permanent Off-Highway Vehicle recreation areas. Read more on Page 5.

RZR Update

In a strange turn of events, there were some part failures on side by sides this month. I guess any dune machines that get that much use will break eventually…

THE ROOSTER A monthly update from the Inland Empire Offroad Association


!Friday morning I awoke to find Ray and Janice arrived overnight. Steve Sturm soon arrived. Bobby and Steve went for a buggy ride. Jerry, Walt, Ray, Janice, and I went for a RZR ride. Ray lead a good fast ride. At one point I hit a bump rather hard and dislodged my hood. We took a break and I discovered I had also slightly bent a tie rod. We resumed the ride and before long, I heard an odd noise from the back of my RZR and soon the belt broke. With everyone's help, we soon had the belt replaced. But I noticed two rollers on my clutch had worn out. Ray carefully led us back to camp. I consulted with Mike and we decided I should try the Polaris dealer in El Centro for the parts. Nancy and I drove to El Centro and found they don't stock the part. I found a similar problem a couple of months ago when I adjusted my valves. No Polaris dealer stocks the needed shims. I am furious that Polaris makes little effort to support owners after they purchase a RZR.

While we were on the RZR ride, Don and Shirley and her cousin Caroline and Caroline's friend Sandra, Mike Bacon, and Ray and Janice's friend Vic arrived. While we were on our trip to El Centro the RZRs went for a ride with Caroline riding with Mike, and Sandra riding with Janice. At the campfire Ray provided some entertainment with Jiffy Pop, but nothing to compare to last trip's performance. We retired to the fifth wheel, which we are really enjoying having back in the dunes, for the night. It's right now 5:00 AM Saturday and I just ordered the parts needed for my RZR. An aftermarket supplier has them in stock for less than half of what the dealer could order them for, but he is in Tennessee. I should still get them as soon as I would if I had ordered them from the local dealer.

A.J. and girlfriend Alex arrived in A.J.'s new-to-him 1984 Ford towing Mike's old Weekend Warrior. Inside were his and her quads, the first quad A.J. Has ridden in twenty years, and the first

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Upcoming Events

• February 12-23rd: Presidents Week at Glamis.

• March 15th: Sand Sports Super Swap Meet at the Orange County Fairgrounds.

• Mid March: Perhaps there will be a weekend trip? Post it online if you want to go.

• March 27-April 6: Easter Week, possibly at Buttercup?

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quad Alex has ever ridden. They went on some quad rides, and followed along on some RZR rides.

Saturday morning Kim and Steve, and her parents Terry and Leslie had arrived. Many of us signed up for the cleanup. We spent the morning cleaning up the area near the washes. We then went to the lunch and raffle. For the first time ever, they ran out of food, but not until everyone had firsts, but very few got seconds. They said that the turnout for the clean ups has been decreasing, and I guess they cut back on food. I hope the lack of a surplus of food doesn't further deter participation next year. There were plenty of Monster Drinks in a variety of

favors, including low carb versions. They had lots of prizes. Polaris donated several light bars and RZR accessories, there were lots of goody bags with a variety of items provided by Monster Energy Drinks, Gilmore ATV from the flats,and Walmart and other vendors. Kawasaki donated some backpacks. The lady who has run the raffle for the last few years did so again in a very efficient, but humorless, manner. IEOR did OK with Jerry, Don, Caroline, and me winning goody bags, and Sandra winning a helmet. Back in camp there was a RZR ride, but I have no details.

20 of us went to Mama Jeannie's. In honor of Walt's birthday Jeannie brought out 3 pies, one apple, one pecan, and one pumpkin, along with whipped cream. I had way too much pie, because I couldn't decide between apple and pecan. It was great and appreciated by all of us. We especially enjoyed Jeannie's visit, as she actually had time to sit with us for a while.

We had a campfire where Ray and Janice broke in their new Dutch oven by cooking some peach cobbler. It took just about an hour and the result was the best cobbler I've ever had, let alone the best ever cooked over a campfire. Janice promised an encore Sunday night with pineapple upside down cake, and brownies to celebrate Ray's birthday. It's Sunday morning as I type this, and today promises to be a good food day with omelettes in the morning, and Dutch oven desserts at the campfire.

The omelette boil was a success with lots of different ingredients: onions, sautéed and diced; several types of sausage; different cheeses; bell peppers, sliced or diced ham; hash browns; beans; salsa; tobasco; and others I don't recall. We are going to do at least one more omelette boil at President's Day. Three of Ray's friends made it to camp just in time for omelettes, and thought Ray was kidding when he told them about our omelettes. They were pleasantly surprised. After breakfast there was a big RZR ride with all the RZR's but mine going, along with A.J. and Alex on their quads. The ride got a little too aggressive, so A.J. and Alex bailed. Later Jim, one of Ray's friends, had to return when his RZR clutch started making ugly noises.

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Ray and the rest of his friends took the clutch off and found it had a poorly designed after market part. I couldn't help but think Polaris didn't have a replacement part available. Ray did the best he could, but the clutch failed again in a couple of miles.

Don and Shirley, Caroline, and Sandra took a trip to Yuma to visit the graves of Caroline's parents. Nancy and I met them at Cracker Barrel for dinner. I bought diesel for $2.20 per gallon and stopped by the I-8 rest stop for water. We got back to camp in time for Ray and Janice's Dutch oven brownies topped with ice cream. Again, they were awesome.

Monday the Fords and I left for Quartzsite and were on the road by 10:00 AM. Jerry went on a RZR ride and met us in Quartzsite . Quartzsite was fun, with lots of shopping for anything RV related. We had better luck in the restaurant department than last year, but Quartzsite in general will never be noted as a center of culinary excellence. One evening we decided to go to a restaurant we found last year in Brenda, a small town about 20 miles from Quartzsite. We had an excellent buffet last year and hoped for a repeat this year. We probably would have, but I missed the off ramp, necessitating a nearly 25 mile detour. This with Don following us with an almost empty gas tank. Jerry knew of a gas station further down the freeway, so we continued away from Brenda, and found the gas station. We arrived at the restaurant just as they ran out of food for the buffet. They were still offering menu service, but the meal was just average. Sorry about that!

Don and Shirley and Caroline and Sandra left for home Thursday, Nancy and I on Friday, and I believe Jerry and Linda on Saturday after a trip to Phoenix Friday.

Nancy and I really enjoyed the fifth wheel and plan to use it more on trips beside dune trips. We have left it at John's as a place to stay when we visit California since we moved to Arizona. But after this trip we decided we would enjoy it more if we kept it at home. We

decided that we still needed an RV to use at John's, and found a used truck camper just a few miles from home. As I write this I'm getting ready to take it to John's tomorrow.

Next trip will be a long one for Presidents Day. I'm looking forward to RZR and buggy rides, and P.J. Melissa, and Allie extending the weekend. I hope to see everyone.

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Missing Tools Over the last year or so we have lost some tools from the yellow trailer. I’m pu6ng this in the newsle9er in hopes that somebody may have found one or more of the tools and is wondering where it came from. Below is a list of some missing tools: !• 3/8” SK ratchet • 12 inch 1/2 drive very old (Jim's grandfather's) CraMsman extension • 4 pound short handled sledge hammer (Neon green spray paint on it) • Set of CraMsman 1/4 drive metric sockets on socket bar • Screwdriver type valve core remover with black handle

Dianne Feinstein Introduces Desert Bill On Monday, February 9th Senator Dianne Feinstein introduced the California Desert Conservation and Recreation Act of 2015, which is an amendment to the 1994 California Desert Protection Act. According to a Press Enterprise article from February 10th, the bill would expand desert protections by establishing two new national monuments in the Mojave desert, add additional wilderness areas, and designate permanent off-highway vehicle areas.

Of particular interest to us is the addition of Dumont Dunes as a permanent OHV recreation area. In the bill, it along with four other areas (El Mirage, Stoddard Valley, Rasor, and Spangler Hills) will be designated to remain open for OHV use and will receive some of the same protections that conservation areas receive. The combined average of the OHV areas in the final bill is 142,000 acres.

The bill also aims to create two additional national monuments, The Mojave Trails National Monument which consists of 965,000 acres that surround I-40 South of the Mojave National Preserve and the Sand to Snow National Monument which consists of 135,000 acres that reach from the Coachella Valley to Mount San Grogonio.

The Press Enterprise article states that the bill is now supported by 15 off-highway vehicle organizations, and includes a quote from Randy Banis of Lancaster, a BLM Desert Advisory Council member who says, “I think they’ve done a wonderful job of creating a bill right up the middle. There’s something for everybody here.” Time will tell, but at least it’s not all bad news. -P.J.

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KOH Online By Paul Kastle

While some more adventurous club members were headed out to see the King of the Hammers off road race in person last week, I didn’t want to feel left out of the action while sitting at my desk at work. Fortunately I was in luck, and the event was covered with live streaming video over multiple days on the Ultra4 racing website. Nothing makes a work day go by quicker than having an off road race to listen to and watch from your desk.

On Wednesday they had the Polaris sponsored UTV race, where side by sides competed on a crazy course for two laps. Of the 51 entrants that registered for the event, only five finished. The winning time was 6 hours, 20 minutes for the father and son team led by Mitch Guthrie, and the second place finisher (Dean Bulloch) was an hour and 20 minutes behind. For winning the race, the prize was a new RZR.

It looks like in just eight years King of The Hammers has grown to a massive iconic event in the off road world, and would be worth checking out for any off roader, even if just from the comfort of your desk.

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This month we’d like to thank Jim Kastle for writing about MLK, and Janice Petersen and Walt Fisher for sending in pictures. We rushed this newsletter out a little early so it would be out before Presidents, but please send in your articles about any trip since the newsletter is what you make it. The next newsletter will cover the Presidents trip, and will be out in late March, shortly before the Easter trip. We look forward to seeing many of you in the dunes!

Newsletter0315

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