Ronnie's Adventures: 2006 The Land of NO

I get in invite in the mail.

VW Bus "Arizona Roundup - Campout"

Date: February 17 ~ 20

Location:
Coronado National Forest "Council Rocks" area near Tombstone, AZ
Western slope of the Dragoon Mountains

No planned activities
No services
No facilities
No bathrooms
No water
No electricity
No giveaways
No entertainment
No fees

Perfect! Sounds like my kind of place!!

Lolli has to teach. I'm retired! I pack my Vanagon, add four model airplanes and head out February 10th! Before hitting the road I look on the Internet for model airplane flying sites between Fort Bragg, CA and Tombstone, AZ. I find several and load their latitude and longitudes into my GPS.
First stop, the "Woodland/Davis Aeromodelers" northwest of Sacramento.

A blacktop runway, shade structure, a clubhouse, outhouses. I end up staying the weekend flying my planes and meeting various club members; made myself to home!!

The guy kneeling in the left photo is the guy who invented and manufactures APC props! He is one of the top pylon racers in the world and both mornings he brought out planes and engines to test. He had data loggers in the planes and after a flight would download the information. He was reaching speeds of 197 mph with that little V-tailed model!

The plane in the photo on the right was scratch built 26 years ago and it still flies beautifully. This weekend the club is also hosting a model airplane show inside a nearby mall so I drive over there Sunday morning to take a look.

On the left is an amazing glider and on the right a beautiful bi-plane. The club had many many planes on display.

Monday morning and time to hit the road. Next stop Greenfield flying field southeast of Bakersfield.

By nightfall I am set up and flying my UltraStick. Unfortunately, my favorite plane "Pete", in the right photo, got caught in a crosswind on take-off and cart-wheeled down the runway tearing off the engine and the wing. Jason, one of the club members, offers to store Pete for me until I return through Bakersfield on my way home.

In the morning some guys show up and one of them has been experimenting with converting four stoke gas engines to diesel! The diesel powered plane shown here even has an alternator, driven by the crankshaft, to power the onboard electronics!

Interesting and fun stuff but it is time to move on to the next field up by Lake Isabella. Looking at my map I elect to take the road less traveled..., from Arvin, through Caliente, to Bodfish!!

Turns out to be an amazing drive on an old narrow road up into the hills towards Tehachapi. The higher I get the clearer the air and I can look back down at the smog from Bakersfield. Looks almost like a Japanese print.

Finally, over the top with Bodfish and Lake Isabella in the distance.
Come to find out Bodfish was the name of the town's founder.

Late in the day I arrive at the flying field northeast of the lake.

I get in some flying and spend the night. In the morning two club members show up and fly their stuff. One has a "Little Toni" racing plane and a helicopter. The other guy flies electrics. Retired folks.

Next stop, a flying field near Edwards Air Force base but the wind suddenly comes up so there is no point in going there. Time to start heading for the "Land of no"!

Up over Walker Pass and down to highway 14. Wind blowing all the way.

I get to Mojave and head east on HWY 58. I stop and visit my dog Sarah's, grave. Her dog dish has been tipped over and the red tennis ball rolled a few feet away. I reset the dish into the dirt and put the dog ball back in place. Then hole up for the night in the wind.

Another day of driving puts me into Arizona.
I find a place to camp up for the night in different looking country.

February 17

Looks like I'm getting close!

Yes!

Over the course of the next four days a total of fifteen Vanagons, Spitties and Loafs show up. I finally get to meet Larry Chase of RoadHaus fame, the instigator of this event, plus my friend Bev from Oregon is here! Soon I met other VW camping nuts. Great bunch of folks.

Lots of sitting around the fire discussing VWs, the meaning of life and then it dawns on us....

"Question. Do you know what the password for this campout is?

"No".

"Welcome!!"

Saturday some of us go off in search of pictographs.

This is the Council Rocks area where the Apache Chief Cochise and his followers hid out and held off the army for about ten years. The pictographs are dated way before Cochise's time. They have been dated to around one thousand years ago. There were several nice grinding mortars in the area.

It is an interesting area and fun to explore.

Here is a beautiful miniature cactus. I put the penny by it for scale.

Amazing country and plant life.

And the food! Bev slicing up veggies. Larry sets out the Shrimp and cocktail sauce!!

Grilled chicken breasts and peppers! Carl and his wife cook breakfast burritos for everyone!

I keep them laughing with my knitting and flying skills! (Hit a cattle-guard with the plane!!)

President's Day Weekend over the working folks have to head for their jobs. Several of us older types decided to head for the bird sanctuary at Whitewater Draw on the eastern side of the Dragoon Mountains.

Bird Sanctuary? Oh my God! There had been 20,936 Sandhill Cranes at this site over winter but they were now starting to head north for the summer and ONLY 10,000 or so were left!!

Here we are with our four Vanagons. Bev's, Diane's Adventurewagon, mine and Kathleen's on the right

In a nearby hay storage shed was this Great Horned Owl. Kathleen spotted a Vermillion Flycatcher but I missed it. There were lots of ducks and some Snow Geese but the Sandhill Cranes captured the show!

Two days of birding and it was time to head for Phoenix and the Rocket Shoot Weekend!

I arrive at the location a day early and and set up camp. Bev is here and also Larry Chase.
We're having a mini-Vanagon reunion!

By Saturday quite a crowd has gathered and things are heading skyward!

One of the main attraction will be this fifth scale Saturn V. It took a year to design and build.
Several days are spend checking the electronics, packing the chutes, installing the rocket motors.

Saturday the Saturn is moved out to the launch site. Three tiers of commercial scaffolding are used to erect it!!
Once assembled, it is 22 feet tall! The scaffolding is moved away when everything is finally ready.

"Range is clear. Sky is clear. Going on... Five, Four, Three, Two, ONE"

Unfortunately two motors blow out the side of the second stage

and the flight ends prematurely! Parts and pieces are brought back.

Sunday the main event is a rocket put up by Hillbilly Rocketry of Phoenix, a really fun bunch of folks.

Final touches are made and it is hauled out to the launch site with pomp and circumstance!

After set-up and photo opportunities....

it is a go! Almost 7,000 feet up!

Sunday evening it is all over. I'm the only one left!!

Monday morning and time to start thinking of home.

I try to go west and end up on some remote dirt roads east of Gila Bend.
Pretty strange country! I fit right in!

I finally make it to Gila Bend, do my laundry and catch up on my e-mail.
Twelve hundred miles to go!

Southwest of Needles, CA I see a transmission power line road that could be a shortcut.

Only twenty seven miles to blacktop!

Halfway I come across some old mine workings.

I spend the night.

By the next evening I am at the Greenfield flying field near Bakersfield. Jason, the guy storing Pete brings him out. In the morning I start my final push for Fort Bragg.

In the Central Valley of California the Almond trees are in bloom.