Chix Side-by-Side Club Ride to the Cabin (Monday, November 6th, 2017)

First of all, I can't believe it is the 6th of November.  The weather here is perfect with warm days and cool nights!  But in addition to our great weather, today is our Chix Side-by-Side ride to the cabin, and I am super excited!  This is an event put on by the Havasu SxS Club where the women do a solo ride.  No men allowed!

I left the house at 8:00 this morning, with Steve following me in the car.  We headed over to Sharyn's house to pick her up.  She will be my copilot for the day. Steve wanted to make sure we had the harness and helmet set up properly for her before we set out for the day.  I'm not sure if that's cheating, but we did it anyway!

Once we were all ready, Sharyn and I headed south to Challenger Wash where our ride would start.  We would have two groups today, so we formed two lines, one behind Donna and the other behind Sheila. This is my first Chix ride, my first time to drive on a ride with the club, and only my second time to drive the RZR off-road.  I have to admit that I was a little nervous!

My first impression when we pulled up was how organized it was!  Donna had clip boards with our check-in forms, and a list of everyone she was expecting on today's ride so that no one would be left behind.  Each car was greeted as they pulled up, and was asked to sign the clip board for their group.  This way we had a count of all the cars in each group.

I checked the women in for Sheila's group since she had her "little man" (1 year old) to take care of.

Before we left, we had our usual talk about making sure you know who is in front of you and who is behind you, and always looking out for the car behind you.  I always love this talk, because it is so important.  I had Sheila (our group leader) in front of me, and Dana behind me.  Dana just happens to be the wife of Brian, the guy from our Topock ride (Topock RZR Ride (Tuesday, October 24th, 2017)), so that was a fun coincidence, and I knew I was sandwiched in between two great people!

This is the only man that was allowed on our trip.



Donna's group headed out first, followed by our group about 10 minutes later to let the dust settle in between.  

Our first stop was for a photo opportunity.  So beautiful!



And then another stop further down the road to let everyone stretch and chat.

In no time at all, we were at the cabin, putting out our food to share and making ourselves at home for a short stay.  There was plenty of parking for all of us.

I could not believe the amazing food that everyone brought.  So many homemade salads, dips, sides and deserts to choose from.  It was very overwhelming, but I had no problem overcoming it, grabbing my plate and jumping in line.

 

After loading our plates to the brim, we all found a nice comfy spot in the shade to sit and enjoy all the yummy food!  There are some amazing cooks in this club!  

Even our token male had his own bowl of green beans to enjoy.

Then we all just enjoyed a little down time in the cabin before we headed back.  

This little cabin is quite amazing.  I don't know when it was built, or by whom, but it is out on the public (BLM) land south east of Lake Havasu City.  People come and use it all the time, and everyone who visits, leaves it in better shape than when they found it.  It has a couch and a chair, and several tables to use while you are here. It is also decorated with dollar bills from the many visitors it has had over the years and other artifacts that people have brought out here and left.

There is a huge covered porch, and a couple of enclosed rooms as well.  

This one even has a dart board for entertainment.  I didn't notice any darts, but I'm sure they are there.

When we were all finished eating, Donna told us about a mine that is a short walk up the road from the cabin, so a small group of us walked up to take a peek.  

The entrance to the mine was probably 7 feet by 7 feet.  No ducking required to get into the mine shaft.

 And the tunnels were huge.  

I think the guardians of the mine put this here to keep trespassers out.  It is some type of bone????

Then we all headed back to the cabin to meet up with the rest of the group again.

After a very refreshing break at the cabin, we all jumped back in our cars to make the trek back home, but unbeknownst to us, this was just the beginning of our Chix Ride adventure.

As we made our way back toward town, Dana got on her radio and told me that I had a strap flapping that we should probably check out, so we all pulled over so I could check my strap.  It was one of the straps that holds my spare tire on, and sure enough, it has come undone and my spare tire was slipping off the rack.  So I climbed up and tied the strap onto the rack to secure the tire until we could get home.  Dana loaned me a blue strap that she had, so I could secure it even better, so we were hoping this would do the trick.

Anyone that follows my blog knows that this is not our first incident with a spare tire, so this just kind of made me laugh.  Our first incident was back in July (See my post entitled 100 Mile Trail Ride (Sunday, July 9th, 2017).  I really am getting tired of that darn spare tire!

So we hit the trail again, making our way back to Havasu.  But before long, Dana was on her radio again.  This time the blue strap was flapping, so we stopped again and re-secured it.  While we were stopped, I realized that there is a hook on the straps that I could see from my rear-view mirror, so I decided it would be a good idea to keep an eye on the hook while I was driving.  Dana was staying back a good distance, but I still didn't want to take a chance of that tire coming off on the trail.

Another short jant down the road, and I realized that the hook had come undone, so this time I got on the radio and let everyone know that I needed to stop again.  

Oh my gosh, I was "That Girl".  You know, the one that holds up the entire group....sorry everyone!  

So I crawled out of the RZR for the third time to see what was up with the spare tire.  I tried to push the spare tire up enough to get the hook back on, but I just couldn't get it re-hooked.  Just then I looked down and noticed that I had a flat (and I mean really flat) on my rear passenger tire.  

I think the spare tire knew that we were going to need it and that's why it kept trying to get loose.

So I climbed up and started unhooking the straps that were somewhat holding the spare tire in place, and lifted the spare tire down from it's rack.  Then I headed to the tool bag in the back of the RZR to see what I could find in there.

While I was doing that, Sheila (our group leader), Ann (our tail gunner) and Nancy (her passenger) were already hooking up the RZR to lift the flat tire off the ground.  (If I missed anyone here, I am so sorry!  Please, please, let me know so I can get this post updated!!!  Things were a little crazy then and I am sure I missed someone!

It's really quite ingenious how they did it.  They attached a tow strap to the roll cage on the side of my car that had the flat.  Then ran the strap over the top of my car and attached it to Sheila's car that was parked on the other side.  She eased forward gently, pulling on my car up until the flat tire was off the ground.

Then we all jumped in and changed the tire.  I have to fess up that my husband spoils me and does all of that kind of stuff for me, so even though I know how, I've never actually had to do it before.  

I ended up having to call Steve because we couldn't find the key to the locking lug nuts, and my conversation with him was pretty funny.  

He told me where the key was, and then he warned me that it would probably be pretty hard for us to get the car jacked up.  So I told him that part was already taken care of. 

Then he told me to be careful taking down the spare tire because it's really heavy.  So I told him that part as already taken care of too. 

He is such a great husband, and he really wanted to come to my rescue.  I have to say, I loved that he wanted to, and I also loved that he didn't have to.  These women knew exactly what they were doing! 

Ann was the brawn behind getting the lug nuts loose.  

And once the spare tire was on, Ann and Sheila were the brawn for getting the lug nuts re-tightened.  

And we were back on the road with Sheila leading and Ann tail gunning.  

But we didn't get very far down the road, and Sharyn (my copilot) realized that her phone was gone.  So we pulled over again to try and find it.  We called it, thinking that if it was in the car that we'd hear it ringing and know right where it was, but unfortunately we couldn't hear anything.

So Sheila and Ann put their heads together and decided that Sheila would take the rest of the group back to Challenge Wash where we started, and Ann would take Sharyn and I back to where we changed the tire to see if we could find the phone.  But when we got back, there was no phone anywhere.  So we started digging through the car.  We looked back through the tool bags, under the spare tire, in the side pouches, and still no phone.  

We were about to give up when Nancy came back and started digging through the glove box.  She pulled out a gallon zip lock bag and said "Is this it?"  And it was!  

I had emptied out the glove box looking for the lug nut key, and put everything on the floor, so when I reloaded the glove box, I accidentally put her bag in there too. We're not sure why we couldn't hear it ringing when we called it, but at least we found it (the hard way).   Again.....I was "That Girl!"

So now Ann had the laborious task of leading us back home through the desert.  She didn't have a GPS to show her the way, but she knew where we were and how to get back.  Some of the trails we ended up on coming home were a little more advanced that I was ready for, but we drove over them like troopers and eventually came out at the bottom of McCulloch.  

Ann asked me if I needed to go back to Challenger Wash and I told her I did because my husband was waiting for me there, but I told her I knew how to get there with no problem.  She said, "No, I'll lead you back."  And she did.  

When we pulled into the parking area of Challenger Wash, Sheila was sitting there with Steve, waiting for us to return.  Even though she had gone ahead with the rest of the group, she waited at the wash until everyone was accounted for.  Now that's a great leader!  

I can't begin to tell you how impressed I was with these women.  They took such incredible care of the entire group, and especially of me.  I feel bad that I was the weakest link on this ride, and I hope that I will be invited back some day.  

I had the time of my life, and gained so much confidence because they were willing to put their time and energy into this ride.  They taught me how to "jack up" a RZR, how to change a tire, and how to drive through the mountains and washes with confidence.  I am so thankful to be part of such a great organization!

When Sharyn and I got back to their house, we were both tired and excited about the day we just experienced.  So we treated ourselves to a little wine to celebrate our accomplishments.

There was one small detail that I left out about this ride.  We actually had a wing man (Donna's husband Scott) lurking in the bushes during our entire ride just in case something came up that we couldn't handle.  We were glad he was there, but even happier that we didn't need to use him!

Steve was so impressed when he looked the car over after we got home.  He said that everything looked perfect and the lug nuts were torqued to 100 ft lbs, exactly where he runs them.  He couldn't believe the skills that these women have!  I also found out afterward from Steve that I wasn't the only one with a flat tire.  I was the only one that knew she had a flat tire.

A huge thank you to Dana, who I was supposed to be looking out for, but instead, she was looking out for me!  And another huge thank you to Sharyn for riding with me, keeping me calm, making me laugh, and taking all of these GREAT pictures!  I can't wait until we can do this again!