Mr. Sandman

Ditto: RIP Duner!

Agreed...RIP Duner Jesse!

Despite the flood damage from the recent storms, my humble opinion is that the BLM got the road and river crossing in A+ plus shape for us just in time for a great New Years weekend. A major kudos to them for pulling it off with limited staff, funding and resources.

On a more personal note, I'd also like to thank the BLM and Larry Blaine for allowing me and my brother to apply our passes from Veteran's weekend (which was a free weekend) to the New Year's weekend, no questions asked / just on our word that we did buy them. Even though we still had the Veteran's passes as proof, Larry didn't even want to see them. With all the bad raps and press the BLM gets from the whiners, I think they do an excellent job and every ranger I spoke to this past weekend while trying to track Larry down was friendly, personable and went out of their way to accommodate. Hats off to the BLM!

I agree with ynot...So if I dump my treated black tank that's ok versus dumping my untreated black tank not ok? Dumping is dumping...haul your sh!t home, whether it's trash, turkey oil or a f'd up, wind destroyed easy up and dump it in your front yard if it's that biodegradable!

My son has finally outgrown his 50cc quad and has moved on to an 80. This little Kawi is in excellent condition and is ready to go. It's a monumental step up from a battery powered "toy" quad with a 49cc two stroke engine. Now the good stuff...as my son tried to keep up with his older brothers he yearned for more power. To help accomplish that I added an FMF pipe, K&N air filter w/ Outerwears and re-jetted the carburetor. While these mods didn't provide extreme power, they really helped it to breathe and gain a little power while maintaining reliability at the same time. Top speed on this quad with the throttle limiter fully removed is about 23 MPH +/-. But for the new rider, the limiter can be adjusted to slow the quad down to a crawl and there is also a rear mounted, tethered kill switch as well. This quad has an auto transmission with no shifting involved and all of the controls are sized appropriately for kid's small hands. The tires are in excellent condition and the plastic fenders are not cracked or faded but they do have some light scuffs and scratches from normal riding. Also included are the owner's manual, a repair manual, a whip flag and a kids helmet, size XS. I have the pink slip and clear title in hand. If you're interested you can PM on this site or I can be reached at (951) 371-1361 $900 OBO

I doubt you'll get any kind of refund but they will apply the pass you bought towards another weekend if you're so inclined.

I got one on the way out going up Cajon Pass but not for speeding. Chicken sh!t ticket for being in the #2 lane passing a slow moving semi that was in the #3 lane. He said I was also doing close to 70 but I disputed that right then and there as I told him there was now way in hell I was pulling 70 going uphill on Cajon pulling a full load of 16k lbs. (probably closer to 20k) with my F350. In the end he only wrote me for the lane violation. A few miles later I had a blowout on the trailer and waved to him again as I pulled into the scales to change it.

Same here for me and I bought two passes! Gonna try and call the number on the back of my pass and see if I can get my money back. Worth a shot at least.

Ask for Larry Blaine at the Barstow BLM office. No refunds unless things change but for me he is going to apply the Veterans weekend pass to New Years weekend for an additional $10 for our next trip.

It sure would have been nice for the BLM to post this on site at the machines before I bought my pass Thrusday morning!

We found a nice camo fanny pack Saturday, 11/13 on the train trestle at the end of the canyon. It contained two water bottles and a few air soft pellets. It's in So. Cal with me now but I can get it to my brother in Las Vegas or you can get if from me at the dunes at New Years. If it's your's, send me a PM to claim it.

Any chance this class will be held again over Veteran's Weekend (11/13-14)?

Outstanding effort and work guys! Thank you! I've got a local paper contact that I know has contacts at the San Bernardino Sun, Riverside Press Enterprise and LA Times so I'll see what I can do to get the responsible off road community some positive press for a change. I also linked this story to the http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseacti...4237936/p/1.cfmRv.net toyhauler site. From there I hope to see it make to the online mag http://www.toyhauleradventures.com Again, great work!

A friend of mine used to bring his ultra light out and didn't have any issues and drew a crowd including the rangers whenever he landed. One thing to watch for though are the military planes that show up every now and then as my buddy shared some airspace with two A-10's one day which caused soiled shorts for him.

In California, if your GVWR is 15,000 or under (which my WW 40 footer is), you only need the 5th wheel endorsement with your class C license.

To get the endorsement, you need to pass the Non commercial A written test. Its free at DMV.

If your GVWR is over 15,000, you need a non commercial A license.

Just look at the Tag on your 5th wheel to determine what your GVWR is.

Good point on looking at the tag for the GVWR but the limit is 15500 for the non commercial class A requirement, not 15000. I do have a question for you though, how do you figure your 40' WW is under the 15000 GVWR when my 35' WW is listed at 16000?

After reading through the other thread about vehicle stops through Tecopa and other areas to and from Dumont I thought I'd post up the following info. Although I don't know anything about the licensing requirements for other states this info applies to CA drivers who tow 5er's over 15500 GVWR. Additionally, I heard a lost of stories about the weight police/CHP enforcing this law in the past year or so and even though it seemed to only be applied to those headed to and from Glamis, it's now happening elsewhere too. From what I understand tickets carry a hefty fine and there's also a chance you could be forced to park your rig until someone with the proper license can drive it for you. Either way, it sucks and it would thoroughly ruin a getaway weekend but with the current economic crisis in CA you can expect even more enforcement to help build the budget.

In a nutshell, the non class A test procedure starts with a written test and then you come back for a driving test that begins with a thorough pre-drive inspection and then the driving test itself with backing and parking elements included. I've made my appointment to take care of this annoying requirement but being legal will give me peace of mind. More info can be found here or on RV.net in the toy hauler section.

No lighted flag need to ride at night, just a flag will do.

Legally, I think you're also required to have a headlight and tail light too.

Thanks for the info, ideas and offers of gear. Pahrump sounds like the best option so we'll check that out and hopefully they can make it. If not, there's always a next trip and they might even have a toyhauler by then.

Does this class/course qualify for the state required cert?

We're headed out for New Years and have some friends who would like to join us but they're RV'less. We suggested they might stay in Baker and drive to and from the dunes for two to three days but in reading the online traveler reviews of the motels in Baker they'll be out of luck unless they like bed bugs, sheets stained with blood and other unknown liquids, etc. Can anyone recommend something somewhere? They're not expecting the Hilton, but at the same time they don't want an infection either. Thanks.

Were you at the mines on Saturday afternoon? I was the one that was sitting there waiting for the family to return. I was also checking out your ATC............Nice ride!!!!

Yes, that was us/me. Thanks for the props! We enjoy seeing the mines and letting the kids look around but it's hard to walk a 1/2 mile away and leave all of our rides sitting there with nothing more than a parking brake and cheap/easily bypassed key securing them.

Does anyone have any info on what happened that required the Medevac helo to come in Sunday evening?