December 2015 - Riding out of Quartzsite

Finally, it's time to ride!! Bob, Cindy and I have been spending way too much time at the Gem and Mineral Club, learning new skills, but now it is time to take some time for us!!

 Bob, Cindy and Wayne waiting for our ride leader, Bill.

Our first ride took us out to the Kofa. It is located southeast of Quartzsite. Kofa National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1939 for the protection of desert bighorn sheep and other native wildlife following a 1936 campaign by the Arizona Boy Scouts.

 It was a little cloudy, but warm.  A great day to ride.

 This tower is located in the mountains east of Highway 95.  It is a good road up to the tower, which is unusual for this area.  Normally tower roads are rain rutted, steep access roads, but not today.

 A little dusty in the distance

 Wayne, checking it out...

 From the tower we continued east on the back side of the mountains. We stopped for lunch at the Kofa Cabin.  KOFA is the acronym used by the King of Arizona Mine.

 Check it out Wayne

 Yes, you could camp in here!

 Our ride leader, Bill

 After lunch we worked our way north toward I-10. We found this old mine shaft when we took a wrong turn...

 We came under the interstate I-10 through the tunnel in the distance. It is a water culvert for the wash we are in.

 Obviously Cindy was having WAY too much fun. She only had time to tell herself " I think I have a..." before her flat front tire put her down hard on the ground.  There were skid marks!  I hate to say it, but  it was nice  to have someone besides me hit the ground!

 Wayne and Bob fixing Cindy's flat tire. Good thing we were only 7 miles from home!

Some days you have to take some time off to head to the pot luck.  Wayne drove the wagon because no one want to carry the pies and brownies...and beer and wine and chairs!!  You know how it goes.

Our next ride took us over to dripping springs.  I've been here a few times, but not the way we came today,  Very fun.

 Yes this is enough water to call it a spring!

 More water than other times I have been here

 From dripping springs we took a couple of wrong turns, but finally ended up out of Brenda at a couple of memorials in the mountains.

 We'd like to find a way down this draw.  Currently there is only one way through the mountains between Brenda and Quartzsite other than the highway, through Preacher's Pass.

 Dang Cholla.  It grows at certain elevations and this variety has fish hook spines like a porcupine.  And they are not soft and fuzzy.  If you get one on you, you cannot remove it with you hand, as you will then have it stuck to your hand as well.

 This is a memorial to someone's dog.  On the winter solstice at noon, the sun will reflect off the dish and is visible from Gold Nugget Road, down by the interstate.

 There is the road we'd like to figure out how to ride to.  It comes out on the Quartzsite side of these hills.

Another long and winding road...

 Opps!  I was zooming down the wash when this tree grabbed my chest protector at the shoulder and tossed me to the ground, right on a big pointy rock.  No Daddy, I was not hurt, but my engine case sprung a leak...

Wayne is mister prepared.  He had JB Weld, so he sealed up my case, but I was still leaking coolant, so we cracked the radiator cap so that the pressure didn't force all the coolant out.  Once we got over Preacher Pass, then I could coast down a lot of the hills.  Eventually we made it to flatter terrain and Wayne towed me back to camp.  What an adventure!

Andy

When Wayne and I started this journey, it was us and our three cats. Now we are down to one, our original "little grey baby" Abigail. We lost Bailey to predators in 2013.

Last week we lost our big boy Andy to congestive heart failure. I thought I'd take the time to share what I found out about this disease, and some of my favorite photos of our buddy.

The most common form of feline heart disease is HCM or hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.  It is a thickening of the muscular wall of the heart.  In the initial phases, cats may not show any signs at all and appear completely normal.  While the progression of the disease in some may be slow, in others like Andy, it can be quite rapid and lead to congestive heart failure.

As I researched what was happening to Andy, I discovered that early symptoms are hard to recognize; like decreased energy levels.  At 25 pounds, Andy wasn’t the most energetic cat around. Plus cats are really good at hiding signs of disease, and often there aren’t any obvious signs until a ‘critical point’ is reached. One symptom that was listed was paralysis of the hind legs, but all we noticed was that his hips were really tender.

In cats, the most commonly seen sign of heart failure is the development of difficult breathing and/or rapid breathing.  This is generally caused by either a build up of fluid in the chest cavity around or inside the lungs.

 There is an apparent genetic link in some breeds, such as Maine coon cats, Ragdolls and Persians, although no breed is immune.  It is more common in male cats, usually 5-7 years old. And that fits Andy, he was 6 years old and at 25 pounds, our vet thought he had some Maine coon in his family tree.

 I wish I had a solid list of symptoms to check out, but in reality, cat's are just so tricky, they hide any problems they have, so they don't appear weak. That's one reason we love them so much, they are not near as needy as their canine friends.

Good bye buddy, we sure enjoyed the time we had with you.

November 2015- Viva Las Vegas!

Wayne and I took a short trip north to Las Vegas to watch the final Flat Track race of the season and the first ever SuperPrestigio of the Americas. They were both held in the Oreleans Arena. We arrived on Thursday afternoon, but early enough to hit a couple of motorcycle shops, to just, you know, sit on a couple of bikes!! Unfortunately we still haven't found one that fits my short legs.  Oh well, it sure is fun looking!

The racing was set to start at 7:30 which gave us all day to check out the area around Vegas.

They have the coolest art on their overpasses

These are on the Bruce Woodbury Beltway, also known as County Road 215

We absolutely hate I-15 through Vegas, so we went west to Summerlin and got on CR 215 to take us to US 93.

Smog, with the silhouettes of the big casino looked surreal 

The beltway took us to US 93, where we turned northwest.  This took us to State Route 157 

From the valley up to Mt Charleston, the gain in elevation was very quick. There is a small town at the top.

Check out the foundation on this place.  This house is really on the side of the hill!

Charleston Peak

Angel Peak used to be an Air Force Surveillance Radar Station. The FAA currently operates the radar tower.

The Las Vegas valley from the Lee Canyon Rd overlook

located in the Spring Mountain Recreation Area

A little fake rock wall never hurts, I guess there weren't enough real rocks in the area.

After our drive it was time for a little racing!!

The track was very short, turns 1 & 2 and 3 & 4 were continuous. It made the turns just one big long slide... 

First time I've seen the pyrotechnic hardware.  Flash and boom during the pre-race entertainment. 

So it's a dirt track, so why are they painting such an elaborate start line? It only lasted for the first heat race, when they then went back to a straight line.

We were very disappointed by the turn out. I guess everyone was in Ontario CA at the Endurocross.

They rode 450 motorcross bikes

Notice the lack of a front brake disc.  That's right, and one of the interviews talked about the rear brake being only a suggestion brake.

Briar Bauman won the actual event, but Jared Mees wins his third GNC1 title in four years. Davis Fisher won the GNC2 title before this race, the season finale even began.  Good thing too, as he didn't even make the main event tonight. 

Saturday's road trip took us to the Valley of Fire, which gets its name from red sandstone formations, formed from shifting sand dunes during the age of the dinosaurs.

This is the third area of red rock we've been to in the last couple of months

Weird rocks

Cool formations

These roads would be more fun on a bike

We headed out of the rocks, down to the valley and into the Lake Mead Recreation Area

Lake Mead, when full, is the largest reservoir in the US based on water capacity. Formed by Hoover Dam, the lake is 112 miles long, when full. However the lake has not been full since 1983 due to drought conditions and increased water demand.   

Water level is a little low...

Levels haven't been this low since 2010

This is the marina at Echo Bay. The trees are growing through the covered boat dock.  

This is the new boat launch, the old one has been closed, as it doesn't reach the water any more.

Wayne said the water was good

On the way to Echo Bay the road is lined on both sides by this little fence, all 4.5 miles of it

As you can see it is only knee high.  It is to keep the Desert Tortoise from wandering out on the road. 

We continued on toward Vegas, finding more interesting rock formations 

And cool freeway art

Saturday night was the first ever Superprestigio of the Americas. Attendance was pathetic again.

If we can't get a better turnout, we'll never attract the big European racers. 

The Superprestigio has a different format than last nights flat track finale.  Last night they interviewed the winner of each heat, which took time and was actually kinda boring.  Tonight the racing was non-stop for 12 heats, with the next heat lining up at the starting gate before the current heat even finished. After a short break for track maintenance it started right back up again.

They also had several heats and a final for more traditional flat track bikes, big 750 cc Harleys, Indians and others.

Now that looks like a flat tracker...

When the racing was done, Jared Mees had won the first ever Superprestigio of the Americas. Brad Baker of Eatonville Washington was second.  It was a great night of racing, I just wish more people would come. Even if you aren't into flat track, any one who rides can appreciate the efforts of these riders.

Hope to see more of  you there next year!!