DOM Desert Riders

Our family spent Thanksgiving the same way we've done for the past few years: out in the desert with our off road club, the Dirty Old Men. The D.O.M. goes out to a location known as Charlie's Place. This is my personal favorite place our club goes to because of the variety of riding and the sights to be seen.

Our family was originally planning to leave on Wednesday night before Thanksgiving day, but that turned out to be too busy. Not only is it one of the worst days to try and drive out of the Los Angeles area in any direction, but my wife Laura had unfinished "cheer" business that had to get done. I can write an entire post just on Laura's involvement in La Habra Pop Warner and Cheer, but I'll bore you with that on some other occasion. This post is about our Thanksgiving weekend. So, we left for the desert on Thursday morning at about 7:30 a.m.

We arrived just about 3 hours later, which is pretty good time in my opinion. Our destination was only about 160 miles away, but we had to take the Cajon Pass out of San Bernardino. This is a steep climb along Interstate 15, and gets slow for those of us pulling a trailer. I'm sure many of the people speeding by us were hurrying off to Las Vegas. Once in our camp area, we quickly leveled our trailer and unloaded our quads, and we otherwise transformed the cargo area of our travel trailer into our living space. We spent the rest of the day visiting with friends and getting ready for the Thanksgiving potluck that the club traditionally has. The club provides the turkey, and all the members bring side dishes and desserts.

The members who want to eat together near the potluck table bring their own tables to the area. Nina put this place-holder on our table. It says: "Reserved for Danny Nina Laura Brady or whom we let"

Here's Laura and Nina eating their Thanksgiving dinner. Laura has a Margarita, Nina has pink lemonade in the Margarita glass. You can also see the people standing at the potluck table in the background. (the dog with no legs did not get to eat off of the potluck table)

And here's me and Nina eating. It was such a beautiful sunny day with no wind, and warm enough to keep our jackets off until nightfall. This picture was taken at about 4:30 p.m.

Since Nina finished all of her turkey, we let her have a big piece of chocolate cake for dessert. Laura and I had pumpkin pie. Brady ate with his friends in their motorhome, that's why he is not in these pictures.

That evening, we stayed in our trailer and watched a movie. We had not quite adjusted to the cold temperatures at night. Besides, we still had two more chances to go to the campfire over the next two nights.

On Friday, I took a lone ride to Randsburg. Randsburg, an old mining town that is now a tourist attraction, is about 17 miles away. I missed out on going there last year, which you can read about here if you want. This year I was going no matter what, and selfishly I didn't want to have to take a group of other riders. It took me just about an hour to get there on my quad, and I grabbed a seat at the bar and watched some college football. I ate a cheeseburger and an order of fries, and I had a couple of beers to wash it down. Then I returned for our camp via a different route. It was very enjoyable, but I don't have pictures to share. The camera stayed with Laura.

While I was gone, Brady joined the big group ride to the pinnacles, and Nina stayed back at camp and played in the sand. Here's she is along with a birthday cake she made:

Also, just like during our first ride of the year, the Ice Cream Man came out to the desert again! So even though Nina and Laura didn't go on a long ride on their quad, they did get cake and ice cream.

Part two to follow in a week or so. Bye for now.

Labels: Regular Season

The 2008 - 2009 D.O.M. riding season begins today!  This season, Dan & Leslie, our King & Queen, are asking members to sponsor a ride.  Below is the schedule of dates for this year's rides, and where applicable, the sponsors:

Labels: Regular Season

Another month, another missed ride. We didn’t go to the February ride over Presidents’ weekend, and we’re not out there this weekend with the D.O.M. club. What are we doing? Other things. Brady is attending a dance tonight, and will have some friends over tomorrow to work on a homework project. Nina played her softball game this afternoon. They won, and Nina got an R.B.I. I worked the snack shack earlier this morning, and Laura handed out the league’s team pictures all day at the field.

After some recent weather – the variety that most of the world is envious of, as it has been warm and sunny like a pleasant summer day – we got some cold, windy, cloudy, and sometimes rainy weather this weekend. I’m glad I’m in my nice warm house, and not out in the desert, were I’m sure it’s considerably colder and windier.

So where is the club this weekend? Dove Springs. It’s been a few years since I’ve been there; and it may be years before I return there again. If Nina joins softball next year; it’ll be the same thing: either practice or games between February and April. I like Dove Springs. There’s the canyon that we camp in, which has riding close by where one can ride up the canyon walls. In the past, the club has taken rides to Jawbone Canyon, the Burro Schmidt Tunnel, and other local destinations. Oh well, maybe some other time.

I’m still planning on taking the family to the Annual over Memorial Day Weekend. That ride location is California City. Stay tuned if you are so inclined.

Labels: Regular Season

Why the title Trifecta? No, I haven't changed the subject matter of this blog from the D.O.M. to horse racing. It’s code for covering three topics in one post. I’d also like to point out that I’ve set a new record posting a subsequent part in a multi-part post. That brings me to topic #1: Thanksgiving.

Continuing my story from part two; I left off on Fri. 11-23-07 (the day after Thanksgiving), and how I spent the day towing Nina to Randsburg, and not actually getting there. I later found out that Kelly & Monica did successfully get to Randsburg – and back. Let me summarize the rest of the weekend quickly.

Saturday the club had a poker run, but Laura did not want to participate. Brady entered it, but rode with his friends Joey & Amanda. Nina and I entered it together, but didn’t complete it because Nina was too scared to drive up little hills. These little hills paled in comparison to the ones she had driven on the day before, but the psychological damage was already done. She was at a point where once on top of the little hill – she would not drive forward or allow me to tow her. I had to push her quad onto an adjacent paved road, walk back to get my quad, and we returned all the way to camp by driving on the shoulders of paved roads.

Later that evening was the big pot luck, followed by the raffle. It was very cold during the raffle. Lucky for us, we borrowed a small portable heater, but it was still cold. The next morning (Sun.), I joined Cole and Fred on a ride. We left about 7:00 a.m., and took a loop that started off towards the mine. I’ve taken this same loop with Kenny on an earlier visit to Charlie’s Place. It’s really a great ride, and there are so many interesting things to see. This time we found a spot where some mining was done, but none of us had ever seen it before.

When I returned to camp, I started packing up so we could return home. I wanted to leave before too much traffic built up, especially at the intersection of U.S. 395 and Hwy. 58 (also know as Kramer Junction). I succeeded in packing us up and we were on the road by 10:00 a.m. We had a great drive home (no blow-outs), and even stopped for lunch at Red Lobster in Victorville, where Laura’s sister Sara works.

Topic #2 is the D.O.M. New Years ride. We didn’t go, and all I know is that the location was changed from Ocotillo Wells to Rasor Road. This probably made it closer for many people to attend. I haven’t received the newsletter, so I don’t know what else to post about that ride.

Topic #3 is the D.O.M. January ride, which is going on right now even as I’m writing this post. No, I’m not writing it from Lucerne Valley; I’m sitting in my nice warm dinning room in La Habra. We didn’t go to this ride either. Brady and Nina had important events to participate in, and we had to skip this ride.

Now this is not meant as a criticism, and should any club member read this – I want to emphasize that I’m not criticizing the King & Queen. But, in the past the January ride has been scheduled for the 4th weekend of the month, as opposed to the 3rd weekend (as most D.O.M. rides are). The reason for this is that the New Years ride is too close to the 3rd weekend of January. So in order to put more than two weekend’s distance between rides – the January ride has always been scheduled on the 4th weekend. All that to say that if it was scheduled as it has traditionally has in the past, we could have attended.

It’s just my luck that this year it was scheduled for the 3rd weekend and we were busy. I make a point to say all of this because my birthday is on January 19th. I’ve never celebrated my birthday on a D.O.M. ride because the ride weekend and my birthday weekend are never one in the same. So as I said, it’s just my (bad) luck that the one time my birthday and a D.O.M. ride fall on the same weekend, I’m not available. The 19th was even on a Saturday this year. Oh well.

So that’s it – three topics, all related by the D.O.M. I don’t know when I’ll post again. I stopped posting on my Family blog, and I’ve also stopped leaving comments on people’s blogs that I had been reading. With all the things going on in my life right now, I probably will not attend a D.O.M. ride until the Annual in May. So until I post again and you stop by to read – so long.

Labels: Regular Season

Continuing my story from my last post . . .Thanksgiving night was really cold. I think it was around 34 degrees. I don't like the cold, but I'm stingy with the heater. Mainly because running the heater pulls a lot of power from the trailer's batteries. So I had the thermostat set low, and the heater cycled a few times throughout the night. We let Nina sleep with us. So at least the three of us (Laura, Nina and me) were warm. Brady - not so much.

Laura had her alarm set for 5:00 a.m. Why, you ask? Well the day after Thanksgiving is still a huge shopping day - even if you're in the desert. Laura had her posse of shoppers all set up from the night before. It was the usual crowd: Laura, Cindy N., Diane S., someone else whose name escapes me, and this year, Brady joined them. Anyway, they headed for the Wal-Mart in Ridgecrest before the sun came up, and were back before 9:00 a.m. with a truck full of Christmas gifts.

Meanwhile, I was planning to ride to Randsburg. There was big group of club members going to the pinnacles, but I wasn't interested. That's just as far in the opposite direction, and no White House Saloon or other bar & grill. I didn't tell anyone (other than Laura) where I was planning on going, because I didn't want to lead a group. It was just going to be me and Nina. Laura had already said that she didn't want to ride. She was actually going to go back to Wal-Mart by herself to get more gifts.

I anticipated that Nina wouldn't make it all the way to Randsburg, which is about 17 miles away. That may not seem like a long way in a car on a paved highway, but it's a really long way on a quad (or a motorcycle) on dirt trails. So I brought my tow rope with me. I knew that the trail I would take would be easy enough for Nina. Right before I left, Kelly & Monica asked me if I knew whether anyone was going to Randsburg. They had planned on going with the big group to the pinnacles, but misunderstood the departure time. (The big group left before K & M were ready). I told them that they could join me.

So off we went. We didn't get very far before I had to stop and wait for Nina. She said she was holding down the throttle, but her quad was hardly moving. I hooked up the tow rope, and away we went. Immediately I was traveling at twice the speed as when Nina was in control, and we were still moving at a very slow speed. We drove about 7 or 8 miles before we encountered our first challenge - a steep hill. I dropped it into 2nd gear, and slowly pulled Nina up the hill. I thought she would be screaming for me to stop, but she didn't. Then we had to go down the other side of the hill, which surprise, was just as steep. Well that was it; everything changed. Nina got scared, and didn't want me to tow her. Kelly suggested that I let her drive downhill. That worked for a few feet, but Nina was just too scared to drive or be towed.

Nina decided to walk. That presented a big problem, because I would have to drive my quad down the hill a bit, let Nina get to that point, then walk back uphill to get Nina's quad. Since Nina's quad is way too small for me to ride, I had to throttle it and run behind it downhill. Well I was exhausted after a few minutes. Luckily for me, there were only a few series of hills. We were now at a point where we could cross Trona Rd. and take some trails that are more challenging. These would lead to a wide, flat trail that hugs the railroad track for a couple of miles. Then Randsburg was up the hill, but we could move onto pavement for the last two miles.

The problem with the trails was that they were narrow at times, and came across other obstacles, such as dry creeks flanked by burms. These are created when it rains, and the water run-off creates channels that drain down hill. When a trail comes across these, the trail drops a foot or two and then climbs back up on the other side. More scary stuff for Nina. Also, these tend to be very sandy, and Nina's quad doesn't have the power to blast through the sand at slow speeds. I soon realized that we were not going to make it. I towed Nina to a huge camping area where there were many trailers, and it was accessible to Trona Rd. by only a couple of hundred yards.

I felt bad for Kelly and Monica, because they were counting on me to get them to Randsburg. But most of all, I was disappointed that I would not get to go to the White House Saloon. I knew I couldn't try again the next day (Saturday), because the club had a Poker Run scheduled. I pointed Kelly towards the railroad tracks, and told him to follow them to U.S.395. From there he could find his way up to Randsburg. I also knew that I couldn't tow Nina back, because we would encounter the same scary stuff on the way back.

So I called Laura on her cell phone. Luckily for me, I had reception. Laura was actually in Wal-Mart getting ready to check out. The next problem was getting Laura to me. You see, Laura is directionally challenged. She was lucky to find Wal-Mart by herself. Never mind that she's been there four or five times before, including earlier today! But on those trips, Cindy was telling her where to go. So I told her how to get to me: go back to our camp at Charlie's Place, but don't turn off the road. Keep driving down Trona Rd. I asked her, do you know where the Punch Bowl is? No. Great.

Now a side note for you reading this post. Every time we've passed the Punch Bowl, whether we were headed to (or from) Charlie's Place, or to nearby D.O.M. ride locale, Searless Station, I've pointed out the Punch Bowl. I've also mentioned how I would like to camp there. Laura has always acknowledged my comments. So you can imagine how disappointed I was when I told her to look for a landmark that I thought she would recognize, and she didn't know what I was talking about. Well we had to chance it. I continued: Passed the Punch Bowl, and as you take a turn along Trona Rd., you will see a large group of trailers on your right. I told her that from her angle, they would look like someone threw a hundred white Legos in a big pile of sand.

About a half hour later, I recognized our truck rounding the curve. I waved Laura into the turnoff, and between the two of us we loaded Nina's quad in the back of the truck. She headed back to camp, and I headed . . . no, not to Randsburg. I also went back to camp. I knew that by the time I got to Randsburg, it would be about 12:30 p.m. I knew it would be crowded beyond my level of patients. I got to camp at about 1:00 p.m., and started drinking beer. Well, I ate lunch too.

So even though I didn't get to my destination, I was very proud of Nina for having gone a little more than half the way to Randsburg, albeit being towed. My story continues in the next post.

Labels: Regular Season

Happy Belated Thanksgiving to you all. Our family tradition continued again this year by spending Thanksgiving with the D.O.M. club in the desert. We went to the club's traditional locale, Charlie's Place. This is my personal favorite riding location, and I wouldn't mind visiting here three or four times per season. Over the past few of years, the club has been coming here twice per season; once on Thanksgiving, and once in the Spring.

It's been so busy at work lately, that I wasn't as prepared as I would have liked to have been for the ride. I haven't had a free weekend to prepare or otherwise take care of the maintenance on the quads and the trailer. Laura took Wed. 11-21 off as a vacation day, just so she could pack, shop and clean. I couldn't even start hooking up until early Thurs. morning. But we got it all done, and left the house at 8:15 a.m. Thanksgiving morning.

I made it to Charlie's Place in record breaking time: just over three hours. We pulled into camp at 11:30 a.m. It seems like each year more and more people come out, and more of them arrive earlier in the week. In the clearing off of Trona Rd. a few miles past the turnoff from U.S.395 there were already dozens of trailers. A bit down the road the Punch Bowl was full of trailers, and further still down the road where the pipeline trail and the railroad tracks cross, dozens more trailers were already parked.

Charlie's Place was also filling up, but we got the 2nd to the last front row spot in our circle. We were a little too close to the group next to us for my comfort, but it was all good. The club had a decent turnout. The club King & Queen were not there; Dan had to work on both Fri. & Sat. There were some others who didn't show up, but usually come to this ride: Chris T. & his daughters; Craig & Stephanie H. & their kids; Steve & Lynn K. & their kids. (well I guess the K's moved to Arkansas, but the rumor was that they would come back for a ride or two). Several of Joe & Di's friends didn't show either.

Those who were there included Butch & Patty & their kids; Kenny & Casey & their kids, including L. who is here from out of state (very nice to see you again, and glad you could make it); Tom & Cindy & their daughter; Fred & Daisy; and Cole & Rene who were taking on the duties of King & Queen for the weekend (in Dan & Leslie's absence). There were several others as well, some of whom showed up later on Thurs., like Ron & Cindy & their son, and others on Fri. By the way, the term "kid" that I used above is not to imply that these are little children. These are teens and young adults, and I don't want to insult them by calling them kids.

Anyway, Thursday afternoon was just to park, level, unpack, convert the interior of the trailer from a cargo hold to a living area, disengage the truck from the trailer, unload the fire wood at the pit, kick back a bit while drinking some beers, and visit with all of our friends while waiting until the potluck started.

We (our family) didn't ride until Fri., which is where I'll pick up the story next.

Labels: Regular Season

I left off at our lunch break. In addition to yummy sandwiches, chips and drinks, we decided to watch a movie and relax a bit. I was particularly tired due to little sleep the night before, and all the extra effort I had to put forth to tow Nina back from the North Pole.

Since we had to turn the generator on to watch the movie, Laura decided to plug in the crock pot and start to slow cook our dinner. This was a first. (Not Laura cooking dinner; that was a second – Ha!) This was the first time we brought out a crock pot to the desert. I’m normally not in favor of running the generator for hours on end, but I made an exception this time. While Laura and Nina watched the movie, I opted to take a nap. Brady had since returned from Competition Hill with the rest of the group, and immediately went to his friend’s motor home to play video games.

When I awoke, the movie was not quite over. I took a peek outside and noticed people were getting ready for a ride. This time the group was going to Sperry Wash. Laura was willing to go, but Nina wasn’t. Her thumb was still hurting from the earlier ride. Brady came in the trailer to get a towel, and proceeded to put his riding equipment on. By the way, Sperry Wash does have water running through it. It’s a small stream that comes from high up in the desert mountains, and the water is very refreshing to play in on warm days. This was still a warm day considering it was late October.

Laura told me to go with the group, but I stayed back with her and Nina. I’ve learned over time when to go play and when to stay. This was not a big boy’s ride of hard dirt trails and a rest stop for some beer drinking. That would have been okay to for me to go. This ride had wives and kids, and if I went without her, there would be attitude to deal with. So we watched another movie.

The group returned an hour and a half later and all was well. Brady said they found an area in the wash to play in where the water pooled. Next to our trailer was where the club King & Queen (Dan & Leslie) were parked. We noticed they were setting up tables for the Happy Hour festivities. People bring finger foods (hot wings, etc.) and the club provides drinks. It’s a fun and delicious way to socialize. We didn’t prepare anything to take, and it was later than usual for a Happy Hour event (nearly 5:00 p.m.). With our slow-cooked dinner nearly done, which we were looking forward to; we didn’t want to spoil our appetite with Happy Hour.

What happened next was unbelievable. Out of nowhere, a blast of wind came and nearly knocked everyone off their feet. We were in our trailer and it began to shake in the wind. The people outside enjoying Happy Hour were forced to flee inside the King’s trailer to make the best of things. The wind driven sand affected our visibility. We had trouble seeing the trailers across camp on the other side of the fire pit. The dunes and mountains in the distance could no longer be seen. It dropped about 20 degrees in temperature in about 30 minutes. We’ve experienced wind many times in the desert, but not like this.

We proceeded to eat dinner, and hoped that the wind would die down. All of the kids (not just ours) were looking forward to going Trick-Or-Treating. Yes, this was the club’s annual Halloween Ride (usually held a week or two before Halloween). This is a long-standing tradition where the kids get dress up in their costumes and go from trailer to trailer getting candy. Things didn’t look good this year.

The wind never let up. Darkness fell quickly, and things got worse. The wind somehow caused the awning on a trailer of one of our member’s to open up like a sail. There was no way there could be a campfire that night. I don’t think anyone could start a fire to begin with, but if there was one any trailer downwind would be in trouble. Visibility was so bad we couldn’t see any other camps of people around us. I had to put on my helmet and goggles just to go outside and secure our quads. I had to bring everything else inside (folding chairs, equipment boxes, etc.).

All night long that wind blew and our trailer shook. Laura, Nina and I continued watching movies. Brady was in the motor home next to us with his friends Joey and Amanda playing video games. Nina and Laura worried that our trailer might tip over. I told them it wouldn’t, but knew deep down it was possible. The thing that made us safe was that I never detached the trailer from our truck. The truck held us like an anchor. We went to bed, but did not get a good night’s sleep. The wind and blowing sand disturbed us. It was loud, and continued to shake the trailer until about 4:00 a.m.

Sunday morning came about and we awoke to calm clear weather. Here's a picture of the dunes from a distance:


Due to the wind, small sand dunes (only inches high) had formed around our trailers and vehicles. This was caused by the sand blowing against them all night and then dropping to the ground. Some people went riding, but I opted not to. We took our time packing up and eventually left by 12:00 noon. This locale takes about 4 ½ hours to return home from, so I wanted to get going before I got caught up in the traffic returning from Las Vegas and State Line.

We stopped in Victorville for an early dinner at Red Lobster where Laura’s sister, Sara works. She joined us during her break, and we had a nice visit. We continued our drive home. My mom had called worried about us because there was so much wind being reported on the news. Also worrying her were wildfires that had been breaking out everywhere.

The wind we experienced at the bottom of the Cajon pass was strong, but nothing like what we experienced at Dumont. As we got closer to home, we noticed the smoke from the fire that had broken out in Southeast Orange County – the one in Santiago Canyon. In the days that followed, the winds in Southern California fueled the fires from Ventura to San Diego. The smoke in the L.A. basin lingered in the air for days.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to all who lost their homes as a result of the fires. Our club ride that started off as great family fun and turned into a bit of a bummer pales in comparison to all those people who lost everything.

Labels: Regular Season

Well it only took 5 months, but we finally made it back out to the desert – as a family. If I haven’t made that clear in the past, let me clarify that doing things as a family is really important to me. It reminds me of my childhood, and when my parents took my sisters and me on family vacations.

So this past weekend, the four of us went to the desert and met up with our off road club to do some riding. As it turned out, we only went on one group ride, but it was a long ride. We went all the way to the North Pole!

No, really; the North Pole. You see, at Dumont Dunes, there’s a destination at the north-most point called the North Pole. At this spot there is a pole, and fashioned to it is a mailbox labeled Santa. I’m not making this up, there really is a pole with a mailbox on it, and all the kids put their letters to Santa in it. We took group pictures to prove it. Here's one of Nina writing her letter to Santa:

I hope she's asking Santa to give her daddy a brand new quad, but I'm guessing she didn't. Here's one of Nina putting her letter in the mailbox:

After a few refreshments, we got ready to ride back to camp. We took one last picture of the North Pole by itself (you can see part of a dune behind it). This dune was tiny compared to where we were going next:As you may or may not know, Nina is a novice rider. She’s only been riding her quad less than one year, but more specifically this is only her fourth club ride. She’s never gone on a long group ride before, only short family putt-putts. To make things more challenging, there’s a lot of sand at Dumont (thus the name Dunes). So poor little Nina in her little 50cc quad struggled, and slowed the pace down.

On the way there, Brady zipped along at a faster pace. He and other riders would sometimes take side trails or climb up small sand dunes. Brady had a good time, because he got to hang out with his friend Joey. Joey, his sister Amanda, and their parents Butch and Patty, are very nice people. We only get to see them a few times each year, mostly at club rides. Laura and I hung out at the back of the pack with Nina, but bringing up the rear of our group was Butch and Patty in their buggy, and Pablo and Carol in their sand rail.

The trip back was even more challenging because we took a different route. We headed straight back to Competition Hill, where the expert riders take their quads and sand rails high up the steep face of the dune. Nina couldn’t make it this route without assistance. I brought a tow rope with me just in case (I’ve had to tow her back before). She complained that her thumb hurt her too much to continue riding. She has yet to build up some resistance for holding her thumb against the throttle.

Everyone else arrived at Competition Hill before us. I knew I still had a ways to go to reach our camp, so the three of us continued back while the rest of the group hung out there. Some of the more experienced riders went up the face of Competition Hill. Everyone else just watched.

Once back at camp it was time for lunch. The weather was great at this time. It was sunny and warm (probably around 82), and there was no wind. So we changed out of our riding clothes and in to shorts and T-shirts. We ate, drank, and were otherwise merry. I knew there would be a later ride to Sperry Wash, which is a great place to go riding. I will continue with that part of the story in my next post. Please check back for more of the story. Thanks.

Labels: Regular Season

So where did I leave off? Oh yes, I got to go to the D.O.M. ride alone. Now let me list the advantages about that: I get to listen to whatever music I want to, as loud as I want to, all the way there and all the way home. I get to hang out with whomever I want to once I get there. I get to drink as much beer as I want to without hearing any flack from a certain someone. I get to ride as much as I want to on whatever trails I want to. (That means no easy trails at a deathly slow speed). I don’t have to cook for anyone other than myself. (Did I mention that Laura, Brady and Nina are finicky eaters, and rarely eat at normal meal times, and that I usually have to stop what I’m doing to feed Nina?). I don’t have to clean up after anyone other than myself. I don’t have to waste propane because someone is cold and wants the heater on. (There are things called extra layers of clothing and/or blankets that address that challenge). I don’t have to waste gasoline and the extra wear-and-tear on the generator by playing movies or video games for hours at a time. (There’s a thing called a campfire where socializing is done to pass the time in the evening to address that challenge).

Now for the disadvantages: For me, this ride is only from Saturday at 6:00 p.m. until Sunday at Noon.

When I finally got to Cougar Buttes in Lucerne Valley, I was greeted by friend and former D.O.M. club King, Kenny. I immediately asked about the potluck, which is usually held about 6:00 p.m. It turns out there was no potluck. Those who attended Happy Hour (at 3:00 p.m.) brought enough finger foods to adequately feed the small turn out that was there. So the potluck was scrapped. No problem. The lasagna that I labored over (over a cold grocery store freezer) went immediately into my microwave oven, and shortly thereafter into my stomach. Dinner done.

I then mingled with fellow club members, non-club members, and guests at the camp fire while drinking beer. I hadn’t seen any of these people since the D.O.M. Annual in May. There was actually one former member there whom I hadn’t seen in several years. It was great to visit with everyone, even if it was only for a short time. While we were talking and enjoying our campfire, we were treated to a beautiful fireworks display from a neighboring camp. Bad people! Fireworks are illegal and dangerous.

After some of our own pyros started messing with our campfire, I broke away to hang out with my friend Joe at his campfire. Joe got me into the D.O.M. club, and the quad I now ride was one that he owned years ago. Joe had his son David with him, and David’s friend Daniel. We hung out at their small campfire by his trailer for a couple more beers before calling it a night.

The next morning, as previously agreed upon the night before, some of us met up for an early morning ride. 7:30 a.m. was the departing time. Cole led the small group of quad riders, which included me, Kenny, King Dan, John, and a lone motorcycle rider whose name escapes me. (I think he’s a friend of John’s). Anyway, we hit the trails. Cole took us towards the large rock formations to the south, heading eastward from there to circle them in a counter-clockwise manner. It wasn’t long before I questioned whether we were even on a quad trail. I think I would have done better if I was a goat trekking across a rocky mountain pass. We later discovered that due to this killer trail, damage occurred to the motorcycle’s tires.

One of the neat things about Cougar Buttes are the rock formations. There are a lot of trails going in many directions, but there are also trails that hug the base of these formations that reek havoc. (Later in the day Joe and I saw a 4X4 truck being righted – it had over-turned. The truck fell victim to these rocky trails).

So more than halfway through this morning ride Kenny had a mishap. We were on a trail that made kind-of a hairpin turn. Kenny had already gone through it, and I was about to. So if you can picture it – we were going in opposite directions. A little after I went through the turn, the trail took a hard right going up a steep hill. I though Kenny missed the turn and saw that he went straight. I got up to the top of the hill where there was another hairpin turn bringing you back down the hill. That’s when I saw that Kenny had T-boned a rock. Not just any rock; a rock that was about 5 feet high, 2 feet around, and probably weighed 1,000 lbs. Kenny hit this rock so hard it actually moved. He’s lucky he didn’t launch over the top of his quad and T-boned it with his head. Damage to Kenny’s quad was a dented bumper on the front end, and a lost cooler rack on the back end. We think the cooler rack actually broke first and caused a distraction for Kenny, which caused him to miss that hard right turn to begin with.

We limped home from there and ate breakfast. I took Laura’s quad on that first ride, which turned out to be the longest one for me of the day. Next up was Brady’s quad. I took that for a little spin after breakfast. Then it was my quad’s turn. I took that for a shorter spin – just to keep it running. Nina’s quad wouldn’t even start, and I wasn’t going to waste time messing with it.

I started packing up my stuff, as I wanted to leave by Noon. After I got everything done, and saw that some of the members were starting to leave. Joe invited me to go with him in his sand rail for a ride with his son and friend. We took long ride that was very fun. We had a great time. On the way back is when we saw the 4X4 truck mishap. Joe also spotted a boy on a motorcycle in distress. I don’t know why this kid thought he could traverse the trail he was on, but he could have hurt himself and wrecked his bike. I got out of the sand rail and helped him push his bike back up a rocky hill to where we could turn it around and head him towards an easier trail.

Shortly thereafter I left our camp for home, where I was treated to a drive without traffic, and with my favorite music, NO distractions from fighting kids or a nagging wife, and no tire blowouts. Two and a half hours later I was reunited with my loving family. Nina had several pictures that she had drawn for me, and a sign that still hangs in our hallway that says “Welcome back from the ride and your alone time”. I got hugs and kisses from Laura, and the usual indifferent greeting from Brady.

All in all I had a great time, even if I only rode quads for about two hours. My next trip will be better. I hope you visit back to read about it.

Labels: Regular Season

The first D.O.M. ride of the ’07-’08 season has come and gone now, and it’s time for me to share this experience with you. Way before the ride schedule was announced I knew there would be a conflict with Nina’s cheer leading schedule. I just didn’t know how much the schedules would conflict with each other.

Laura knows how important riding is to me and how much I enjoy going out to a D.O.M. club ride. She told me to miss Nina’s game, even before we knew when the game would be played or who the opponent would be. It’s actually more important to me to do things as a family. I want to be there for Nina’s game, and I want Laura, Brady and Nina with me at every ride.

So even with Laura’s permission to go to the ride alone (or with Brady if he wanted to), I didn’t want to. I tried to find a way to do both the D.O.M. ride and the cheer Dad thing. Well I did find a way, but it required more driving than what I would normally do. My original plan was to take our trailer out to the desert on Friday morning (9-21-07) right after Laura left for work, and after I took Nina to daycare. My drive would really not be that far, as this destination was Lucerne Valley – the closest locale that our club camps at. An advantage is that leaving early in the morning (around 8:00 a.m.) there would be little traffic in the direction I would be heading. Most of the traffic at that hour would be coming in from the Inland Empire (a.k.a. “the 909”) into L.A.

I figured I would be in camp at about 11:00 a.m., unload everything, ride my quad with the guys that I already knew were going to be there, and drink a few beers (of course). I would then spend Friday night there, get up Saturday morning and drive back in to Orange County to attend Nina’s game. I would then take Laura, Brady and Nina back with me to the desert and be back by the time the club had their potluck on Saturday night. We would then go on family rides Sunday morning before packing up and returning home.

Well so much for my plans. The first change came about when we found out the annual flag football / cheer parent social was scheduled for Friday night (9-21-07). This is a very fun event to attend especially for Laura. Last year it happened to be scheduled later in the football season – coincidentally on Laura’s birthday. Click here if you want to read about that evening, which I blogged about. No problem; I’m flexible. I would just come home Friday early enough to shower and change for the social event. Then after the social I would spend the night in my nice comfortable bed at home instead of the cramped and uncomfortable bed in the trailer.

The next change was the event that determined that Laura and Nina would stay at home for the weekend. No, thankfully neither was sick; it was team picture day on Sunday (9-23-07). Now originally, this was scheduled for two weeks prior – Sept. 9th. But unfortunately the photographer got into an accident and couldn’t take team pictures that weekend. Team pictures is a must attend event for all football players, cheerleaders, and coaches. So now my plans changed to just me and Brady leaving right after Nina’s game was over on Saturday.

Here’s what actually happened: I didn’t do anything to prepare for the ride until Friday morning. Well, other than charging the trailer battery and chilling the refrigerator (both are done simultaneously by plugging an extension cord in to the trailer that’s connected to the house). I still had to pack my food, clothes and equipment into the trailer, which had to be filled with water and also hooked up to the truck, which first had to be gassed up, aired up, and loaded with fire wood. There was also some last minute cleaning that had to be done. This takes hours. You see, I got lazy after the club’s Annual ride back on Memorial Day Weekend, and never finished cleaning the trailer.

So I didn’t leave for the desert until 11:30 a.m. I actually made very good time, and miraculously didn’t have a blow out on my trailer! I was in the D.O.M. camp at 2:00 p.m. Not enough time to ride, but plenty of time to disconnect the trailer from the truck and have a couple of beers while briefly visiting with the few members who were there at the time. That included King Dan, Jack Murray Sr., and my dear friends Terry, Robin and their beautiful daughter Ellie. I high-tailed it out of there by 3:30 p.m., passed all the traffic leaving L.A. for the desert and beyond (Las Vegas), and was home by 5:30 p.m.

So I cleaned up and went to the social with Laura. We ate, drank, and were merry. We won a raffle prize, and otherwise had a very good time. The next morning Laura, Nina and I went to the football game where Nina cheered her heart out. Did I mention it was a home game? That’s good news in that I wouldn’t have to travel from somewhere else back home first only to leave for the desert right away. Unfortunately it was a 12:30 p.m. game – the latest a flag football game is played. Did I mention the start time was delayed by the earlier game running long? Oh yeah, it seems that if the first game in the morning doesn’t start on time for whatever reason, or if there’s a delay in that game or the second game; the last game starts late. Can you guess what happened? That’s right! Our 12:30 p.m. game started at 1:15 p.m. Two hours (and several touchdowns) later, I was done and able to leave for the desert.

I was able, willing and impatiently waiting to leave. Did I mention Brady would not be joining me after all? Back in late August when we attended the barbecue held by our dear friends Butch and Patti (which I blogged about here), Brady found out that his friend Joey wouldn’t be attending the first D.O.M. ride. A couple of weeks before the ride, Brady also found out that one of his friends whom he enjoys hanging around with would not be attending this ride either. I won’t embarrass her by naming her. With these two key people not attending, Brady didn’t want to attend. Brady doesn’t share the love I do for riding quads. My opinion is: I don’t care who shows or who doesn’t show to the D.O.M. ride; I’m going to ride my quad and visit with whomever shows up. Most of these people I maybe see once a month between September and May.

So for this first ride of the D.O.M. season, it was just me. Alone. All by myself. Can you detect the disappointment in my words? My story continues in the next post.

Labels: Regular Season