02-17-12

Yesterday afternoon I took Bob down Tyson Wash to check out the petroglyphs

and grinding holes.

We stopped at an old ruin on the way. 

Today we took a ride with Junior and Dave to see if we could get to Alamo Lake the back way.

Bob has a new GPS system and wanted to try laying out a route and following it so that is what we did. We drove up to Bouse got on Swansea Road and followed it to Midway. From there we followed the track that Bob had laid out which took us through Swansea Town sight where we struck the Pipeline road and followed it north.

We missed one turn in a wash and had to turn around but we soon got into the proper wash

and arrived at the Bill Williams River. We crossed the river

and continued north on another pipeline road.

There was some confusion as we were using two different GPS’s and turned east on a wash that appeared to be the correct one but after we entered the wash we missed a turn that may have taken us to the lake but instead we wandered around in the hills for a while. Eventually we stopped for lunch

and after some discussion and checking maps and both GPS’s we decided that we didn’t know where we were. Our fuel supply was getting down to about half a tank each. So we decided to retrace our trail and return to the river. We stopped to check out an interesting rock outcrop.

When we got back to the pipeline road we decided to follow it to the north for a ways to see if we could find the trail to the lake. We went a mile or two but didn’t cross any roads that looked like they would go to Alamo Lake. Eventually at the top of a hill we turned around and headed back to the river.

When we arrived at the river we encountered a couple with a disabled Rhino. They asked if I could tow them across the river as the others with them had UTV’s and they didn’t think they were up to the task.

I was delighted to help but of course I had to have the episode well documented.

After we were all across the river we headed out the wash to Johnson Ranch Road, then to Lincoln Ranch Road and finally back to Swansea Road and thence to Bouse and home.

It was an interesting but unfulfilling ride. One which we will have to try again with sufficient fuel to complete the journey. There are many roads in the area and it is easy to become confused and use up extra fuel. From where we turned around it is twenty-five miles one way to the lake. If the trip is completed without any wrong turns it will be well over 150 miles from Quartzsite to the lake and back. It may make a good future camping trip.

02-16-12

When Patti went to the casino on Tuesday she signed up for a slot tournament to take place on Wednesday.

Wednesday Patti left for Parker at 9:00 in the Jeep. Bob and I took off for the Colorado River after lunch in Bob’s van. We drove west to the Ehrenberg exit and went south along the river on the dirt road. We drove about five miles to a likely looking slough and put the kayaks in the water. It was pretty windy and the sky was threatening rain

but once we were on the water we were protected by the tulles and trees so it wasn’t very bad.

We paddled upwind to one end of the south end of the slough, turned around and let the wind help us paddle back to the other end. It was about a three mile round trip and we spent around three hours on the water.

We loaded up the boats and drove south along the River looking for other sloughs to explore in the future. On the way back we took a side road and after a mile or so we got the van stuck in some soft sand. No problem. We have four wheel drive right? Bob put the van in 4WD and tried to back up. It sank even deeper. Ok, so we got out and let the tire pressure down to about twenty pounds and tried it again. “Uh, Bob I don’t think your four wheel drive is working because the rear tires are spinning but the front ones aren’t doing anything to help.” Well, after doing some digging and putting some sticks under the back tires. I had to help by pushing on the front of the van. We eventually got out and turned around. it was decided that one of the front locking hubs was faulty. Unfortunately we were busy getting unstuck so I didn’t think to get pictures. On the way home we went to Blythe, stopped at the Napa store and Bob ordered a new set of hubs.

We got home around 5:00 and Patti was waiting us for out front of the RV. When we pulled up she got out of the jeep. I thought that she had just gotten home but as it turned out she had neglected to take the key to the front door of the motor home and had to wait for us to get home.

She did pretty good at the casino and came in second in her session. She got $30 of free play and ended up making back the money that she lost the previous day.

Bob and I went to Blythe today to get the new hubs and I had a dentist appointment. We also stopped at the Jeep dealer so I could pick up the parts I ordered on Monday. The parts that they had were wrong so they had to reorder them and will let me know when they come in.

When we got home Bob replaced the hub on the van.

02-15-12

On Monday morning I went to Blythe to talk to a mechanic to find out about getting the engine in the Jeep ether fixed or rebuilt. He told me that it needed to be rebuilt but he didn’t do rebuilds. He called another shop and that guy said that he wouldn’t do it ether. He called Napa to see if they could get a rebuilt engine and found that they could get one but no one wants to install them. I have decided to wait until I get home and rebuild the engine my self. It still runs good but has a lot of blow bye so it throws oil out the top of then valve cover.

Monday afternoon our friend Bob showed up for a visit. He will be here for a week.

Yesterday Bob and I took a ride with Junior, Dave, Shirley, Bill, Mary Ann and Randy.

Patti went to the Blue Water Casino with Jo Ann.

We went to the north Plamosa mountains and went over Quin Pass which is a fairly steep trail. On the other side of the pas we followed the trail

to an outcrop of red rocks

where we enjoyed the view.

We left there and dropped into a wash that ran north. The wash is a lot of fun because it has some rock shelves to negotiate.

We made it through the wash and hit a trail that took us to the big hole.

from there we continued north.

About noon it started to sprinkle so we decided to try and get to a large man made cave that we had visited last year. Along the way we stopped at some large round rocks with several caves in them.

While we were there Junior tried to convince Rand to drive his Rubicon up the side of one of the larger rocks but Randy wasn’t confident that his jeep could make it. After some discussion randy let Junior have the keys and Junior drove the jeep top the top of the rock,

turned it around and drove back down.

Randy is learning a lot about the capabilities of his jeep. He is brand new to Jeeping but is getting more confident all the time.

It turned out to be a lot farther than we thought to the cave. After a while the clouds and rain moved on so we stopped for lunch in a wash out of the wind for lunch.

After lunch we headed south again and stopped to visit a large mine tunnel along the way.

From there we went back to the cave rocks and drove through them on a steep trail.

 

After we went through the rocks we headed for Plomosa road and Quartzsite.

Today Patti went back to Blue Water because she signed up for a slot tournament.  She has the jeep so I’m not sure what Bob and I will do. We are thinking of going to the Colorado river to do some kayaking.

02-11-12

Okay I have some catching up to do.

We didn’t go on the Wednesday ride because I had some dental work done on Wednesday.

I went to the meeting with the BLM on Tuesday. Of course they want to further restrict access to trails in the desert around Quartzsite. There are several plans but it is very confusing. We are dealing with the feds so what else is new. One plan is to leave things the way they are. On the other end of the scale is what they call the “GREEN” plan which would close all access to the desert. I am beginning to hate the word “green”. It always means something ether stupid or restrictive or destructive to our way of life. There is a thirty day comment period but the way they have things set up controls the way you can comment. You can only comment on specific routes not the plan in general. I signed up for some material to be sent to me so maybe it will clear things up a bit.

Okay now for the good stuff;

Yesterday we took a ride lead by Junior to the;

We had to drive about sixty miles to get to the trail but it was worth it. We went about thirty- four miles to the town of Salome on Highway 60 and turned south on another paved road and drove another twenty some miles to the turn off to the Eagle Eye Mine  and a another six miles of pavement took us to the start of the trail.

We stopped on the highway so Junior could get his bearings.

When we got ready to take off again I somehow flooded the jeep and it took a few minutes and much kibitzing to get it started again.

 

We stopped at the staging area to off load Suzanne and Roy’s Rhino and air down the tires on the Jeeps.

As it turned out the trail is a service road for some Kind of repeater station on top of the tallest mountain in southwestern Arizona

The red line is the trail but am not sure what the light blue line is (possibly a county line). The dark blue one (lower right) is the paved road.

Eventually we got on the trail.

We stopped a couple of times for pictures

and continued up the trail.

Eventually we got to the summit where we had lunch.

And took more pictures.

 

After lunch we started back down the mountain.

On the way down,

Patti got a picture of this unusual Saguaro cactus.

and some other nice views.

At the foot of the mountain we stopped to check out a mine with an old ruin.

It was another great ride.

On the way home we stopped at Silly Al’s for pizza.

Clifford is blowing a lot of oil out of the top of the valve cover. I checked it out and there is lots of blow bye. Today we went to Blythe to talk to a mechanic to see if we need to have the engine in Clifford rebuilt and to get an estimate. The shop was closed so we will have to go back on Monday.