A Thursday Ride and All You Can Eat Spaghetti.

 

The Thursday Ride.

There were six jeeps in the group.

We left from the Fire Station around 9:20 and drove north on AZ 95 to Parker, AZ.

We stopped to top off the fuel tanks at the new Running Man gas station.

From here we continued into town and stopped at Terribles to meet up with our friends (and the leaders for todays ride) Nancy and Rick. Once we were all there we spent little time BS’ing and checking out the work that Rick had done to his jeep since the last time we saw them. 
We particularly got a laugh over the message on his new wheel cover.

And this sticker on the side.

Back on the California Side.

Eventually we got it going and followed Rick across the Colorado River.
at Highway 62 we turned east and followed 62 for a few miles.

We came to some sand dunes on our left. Here we pulled off and aired down the tires.

After airing down we crossed the highway and got onto a sandy trail that went between the sand hills and the highway.

The trail went around the sand hill and up a wash.

The wash lead to another trail that went through some steep hills…

and drops down into a steep canyon.

Driving in the Creek.

The trail winds through this canyon and some trees where it comes to an other trail where we turned right and entered a flowing creek; a rarity in these parts.

We drove in the creek for a while.

Eventually we got out of the creek and climbed further up the canyon.

We crossed the creek a couple more times. The last time was the deepest.

A Tough Spot.

Just past this last puddle we came to the roughest spot on the trail ; a rocky ledge.

Tom had a little trouble getting up the ledge and had to have a toe-strap assist.

Carl did pretty good getting his Cherokee through this spot.

Then it was our turn.

We did fine and only had to reposition once.

After the rocks, we had to climb a steep rutted hill.

It was a little narrow going around one turn and a bit steep going down the other side but other than that it wasn’t a problem.

We drove a little ways down the wash at the bottom of the hill and them up another steep hill.

Lunch in the Wash.

On the other side of the hill we stopped in a wash to have lunch.
There was shade for those who wanted to sit in the shade…

and sun for those who like the sun.

Back on the Trail.

After lunch we got back on the trail.

We went over the hills and back into another wash.

We climbed out of this wash and dropped back into another.

This wash had some tight spots with some boulders to go between.

We followed this wash for a while and eventually came back to the highway.

It was to early to end the ride so we turned around and headed back up the wash.

We tried several trails off this wash.
Some of them were a little tight.

Some climbed out of the wash and went over the hills.

And back into other washes, some with nice rocky places to go over.

All these trail’s eventually lead to col-de-sac’s.

This one was particularly scenic with its red rock walls and small spire at the end.

Back on the hill tops we continued  our tour. We stopped at one place to decide which way to go and Carl found several nice specimens of Crisocola.

At the next col-de-sac I decided that Rick needed to have our signs on his jeep.

Heading Back.

We drove around for another hour so. Eventually heading back on the trail we came in on.

We went down the tough spot with no trouble.

I was able to get a couple pictures of the creek from higher up on the trail.

Then we dropped back down to the creek and drove in it…

until we got back to where we started.
Here we aired back up.

All You Can Eat Spaghetti.

Once we were aired up we headed east on Hwy 62

Along the way we stopped so Patti could take a picture of this little Burro. A Burrito?

We crossed Parker Dam.

Once we were on Hwy AZ 95 we drove to a little town north east of Parker where we stopped at…

On Thursdays they have all you can eat spaghetti for $3.99. Salad, garlic bread and drinks are extra.

That is one of the reasons we came up here on this Thursday ride.

Here is the whole bunch of us in the place.

The spaghetti was pretty good and the servings were large.

I managed to consume two helpings.
Patti had a salad with her spaghetti and I had garlic bread. We both had soft drinks and our bill came to $15.00 and change.

That is what pasta should cost.

It was a fun ride and a good meal.
Thanks to Nancy and Rick for being the leaders this time.

We were treated to a real nice sunset on the way home.