This weekend was Thanksgiving, and my friends always go to the desert, this year was no exception.
This year I was able to attend…
On Friday morning after spending Thanksgiving with family we left for Red Mountain in the Mojave Desert.
On approaching our destination there are these little cities of motor homes and trailers that pop up in what would be the middle of know where. It’s really weird to see.
I guess that’s the desert might of looked like when the first settlers made there way out west. Upon our arrival our driver, Mr. Pete was stricken with what we suspect was food poisoning. This was our diagnosis because prior to our arrival we stopped at Jack in the Box. Mr. Pete took refuge in his brothers RV while we did the unpacking of the Buggy and dirt bikes. Night came quickly and we all gathered around the fire to keep warm. Some of the kids made this fire thingy’s. They put gasoline in a booze bottle, put the cap back on and then put a little hole in the top of the cap for the gas to escape, it kind of makes a volcano effect, then as the bottle melts it then turns into this big fire ball, or I forgot to mention you put the bottle in the fire. The next morning, or I guess it was the afternoon by the time we got started. We were off on our ride to Randsburg, I rode Rickys ’87 CR250 and Christina rode Mr. Petes Quad. Poor Mr. Pete still feeling the effects of the food poisoning could not make it on this days ride…Bummer for sure!
Since I don’t own a dirtbike and maybe only go once a year if I’m lucky I have to borrow somebody’s very used dirtbike, which is usually too tall or hard to start for me. Any way I was able to make due with what was loaned to me. (Thanks! So much Ricky…you’re the best!) It was a fun ride to Randsburg, I really enjoyed myself and so did Christina. I only needed help starting the bike once (Thanks again Rick). Once we got to Randsburg we where met with a mass amount of other off highway enthusiasts, their were thousands of people! After kicking back for a while we head back to Camp. The sun was already starting to close in the tops of the near by mountains. I was starting to get concerned because it would be getting dark soon, and I didn’t have a light on my loaner dirtbike. WELL the sun went behind the mountains and the dirt was not very well lit, I borrowed another pair of goggles because mine were more for when the sunny is shining. For some reason I had a really hard time dealing with the sand on the way back, guess I was getting tired. With about 2 miles to go it got really dark. I and Christina were doing our best to keep up when she stalled the Quad going though some sand. She was having trouble starting the thing so I laid down my bike and went over to where she was and started it for her. I then got back on my bike and tried to start it, since I didn’t turn the gas off it was gunna be hard to start. After what seemed like 10 minutes of trying to kick the thing over I was starting to really get tired. By this time it was pitch black and me and Christina were all alone in the desert, when our savior Brian came back to look for us. He was able to start the bike for me and I was able to keep moving forward in the dark by riding in between the Rhino and Christina, since they had lights. I was doing pretty well up until the point I was lead into a deep wash with steep walls on each sides. At this point I was at wits end, the bike stalled again and I couldn’t get it started. When along came Sean, he started the bike, rode it out of the wash, and handed it back over to me. It turns out we were only about a mile from camp because Ricky could see Christina’s light in the distance. As Gumby once said “I was on the moon, but I’m sure glad to be back”.
Once back at camp I removed my gear and once again was back at the camp fire. After another night of more of the same as the previous we went to bed.
The next day Mr. Pete was looked a ton better and was able to take me for a ride in his car, a souped up VW with a lot of suspension travel. Boy BOY what a kick in the pants, this thing soaked up the biggest bumps Mother Nature could throw at it. What a blast, I really don’t know how to describe it. I also don’t know how the people that race these things can do it for a thousand miles! I was beat after a half hour ride. Anyway. What a great time I had in the middle of nowhere with my good friends. I guess that’s why they call it Thanksgiving.
Thanks to all the KIDS who helped me and Christina this weekend…Your all the best!
