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♦ It is August, and that means Lake Havasu. The club will be making our annual trip to Don and Shirley’s the weekend of August 19-21, so make your plans to come out for some river fun.

♦ As you’d expect, there will be lots of Coral Pink coverage in this newsletter and probably the next one as people write more articles, but it isn’t all about Coral Pink as Mike Bacon wrote about their Anza Borrego trip. Check out his article on page 4.

♦ Nicole Nicholas Gilles, the Executive Director of the ASA,

sent a letter thanking the club for our contribution to the ASA. It is great that the remaining club funds will be put to good use. A copy of the letter is included on page 7.

♦ Send in your articles about your summer activities and share them with the group. With a few months still coming up where it’ll be too hot to dune, it is fun to see how we all pass the time.

The seventeenth annual edition of “The Trip of The Year” to the Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park in Utah took place on July 7th—16th, and it certainly didn’t disappoint. We had the best weather for the trip that any of us remember, with highs usually in the 80s and lows in the 50s. We had some nice rain the first few days, and then less precipitation later in the week, but the temperature stayed nice. One pleasant addition to the trip this year was some recent improvements to the group site, which include lots more concrete, two nice electri-cal panels with 50, 30, and 20 amp outlets, and even a beautiful tile barbecue island with a stainless steel grill and cook top. These additions made the group site an even nicer place to hang out, and we thoroughly enjoyed our nine days up there. As I have in the past, I took some notes on what happened each day and I’ll in-clude those in my article to share the fun we all had. This year we had four buggies and three side by sides on the trip, and we duned over 160 miles in the buggies and almost that much in the side by sides. It is just such a beautiful place to be that it is amazing that we get to ride there. Check out the pictures, read about the fun, and if possible make plans to fit this trip into your schedule. It is a whole different kind of duning. -P.J.

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August 19th-21st: Annual river trip to visit

the Fords in Lake Havasu.

September 16-18th: Sand Sports Super Show

at the Orange County Fair-

grounds in Costa Mesa.

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Don and I would like to say, that this was one of best trips we have ever had at Coral Pink. The rides were the best. The side by side rides and of course the buggy rides. You couldn't have asked for bet-ter weather. For those who have never been to Coral Pink, you’re missing one the best rides in sand dunes in the forest and also awe-some trail rides. Doug found more trails that we have never seen before. Finding the Dinosaur tracks and other sand cliffs and Sand Canyons, the walls on both sides are sand cliffs. Oops' forgot to mention Mr Rat-tle Snake in one of the sand cliff wall at Dixie Knoll. The first day that we stop there, Kris kept saying she could here something. Of course none of heard it. So the next time we stopped at Dixie Knoll, sure enough there was Mr Rattle Snake right there in one of the holes in the rock. Sorry Kris for doubting you. Even though Tara, our dog has had snake training. It wasn't good idea to let her run around there. Also they wouldn't let me throw rocks at it. I just wanted to see if it would move. Can't wait to go back to Coral Pink. Shirley and Don Ford, and of course Tara

Coral Pink: Day by Day As noted by P.J. Kastle

Thursday, July 7th: We arrived at park after no problems on the way up. We found that they had improved the group site by adding a lot of concrete and a tiled barbecue island with a stainless grill! There are also now more power outlets, but we found we couldn't run six airs at once, but they reset the main breaker for us. We didn't go for a ride, but we were all glad to be here. Friday, July 8th: We got up and went for a dune ride with all four buggies. We visited the corral and saw the usual sights of Coral Pink. After we got back we went in to Kanab to look around after lunch. We visited the Pawn Shop and thrift store, and saw Kris and Doug who had gone in before we got back from the buggy ride. On the way there we found that the road was closed, leading to about a 6 mile de-tour, but on the way back we found that they are just redoing where the sand dune road meets the highway, and we could drive on a few hundred yards of gravel to make it to the usual road. About 9 PM a neighbor in the space across the road walked over and asked for some help with his Rhino, which had lost a rear tire in

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the dunes. With under an hour until quiet time, we headed out with tools and the guy riding with Jim to look for the Rhino. It took about 20 min to find it in the middle of the lower dunes, and then we jacked it up and reattached the rear wheel, where the axle nut had come loose but was still held in by the cap. We got it reattached and made it in to camp with five minutes to spare. We let the Ranger know that we were back, and he appreciated us letting him know and helping the guy out.

Saturday July 9th: Don, Jim, and I went for a morning buggy ride while the side by sides went for their morning ride as well. Then we had lunch, played around in camp, and worked on tinkering with Walt's rear alignment. Then Walt, Jim, and I went for a 7 PM evening ride. Sunday, July 10th: We got up and went for a buggy ride. Then in the afternoon after some rain we worked on hooking up the electrical to Shirley's winch, since it would have come in handy earlier in the trip. Those side by side rides are getting serious. Monday, July 11th: We got up and I went for a fairly early ride with Jim and Don while the side by sides went out as well. Then we went to Kanab for lunch, and visited Lotsa Motsa Pizza for their lunch buffet. Melissa and I did some shopping and then headed back to camp in time to watch the rain from under the canopies. Then before dark we got to take Walt's RZR for a short trip out to the dunes. It was really neat, and we would love to have one. Then Allie wanted to be part of the fun too, and we strapped

her in and I took her on a few laps around the campground. She really liked that, and is ready to ride in the car (or a RZR, or what-ever we can strap her into!) Tuesday, July 12th: We decided this would be the day for breakfast at the Thunderbird restaurant in Mt Carmel junction. We had the best waitress we have had there, and the food was excellent! Then Melissa and I went on our now annual trip to Cedar City and St George. This year we did our loop in reverse, going to Cedar City first. We went over the mountain pass that climbs over 10,000 feet where it was only 58 degrees outside. Then we dropped into Cedar City where it was about 75 degrees and we did some thrift store and pawn shopping. We also visited a CAL Farm store, which was awesome and had everything, even baby chicks for Allie to play with. Then we headed to St. George, where we did some more shopping and had dinner at Texas Roadhouse, which made it feel a little like Yuma, but a whole lot prettier. Store stay open later in St. George, so we didn't leave Target until almost 9:30. Then we found that the truck doors wouldn't unlock with the keypad, and while it was still running it seemed to be having an electrical issue. The connec-tions on the alternator were apparently loose, and it wasn't charging. For-tunately I was able to get in the back hatch with the dogs, crawl through, and unlock it. I played with the connector and got it to start charging, and then we headed for home. We left Hurricane right at 10 PM Utah time, and got back right at 11. On the way, just before the dirt road, we met up with Jim who had come to check for cell phone messages from us. We pulled into camp and went to sleep. Wednesday July 13th: Today ended up being a RZR day. We started by following Walt and Shirley in their RZRs to the corral. Walt did a great job leading the way, and the RZRs did great climbing the hills and moving pretty fast, often between 30 and 40 miles per hour. At the corral, the fun activity was to watch Walt and Shirley try to make it up the hill,

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The new barbecue island is an amazing addition to the group site.

We visited the fallen tree for a classic picture

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The Non-Coral Pink Article! By Mike Bacon

In anticipation of all the Coral Pink articles coming in this issue we thought we’d offer another option. While the group was in Utah, Mona and I went to Anza Borrego Desert State Park to do a little exploring. We concentrated in the Fish Creek and Split Mountain areas. We entered Fish Creek Wash about 8 miles south of Ocotillo Wells and stopped at the Fish Creek Primitive Camp so Mona could use the bathroom (sorry, no pics of Mona in the bathroom!). We then entered Split Mountain Gorge. We worked our way up Split Mountain Gorge through a number of interesting areas, and some very different rock for-mations. About 12 miles in we came on Sandstone Canyon. This has been referred to as the Queen Of All Desert Canyons, and although we were only able to get about a mile in, it proved to be very beautiful.

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We could only get in to Sandstone Canyon about a mile because back in 1994 a landslide blocked the canyon. Since that time other four-wheelers have created a passageway over the blockage, but it is a bit of a challenge, and since we were alone we decided to retreat to fight another day. On the way out we detoured through Loop Wash. Once back out on the road we headed in to Borrego Springs with the idea of getting some lunch. Who knew it would be so hard to find an open restaurant in a small desert town in the middle of summer! We had a great time and are looking forward to going back, next time with a group. Anyone interested?

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and they could both get to where they could see over the top but couldn't quite crest the hill. Remember, this is at over 6000 feet ele-vation with dirt tires and pretty soft sand. The cool part was how identical the two were. It was like IROC for the sand, with people

driving identical vehicles. For the afternoon ride, Don and Shirley of-fered their RZR to Jim and me, so we could go and see more of the sights west of the campground. Then since Doug wasn't going he had Walt drive the Ranger and I drove Walt's RZR and we were off! We went on a 21 mile loop and visited Dixie Knoll, a strange cave in the side of a hill, and got to go see Dinosaur tracks in a wash. It amazes me how versatile the stock side by sides are, and they are a lot of fun to explore with. Thanks to Don, Shirley, Walt, and Doug for letting us play with them. Thursday, July 14th: We got up and went for a buggy ride with Jim and Don, and went through the lower dunes on a nice ride while every-body else went for a side by side ride. As we got to the far end of the lower section, my car started to make some more noise and we stopped to see why Don's car was leaking some coolant. I fired mine up and Don and Jim started to think we should head back to camp. It was pretty loud, and coming from the bottom end of the motor. We made it the two miles back to camp, and it was still running but was pretty loud. We decided to call it a trip for that car, and after six and a half years on that first short-

star it is time to replace it. I have another one at home ready to put in, and after that much hard use I sure can't complain. Then we headed in to Kanab for lunch at Nedra's which we had discovered last year. Back at camp we spent the afternoon hanging around and topped the day off with ice cream that Don and Shirley bought in town for everybody. Friday, July 15th: This morning Walt offered me my choice of either his RZR or his buggy to go for a ride. While this was a great offer, I ended up hanging out in camp to start packing up and to go to Kanab for one last lunch. Doug took the RZR out, Kris drove the Ranger, and Walwe took the buggy for a ride with Jim and Don. It was nice and quiet in camp, and Coral Pink is just beautiful. We went to the Junction for hamburgers, and came back to camp to find that Walt and Jim had gone for another ride, this time a fast one to the cor-ral, reaching over 65 miles per hour. Then everybody spent the afternoon and evening sitting around camp and starting the process of packing up. Saturday, July 16th: We started one of the busiest days of the trip early so we could be ready to load the trailers as soon as we could move them. With the new concrete in the group site we had changed where we park slightly, and could not load the trailers until after we hooked up to them. After picking up the EzUps and cleaning up the group area, the Fords and Schellingers headed to Mesquite. We still had to load the trailers, but Walt, Jim and I got that done af-ter the others were on the road. Once we were loaded and ready, we did some final cleaning on the concrete and stopped by the ranger station to give them a flash drive with pictures and video of our trip. We talked to the head ranger, and he said they really ap-preciate the pictures and our group in general. It is really nice to have such great Rangers up there, and they keep the place nice while remaining friendly and nice to talk with. Then the three of us left the park and headed to meet up with the rest for dinner at Mesquite after some time in the pool. We headed to the Eureka buffet, which was excellent again, as this is our third year having Saturday dinner there, which makes for a nice conclusion to the trip.

Sunday, July 17th: We got up and met at the Casablanca buffet for breakfast. It was nice to have one more meal together, and after talking about the great trip we had we were each headed for home. Our trip home from Mesquite went well, and was uneventful except for some traffic in Hesperia. I guess Jim had some truck tire trou-ble, but after a stop at Sam’s club in Vegas they were on their way to the river. After almost two weeks of vacation, it was nice to be home, but now we only have 50 weeks left until next year's trip.

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Walt led a great ride to the corral with the RZR.

Exploring in the side by sides is a lot of fun

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After the events that led to the discontinuation of the club treasury, members had the opportunity to request their dues be refunded and then the remaining money was donated to the American Sand Association. Hope-fully this will benefit all of us by helping to ensure that we have locations to ride in the future. With all the negativity surrounding last season’s events and the complaints about how things used to be done, it is nice to have the chance to report on some of the positive effects of the changes we have made to the organization of Inland Empire Offroad. Below is the letter we received thanking the club and its members for their contribution.

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Last month, in anticipation of the upcoming Coral Pink Trip, we had a guess the year article and a crossword puzzle. The answers to them are below:

Coral Pink Flashbacks: Trip #1: 2005 Trip #2: 2008 Trip #3: 1995 (The first one!) Trip #4: 2009

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Hello my adoring fans, I just got back from a place called Utah! It is like a whole ‘nother state, and I could tell because the people there were different. On the freeway, as soon as we got to Utah Daddy had to move over with the truck and trailer and he was all happy because people stopped to let him in. Then I didn't see any trucks go-ing by my window on the side of the truck, everybody just waited their turn. Well, almost everybody, Daddy thought it was really funny when a Prius truck from California passed by everybody on the side of the road, but that's just silly. Really I had so much fun in Utah I can't even remember it all. I do remember my friends though, I still ask for them. I told Daddy last night "I like Don and Puppy and Shirley." Don and Shirley brought a hula skirt and a polka dot tu tu just for me, and I love them. I also had fun with Kris and Doug (he's so funny!) and my buddy Walt. Of course Grandma and Grandpa were there too, and Grandma brought my favorite books with her so we could read them just like we do on Tues-day nights. Horsey book is my favorite, and it used to be my Daddy's. I slept in the little white box with my Mommy and Daddy and my puppies Die-sel and Stitch for as long as I could re-member. I even got used to sleeping in my little baby cage on the floor. It's ok though, as soon as I got tired of it I called for Mommy and somebody would carry me up to the big soft bed that hangs from the roof, and I'd sleep up there between Mommy and Daddy. I have to remember not to stand up on that bed though, be-cause even I hit my head on the roof! Besides all my friends, one of the best things in Utah was that they have stores there! Mommy and Daddy went shopping and got me a bunch of new clothes and toys. I got a fire engine that used to belong to another baby for only 50 cents and it is neat because it makes noise and you can dance to it. I made sure to dance to it a lot so that everybody in camp knew how cool it was. "Here's Tonka...To the Rescue...We're Dancing Just For You..." I love that song... I also got a puzzle with all the letters on it and I played it with Grandma and Grandpa. I helped them put all the pieces back where they go.

I also got to go for rides in Utah! I drove daddy's truck around the camp-ground, and I got to go for rides in Walt's pretty little black buggy. It must be neat, because my Daddy and Grandpa both want one. I also rode in Kris and Doug's big red buggy where the seat is sooo big that I can sit between my Mommy and Daddy. We rode it to go see all the animals at the Ranger sta-tion, and that was fun. I like animals, especially puppies. Did you know that Don and Shirley have a Puppy and her name is .. umm.. Tara, yeah, that's it, and she really likes to go for walks. I got to take her all by myself, and when I got tired of walking her, I could just let go and she'd still walk with us. I like Tara Puppy.

I got dirty playing in the sand and chasing puppies around, but that's ok because Mommy brought me my bath tub. I got to ride in my wagon over to the bath building and there we went in a little room and I got to take a bath and splash with my toy cups. It was very nice, and the water in my tub was always really dirty. Mommy

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What a difference a year makes: Allison in 2011 and 2010 at Coral Pink

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Two child’s helmets for sale: Both were purchased at Chaparral, 3 years ago. Both are full face with visors. Exterior is in good shape, minor scratches. Inside is in per-fect shape, foam intact, no tears. Black one is a child Small and the Yellow one is a child Medium. $50 each Contact Pete Hagen at: (760) 451-0845

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This month we’d like to thank The Fords and Mike Bacon for contributing content, and everybody for such a great Coral Pink trip. I realized that we’ve been going up there every year for over half of my life now, and it is the best week of every year. If you have something else interesting going on this summer, and I bet many of you do, please write about it and share it with everybody. Hopefully well see you all in Havasu or getting ready for the desert soon. -PJ, Melissa and of course Allison

Mid-engine Mega Sand Trans For Sale $3,750.00 Three speed. New ring and pinion, and main shaft, 3rd & 4th by “Wright Gear Box”. 930 CV flanges 4.43 Ring and pinion, 2.23 1st, 1.67 3rd, 1.22 4th Contact: Walt Fisher 909-641-3045 wfisher71@yahoo.com

2005 Ford F‐250 4x4 Crew Cab, 6.0 PowerStroke diesel, 55k miles, front leveling kit, full Banks ex‐haust, new turbo, EGR, coolers. Set up for towing, tag or 5th wheel. Ex‐cellent condition, very clean, and runs perfectly. My uncle bought it new, I bought it from him 3 years ago. This truck has been babied since new and I hate to let it go, but I need money to finish college. Pink slip is in my hand, and in my name. $24,900.00, OBO. Mike, 951‐315‐7351, or AJ, 951‐318‐006

and Daddy wouldn't even let me drink it, they're so silly. Then I'd get all wrapped up in a towel and I'd ride back to the campsite and the big white box.

Speaking of water, once we were on our way home we stopped at the big bathtub in Mesquite. It is so big that it has a waterfall and waterslide and lots of people get in it at the same time. I went in it too, and swam with Mommy and Daddy and Grandma and Grandpa. I sure like splashing. Maybe I can splash in the pool at Don and Shirley's when I go visit the puppy soon. I hope I can see lots more of my friends there, and maybe I'll remember more of the fun things I did in Utah and I'll tell you all about them. I might even bring my Fire Truck so you can see me dance. Anyway,

until next time keep your frog boots on and your bath water sandy! -Allie

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