Ross and Alice

I'm lucky enough to be able to take a very early retirement and plan to be involved in Dune user awareness as my main concern beyond my family.

Banners on my RV parked above the entrance,, talking to people at comp with a biz card, generally getting into circulation and perhaps open some eyes.

Their are people we meet that clean up other camp sites that have no clue of the ASA,, or DSD or this site,,, or of any of the CBD legal issues.

Just good people that care for the dunes. Even wealthy blue bloods wth high dollar rigs, get their kids and go clean up after other jerks.

We jump in and help.

See it often.

But lots of bad ones too, and that sux.

With the 75 lbs neighbor kid riding,, not much can touch one of our YFZ's,, especially at top end,, but no matter what, their is always someone out there that can beat the other guy, someone who is faster, someone with a 220HP snomobile motor on a Raptor.

But with overall skills:

I think the best rider skills is YFZ BOB.

Ain't no one can keep up with him through the dunes, over the razors through the bowls, No one.

I love the heat,, it's never been too hot for us.

April 15th Alice and I are getting married at the Strat. (webcast 3:30 pm)

Hard to find a good chic that you're crazy about.,, She's a keeper deluxe.

So on Thursday the 13th, we'll be hitting Margaritaville, and will buy the first round, and a few more,, then onto Mystre' at TI.

Hope some peep's from the boards join us.

She's a soft spoken sweetheart, and loves Dumont ,, touches the heart of everyone she meets.

The Ring.

We're heading to Chuys for Lobster nite and 5 star margaritas.

Don and Ellen ae super cool people.

When the campsite quad theft hit the imminant mark, they came by and asked if we'd like to camp with them.

They gave us tips to help slow down thieves,, and how the thieves operate.

(3 to 5 am,, and a long rope).

They are teriffic people.

The Yoshi Cherry bomb is a teriffic mod.

Any pipes ready yet?

ITP has sand stars and wheels already.

I'd wager that less than 2% of dune users ever look at the dune websites, and/or have any clue that their is a cleanup.

Most probably wouldn't help anyway.

At the Gordons Well cleanup (South Glamis dunes), lots of people that had no clue then, in fact helped us out.

I've been going to Dumont for years, and lots more trash is being left behind than ever before.

Sand Tires or Knobbies?

Looks teriffic.

I involve the kids in everything we do.

Little Maynard was helping me un-hook the trailer,,, when it slipped off the 2 X 6 I had under the jack.

No big deal really, it rolled an inch until the wheel chocks caught the tire,, & then it just droped to the pavement about 1 3/4 ".

It sounded like a base drum in hell when it hit,, but it happens,, no problem,, just a very loud scarry noise.

Maynard then asked me: "Do we tell mom?".

I told him "we tell mom everything". "You'll never get in trouble for telling the truth either."

"Nothing goes on around here that mom doesn't know about".

When we were at gameworks in "Vegas, I told him if he didn't mind mom, they had one arcade game called the Nap machine.

We put him in it, throw in a handfull of binkies,, swipe the gamecard and the arcade game makes him take a nap for two hours.

He was looking for it as he ventured around.

It worked.

We told him the spanking lady was bringing in an arcade game too.

Electronic Gaming Magazine rated it tops, saying: kids "will mind their moms from now on" when this game hit the arcades.

Maynard borrows a glove from me, and one from Trev,, perfect fit.

Don't hide anything from mom says the hyppocrite.

What do you hide from the Mom in your house?

Anyone for Margaritaville Thurs April 13th?

I took mine to Americas tire stores and they fixed it for free, in about 45 minutes.

The fuse not lighting on the 1st attemp should have been a warning....

http://www.break.com/index/backfire1.html

Cone'ing off / tapeing off huge real estate has to be banned with a ticket/fine or expulsion.

It's gone too far.

We ride right thru it.

remember E or F series load rating

That looks like a real fun ride. Is it wide enough to take a 4X4 truck thru?

Don't hold me to it,, but we have the impression it's Quads/bikes only, but I could be mistaken.

The weather report said that the winds should die down by 6:00 PM on Thursday,, but the wind blew well until midnite.

Then they blew off and on all weekend.

The CHP was running the airplane and teams of CHP cars stopping entire groups that were speeding both ways on the 15 between Hesperia and Victorville.

Surprised to see the plane flying in high winds.

We went into Primm late Saturday because the winds shut us down. The rain detoured around the Dunes on both sides and left them dry.

Got the kids all nite passes for all the rides at Buffalo Bills.

We had a Dumont t shirts on,, so several other dune families approached us and introduced themselves, and we held court at the hangin' tree bar while the kids played.

Seems that some years are all rain,, some all wind,, and then some perfect weather.

It all works out.

I try and make each trip a little different, and this one was no exception.

We did the Speary wash trail ride (pictured).

The lower trail seems more interesting for the kids. 4.4 miles each way.

Crossing the creek slowly, about 8 times each way, and in the shallowest spot is essential for the YFZs and Suzukis grouchy ignitions,, but the Hondas handle the wet with no problem. Don't take the cheapie China quads on this ride, they usually can't handle any moisture I'm told by parents.

It's a beautiful fun ride bring the camera. We made it to the spot of the famous train wreck. The railroad grading is still there, some of the trail runs on the grading and thru the cuts too.

The wooden ties were bought up by Death Valley Scottie some decades ago and burned in his boilers to produce electricity and hot water for his castle.

I suggest knobbies, though the ITP sand stars are quality rubber and handle it OK.

Alice and the kids, mid-way on the Speary Wash trail ride.

Lots of fun places to ride to.

If ya find yourself there and one of the Jeep Clubs is having a function, they often have free maps to places of interest.

The Charles Manson house is one trip.

Sheriff Stevenson, famed for apprehending a hiding Manson by noticing his hair hanging out of a closed cuppord in the house, is still active and you can occasionally meet him on duty at the Dunes. Teriffic sense of humor.

His son Scott works for LADWP as a High Voltage Transmission lineman between LA, Nevada And Delta Utah.

I worked with him for about 10 of my 37 years on the job.

Yea, it's a good quad, but in Calif it's a red sticker 4 stroke.

It has tiny controls, perfect for a very small kid.

No other 50cc quad had controls and a small dia handlebar with small grips for a small kid.

They gotta be able to reach & operate the brakes because kids are pretty fearless and they literally fly on these things.

Maynard get his airborn, about 18" off the ground easily.

The owners manual should read:

The gas valve position "on" is both on and off. It's vaccum operated suction to the carb.

The "prime" position is just while initally cranking the motor.

The speed limiting spacer in the auto transmission is tricky to remove.

Our local dealer re-installed the trans clutches backwards and we had all kinds of problems.

The sharp mechanics at Berts found it and corrected it.

Polaris is supposed to be releasing a new 50cc green sticker 4 stroke any day now. But, their past 50cc had controls to big for a little kids hands, and really heavy.

Y6 is the trade name style of the control ya may wanna look for.

3 nice latin people came by the RV asking to borrow my compressor. They were having all kinds of problems so I gladly lent it to them. We always assist.

6 year old Maynard wanted to know what they came over for and I told him they were Dune Indians and they named him Little Big Quad, for his excellent riding skill through Speary wash.

(OK,, it was a stretch).

He bit.

I put some seat time on one(about an hour) I think it out handled and performed my 04 yfz. I don't know if it's quite as potent as the 06 Honda though. The one I rode just had a yoshi exhaust on it. Bone stock other than that.

What performance work have you done on your '04 YFZ?

Does the Zuki outperform a jetted / piped YFZ, or a stock YFZ??

Thanks

So far talk is good, not the second coming of the Messiah like some suggest.

Feedback from owners:

Like all 450's, it needs tuneable pipe, that is, the disc type that you can add or subtract for the powerband that suits you, and re adjust as you add other performance items.

Eventually Alba will offer some performance stuff.

ITP has already teamed up with Zuki for wheels and Sand Star paddles available from Rocky MTN I'm told.

Tried to get the Wifey one,, but she wants me to buy something for myself, and she then takes my YFZ.

Next Dumont trip I have to go there.

http://www.mtnspringssaloon.com/home.php

Their website

We'll be there the 9th thru the 12th, probably over looking the check in/entrance/ticket machine station

It looks like you guys had a great day! Now, Dunefreak, quit screwing around and get back to work on that buggy.

Yes,, we agree and expect to see you on the dunes by the 10th (or 11th).

Noticed Berts had 10 of them on the salesfloor,, several other dealers have called with offers to discount them.

One owner we talked to hope'd a pipe would help with performance,,,

Not the Messiah returning like many have suggested.

But as good as all the other 450s for sure, and a bit different too.

I imagine Alba will have a performance PKG soon,, and then we'll see.