Dune report Jan 25-27th

Landsandcrab · January 28, 2018

Hey all, it's been a long time since I've posted here! We did a nice trip last weekend with about 20 Riders, didn't do much Dune riding but did a 147 miles on Friday to the surrounding mine areas and Kingston wash. Thursday was super windy, but everything was smooth and Awesome by Friday! Testing out a new set up at the dunes, finally got myself a nice toy hauler and proper Chevy Silverado 2500 HD diesel to haul it! Loving it!

aceisback · January 29, 2018

Awesome pics, and congrats on the traveling and camping upgrades.

dunefreak · January 29, 2018

Sweet! Great pics. Looks like a fun trip. Thanks for sharing.

Landsandcrab · January 29, 2018

08 Silverado ltz 2500hd

18 Attitude 23sa

(Pic from Tecopa HAS in Dec)

I got to say it's a big improvement from a Cherokee pulling a cargo trailer! My wife is loving it of course, in fact she was the one who negotiated such a great deal! The th has plenty of room for a yxz or even at xp4...hmm...

RUn2it · January 29, 2018

Damn, looks like an Al Baker reunion. {;o)

sand chick · January 30, 2018

Great report and photos!

Congratulations on the upgrade!

We were out there as well Friday - Sunday.

We arrived Friday after work for a quick off weekend! Camp wasn't in our usual spot, we were tucked ally the way up by Memorial Hill. Camping with Burt, we all said. I liked that spot much better then others we've had. We could overlook everything on the hill. We were joined by our SoCal family. We unpacked, and set up a minimalist quick weekend set up, one couch, two tv trays... boom, done! We immediately began the campfire festivities! There was great laughter to be had and we forgot all about our early to bed rule. The shots were flowing, the conversation rolling and the laughter was loud! And bed time didn't arrive until the wee 2:00 AM hours!!

We left my dogs at home, since @wa.statecrew and his girlfriend have moved down and are gratefully watching the pups. My old pup Shasta's dune days are sadly over. It's better for her to not be stressed out if we end up in a camp with a lot of other dogs. However for whatever reason, Mike's dog decided I was the one to take him out at 5:30 AM! Once I am up, I am up. We walked around in the dark and the cold. I made coffee and watched the sunrise over the dunes. Finally Mike got up, breakfast down and it was time for the breakfast run! We were in the dunes before 8:00 am! Guess we are still early to rise! But you have to make the most of those short off weekend trips! @NE14SAND wasn't quite feeling it yet and motioned for us to go on, he'd break in his belt and take the wifey and dog for a mellow ride to check out Mista Black.

The sand was silky smooth, buttery on top, but still damp underneath. We rallied through the dunes from one end to the other. Mike and I stopped to take a break and it was just chilly. The breeze was chilling and rippling the dunes nicely.

We rallied back to camp to see if Aaron was ready yet. I was feeling a little hangover nauseous, so once we got back and let the Turbo out. I made a bloody mary with some bacon jalepeno infused vodka that I made and was dying to try out anyway. It was delish and just what I needed! We hung out for a minute, filled up the gas tanks and headed back out! Aaron's wife wanted to try to dune again, she gets sick and didn't have anything in their new to them toy hauler. All I had was regular dramamine, which she declined. She was a trooper and tried to go any way. She made it to about the second big dune on the backside and Aaron turned around. Mike and I continued on and rallied for a little longer, before going back to camp to pick up Aaron. Then we were off again! Sliding through the sand, wheelies, jumps and having a great time! When we finally stopped to take a break. We hung out and chatted, watched a huge group of SxS's running the dunes. There was a plane flying super low, then would go up over the dunes and then drop to almost ground level again over the flat area between North and South Poles. It was fun watching the air show, but it was too low to get any decent shots. The guys decided to put on their own show and I wanted some camera practice.

We were all getting hungry, breakfast for us was, after all, at sunrise! So we rallied back to camp ate lunch and visited. Then it was time for another run, back to camp, fill up, load a cooler and back out again, as the sun was getting low, I wanted to get a couple of jump shots on my favorite jump behind camp, as we rally. It always seems like I am catching great air (for me anyway) but after looking at it , not in the middle of a run, it wasn't that spectacular, but still fun as hell! So we hung out there and took turns playing for a few. The sun was starting to drop, so it was time to get to duning!!!

We returned in time to watch the sunset in camp, get the fire started and have some dinner. I wanted to try more stuff with my new camera, like long exposures, Aaron had a new laser he wanted to play with too, so that made for some interesting photos. I made more attempts at star photography, but the moon was way to bright, so I ended up with some freaky weird moon glow star photos with an airplane flying through the middle. I'm loving playing with that camera. I was able to get an ok photo of the big dipper. Can't wait for two more weeks, when we are out there again and it's going to be a sliver moon!