The Breakdown
Newsletter of the Spinnin’ 4’s Four Wheel Drive Club
February 2012
http://spinnin4s.50.forumer.com/ Editor: Art Hastings
The trip to Quartzsite was once again enjoyable. Several of us met at the Spotlight 29 casino in Indio as a breakfast stop on our way to Quartzsite. I was with my friend, Gary. We met up with Fred and Venetta, Ron and Robbie, and Lloyd and Phyllis. After a nice breakfast, we met Rick and Carolyn in the parking lot and then we all headed out to Quartzsite. The weather was nice and we made good time. Roy had secured us a place close to the place we had last year. Randy and Norma were in Quartzsite already and came over to join us. We got camp set up and had a nice happy hour. After dinner we had a warm campfire confined in Fred’s old washing machine tub. The weather had been clear and warm all day.
The next day we got up and headed out to Buckskin Mountain trail which is about 50 miles north through the town of Parker. It was a good trail, not too difficult but with enough challenges to keep it interesting. Fred had caught a cold and wasn’t feeling very well and opted to just head home when we reached the turn to go to the Saloon in the Desert, the Nellie E. Once we got there we found it very crowded. There were only a few places left to park. It is only open on the weekends. We decided that we would skip lunch here and head for home. On the way out on the easy road we were surprised how many cars were coming in. I wonder where they parked. The wind was kicking up and we had a pretty strong headwind all the way back. Once we got back, Gary and I went into town and toured some of the shopping areas and walked through the RV show. We didn’t have a happy hour or a camp fire this evening because the wind had been a bit annoying.
On Sunday we headed out for Dripping Springs which is closer and once again a mild run with a couple of waterfall areas to climb. Everyone did fine. We met some people on side by sides and ATVs who warned us that the trail ahead was pretty rough. We all got through just fine. Even though there isn’t much water at the springs, there are some interesting petroglyphs. We hung around there for a while and then we headed out back toward the highway and drove back to camp.
In the afternoon everyone did their own things. We concentrated on retail therapy. The weather was better so we had our large happy hour in the evening. Today was Robbie’s 18th birthday so we had a little birthday celebration for him. It was nice of him to have a birthday so we could all have cake. After all the good food, we had a nice campfire. The sky was very clear with lots of stars. It was a great evening.
On Monday Fred and Venetta left. Fred still was not feeling all that great. The rest of us were on our own so we did the town once again and spent more money. The weather was a bit cloudier and there was some wind. We didn’t have a happy hour or campfire in the evening but Randy and Norma invited us over to their place to finish up the dessert not finished last night. We had a nice get together inside. It actually rained a bit while we were there.
On Tuesday we had breakfast, got camp cleaned up and took off for home. It was another pleasant tour of Quartzsite.
FUTURE RUNS
February
The King of the Hammers Event is happening February 10th and 11th in Johnson Valley. We may go and watch. There hasn’t been any official planning however.
March
Terra Del Sol Safari occurs on the first weekend of March. We have been attending for many years. This will be the 50th year so they should have some special things going on. We plan to arrive on Thursday, March 1st. We are looking forward to a great time.
2012 MEETING LOCATIONS
We haven’t had too many offers for meeting locations so far, but Fred volunteered to host the next meeting. We will be talking about details for TDS and future runs. Come on by and let us hear from you. FEBRUARY MEETING Our next meeting would normally occur the first Thursday in March but since that is the day some of us plan to head out to the TDS area, we will schedule it on the last Thursday of February which will be the 23rd. We will meet at 7:30 at Fred and Venetta Ramms place.
See you on the Trail!
