Saturday and Sunday, February 8 and 9, 2014 (Pilot Knob LTVA, Yuma, AZ and travel to Ocotillo Wells SVRA, CA)

We're back from our "vacation" and as you have probably guessed by now, we didn't have an internet signal strong enough to post blogs...mind  you, we were also very busy! Lots of quad riding and geocaching! I've decided to combine the whole week into two posts...making both picture intensive! Remember, you just have to click on the picture to enlarge.

Saturday morning we packed our lunch for a day out on our ATV's. At 10:00 we headed out. We left the LTVA and crossed over I-10 to the north side where we would be riding up into the mountains. Earl/Allison led the way, followed by Eric (Janet decided to stay home), me and then Steve...

Town of Felicity...

We met Bob and Sue...they hadn't off-loaded their quads at camp, so just drove over and off-loaded them...

We headed down Sidewinder Road and then started the hunt for a string of geocaches...

We did a lot of exploring in the area...

Dianne, Earl, Bob, Allison and Sue...found a geocache up there!

This appears to be an old mine site...

Perhaps these held water?

Imperial Sand Dunes in the distance...

Eric and Steve spotted some deer relaxing in some shade...the family of 4 eventually ran off...

Bob checking out a mine shaft below...

I tried following Earl/Allison up that steep bank but didn't make it...guess I didn't have enough of a run at it. As it turned out, the road dead-ended so we had to turn around...

We're taking this trail to see if it goes through that mountain pass up there...

It didn't, so we had to turn around and come back down...

The trail was too rough for the dogs to ride on Sue's quad so they had a long hot run back down...

Down we go back into the valley...

Not sure what this used to be...

After exploring many trails, we arrived back at Bob and Sue's truck at about 4:30. On the way back to camp, Steve, Eric and I stopped at this monument. There is apparently a geocache hidden somewhere but we couldn't find it...

There is a very tricky geocache hidden here...

Once back at the entrance to the LTVA, Steve and I continued on the road, going down to the canal. Mexico is on the other side...

After a long ride, Steve gassed up the quads before loading them back into the truck. We had had a great day exploring a new area (for us)...It was also one of the most desolate areas we have ridden.

Sunday morning we headed off with Earl and Allison to Wetlands Park for the Yuma Mega Event. Here I am registering...

We set up our chairs beside the lake...

All attendees can sign the board...

Cec and Alan joined us and using my GPS, they were able to get "a taste" of geocaching as we went in search of caches in the park. Earl and Allison and Steve and I were also participating in the Poker Run.

Me, Cec and Allison following behind as the guys lead the way...

 Found one!

 A Roadrunner...

 Searching...

RV Park across the Colorado River...

Group picture! Steve, me, Allison, Earl, Cec and Alan...

The military and Sheriff's Dept. had a display...

Alan even asked if he could take it up for a spin...

Sheriff and his ride...

It was noon when we finished our walk/geocaching and handed in our poker-hand...we didn't get a very good one...(there are five geocaches where you pick up an envelope containing a playing-card).

After hugs and handshakes, Alan and Cec headed off...looking forward to connecting with you again next year!...and we went to our chairs in the shade and had lunch. We hung around waiting for the 50/50 draw...$500 would be nice! But neither one of us had the winning ticket.

It was just after 1:30 when all of the tickets/prizes had been called and the event ended. As we walked back to the truck, we watched as the helicopter took off...

We were back at camp and were all packed up by 2:30...we all decided that we had plenty of time to drive to Ocotillo Wells SVRA (State Vehicular Recreation Area) near Borrego Springs, California. It was about an hour and a half's drive.

These are pictures of the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreational area as we headed west on I-10...

Unfortunately, it took us a lot longer because finding a sani-dump in southern California is a bit of a challenge. We needed to dump the grey water and fill with fresh water and after researching on Sani-Dumps.com, Steve thought he had found a truck stop on our route. Once there, we were told that it was "under construction"...sheesh! We were told there was one further west on I-10 about 6 miles...taking us out of our way, of course...oh well...it is what it is! Once there, we could dump but we couldn't take on fresh water because the tap wasn't threaded...sheesh (again)! The others didn't need to take on water, so we went ahead of them (while they dumped), deciding to go to the Arco station about 12 miles north of our turnoff to Ocotillo Wells (we had been there last year and used their facilities) . As it turned out, we arrived at Holmes Camp about 10 minutes or so after they (Bob/Sue, Eric/Janet and Earl/Allison). It was shortly after 6:00 p.m. and the sun had just gone down behind the mountains.

We got all set up, leaving the ATV's to offload tomorrow morning. We are looking forward to riding in this area again!