Newsletter0814

The Rooster August 2014

Doug Becker September 2, 1950 - July 17, 2014

We are saddened to report that long time club member Doug Becker passed away suddenly in his sleep on July 17th. Services were held on Saturday, July 26th and were attended by many of Doug’s family, friends, and coworkers, including a large group of friends from Inland Empire Offroad.

Doug was born September 2, 1950 in Cleveland, Ohio to Margaret and Walter (Wally) Becker. When Doug was two years old, the family moved out to California where they relished the warmer weather. With the family happy in their new California home, Doug’s sister Janice was born in October 1953 and they became a loving family of four. Doug spent his school years growing up in Whittier, California, where he graduated from Monte Vista High School in 1968. Once graduated, Doug became a United States Air Force Reservist. He was able to serve his country at March Air Force Base near his hometown. While Doug was spending his weekends with the Air Force, he started a career working for UPS (where he would later retire in 2006 after 36 years, at the age of 55).

Over more than twenty-five years of outings, Doug was always a fixture in the club. He will be remembered for many things, perhaps one of the most prevalent being his positive attitude. As one speaker at his services mentioned, if Doug was really upset about something about the most you’d get out of him was a “jeepers” instead of four letter terms the rest of us would more commonly use in a similar situation.

Doug is survived by his wife of 33 years Jeananne and three children, Teryl Lynn, Matthew Douglas, and Linsey Elizabeth, as well as his mother Margaret. He will be missed by each of us but will always have a special place in our memories. Jeananne would like to make a trip to the dunes this year, and many of us would love to help that happen.

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THE ROOSTER A monthly update from the Inland Empire Offroad Association


Our twentieth annual trip to the Coral Pink Sand Dunes in July was another great one, and as has become tradition I’ll include a day by day summary of what we did. If you have any questions or want to know more about duning through pine trees, any of us will be happy to tell you more about this unique location. -P.J."

Friday July 11th:

We got up at 2:00 AM to head out from Riverside and meet everyone else in Mesquite. This is the first time we have driven straight through without spending a night in Mesquite. It meant that we didn't have to unpack the trailer, so even with the early morning it was a lot less work. We were on the road by 2:45 and stopped for fuel in Barstow about 4:30. There were no crowds. We got to Baker by 5:45 and ate breakfast at the Mad Greek. Then we had a trouble free drive through Vegas and up to Mesquite, where we arrived at 9:40. We met up with Jim and Nancy Kastle, Don and

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What’s New

This month we lost Doug Becker, which came as a big surprise to the group. He will be missed yet remembered fondly.

Coral Pink was Great!

As you’ll read all about in this newsletter, we had another great trip to Coral Pink. Soon we’ll be making our reservations for next year, so it is never too soon to start planning.

River Time

With the Coral Pink trip done, it is time to head to the river. Many members will be at Don and Shirley Ford’s the weekend of August 8-10th.

CORAL PINK 2014


Shirley Ford, and Walt and this year's group was complete. We had heard that for the first time since they started coming to Coral Pink the Schellingers wouldn't be able to come, and neither would Mike Bacon. The Bakers had made reservations as well, but cancelled at the last minute. So, we were a small but happy group, since we're going to Coral Pink. We left Mesquite about 10:30 and started up through the Virgin River gorge. It was narrowed for construction but we had no problems. At the top Jim decided to pull over because he thought his boost line had come off, and it had. With a view overlooking St. George we cleaned up and re-clamped the intake hose, and coated it with some hairspray from Shirley to hopefully help it stick. We continued on to Hurricane where Jim stopped at the Ace hardware for some clamps and we waited in the newer high school parking lot. Then we headed up the hill and to the Cane Beds road turnoff. There were clouds around but no rain for us so we figured it would be fine, and the road was in great shape, having recently been graded. We arrived at the park at about 2:30 Utah time, just short of 11 hours after we left the house. Then we got the rigs arranged in the group site, which was just slightly more complicated because of a fence they added next to where we park our trailer. We got everything situated and with fewer rigs had lots of open space. We all mentioned within the first half hour that we missed Kris and Doug. The site was not the same without them. We just unpacked and enjoyed the scenery before cooking dinner and heading to bed by 10:00.

Saturday July 12th:

We woke up at Coral Pink which is a wonderful feeling on the first day of a trip. We had breakfast and got the cars and RZRs ready to go. We left camp with two buggies and two RZRs about 10 AM. We went through the lower dunes and saw a newly enlarged closure that we had read about. They widened the closure that runs along sand dunes road between the campground and the meadow. Now it actually cuts straight through the dune formation that we called Daytona, but the sand had shifted over recent years to make it less of a bowl anyway. We continued through the very soft sand until Jim got stuck in the buggy trying

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Upcoming Events

• August 8-10: Lake Havasu Weekend at The Fords’.

• September 1: Labor Day

• September 19-21: Sand Sports Super Show at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa.

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to make a u turn and avoid a bush. We jacked the car up and got it out, then climbed the hill to the upper dunes. The RZRs did great even with the soft dry conditions. We made it to the Corral where Don immediately ran up the hill in the RZR 1000 and made it look easy. Walt made it in Shirley's 900 that he borrowed for the trip. We took a break and listened to the breeze in the trees. Then we headed through the upper dunes some more. We found that many of the small trails that connect the valleys up there have been marked as closed, which to our surprise includes Bob Jim, a steep path we have used for years. The valleys themselves remain open, and there are connecting trails at both ends of them, but we did loose some rideable ground. We headed back to camp via the Disneyland trail, which fortunately is still completely open, and then played a bit in the lower dunes. At camp we got cleaned up and then everybody headed to town. Walt, Don, and Shirley went to Lotsa Motsa for the lunch buffet which they enjoyed. The rest of us had eaten earlier, but did some shopping and looking around. Then we spent the afternoon in camp hanging out and working on little projects like Don's motorhome water pump and satellite TV. Melissa and I went for a run, and Allie put on an evening dance show for her small but enthusiastic audience. We then used the showers and headed to bed.

Sunday July 13th:

I got up and took the dogs for a walk before we sat around and had breakfast. Being Sunday a lot of places are closed, so it is a good day to hang out in camp. We started the day with a buggy and RZR ride where Don and Walt tested out their lower air pressure in their paddle tires. We climbed straight up to the upper section, and Don said it was 100% better. Wherever we went the RZRs were right behind us. We saw that Moon Rock is definitely in a closed area, but we also heard from the ranger that the intention was not to close established roads, but to mark off vegetation areas. We took a break at the corral, then headed back down to camp because Don's niece and her husband were expected to arrive for a visit from Hurricane. We got back to camp and they changed the RZR tires to prepare for trail riding. Jack and Cathy arrived right at

1:00 and after some visiting they headed out for a ride. They drove Don's 1000, Don and Shirley took the 900, and Walt rode with Jim as they led the way to the dinosaur tracks. While they were gone the clouds built up and we had a few sprinkles, and once they got back we had enough rain that we decided to cover everything. Jack and Cathy stayed for dinner and then headed home. I decided to do some maintenance on my car and replaced a fuse block that had cracked. Then at sunset we went for a walk to the overlook to take some pictures. Melissa headed to bed early since her stomach hurt, and Allie got ready for bed with me while my Dad finished mounting the fuse block.

Monday, July 14th:

This might be the best Monday of the year, since we don't have to worry about heading back to work and we have a whole week at Coral Pink to look forward to. There were some rain drops before quiet hours

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ended, but it cleared up and we got ready for a ride. Don put his paddle tires back on, and Jim decided to try his RZR in the dunes. I followed the three RZRs in my sandrail. We had a good ride through the lower dunes, but without paddles and running 12 psi in his stock tires Jim couldn't climb the big hill to the upper section. In attempting to climb it, his RZR got warm. We let it cool a bit, then headed around by the meadow to get to the upper dunes. We ran around up there a bit, but then decided to stop because Jim's was still running hot. We then also noticed that we could hear some noise coming from his belt / clutch area. We decided to head back to investigate further after he aired down. It seemed to work better on the way back, but the noise got louder as we went through the lower dunes. About halfway across Jim pulled over and said we'd tow it from there because the belt just broke. I figured having the only sandrail I would hook on and easily tow the little RZR back to camp. I didn't have enough momentum to make a u turn, and wound up getting stopped on a hill. We unhooked and I towed him the other direction, but it was work. After a couple

of hills Jim got on the radio yelling Stop, as it turned out he had run over the tow rope. As we untied it, Shirley noticed that my front end looked a little funny. It turns out I had broken an A-arm on the right front, but it hadn't completely separated yet. I decided to Baby it back to camp, and figured we could get Jim's car to tow his RZR. Then Don said "Why don't I just tow him?" so we decided to give it a try. The 1000 pulled him just effortlessly. They went right up some steep hills and almost made it up a steep slip face. Jim backed back down then Don towed him backwards to a different path. From there it was an easy trip back to camp, and I was glad that my car

made it without the tire falling off. Once we got back to camp, Jim, Don and Walt got to work on the belt and in the time it took me to make a sandwich had the belt replaced, which was impressive since it was the first time any of them had done one. Polaris includes a tool that spreads the clutch enough to make it slide right on. With the RZR fixed we decided to work on my front end, and since Don brought his welder and Walt had a big piece of tube to use to bend it back into shape my Dad and I were able to get it together nicely. We even added some material to make it stronger than it was originally. With the welding done, we decided to head to Kanab so Melissa and I could check in with work, and my Dad came along for the ride. We saw that we were both still employed, so we did some shopping at the pawn shop, hardware store, and Honey's market. Then we went back to camp and finished installing my repaired a-arm and cooked dinner. We were the only off roaders in the campground, and there were a lot of empty spaces. We all sat around watching video of the eventful morning ride, and then took showers before going to bed.

Tuesday July 15th:

This morning it was cloudy and overcast when we got up. It was actually a little bit chilly, but it warmed up pretty quickly. Jim wanted to try the RZR, so we headed to the dunes again. I followed in my car, and we

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made it to the corral. Jim's RZR worked well and the new belt was nice. After the corral we did a thorough tour of the upper dunes and discovered which paths were still open. We found lots of neat paths, but in one of the valleys I must have hit a piece of wood ant put a hole in my left paddle tire. We decided to send everyone else back to camp to get a spare and I stayed out with the car. After the RZRs left they made it one valley over when Walt got stuck on a hill and backed into a tree. I saw the whole thing and heard Walt call on the radio for a hand. I figured I didn't have anything else to do, so I walked over to them. It was quite a climb, but I found it was the same hill that Jim had backed into a tree a couple of years ago. We lifted the front end around and fortunately it didn't roll over when it was sideways on the hill. Then Walt was able to pull forward and down the hill. They headed for camp and I walked back to my car. Walt and my Dad arrived back within an hour and we put John's spare on and drove back. In camp we put 8 plugs in the slit but it seemed to hold air. The clouds were building and rain seemed super close. The Kastles then went into Kanab to make Disney ride reservations online and to call John on Tuesday night. We saw that it had rained very hard on Hancock road but it never made it to camp. On the way back Shelby bit into a can of coke in the back and it sprayed all over the truck. Back in camp we cooked dinner and sat around and talked. We made plans to go to Thunderbird for breakfast on Wednesday. After dark another dune rig arrived, and one had arrived during the day, so besides us there were now two other off roaders in the campground.

Wednesday July 16th:

I got up early and took the dogs for a walk so that we would be ready to head to the Thunderbird restaurant at 8:30. This was also the day Melissa and I planned to go visit Cedar City. We all left camp at 8:30 and headed North. We arrived at the restaurant and found it to be almost empty. We had a nice waitress who

took good care of us, and we were all able to sit together. After breakfast we hit the gift shop and Allie found a bag of rocks just like at Disneyland but for less money. Then Walt, Don, and Shirley headed to town while Allie, Melissa, and I headed for Cedar City, and Jim and Nancy went back to camp. The drive to Cedar City is just beautiful, and you climb to over 10,000 feet and see all different kinds of terrain. We were looking for deer, and saw five of them but they had all already been hit by cars. We went to some pawn shops and the thrift store in Cedar City. Unlike last year we didn't find

any new computers, but Allie got an Easy Bake oven for $5. Then we headed South on the 15 (at the 80 MPH speed limit) towards St George. Back in camp, the

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RZRs went on a trail ride from the corral to the overlook above camp, and then to the waterfall drop off that they had found with Mike last year. Walt got some great pictures, including one with Shirley hanging her head over the edge. They rode over 50 miles. We looked around for a barbecue, which was more difficult than we expected, but we found a nice stainless steel one at Home Depot. It is a little big, but looks really nice and Melissa was excited to have it. After visiting a few more stores we grabbed dinner at In-n-Out and headed for camp. We got to the cane beds turnoff before sunset so we stopped and took some pictures at an old windmill. Then we got back to camp before dark and sat around and talked about our day. In the campground a few more rigs had arrived, including a pair from California that were just across from us.

Thursday, July 17:

We got up and had breakfast fairly early, because Allie had been asleep since before sunset. After the RZR ride yesterday, Don and Shirley wanted me and Melissa to see the drop off and overlook, and offered their RZR to us to take on a ride to see it. Allie however was more excited about playing with her Easy Bake oven, so we decided to do an afternoon RZR ride. For the morning ride we took the buggies and the RZRs followed. We had an uneventful trip to the corral, and on the way back the worst that happened was I got

stuck, but we were able to lift the car out using my jack. Then we went back to camp for lunch and a trip to the ranger station in Allie's wagon. Then Grandma Nancy agreed to babysit while we went on the RZR ride. I drove Don and Shirley's 1000 with Melissa while they drove the 900 and Walt rode with Jim. We went through the dunes to the corral, then up the trail toward the overlook. We took the second fork left, and went over some neat rock patches on the way to a big wash. This wash is the one they had discovered last year that ends in a very high drop to the valley below. It is impressive, you are looking down on the tree tops. The heights made everybody nervous, but we got some great pictures. The best video would have been Don and

Jim scolding Shirley for getting too close to the edge. I put my camera on the tripod and Don held it out over he edge to get some great shots. Then we posed for a group shot in front of the cliff before heading

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out. To keep it interesting , we climbed out of the valley another way that involved climbing the steepest hill I have ever driven anything up, and the RZR handled it just great. Basically I just pointed it at the sky and it went that direction. We went just about to the top of the world, at least it felt like it because we could see Kanab in the distance and not much else above us. We wound around to the overlook and were able to look down on camp and take some great shots. Then we headed back to the corral, where we saw (and photographed) cows in the corral. Then we rode back to camp where we made dinner and watched the video and viewed pictures of the ride. By the time quiet hours came most everybody was inside, except Walt and Jim who went for a walk. Then I went to take a shower and got ready for bed after a great day.

Friday July 18th:

I got up and took the dogs for their walk at 7:00 AM and I was more comfortable in a sweatshirt. Back at camp we started getting ready for a morning buggy ride. Shirley decided to sit this one out, making it only the second ride of the whole trip that she missed. We went to the corral looking for Don and Shirley's whip that fell off on yesterday's ride. We didn't find it on our way to the corral, so after a break we headed up the

trail to the petroglyphs turnoff and still didn't find it. We headed back down to the corral and then explored the upper dunes for a while. Over near the meadow Jim wound up between paths and got stopped by a branch of a fallen tree that was blocking his path. We tried jacking up his car and lifting it above the branch, but couldn't get it high enough. We experimented with a second jack and different positions before Jim suggested jacking up the other end of the tree trunk, which freed it. To help get the car moving we hooked Don's RZR to the front of it and he pulled it out. Then we had to figure out what to do for my car so I didn't follow my Dad's path. We decided to use the RZR to tow me backwards so I could

back down the hill. We were out of sync on our first attempt, so both vehicles got stuck. We jacked both up, leaving the strap in place ant tried again, which worked well. Then we headed for camp, but within a few minutes my paddle tire was loosing air again, so I stopped and waited while they ran back to camp to get John's spare. Walt and Jim brought it back out and we installed it and got back to camp about 2:00. Then we decided to go to the shooting range, so Jim, Walt,

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and I went in Walt's truck. We had some fun and hit the targets a few times, but since it was over 100 degrees by now we didn't want to hang out for too long. We decided ice cream in town would be good to cool down, so we went on in. There we uploaded pictures and checked email, and learned of Doug Becker's passing. It reminded us all of when his best friend Greg passed away during a Coral Pink trip. We then went back to camp to share the sad news and hung out for a while before Walt, Don and Shirley went in for Mexican food dinner. Nancy had gone to St George for the day and wasn't back yet, and we wanted to use our new grill so Melissa cooked chicken. After dinner we needed ice so we took Allie for a buggy ride and my Dad followed in the RZR. We stopped in the dunes and she played for about an hour. Then we went to the ranger station and got ice before heading to camp where everyone was back. We sat around and talked until after 10 PM, then called it a night. The campground was fairly full, although there was only one other group of off roaders, a group from Texas with farm quads and side by sides. Most of the rest of the campers had tents, and there were at least 10 of them.

Saturday July 19th:

After getting up with the dogs, I sat out and did yesterday's write up for the newsletter. Then I went through and edited some video to give to the Rangers along with pictures of our trip. The RZRs got ready for a ride, and I talked to my Mom about an antique store she found in Hurricane. We figured out we could go in there during our travels, since we knew we wanted to go to Kanab for lunch. We set a time of 2:00 Utah to meet them in town, and the RZRs headed out for the dunes. I stayed in camp and cleaned up a bit and played with my RC helicopter. Once Allie got up we started getting ready to go to town, but she took her time eating and then played puzzles with Grandma Nancy. We decided to head to Kanab for lunch at The Junction after

they got back from the ride, and from there we would go on to check out Hurricane. Jim rode with us in the Excursion after lunch, and Nancy took her car and did some shopping in Kanab before going back to camp. In Hurricane we checked out a new Pawn shop and a couple of antique stores. Once the stores closed at 5:00, we decided to check out their local park, where Allie played on the swings and slides, then we went over to their water park area where they have a neat fountain that kids can play in. Then we went back to camp and got everybody together for the traditional group picture. Then we did some packing and picture and video editing to get a flash drive of content ready for the Rangers.

Sunday, July 20th:

We got up early and I took one last morning walk with the dogs before packing up. Melissa made breakfast burritos which were great. The packing up went well since there were only four rigs, and we didn't even have the work bench to put away like usual. We had to wait to load our trailer until my Dad's and the Fords were moved, but it went really quick. Then we stopped at the dump station and then Ranger station on the way

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out. We got to spend a little time talking to Ranger Franklin, the head Ranger at Coral Pink. He's been there 13 years and does a great job. He said he actually has a hard time finding tickets to write there. With the pictures and video dropped off, we were ready to head for Mesquite. The drive went great down the dirt road through Cane Beds, and we stopped for a potty break just before we got to I-15. Things continued well until Walt had a flat trailer tire in the Virgin River gorge. Don and I were able to pull over and stop to help, but I had to walk about five minutes back up the hill to get to him. I grabbed my impact and gloves and headed up. We got the tire changed in just a couple minutes, which was nice because it was over 100 degrees outside. On the way back to the truck I found a souvenir for John, a piece of broken plastic with a Polaris logo on it, or as he'd say, a RZR part! (Those who have heard him call out RZR parts on the radio last season can appreciate this.) The rest of the trip to Mesquite went well, and we got checked in and went to the pool. For dinner, since it was Melissa's birthday we had a party at Pizza Hut with Walt and my parents.

Afterward we went to the movie theater and watched the new Planes movie, which was great. Late that evening, after visiting Wal Mart for planes toys, I headed to the casino for some video poker with my Dad. After a couple of hands I was dealt four fifths of a royal flush, and I got the fifth card. It was on nickels, but it was still $200! I played for an hour and left up $240. It was a great end to the day.

Monday, July 21st:

We got up and met for breakfast at the cafe at Casablanca with my parents, Walt, and the Fords. Breakfast was great, and as much food as I would have gotten from the buffet. Then we packed up the trailer and got ready to hit the road. Everybody else turned off at Overton to head for Arizona and we were on our own to head down the 15. When we stopped for lunch in Baker we learned that Walt had another flat trailer tire about an hour from Vegas, and they had to run the tire in to get it replaced. This turned into a lengthy process but the Fords and Kastles were there to help. Our trip to California was less eventful, and went well. We met John and Anna in Victorville for dinner at In-n-Out. Then we finished the trip down the hill and got home a little after 8:00. We celebrated our successful road trip as we pulled into the driveway at home.

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Coral Pink Crossword 2014 Answers:

Cars of Coral Pink Photo Order: 1(2003), 2 (2004), 4(2005), 11(2006), 7 (2007), 3 (2008), 9 (2009), 5 (2010), 10(2011), 6 (2012), 8(2013).

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This month we’d like to thank everyone who has contributed to make 20 years of Coral Pink trips a success. We’d also like to again extend our condolences to the Becker family, and we do hope to see you in the dunes soon, Jeananne. Next month we’ll start looking forward to another dune season, and hopefully will have more stories to share about what everyone has been up to during the summer months. -P.J., Melissa, and Allie

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