We had a great ride today but I am not into doing a whole blog tonight. I will do one in the morning.
However I would like to correct a couple of things that were wrong in yesterdays blog.
First; I got Denis’ son’s name wrong. His name is Daniel. Michelle is his sister. Sorry Daniel.
Second; I spelled Andre’s name wrong. It’s not Andres it’s Andre.
Remember to click on the pictures to enlarge them
We took a ride today.
We all met at the Shell station in the middle of town at 10:00.
There were four jeeps in the group. Junior was the leader although his son Michelle did all the driving. Dennis and Cheryl were in their white jeep. Tom and Lillie in there blue jeep, and a friend of Juniors, Andres, rode with me.
From there we drove south to the first BLM campground where we headed southeast toward the mountains. We drove across the flats
on the narrow trail until we came to the trail to Dripping Springs.
We drove up the wash and played on the dry waterfalls for a while.
Denis (Junior) managed to get his jeep up on the rock.
We stopped at Dripping Springs for lunch.
After lunch we continued up the trail over the hills and past the mailbox cabin (Apache chief B&B) and up the north side of the Hog Back trail. Going up the north side of the trail is kind of rough but the new lockers on my Jeep made it easy. There are two ways to go on the south side of the hog back trail; there is the ‘easy way’ and the ‘other way’. Last year we drove up and down the ‘other way’. There are several spots where the trail is boulder strewn. There are a couple places where the trail is steep with soft dirt and round rock. I had to be towed over that one on the way up last year. This time we were going down so it was just a matter of putting the jeep in first gear and rolling down the hill.
Michelle used a little to much brake and slid off the trail a bit at the bottom.
From there the trail got real bumpy with lots of boulders in the way. I heard a lot of metal on rock contact.
We had one more challenge, a steep hill like the one we came down but not quite as long. I tried to take it easy going up the hill but close to the top I lost traction. I had to back the jeep down the hill and try it again. This time I got a run at the hill and went over it with no problem. Every one else made it just fine.
The rest of the trip was uneventful. We came out at the second BLM campground.
Patti went to Parker with Debbie but said that she over did it and was feeling poorly when I got home.
Tomorrow the group is taking another ride to the mountains north of Salome.
Merry Christmas!
It has been cold and grey all day.
We just returned from a great Christmas dinner at the Mountain Quail. Turkey and all the trimmings, yum.
We took Debbie with us.
Patti is feeling better. When she got up this morning she was hungry and wanted some Tater Tots so we had breakfast at the Quail.
Patti still doesn’t feel up to going on the jeep ride tomorrow so I guess I will be on my own.
Patti is feeling a little better. The Z-pack seams to be working. Her fever has broken and the congestion has improved but she still has a bad head ache. her apatite has improved. If she feels better tomorrow we will go to the mountain Quail for Christmas dinner.
Tonight she will probably have chicken soup.
Patti is pretty sick. Lots of congestion, fever, aches and pains.
Jo Ann and Dave gave us some medicine called a Z pack ”Azitromicina” it is supposed to work very well. She started taking them yesterday. I noticed that her congestion is already a little less. She still feels pretty bad though. We canceled our reservations for Laughlin. Our friends left today. They will be back on Wednesday. I hope Patti is better by then and I hope I don’t catch her crud.
I am sleeping on the couch. Of course we are living in a small metal tube so I don’t know if that will help much.
more later
Yesterday was laundry day. Patti did laundry and I goofed off.
Last night we plaid cards at Becky and Dennis’s. Dave and Jo Ann were there as well as Dik and Louise from the Wednesday jeepers.
Patti woke up this morning with a sore throat and runny nose. Looks like she will be out of circulation for a while. We are trying to decide whether to go to Laughlin for Christmas or not.
I removed the two 6 Volt coach batteries from the RV and went to Blythe to get new ones. It ended up costing about $250 but it fixed the problem.
The batteries are so heavy that I had to have help putting them in. Luckily I saw Junior on the way into the Park and he volunteered to help.
Thanks Denis.
NOTICE!
Click on the pictures to enlarge them.
Yester day we went for our first Jeep ride.
We met at the Arco station on the east side of town.
From there we headed East out I-10 to Highway 60 where we turned off and headed for the town of Salome. There we toped off our gas tanks and aired down. There were eight Jeeps in the group.
We continued on 60 to the town of Wenden where we headed North toward Alamo Lake. A few miles up the road we turned West on Bonanza Rd. Bonanza Road was a well maintained dirt road heading toward the mountains.
After a few miles we turned off on a side trail that took us to the Bonanza Mine. 
Unfortunately the tunnel had been collapsed by the state.
After wandering around the mine site for a while we decided to try the trail up the mountain. It looked pretty steep and we weren’t sure if it was a trail or just some mining cuts on the side of the mountain. Junior and white Jeep Dennis went up to check it out and got to the top with no trouble. The rest of us followed.
The trail was steep but in good shape.
There were a few really tight switch backs where many had to back and fill to get around them.
We went over the top of the pass and down the other side. Eventually we came to a locked gate. There we stopped for lunch.
On the way back we noticed a small trail going to our left. This trail was a bit more fun.
Eventually we came to the end of the trail at a mine.
Some of us climbed the hill to see if we could find the tunnel.
I went only about half way up the mountain.
A few of the guys went all the way to the top where they found a tunnel. They didn’t go in because they didn’t have any lights with them.
We noticed this wash with remnants of the recent rains.
After playing around the mine for a while we headed back down the mountain. When we got back to the flats we turned onto the power line road. We drove along the power lines for a while going in and out of steep gullies. Eventually we turned off the power line road and found a good dirt road heading back toward Salome. When we got to the end of the road we noticed this sign.
Oops!!
It was a good ride and we were home by 4:30.
