A Ride Over Preacher Pass and a Loup Around the Mountains.

The Plan.

The plan was to invite John (the guy that bought Clifford) for a ride through the north Plomosa Mountains.
We also invited Denis and Sue, their friends Frank and Lise and Jo Ann and Dave.

We stopped at John's place to invite him but found out that Clifford had failed the smog test. John said that he fixed what the smog guy told him was wrong and was going back to Blythe to try again.

A change of plan.

We met the others at the fire station and after discussing the plan I found out that Frank had already explored the north Plomosa's pretty thoroughly so we decided to go over Preacher Pass instead.

The Ride.

We headed north on 95 to Plomosa Road where we turned east and drove to just pass mile post 7  where we turned south on a small trail. Here we stopped to air down the tires.

After airing down we headed out the trail. At the beginning of the trail is a small steep hill that we went over. It's not much but it is a good way to start the trail.

We followed the trail southwest across the flats and through several gullies. We went around the west side of the mountains.

Eventually got to an intersection where a trail goes east into the mountains.
We turned east on this trail and followed it to an overlook where you can see some of the Preacher Pass trail going up the hills to the south.

We headed along the trail going through the first big wash.

The first time Patti and I took this trail about seven years ago these washes were pretty challenging but now there has been so much traffic through here that all the big obstacles have been cleared so now its pretty easy.

We continued up the first steep hill.

From above we watched the other jeeps follow us along the trail.

 We went through one more wash that used to be the worst one but now is no problem.

We climbed the final grade to the pass.

Once on top we stopped to take in the view.

After standing around for a while taking pictures of each other we headed down the other side of the pass.

Once we were off the mountain we followed a wash for a while and found a spot to have lunch.

After lunch we continued along the wash until we got to Stage Coach Road. Here we headed north.

We stopped at the Vicksburg Arrow since the other folks had never seen it before.
Here is Denis trying to get enough height to get a good picture.

After leaving the Arrow we drove about a mile to a road that goes west along the north side of the mountains.  We followed this road west and stopped at a mine that I call the Double Decker mine as it has two levels inside.
The trail to the mine is washed out to the point that there is an uncrossable crevasse.
We could only get to an over look where we could see the mine from a distance.

From here we headed for Plomosa Road.
We stopped at the Quartzsite Arrow so the Canadians could take a look, then headed for home.

Jo Ann, Dave, Patti and I stopped at the Mountain Quail Café for dinner. We had the special (Salisbury Steak) it was quite good.

Okay that was our ride over Preacher Pass.

More Wiring on Snoopy and a Movie.

 

Sunday.

I spent the morning finishing the wiring for the tow brakes on Snoopy.

Dennis M came by on his way to the dump and picked up a couple bags for us. While he was here he mentioned that some of the group were going to Parker in the afternoon to see the movie
"The Revenant". He mentioned that they were meeting the others at the fire station at 12:15.
I told him if I got the wiring done on the jeep we might go.

I finished the wiring at 12:00.
I changed my clothes and we got to the fire station just as they were leaving.

We got to the Blue Water Cinema in Parker in plenty of time and there was no line.

The movie was okay but not very historically accurate.
Unfortunately I have read several first hand accounts and histories of that occurrence and the facts are very different from what was portrayed on the screen.
Oh well, that's Hollywood. 

After the movie we went to Mya's Mexican restaurant and had a good dinner.

Okay, that was our Sunday.

Today we are going for a ride.

Wiring Snoopy

I spent most of yesterday getting Snoopy ready to tow.
I wired the tow lights up. When I checked the lights out there was a problem.
The left signal and stop lights weren't working. I got out my meter and checked out the wires and found that one of the wires had come loose from the plug. I fixed that and everything now works just fine.

The next thing to do was to install the wiring for the tow brakes. This took a while as I had to go to the store a couple of times to get connectors.
I didn't quite finish the wiring but got almost everything done under the hood.
Today, if it doesn't rain, I will work on getting the wiring done inside the jeep.
Then I will have to test the system. If everything works the jeep will be ready to tow when we leave for eastern Arizona at the end of the month.
We will be heading for the area around Florence, AZ. 

Okay that was my Saturday.

Shopping, Crads, and a Yard Sale.

Thursday.

Patti and I decided to go to Parker to do some shopping. We waited until around 1:00 in the afternoon so we could have a late lunch/early dinner at the Crossroads Café.
We went to Walmart and actually found everything on our list (that's a first).
We were able to find some hand held two way radio's by Cobra so now we don't have to borrow one from the other jeepers.

Thursday evening we went to Becky and Dennis's to play cards. It was a fun evening.

Friday.

Around 11:00 I went over to John's ( the guy that bought Clifford) to help him get the jeep ready to smog. I had to reconnect the fuel vapor recovery system.

Later in the day Patti and I went to Rainbow Acers to check out a garage sale that Tom told us about.
It was held next door to Tom. While Tom, Dennis M and I checked the sale out Patti and Cheryl visited with Lillie.
There was a lot of good stuff at the sale and if I had a permanent place down here I probably would have bought some things. Since I don't have any place to store a hydraulic press or an arc welder I just browsed.
They had a bunch of jeep parts but none that I need since my new jeep has all new suspension and a brand new top etc.

It was nice to visit with Tom and Lillie and see their place.

Later I went to over to help Cheryl with a problem on her computer. It took a while but we got it working.

Mounting the Tow Bar and the Wednesday Jeep Ride.

Mounting the Tow Bar.

On Tuesday, I decided to mount the brackets on the front bumper and mount the tow bar.
I used my Makita cordless drill to drill the holes on the bumper on Snoopy. I wasn't sure how well it would work but once again the drill surprised me as it did a great job. I  was even able to make the 1" hole for the tow light plug.

It took a while to get everything lined up correctly but eventually I got the kinks worked out and the tow bar fits good.

 The Wednesday Jeep Ride.

It was decided that we would go to the Horse Tanks for the Wednesday ride.
The Horse tanks are a series of waterholes in a canyon on the Kofa Game Refuge. The reason we were going there is because of the recent rains we thought there might be some waterfalls out there.
It rained hard Tuesday night so we were prepared for lots of water.

We met at the 76 station on the corner of 95 and Main street.
It was a clear very cold morning with lots of blue sky.
They elected me leader again so after everyone was gathered we headed south on 95. We drove about 30 miles to the Stone Cabin where we turned east on King Valley Road. Here we stopped to air down the tires. There were eight jeeps in the group this time.

After airing down we continued east into the Kofa enjoying the views of the mountains.

We noticed that the road was surprisingly dry. This didn't bode well for seeing waterfalls.
We drove east until we came to intersection 42 where we turned south and drove the 2 miles to the parking area near the Horse Tanks. There was no water in the creek.

Some of us walked to the first tank where we found that instead of waterfalls we found the tank was low and no water at the dam. It must not have rained as much here as it did in Quartzsite.

From here we drove back down the road to an other parking area where we walked up the hill to an Indian cave that has some seed grinding holes in the floor.

Lunch at Skull Rock.

After leaving the cave we drove back to highway 95 where we turned north and drove to Palm Canyon Road where we turned east.

We followed Palm Canyon Road to Queen Canyon Road just inside the Kofa boundary.
We followed this trail through beautiful Queen Canyon.

There are many interesting rock formations along the trail.

My favorite is Skull Rock.

It was very cold with a cold wind blowing up the canyon. Many of us took refuge inside the skull to get out of the wind.

We ate our lunch and looked at the rocks around us. In the photo below the rock spire in the middle is called the Queen which is where the canyon gets its name.

Even in the shelter of the cave it was so cold that we didn't stay long. After about 45 minutes we all headed for home.

It was a fun but cold ride.

A rainey day trip to Blythe and Drilling Holes For the Tow Bar

Ride  to Blythe.

Around 11:30 we drove to Blythe CA.  It was raining pretty hard as we drove west on I-10. When we got to Blythe the rain was much lighter.

Shopping.

We stopped at the DMV to drop off the release of the liability form for the sale of Clifford.
From the DMV we went to Ace Hardware to buy a 1" hole saw so I could make a hole in the front bumper to mount a plug  for the tow lights.
From there we went across the street to O'Reilly's auto parts to see if they had a windshield washer pump for Snoopy. They said they would have to order it so I decided to order one on line; that way I won't have to drive back to Blythe to get it.

Lunch.

We went to the A&R deli for lunch;  Patti had a chicken sandwich which she said was excellent.
I had their hot roast beef.
Their hot beef is much different than your normal open faced hot roast beef sandwich which is sliced beef over white bread with gravy and mashed potatoes.
This roast beef sandwich is thinly sliced beef with bell peppers, onions and a tomato sauce served in a home made hoagie roll.  It is kind of like a beef fajita on a roll and is excellent if a little sloppy.

After lunch we stopped at Albertsons to pick up a couple items then headed for home.

Once we crossed the mountains and came into the La Paz valley the rain increased and continued until late in the afternoon.

Drilling Holes for the Tow Bar.

I had made arrangements with  Dick to use his drill press to drill some holes in the brackets for the tow bar on snoopy.
I hadn't seen the drill press and was hoping it would be big enough to also drill the holes in the front bumper to mount the brackets.
I gathered up everything that I thought I would need to do the job and headed over to Dicks.
When I got there and saw  the drill press, I realized that it was going to be to small to do the work on the bumper but it would work for the brackets.
It took only about 45 minutes to drill all six holes; three in each  bracket.

  I can probably drill the rest of the holes in the bumper with my Makita cordless drill. The hardest one will be the 1" hole for the plug but I do have a hole saw.

Smog Problem With Clifford.  

John, the guy that bought Clifford called and said that he couldn't get it registered because the smog certificate wasn't on the DMV computer. The smog test is  good for 90 days and we thought he had until the 6th of January to get it  registered. Apparently we miscalculated and the 90 days was up on Sunday. I guess he will have to get Clifford recertified. 

It is supposed to rain again today but the rain hasn't started yet.

Visiting Day

Sunday is football day on the TV and a lot of people stay home to watch the games.
Our friend Denis is a big football fan so we figured that he and Sue would be home. We decided to go have a little visit with them.
After lunch we got in the jeep and drove over to The Quail Run RV Resort, where they are staying.
When we got to their place they weren't there.

What to do?

We drove over to Holiday Palms to visit with Jo Ann and Dave. Their jeep was gone so we figured they were not home either.

We went by Debbie's and  she was home so we stopped and visited with her and her friend Mo for a while. After an hour or so we headed out.

We drove by Jo Ann and Dave's again and the jeep was there. As it turned out Jo Ann had gone to do some shopping when we first drove by but Dave was there.
We stopped and visited with them for a while.

After a  while we headed for home. The rest of the day we just hung out at our place.

That was our Sunday.
We don't watch football.

It is raining today (Monday)