Newsletter0416

The Rooster April 2016

Easter at Glamis 2016 By Jim KastleNancy and I arrived on Thursday afternoon and we followed Pete Hagen down the wash road. We arrived to find Walt, Edward and Janel Loer, Jeff and Lavonne, Steve and Janice Tharp, and Dave Huggard already in camp. The circle was pretty small; as not many people had posted that they were coming. No problem, we just started an outer circle. Later that afternoon/evening John and Anna Cole, and Barry and Terri and their neighbor Shawn and his family of two teenage girls and a younger brother, along with Shawn’s wife, arrived. I’m sorry I don’t remember their names, but they all seemed nice and polite, and seemed to enjoy riding in Shawn’s very nice yellow Suspensions Unlimited 4/5 seater. Around 12:30 AM P.J., Melissa, Allie, and Marshall arrived, having gotten their latest start ever, 8:30. Others included Mark and Angela Stutte, as well as Jeff’s daughter Amber and her husband, who I think is named Matt (Sorry about not getting all the names, blame it on my

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Whats New

While many of the group’s regulars were not able to make the Easter trip, we still had a good turn out and a great time.

Dumont is Next

If you aren’t willing to call it a season yet, you are in luck. We may have saved one of the best trips for last with our Dumont trip coming up the weekend of April 22-24. Come out for some fast riding in the big dunes.

Flags are Available

Both Janice Petersen and Dana Marin (Schellinger) have come through with flags. Read about them and check out the pictures on page 4.

THE ROOSTER A monthly update from the Inland Empire Offroad Association


age) along with their kids Riley and Charlotte. Playing with Riley was a highlight of the trip for Allie. They played great together.

Friday morning John, P.J., Barry, Shawn, Steve, Pete, Dave, Walt, and I went for a buggy ride. We didn’t leave until 10:30, but had a good ride through the dunes to the big bowls near Comp, and then down through the old closure to hill 3 and then towards the flag. The ride was pretty good until hill 3 when our late departure meant we were riding around noon, and the lack of shadows made for terrible visibility. I did my best but was happy when I had to turn to avoid a side by side and John took over the lead. He did a great job of getting us back to camp. While the buggies were on the ride, the RZR’s, of which for the first time this season were outnumbered by the buggies, went on a ride. I have no details. RZR drivers included Mark, Jeff, Janice Tharp, and I’m sure one or two others. As I was so glad to have both John and P.J. in the dunes, I never took the RZR off the trailer. We went for another ride around sunset. We were near Comp when we took a break, and as we headed back, it was almost dark, and I only had tinted goggles and couldn’t see decently. I got very stuck in some soft sand in the valley between Olds and Comp, and Barry pulled me out. I asked John for help again, and he came through and got us back to camp. I sure appreciate his expertise in getting me out of trouble! We had planned to go to Olds for a night ride, but we never made it. We did have a well attended, but cobblerless, fire. We missed Ray and Janice, and especially their Dutch Oven Delights. John suggested we leave for the Saturday morning ride at 8:00 AM, to have better shadows.

Saturday morning we left camp by 8:05, and were very pleased with the shadows. P.J. said it best when he said it was like duning in high definition. We had a great ride, again in the big bowls. We topped it off with ice cream on the flats. We also went for a late afternoon ride. At one point in the ride two RZR riders flagged us down. We assumed they needed some help, but they said they were the original owners of Steve Tharp’s sand rail and wanted to talk to him. We had a lengthy conversation, and found we were at the “Ledge”, and “Everyone at Glamis knows it.” I’m

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Upcoming Events

• April 10: Sand Sports Super Swap Meet at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa.

• April 22-24: Dumont Trip. Let’s close out the season with a fun trip to Dumont.

• May 8th: Mother’s Day

• May 27-30: Memorial Day Weekend

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not so sure. In our group there had to be well over a hundred years of Glamis experience and none of us had ever heard of the Ledge. We got back to camp without incident, and found Bob Amador and LuAnn arriving, pleasantly surprising us. We had dinner, and then some of us went to the hill for our last night ride of the season. John tried to fill Ray’s shoes by popping some Jiffy Pop, but the package WAS defective, rendering the result less than spectacular. We didn’t get back to camp until around midnight.

Sunday morning began with a well attended

omelet boil. Jeff and Mark had never done it before and we enjoyed watching their reactions. After breakfast we had a smaller than usual adult Easter egg hunt. Thinking of things that were smaller than usual, this Spring Break trip was the shortest I ever recall. It worked out great for Nancy and me, as she is still recovering from her knee replacement and wasn’t up to a 10 day dune trip. The crowds in general were smaller than I recall as well. After the Easter egg hunt we went for another ride to the big bowls. I kept going back to the big bowls because there weren’t a lot of duners, thus the bowls were in pretty good shape, and the tracks there were made it easier to see in the nearly shadowless conditions. We had a pretty good ride. On the break, John discovered another loose CV joint boot, and we had to take it back to camp to fix it. In camp P.J. and family had to pack up and head home, but John had Monday off, so he replaced the CV boot so he could go for a sunset ride. A highlight of that ride, and possibly the trip, was when John realized that Bobby, who had been passing most of the buggies on the ride, didn’t have a radio. John told me to find a bowl, and circle it, and he (who was right behind Bobby) would turn out of the bowl, with everyone else following him, putting Bobby back at the back of the ride. It worked like a charm, much to everyone’s delight, including Bobby, who knew he’d been had. On the break, Bobby told John his newly replaced CV boot was torn. Most of us figured he was just getting even with John, but John took a look and found the new boot had rubbed on the frame, tearing it. Barry and I followed John back to camp while the others continued the ride. That evening, those of us remaining in camp enjoyed the season’s last campfire, despite missing Ray and Janice.

Monday morning we packed up and headed for home. It seems to me it was just a few weeks ago I wrote about the end of last season, and now it’s time to do it again. I again want to give my sincere thanks to everyone who makes my time in the dune so special. I’m looking forward to Dumont, possibly the Cinders, Coral Pink, hopefully some club river trips, and most of all, next season. Let’s keep dunin’!

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Flags are Available For the first time in years we have new club flags available. Both Janice Petersen and Dana Marin (Schellinger) have been able to get flags made. Take a look and contact either Mike Bacon and/or Janice Petersen to pick some up.

Rhino Rollover Next to Camp On Saturday of the Easter trip, we had some unexpected excitement occur right next to camp at Wash 6. Here’s how Janel Loer described it: “Well this is a first. 4 guys flipped a Rhino next to our camp. The one on the backboard has a crushed hand with lots of bones sticking out. I have to say the sheriff and BLM rescue crew was here within 5 mins of me calling 911. Very impressive. They had him stabilized, wrapped and on an IV before his wife and family could even get here from just 6 washes down. Hayden and Mark from our group helped load him into the helicopter. It's nice to know that if you need help out here, the 1st responders are on it.” Here are some pictures of it on the following page:

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Janice contacted a local business in Riverside and had them sew up double sided flags with multiple rows of stitching. They are quite heavy duty, and are look very similar to what we have had in the past, but the direction is reversed so the red looks like a pennant. These flags are available for $45 each, and Janice has some available now or can get more with a few weeks notice.

Dana (Doug and Kris Schellinger’s daughter) has a company that makes the same type of flags for golf courses. They are made from a double layer of heavier nylon(?) fabric, with a blue border and the club logo embroidered on both sides in color, and reinforcing bands all the way around, double stitched. These should last a very long time. They are $30 each. Contact Mike Bacon if you want some of these and he’ll get them to you.


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Throwable Towstraps John Cole has invented the latest in during technology, the throwable tow strap. Why inconvenience

yourself with having to get out of a car when one of your buddies is sinking in the sand when you can throw him a line, literally? John actually did this over Easter, where he threw the line to Barry who pulled out P.J. and John never unbuckled his seatbelt. We wonder how long it will be until the Rangers are inspecting cars for a throwable tow strap like they do type IV throwable PFDs at the river…

Rest Area / Dump Station on Hwy 111 Closed On our way home from Easter we saw that the rumored closure of the rest area on highway 111 just South of Calipatria has taken place. Now it is all fenced off and closed. When I looked it up online once I got home, I found the following article from the Imperial Valley Press:

Carmen Sandoval of the California Department of Transportation District 11 public and legislative affairs told us it closed Oct. 19 permanently and provided us some information

as to why. On the Caltrans website, it states the Two Rivers Roadside Rest Area, located about 3 miles south of Calipatria, does not meet the state water quality standards for wastewater treatment. In order to comply with these standards and endure economic stewardship for taxpayers, Caltrans closed it and returned it to an undeveloped parcel of land. The estimated cost for demolition is $140,000.

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This month we’d like to thank Jim Kastle for writing his article to share the fun from Easter. If you have more to share, please write it up and send it in for use in the coming months. As we move into the summer months it is nice to keep up on what fun activities everybody is up to. The next newsletter will be out just after the Dumont trip in late April, so there’s still time to see more of you in the dunes before the weather heats up. Then there’s Coral Pink, so make your plans now. -Paul, Melissa, Allie, and Marshall.

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