2012 RVForum QZ Rally - Arrivals and rally activities

Beautiful sunset, Bob, just beautiful.

Life Is Good
Wendy

[quote author=Wendy]I had a FABULOUS time on the 4WD run today[/quote]

You have 4WD in the yellow bug?

Tom said:

You have 4WD in the yellow bug?

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We have 4 wheels .... and at least 2 of them were on the ground at all times   And Mike did a great job driving that little yellow bug.

Wendy, proud mother of Sunshine VW and wife of the great 4WD VW driver

Tom said:

You have 4WD in the yellow bug?

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Tom, you would have had to been there to actually believe it. 10 4WD vehicles and the Love Bug going up a crazy 4WD trail. There is no way I would have believed it could have made that run if they hadn't been two cars in front of me all day and if I hadn't seen it with my own too eyes. My hat is off to Mike. That was one fantastic piece of driving.

Did Wendy need to get out and push?

Wendy said:

We have 4 wheels .... and at least 2 of them were on the ground at all times   And Mike did a great job driving that little yellow bug.

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1.  We are so proud of Mike and his Yellow V dub.  I know  he has  spent time and $ to get it off road ready.  All of his efforts paid off. He followed us as leaders and we "Knew"  and had planned  that we would use our  tow strap to give him an assist up the hills requiring a 4 wheel drive  but we did not need it. He has wings.  On the  most difficult spot Mike flew over the rock with his back two wheels on the ground and his front wheels off the ground.  Whoo hoo what a ride.

2. We picked up a  newbie  at the trail head ( who had actually met up with the 3 some yesterday) Bill will hopefully join the RVForum.

3.  Carol and John were in a  stock GMC Envoy  and we assured them that is the vehicle we used to have and they would have no problem.  Well er uhhhh,  only  one road building  effort was required but they did great!

4. Jack and  Rima had only used their jeep 2 times  before and this was the most challenging off road experience they have ever had. Of course I gave them a defective  FRS radio that did not help their navigation at all.  Rima did almost  cry a few times and  she told me she was shaking a lot, but she never threw up as I wanted to do on my first Ridge trip. 

5. Dennis and Vicki climbed the hills as pros, but they skipped Happy Hour being VERY  hungry! or tired?

6. Henry and Margharite did very  well today and showed exquisite  patience at the slow pace they had to maintain up hills and down hills due to  slower moving traffic around them.  I just kept  repeating the  theme, breathe, breathe on this trip.

7. Cousin Jim  and Claire took on passenger Tom and had " electrician" discussions all day .  And of course  photo opportunities.

8. Larry and Mary Ann kept  a slow and steady pace so he could  ensure  she thinks off roading is  a cruise. 

9. Chris and Mimi were senior  members of the group today. They told me they are going home in AM to get  to  a chiropractor for Mimi's neck.

9. Frank and Barb took on  passengers Jerry and Ardra.  Who was navigating? Weimarts are  excellent tail gunners cause they  wanna be first!

No one got left behind, no one was injured  (except for jumping Cholla cactus thorns in shoes) . If you had a bit of frayed nerves, on the trip today our mission was accomplished.  Sorry if I missed commenting on you . WE love the Ridge and  you all made it. What a wonderful bunch of good sports!

Betty and Terry

Tom said:

Did Wendy need to get out and push?

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Wendy did get out but did not push. I was supposed to video Mike climbing the rocks but I was too freaked out to do anything but yell "stop", "no, the other way", before turning around and not watching

Gordon is exhaused as am I. Can I join Mimi at the chiropractor?

Wendy

I had a fantastic time today and I really appreciate it that Jim and Claire would take me along. I don't see what the problem is? I thought it was just a nice cool ride through the desert.

Betty is sugar coating it though, we did have a traffic accident with one injured rider. Jack's Jeep rolled into Jim's Jeep at 1/2 mile per hour. Evidently the parking brake came off and Jack's Jeep rolled four feet into the front of Jim's Jeep and did extremely mild damage to the license plate frame on Jim's Jeep. Just barely dented it. Not a scratch on Jack's Jeep because it ran into the license plate frame spare tire first. Rima hurt her ankle jumping out of the rolling Jeep. It was such a minor hurt you couldn't even see a bruise. It was actually funnier than it was serious. Best laugh of the day.

Film at 11...

Betty Brewer said:

Rima did almost  cry a few times and  she told me she was shaking a lot, but she never threw up as I wanted to do on my first Ridge trip. 

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As I remember it you were laughing all the way. Of course, I couldn't tell over the radio if it was from excitement or fear!!! What a great ride that was!!!!

Happy Hour tonight was a mixture of sharing!  Great  snacks again and what a fire.  Paul Bunyon-like Ray with his big ax chopped Don's former patio into shreds and it is still burning well after dark. Most of us got cold and went home for dinner but I see a lone sole sitting by the fire enjoying the heat of  the wood at 8 pm tonight.

Chris and Mimi will be leaving early morning but I told them they  must leave their pot luck dish with us, instead they gave us  2 grapefruit at 7:30 pm when the knocked to say good bye. We will miss them. 

Jim and Claire are  leaving in am to visit his brother in Phoenix.  Family gotta love them. Jim is my  cousin.  We had a chance to catch up on family  gossip/information  for a few minutes tonight! 

Lucy did not attend  Happy Hour but left word she was visiting her Rodeo friends. We will keep a light on for her. We got a chance to visit  with  Tim and Jan and I can't recall if they  will leave in am or not. I hope not.  Dean Stock had to leave this morning because his wife had theater  tickets for tonight.  Booo Linda , we love Quartzsite!

Terry and Frank  helped Tim  fix his  Hughes Net.  Lou fixed Tom's generator and I don't know who all fixed things for everyone else!  Come to an RVForum rally to  get to know who has expertise!

I'm sure there were more conversations at Happy hour tonight but  I have to wash dishes so I leave the photos and more info to to others!

Goodnight.

Betty

Jim,

Remember the first Ridge ride. Up on the ridge and it looked like the road ended. No place to turn around. The road was there - it just dropped down so sharply you could see it in the car.

ken

Betty:

but I see a lone sole sitting by the fire enjoying the heat of  the wood at 8 pm tonight.

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Charlie and I walked down tonight about 9 to see if anyone was sitting by the fire.  No one there....poor lonely fire, great slow glowing embers perfect to sit by.  The stars were brilliant, no wind.  We said good night to the embers and walked back home.

Tim is grateful Terry and Frank were able to get things going on his Motosat/Hughes datastorm.  Although we have the aircards, we wanted to be able to use the dish while in Alaska where the aircards may or may not work.

Next time we are bumming a ride on a 4 wheel trip....I think we missed a bunch of fun.

Marsha~

Marsha/CA said:

Charlie and I walked down tonight about 9 to see if anyone was sitting by the fire.  No one there....poor lonely fire, great slow glowing embers perfect to sit by.

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I was the lone soul sitting by the fire and I gave up around 8:45 since I had been there all alone for an hour and a half. The moon looked awesome.

I was the newbie with the GMC Envoy and I need to say thanks to Frank and Jerry for their excellent words of wisdom, tips and patience as I probably would not have made it without their advice. After our first road building experience it all went well. Thanks also to Terry and Betty for leading the group. This was our first off road experience and we had a good time.

seilerbird said:

I was the lone soul sitting by the fire and I gave up around 8:45 since I had been there all alone for an hour and a half. The moon looked awesome.

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I suspect some of life's most special moments  are found when all by yourself.  Thanks for keeping Don' s wood under watchful eye.
Betty and Terry

Betty Brewer said:

Terry and Frank  helped Tim  fix his  Hughes Net.  Lou fixed Tom's generator and I don't know who all fixed things for everyone else!  Come to an RVForum rally to  get to know who has expertise!

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Lou also fixed my batteries situation. When Lou fixes stuff, the fixee learns a lot from the fixer. Best to bring a pencil and paper to take notes. And tho Lou is working on his own stuff, he most always puts that aside until all the requests are filled.

Thanks, Lou . . . 

seilerbird said:

I was the lone soul sitting by the fire and I gave up around 8:45 since I had been there all alone for an hour and a half. The moon looked awesome.

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Yep, Tom, that's one of things I like the most about the Qz experience. Nothing quite like chatting with friends, or ones self, around a campfire under an AZ desert sky . . .

Bob Buchanan said:

Caught this QZ sunset this evening (Thursday) after happy hour . . . 


Settings:
Canon50D, Canon 28-135mm lens @ 38mm
f13.0 aperture, shutter speed 1/15sec.
Center weighted metering
Mode: Aperture Priority
On tripod, using 2sec self timer

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Sure brings back memories of some great sunsets.  Thanks Bob.  By the way, I submitted 12 images into the City of Richardson Annual Photo Contest and won 8 ribbons.  Really made my day.

Ed,
Thanks for the b day wish. I had a great day. Jeff was kind enough to announce and make a b day toast at dinner wed nite. There was live entertainment, and I got teased a couple of times. Good Times.

You'll be happy to know we talked about you and your flat tire. You were missed. And Terry named the hill, Jim's dropped transmission hill, or something like that. What Fun.

Hi to Donna
C U in Moab