Utah

Once again we have time to kill before our next meeting with friends and our next off road jamboree. We are staying in Garden City, Utah close to the shores of Bear Lake which is half in Idaho and half in Utah. We met a lady on one of the rides in Idaho and she and her husband showed up here on Thursday. Friday we went out for a ride and came back very wet from some serious rain. Below are pictures of Bear Lake on an overcast day and then on a clear day when Jerry and I went out by ourselves. It was raining on Saturday so Michelle and Greg left for California because they own a couple of companies and still work, aargh that's a four letter word.

Rally in the Pines, Idaho

The area around Mackay is beautiful and we had some lovely rides although we did get rained on a couple of times. All in all we will not be returning to this particular rally because we did not feel it was well organized As usual we met some great people that we hope we will stay in contact with in the future.

Nevada to Idaho

It was hot in California and Hot, Hot, Hot in Nevada. On our last ride with Bert we had just left our lunch stop when Jerry thought we had a flat. Sure enough the right rear was totally flat. He changed it in record time in 95+ temp. Luckily we had a spare but it had a bubble in the sidewall so he took it a bit easier on our way back to camp. We took the flat tire in for repair but it had a long cut and was a goner. Thus ended Jerry's love affair with Kanatty Mongrel tires.. He did some research and ordered four new tires from Discount Tires to be delivered to our next stop in Arco, Idaho.
It was still HOT on our drive to Arco. As we were approaching and going by Craters of the Moon National Park the road was being worked on and there was so much loose gravel that I got a nice sized pock mark in the windshield of the car. We thought we would go back for a look around when the weather cooled and the road might be finished but unfortunately we didn't make it.
Our stay in Arco was to pass time until the Rally in the Pines in Mackay ( pronounced Mackie) Idaho. Jerry mounted the new tires and we were ready to go.
We were parking at the fairgrounds in Mackay and it was overgrown with long weeds and pitted with gopher holes. We did find a fairly level spot and had nice neighbors on both sides. The young couple on one side, Dave and Leslie and son Kabis, had a 44' fifth wheel toy hauler. Now that's the way to travel with the UTV in the back garage. The garage becomes a dining room by day and a bedroom by night with a  bunk that comes down.

Nevada

We left the Eastern Sierras and headed to Winnemucca, NV with plans to spend a week there. When we arrived at the KOA we asked if we could ride our UTV right out of the park and they told us that we would have to trailer to a trail head. We could have done that but for short rides by ourselves it was a lot of trouble. Since Winnemucca doesn't have much to offer other than an excellent Mexican restaurant, Chihuahua's, and one small casino, we cut our stay short and headed out to Wells, NV.
Upon arriving at Angel Lake RV Park in Wells we asked Debbie if we could ride our UTV right out of the park. She said yes and also gave us the phone number of Bert Fox who had just hosted a UTV rally in Wells. When we left the office just coming in were Chris and Laura Howells. Chris had told us they would be going east but we were certainly surprised to see them. They were meeting some friends they were traveling with but we were able to spend a very pleasant cocktail hour with them.
The  next day we met with Bert Fox and he offered to take us out on some rides. We actually had our own mini three day rally, what a great guy. He is planning on having the second annual Wells UTV rally next year. The first picture is of area around Wells. The others are of Metropolis, a town from the early 20th century which was abandoned because they neglected to obtain water rights. The dam was built using horses and manual labor to haul the rocks and place the gabion baskets. The distant arch was the hotel and the closer arch was the school.

California

We arrived in Coleville, CA for the Eastern Sierra ATV/UTV Jamboree on June 14. We were happy to catch up with some friends we made last year and make new friends this year. We were parked next to Chris Howells, one of the guides, who we became friendly with last year. We also renewed our friendship with Carol and Joe Walker from Nevada who we have stayed in touch with for the past year. Our first ride was Rattlesnake for 140 miles. The next day we did Wilson Canyon which is 100 miles. We were scheduled for another 140 mile ride the third day but we were exhausted and took a rest day. The last ride was "only" 70 miles. Snow in June on Mt Patterson.

June-July 2015

I decided to start a blog rather than posting all sorts of pictures on Facebook which many people aren't interested in.
I started out by flying back to Michigan for four days. Paige graduated from high school and Claire graduated from eighth grade.  Unfortunately I wasn't there for Claire's graduation but I was able to spend time with all three girls. Ella had a dance recital one day so I was able to get all three together.
                                                The only picture I have of Paige's graduation is on Facebook.
We left Arizona on June 14 and spent the first night in Amargosa Valley, Nevada. Across the highway from the RV park is a gas station and brothel. I took this picture of about six motor cycle rides going in at about 9:00 AM.