Big Girls Ride Too

Enough already with the Big Boy Rides. Big girls like to ride too, so before leaving our Yuma venue, we all planned a COED ATV ride and camping trip into the desert. Now this ride was shorter and less technical than the other rides have been. Discrimination? Not hardly! A matter of time and preference. Still, the planning for this ride had to be carefully coordinated. Why? Because the ride was planned to be made on the Barry Goldwater Live Fire Bombing Range just outside the Yuma Foothills, from where the ride began. All riders required personal permits. We traveled to the Marine base to apply for those permits. We filed travel itinerary for the duration of the trip. What could possibly go wrong? And I will say at the onset- nothing did go wrong. Still, there is considerable "illegal alien" activity across the range, and in fact our campsite was set roughly 2 1/2 miles from Yodaville, a "town' made up of welded cargo containers and painted to resemble a small town for the intended use of practicing urban bombing accuracy. Apparently their accuracy is pretty darn good- as no errant missiles hit our desert wash campsite- which was one thing that could have really ruined our day. In truth, there was no firing activity while we were out there- which I suppose makes it a bit less challenging, but hey, I'm good with that!

So once again, the story will pretty much be told by the photos and the captions. We had a good size "pack" of riders. Those who often ride together wore STP sweatshirts in maroon. STP? A vehicle special lubricant? Not here. STP: "Scooter Trash Pack" I didn't recall hearing the story behind how the group chose it's name, but as with most of their stories, I'm guessing it is a good one. The trip covered two days and one night camping. While there was some real good fireside cooking going on out there, no lie, we also had three giant bags of cold, fried chicken. Think of it as a campfire appetizer to prepare the palette for hot dogs.

Watch the photos for the "ooga" horn on the back of our bike. It was our take home present from the White Elephant Christmas party held a few days before our ride. We exchanged blind presents, then endured the slings and arrows of the trade to see what we would wind up with. There were some good items! A solar powered and lighted wind chime. An old Igloo cooler. A gigantic 12 volt spotlight. A red wine bottle humming bird feeder. A broken vase water feature, just to name a few. There was a present for everyone, and a good laugh for all as well.



When we were not out riding, camping, singing karaoke, having a beverage or two, shopping, doing dinner, or just otherwise engaged, we used the beautiful equipment (that scooper-digger as my nephew used to call them as a kid) that Gary and Judy placed on our campsite (a new investment lot they recently purchased) for our use while camped there....... we are leaving with about 7 oz of nice clean gold, AND we left a hole suitable for the installation of the electric to the new lot now that we are out of the way. Who knew Yuma Foothills Lots would be so rich in gold ore? (Just kidding) But actually, one of the largest ever of Arizona Gold resources was discovered just a short distance away- the Fortuna de Oro gold mine which we visited while on our ride onto the Goldwater Range. Do I look good in a hard hat or what?

As always, the time we spend with our friends and their friends makes life so much more of an adventure!