Enroute to Spokane, now boondocking near Burns, OR

Sunday, May 14

The Z's and I took a rest day after the recovery efforts on Saturday.  We needed the downtime for sure.  We stayed at the Modoc District Fairgrounds in the town of Cedarville.  Nice place, good views of mountains, lots of shade trees.

The fairgrounds also had old buildings from the pioneer days of the area, arranged for viewing by fairground visitors.

After lunch at Whalen's Pub, where pizza with way too much cheese on it is served, I left for Cedar Pass on CA State Hwy 299 while Chris and Lori ambled about the town on their e-bikes.

The best view turned out to be at the entrance to the forest road where Stewie got stuck before!

A little further east down from Cedar Pass, there's a trailhead and small ski facility:

Heading back and staying on State Hwy 299, I reached the lake? area to the east of town.  Some nice reflections were evident:

I returned to the fairgrounds and did not much of anything.  I found the Z's relaxing in the shade of trees next to their Overlander: Stewie.

Monday, May 15

This morning it was time to get some miles in towards Spokane where I'm picking up my lovely wife Martha at the end of the month.

As Chris and Lori Z. have appointments for stuff to be done to Stewie, they headed northwest from Cedarville while I headed northeast to secure a good spot for camping; prior to the amateurs showing up for the Memorial Day weekend!

Made it about three hours or so, ending up in some BLM land near the town of Burns, Oregon.  I decided to stop early and get some more rest, another long drive tomorrow I'm sure.

I unloaded Yagi, my recently repaired TW200, to check out the local area.  Came across two unexpected things.  One was a Ford Explorer, Oregon Plate: 250 JPK, with a BLM warning note on the driver's window.  You can see it's loaded with stuff, typical of a car camper.  The warning was dated May 8.  I wonder where the owner is, the car has a flat front tire so he/she probably went for help?

The second thing, as I crested a small hill:

See the tower in the center?

At first, I thought it was a Fire Watch Tower.  But when I used the telephoto lens, it obviously was something else.  Not sure what, but below is a closeup of the tower.

Otherwise, the scenery was farmlands, rolling hills with sagebrush covering most of them, pretty tame.  The best part of course was I had the place to myself, assuming the owner of the Ford Explorer doesn't return of course.  

8pm: A couple, in a ratty looking gray with black patches paint drive by and did something at the broken down Explorer.  They didn't stay long then left heading south.  They may have come to retrieve something perhaps?

Stewie Gets Stuck and Recovered

Friday, May 12

Got word after 8PM from Chris Z.  He'd managed to back Stewie down a narrow forest and accidentally got the left rear tire to slide off the embankment.  There was a small creek with Spring runoff water coursing strongly which made things quite muddy.

Anyways, after many efforts to self-recover, Stewie was still stuck.  The main winch failed initially, Chris Z. would later take it apart and find it basically rust jammed.  Note: the winch was supposed to be sealed against the weather!

The rear winch worked but the synthetic rope broke!  

Chris and Lori couldn't safely use the habitat due to the lean angle of their Overlander; so they ended up sitting by a fire through the night!  The tow truck from Coachnet which had shown up at 1030 PM proved too small for the task.

Saturday, May 13

After getting details from Chris about a different tow truck company's planned arrival later this morning, I did a hasty displacement to their location to provide whatever support I could.  The towing crew (two tow trucks and a flatbed would eventually arrive shortly after Noon (their trailer carrying a skip loader had blown a tire on the way).

This is how things looked when I showed up.

The tow truck used to skip loader to clear away the large amounts of snow on the forest road so that the larger of the two tow truck's they'd brought could get into position.

As you'll see in the video below, attempt #1 failed when the winch cable broke!  Everyone was quite surprised but fortunately no injuries.

A bit later, after more snow clearing, both tow trucks were positioned to pull together for the second attempt.  As you'll see in the video, this time it worked!

Free!

Once free, and everything packed up, we adjourned to the nearby town of Cedarville where we'd spend the night.  Everyone of us was exhausted, the Z's more so after enduring the traumatic event and spending a night out in the open.

Quite disappointing an experience for the Z's.  All Chris' preparations and recovery equipment failed.  Sherpa Winch corroded, synthetic lines more than rated for Stewie's weight snapped even before the winch stalled....had the line held, Chris believes he could have self-recovered.

Uraling to Burning Man

The Burning Man site, that is!

This morning I drove Scarlett, my 2014 Ural Patrol, to the site of the Burning Man Project.

The event is held on the Playa of the Black Rock Desert, where I'm presently boondocking.  Turns out, I'm camping just shy of 4 miles to the east of the site!

More info about Burning Man here:  https://burningman.org/

Obviously, the huge crowds that are drawn for this event later in the summer, would be a non-starter for me.  However, visiting the site to see what it looks like vs what it looks like when "Black Rock City" comes to life is quite acceptable.

The "city" actually showed up on Google Maps' Satellite View and I used it to steer Scarlett to the center of the city.  I wouldn't have found it otherwise, as presently there's no evidence of it having been there!  Kudos to the cleanup crews used by Burning Man organizers!

screenshot from my phone

using google maps

google sourced photo of the city

Scarlett, sitting right where the blue dot

shows the city center in the first pic

source: google

Lori and Chris Z. stopped by to drop off stuff and I fed them lunch before they continued on their way towards Crater Lake in Oregon.

I'll rejoin them again somewhere near Spokane, WA by the end of this month.

Yagi is Back! Now Boondocking on the Black Rock Desert's Playa

Wednesday, May 10

Well, the pickup of Yagi from the mechanic wasn't as smooth as I'd hoped.  Still, by 9AM I had possession once again, paid the bill and was headed towards Tonopah, NV to join up with Chris and Lori Z.

Yagi basically has a new top end for her engine.  Here's some pics of the old parts that were replaced:

You can see where the intake valve that broke off impacted on the piston's face several times and apparently holed it too.

The intake valve broke off from it's holder, basically looks like it sheared off!

The intake valve is well and truly jammed in the head.

I joined up with the Z's later in the afternoon and we had a few shots of Ensign Red Caramel Whiskey to soothe my sorrows.

Thursday, May 11

I woke early as usual, took Yagi for another test ride around the BLM area to the south of the town of Tonopah where I spent the night.  Yagi ran great!

Around 9AM I left the Z's to scout ahead to our next planned boondocking site.  It was in the "playa" or beach of the Black Rock Desert NCA (National Conservation Area).  Same area where the storied Burning Man Festival is hosted annually apparently.

I found the hot springs that had led me to pick this area but no camping allowed within 300 ft of them so I searched for some place nearby.

So I went down the Trego Beach Access road and after dithering for a bit as to whether Uma was too heavy for the sand or not; I did venture out onto the playa/beach and picked a spot close to the access road just in case.

Uma didn't sink too much so it's all good for now

Chris and Lori Z experienced some vibration issues with one of their Overlander's ties.  So they stopped while still in civilization to have it looked at.  Hopefully, it'll be something easy and simple and join me soon on the playa.

Tonight's sunset wasn't too bad: