A Couple of days of visiting and Preparing to leave Quartzsite.

 

Saturday 2/25

Joanne and Dave requested another day off so we just hung out and visited for most of the day. We even played some cards.

A Weenie Roast.

Jo Ann R. called and invited us to a weenie roast at their place as they are leaving for home on Sunday.

We are a little burnt out on hot dogs right now and we have been telling Joanne and Dave H. about the Prime Rib at the Mountain Quail Restaurant. We decided to go to the Quail for dinner and then go to the Rushton’s to hang around their fire pit. The Prime Rib was excellent.

The fire pit is the same one that we ventilated a few weeks ago and I never got a picture of.

We had already eaten but the rest of the group burned some dogs and Dave cooked some pieces of steak over the fire.

We burned a couple of Marshmallows with chocolate centers. They are kind of like a s'more's kit without the Gram Crackers.

Yummy.

We hung out for a couple hours enjoying the company of good friends.

Sunday

Before we left J&D’s we made plans to take a jeep ride on Sunday afternoon.

In the morning Patti and Joanne went to do laundry. While they were gone I helped Dave dump the black tank in their trailer. We had to connect four sewer hoses together to reach the sewer inlet. We found out that the trailer outlet is lower that the sewer pipe so we had to lift the hoses to get them to drain.

Patti and Joanne came back from the laundry early and we had time to eat lunch before the others arrived.
Around 1:00 Sue, Denis, Diane and Johnie showed up. Joanne and Dave, Patti and I got into our jeep and we all headed south on 95.
We planned to drive to two of the most popular trails in the area. Dripping Springs and The Hogback.

We went through the long term visitors area;

and after a mile or so we stopped so Denis could air down. Our tires were still low from the last ride. While we were there we noticed this “Tiny House” I am not sure why these are becoming so popular. It would seem that a regular trailer or fifth wheel or even a motorhome would be better and cheaper but everyone has their own opinion on that score.

Once we were back on the trail we eventually got in the wash that goes to Dripping Springs.

Eventually we got to the parking spot at Dripping Springs.

The spring is in this canyon at the bottom of the cliff.

Denis took Joanne and Dave on a walk up the canyon and along the trail to see the Petroglyphs.

After leaving the spring we stopped at the mailbox cabin. We didn’t take any pictures since we had been there several times we didn’t even think of pictures.

From the cabin we headed up the Hogback.

This trail climbs the mountain and follows the ridge for a while.

Then it plunges down to the valley on the west side of the mountains.

It was about 4:30 by the time we got back to Quartzsite so we went to the  Times Three Restaurant for supper.
Sue and Denis already had other plans for supper so it was just Diane, Johnie, Joanne, Dave, Patti and I at the restaurant.

Monday.

Joanne and Dave left to continue their travels around 9:30. We will see them again in Coolidge in about a week.

After they were gone, Patti and I headed down 95 for Yuma, AZ.
We were going down to visit with Shirley and Bill.

It was very windy with some spitting rain. As we drove south the mountains in the KOFA were shrouded in cloud and rain.

As we got closer to Yuma the wind was stronger and as we drove on Fortuna Road it was blowing sand across the road.

We got to their place around 11:45.
After visiting with them for a while we decided to go to lunch at Pizza Hut for the Monday all you can eat special.

We left Shirley and Bill’s around 2:15 and went to The Walmart on S. Frontage Road. We didn’t find what we were looking for so we left there.  Patti called her Brother-in-law, Wayne. We were going to go to Wellton, AZ to visit him but he didn’t answer the phone so we figured he had gone some where so we just headed for Quartzsite.

When we got home we stopped at Louise and Dick’s so I could return the shocks that I had borrowed last week.

From there we stopped at Donna’s for a short visit to say Good Bye to Susan and deliver a Rock from Joanne.

We went to dinner at the Mountain Quail and had the Salisbury Steak special.

Tuesday.

Okay, that brings us up to today (Tuesday). We are getting ready to leave Quartzsite tomorrow for Coolidge, AZ. We will be there for the month of March and will have a lot of visitors while we are there.
Joanne and Dave will be there from the 4th to the 6th of March. On the sixth of March the Wednesday Jeepers will arrive and I will be leading them on trails for about 5 days.
From the 19th to 26th my friend Don, and his wife, Jean from Seattle will be visiting us. It should be a fun month with a lot to do.

Okay that’s it until next time .

New Shocks ‘Finally’, the Wednesday ride and ‘Oh Shit’!

 

Sicko.

Most of last week I was down with the crud. As soon as I realized that I was coming down with the Quartzsite Crud I took some
Air-born and every day I took a Coricidin. The crud lasted for about 5 days but wasn’t too bad and I was back to 100% by Monday.

Shocks.

As you may remember, I ordered new shocks for the jeep on Thursday (2/17). I even paid $47 extra to get the shocks in two days.
By Sunday with no shocks I realized there was a problem.
On Monday morning I called the outfit that I ordered the shocks from and found out that since my shipping address was different than my billing address, the order was stopped by their anti-fraud software.

I got that straitened out and reordered the shocks.

In the meanwhile, Dick had a bunch of shocks that he had pulled off some of the jeeps he had bought and sold.
I went by his place and he had a pair that looked good so I borrowed two rear shocks for my jeep so we could make the Wednesday ride. It only took a short time to install the two borrowed shocks.

The Wednesday Ride (the backway to the Desert Bar.)

We met the other jeepers at the fire station at 9:00.
My niece, Joanne and her husband Dave H were riding with us.

We drove north to Parker where I topped the tank off at the Running Man.

After that, we drove east of Parker to the trail head. Here we aired down and started up the trail.

We got over the first obstacle without much trouble.

The second challenge was easy.

We continued along the trail eventually dropping into this fun wash.

This spot was a little rough but after a couple tries we made it up the rocks.

After getting over this bump we continued through the wash.

Grey Eagle Mine.

Once out of the wash we continued along the trail through the desert.

When we got to the Grey Eagle Mine we stopped for lunch.

After lunch we hiked out the trail to one of the tunnels in the area.

This tunnel was pretty colorful, with some nice Crisocola near the entrance.

There is an air shaft about fifty feet into the tunnel that lets in some light. You can see upper levels of the mine.

Further on here is some more Crisocola.

Here are some other colorful rocks in the mine.

Back on the Trail.

After checking out the mine we continued along the trail.

The trail goes through another interesting wash.

This particular trail is called Deliverance.

The trail gets a little bumpy in spots.

With a tough climb out of the wash.

Eventually we came to the end of this trail at the wide graded gravel road that goes to the Desert Bar. We turned right and followed this road for a while then turned onto a side trail called True Grit.

The True Grit trail.

The True Grit trail isn’t very long but it has a rock climb that is pretty tough.

The jeeps with front lockers didn’t have too much trouble getting up the rock.

Dave R tried it (no front lockers) but got hung up on the rock in the middle.

Eventually he had to have a tow strap assist.

It was my turn next (no front lockers).

I have attempted this rock on three separate occasions and haven’t made it without help yet.

This time was no exception. Once the tires got over the rock and on the dirt they lost traction in the front and the jeep would go no further and after a couple of tries, I accepted the tow strap assist.

This was the last challenge of the day. From here we worked our way back to Hwy. 95.

When we got back to the highway we stopped to air the tires up.

While we were doing that, Bill noticed that there was transmission fluid running out of the bottom of his jeep. As it turned out the guy that had worked on the jeep had forgotten to install the transmission mount. The transmission pan was resting on the skid plate and with the vibration it wore a hole in the pan.

Bill had to get towed home.

Shocks Arrive.

When we got home there was a box waiting for me at our door step. It was the new shocks for the jeep.

Thursday.

Around 9:30 Thursday morning I pulled the jeep onto the pad behind us and spent a couple hours replacing the shocks.

Dave and Joanne have been on the go for several days and they needed a day off so Thursday we just hung out and visited.
Around 6:00 we went to Becky and Dennis’ to play cards.

Friday.
The ‘Oh Shit’ Trail (or not)

Denis (the Frenchman) talked to some guys and they told him that they had done the ‘Oh Shit Trail’. This trail is notorious as being undoable. These guys said that they did it with three four door jeeps.
Well!
Denis figured that if a four door jeep can make it the two door jeeps should have no trouble at all.
We finally decided to try the trail on Friday afternoon.

To get to the ‘Oh Shit’ trail you go past the Deer Run B&B a short distance and turn right onto the trail that goes up the hill.
When we got to the trail, I was skeptical about this being the correct trail.
The way I remember the ‘Oh Shit’ trail it went straight up the mountain side and was very narrow.

The trail we were on was rough and a little steep but not what I was expecting.

We walked up the trail a little ways to inspect the first ledges.

We decided that they didn’t present much of a problem.

We sent Johnnie up first since he is ‘the new guy’ and he did just fine.

Next Was Denis’ turn.

Then it was our turn. We didn’t get any pictures of us on the way up but it wasn’t any trouble and we all made it to the top just fine.

The views.

From up here the views are pretty good.

There is an old collapsed mine tunnel at the top.

The old ore car tracks emerge from the bottom of the rubble.

After walking around here for a while we headed back down the trail.

Dave R was riding with Denis but needed to head for home early as he and Jo Ann are leaving on Sunday and he had to help get things ready. Denis and Dave headed for home.

Petroglyphs.

We decided to try and find the petroglyphs that are in the Tyson Wash south of Quartzsite.
Joanne and Dave had never seen them and I thought that Johnnie and Dianne had not seen them either.

I wasn’t real sure exactly where the Petroglyphs were but knew that they were in the wash south of town.

We followed several trails going in the general direction of Tyson Wash. Eventually we got to the wash and drove south in the wash for a while until I realized that we were too far south. We turned around and drove back to where the road goes through La Paz. We got on this paved road and drove a little ways until we came to the Old Yuma Road. Here we turned left onto this road and followed it toward “Q”.  After a while I noticed a smaller trail going toward the wash. When I saw this trail I realized that it was the way to the petroglyphs. We turned onto this and in a short distance we were at the rock outcrop with the petroglyphs.

After taking a few pictures we headed for home.

After we got home, Dennis M stopped by and we talked about the ‘Oh Shit Trail’. As we discussed it I realized that we hadn’t done the The Oh Shit, we drove up the Oh Shit access trail.
I think when were back down on the main trail after leaving Denis and Dave, we passed the actual ‘Oh Shit Trail’. It went straight up the mountain and didn’t look like any one had used it in a long time. 

Around 7:30 we went to Joanne and Dave H to play Rummy for Dummies.

It was a good couple of days having fun with J&D.