MAY 22 to 24,1998

It was a great weekend, except for the creek crossing. Lopez Lake is releasing water affecting the Arroyo Grande Creek crossing. You better wait for low tide. I arrived at 6:00p.m. Friday and did not cross until 11:00p.m. I let the air out of the truck and trailer and slowly waded across the creek. Scary at night especially after seeing 20 people get stuck before me. The towing company was charging $185.00 per stuck truck. Saturday we got started around 11:00a.m. and went for a ride. Bob, Sharon and I made our tracks through the dunes from one end of the park to the other. We began by following an FL350 for a while, until we got tired of going slow! It was tough to get a good line going because the dunes were so choppy. We finally hit some smooth stuff and had a good ride. We went back to camp and ate some grub and visited. Sunday brought more good riding with Bob,Sharon,Steve and I. As always the Pilots performed as expected-flawless. It's one heck of a stress reliever! Some people were heading out Sunday but we stayed the night. Bob and I went on an excellent cruise on Monday a.m. Fast and long, full throttle for over an hour! We covered the whole area dropping in and out of bowls and jumping from one dune to the next. The weather was as usual, wind from noon to 6:00p.m. Temps were in the high 60's-low 70's-perfect. It was a great weekend, no one hurt and no breakdowns. The only low note was Bob sticking his truck and trailer in the creek on the way in Friday morning. Mother Nature has a way of letting you know who is in charge!

FEBRUARY 14 & 15,1998

The first ride on Saturday went well, I went for a fast dune cruise with Mr.Dune and Marc to Comp Hill and Olds. The dunes were a little torn up but still plenty of fun. I headed back to camp and The Kinzers and J.B. and I went for another cruise until the rain started . We had a good time carving through the dunes and went back to the Kinzer's camp and visited with them for a while The turnout was poor due to the weather. Maybe next year we will see more people. But I would like to thank the Kinzer's, J.B., Nick and everyone else who stopped by! I think with a little more time and preparation,this event could be huge! I will update on my page when I organize another event.

JANUARY 17,1998

Nick,Greg and Mitch from Mesa Az. came a few hours west to ride the dunes of Buttercup! We had fun cruising through the dunes for a few hours on Saturday. The dunes are still wet form the rains a few weeks ago, and the traction was excellent. We had a couple of high speed bowl runs, jumping in and out at all angles-everything was going fine until....Greg(I gotta put this in here) did an epic endo and bruised his left arm and hand. The only casualties were two tires off the bead and his whip. These guys were great to ride with and hope they make at least one more trip before I head back to California in March! On Sunday the 18th, I traveled to Glamis to help with the BLM Dunes Cleanup. It was a huge success! Over 800 fellow duners made it out for the day. When I left you could really see the difference. Look for an update of the cleanup on Mr Dunes page soon.

CHRISTMAS & NEW YEARS AT BUTTERCUP RECREATION AREA 1997

Seven of my friends made it down to Buttercup for our annual Christmas at the dunes trip.The rain we received made the dunes fast! Plenty of traction and fun! The nights dipped down into the 30's, so things were a little cooler than usual. The rides were clean and fast, with a few mishaps. We made a daily run to the "Mexico Road"- this road covers the western and southern boundary of the dunes. The road is barely wide enough for the Pilots with bermed corners and a few surprise corners with dropoffs, with bushes on both sides of the road. The leader takes off and its time to play catch up! It takes all you got to go full on ,not knowing what may be around the next corner. Since this area borders with Mexico,you see plenty of footprints through the dunes from people trying to cross into the U.S. and Border Patrol agents trying to stop them. At Comp Hill, you see everything from electric golf carts to full blown rails and Jeeps-just not as many as Glamis.Overall, this trip was excellent with no breakdowns(I seized mine the next weekend). I will post pictures as soon as I get them back .

FIRST RIDE OF THE SEASON REPORT

SUNDAY 12-7-97

I went to Buttercup Recreation Area just west of Yuma,Az. to test out my new 465cc engine.The power comes on sooner and it will pull the front wheels off the sand in the right situation! I was racing a dune dude that was riding a Banshee on a straight whoop-dee-doo road. The Pilot was skimming the top of the whoops until I came upon one that ate me alive. The rear end came up and I did three endo's and rolled twice sideways and came to a rest with the Pilot standing on its rear end and the engine still running. The only casualty was my upper left front A-Arm and my left two tires came off the bead. My shins look like someone took a baseball bat to them. Nothing like a good wreck to get the adrenaline flowing. Next week I will go on ride number two at Buttercup!