Friday, December 13, 2019 (La Posa South LTVA, Quartzsite, AZ)

I was up again at 5:40 to put the coffee on. Sleeping in?? What's that? LOL! As the sun came up, we found we were in for a beautiful sunny day...not a cloud in the sky! It did take a little while to warm up though.

Today's project for Steve is to give our generator a little TLC...it hasn't been running well. When starting it surges and sounds like it's starving for fuel, then settles for a bit but still surges a little. Even though he felt changing the spark plug, cleaning the air filters and spark arrestor wouldn't resolve this symptom, he went ahead anyway.

Well, just as he thought that didn't seem to help...so he spent time trying to find a local company that did portable generator repair. You would think that a place like Quartzsite, where thousands of RV'ers boondock out in the desert, would have a generator repair place. He even called Quartzsite Visitors Center...nope. After a little more research, he found a spot in Blythe, CA...so booked an appointment for Sunday morning at Ace Hardware that happens to be a Honda dealer and service centre.

At 1:00 a bunch of us headed out on a quad ride...on a trail that we hadn't done yet! Well, we had done parts of it...apparently Earl has been holding out on us!

We all gathered at Earl and Allison's place...this is Sugar, a very exuberant puppy that jumped up to greet me! He belongs to Bill, a neighbour of Earl's...he is joining us on the ride this afternoon.

Earl/Allison led the group in their side-by-side, followed by Fred/Terri, Art, me, Dino/Lisa, Bill and tailgunner Steve.

I'll turn this over to Steve...pics are taken from his Go Pro video clips...

I was amazed at how well balanced Bill's dog Sugar was as she's only in a shallow box. Just as we were getting going again she jumped out and ran towards the front of our group running quite away before Bill got her back...

A forest of Teddy-Bear cholla...beautiful to look at but very painful if you get stuck by one. They'll go through your shoe or tire!

The Saguaro on the right appears to be waving as we pass by...LOL! The mountain ahead viewed from our camp appears as a face when the shadows are just right. That light coloured area within the face appears as a running horse. We needed a name for this ride so Steve has named it Horse Face Run...LOL!

Arriving at a wildlife water guzzler...

These collect rain and snow melt...

Allowing water to fill a trough that wildlife can walk into to drink. Looks yummy!

Time to go...

With the dog on the back Bill decided to fall back and be tail gunner as he wasn't comfortable travelling at our speed. He also doesn't wear a helmet.
Not trying to preach but I'm never comfortable riding with those that don't wear a helmet. Side X sides are different because they have a roll cage, but it's still a good idea to wear one. We had our own accident a few years ago and I  required 7 stitches in my leg. The people we were with had to roll our ATV off of us. A couple of years ago I led a ride here where a rider with no helmet flipped a borrowed ATV backwards and upside down just missing hitting his head on a large rock. He was sore the next day and the ATV had some damage. It can be a dangerous sport and we know many people that have had their own mishaps and close calls...

Bill catching up to our group. I kept looking back to make sure he was still with us...leave no man behind!

Catching up to Dino and Lisa on the home stretch...

Hard to tell facing the sun but there was a wave in there somewhere...

Lots of solar on these Solitude 5th wheels...

Colan and Marilyn's rig on the right at the entrance to our driveway...

Home sweet home!

It was an absolutely beautiful day and a great afternoon for a 2-hour ride. Earl says we'll have to do that ride again during the spring bloom.

We were home at 3:00...giving us lots of time to get ready for the happy hour and campfire tonight.
Clockwise...Steve, Earl/Allison, Sue/Doug, Claude/Teresa, Art/Jan, Fred/Terri, Dino/Lisa, and Colan/Marilyn.

Waiting for the coals so we can start our hot dogs...

Claude/Teresa, Jan, Terri/Fred, and Colan...

Claude/Teresa, Steve, Fred/Terri, Dino and Lisa...

Bellies full...time for more stories...

This was the warmest day and evening since we arrived...a perfect evening with friends, old and new!