The plank road and the border wall were very interesting, but the reason we really came to Buttercup was to ride. These dunes are so beautiful, and we are excited to get out there!
Each time we visit the dunes, they are different than the time before. The wind reshapes them and moves them, so although they remain somewhat consistent, they are never the same, but always beautiful!
Our friend Tony.....I told him that next time he has to carry the camera so there are some pictures of us.
Back at camp, we played a little golf between rides. We would drive the balls and try to hit them right into the center of the power poles. Tony got quite a few in. Steve made it once. I guess we know who the better golf is!
At both Glamis and Buttercup, there is a hill that is called Competition Hill. It is a very long, steep hill that everyone likes to challenge themselves and their cars on to see if they can get to the top first. This is the Competition Hill of Buttercup, and those are our friends climbing. I wanted to get some pictures of Steve climbing, so I had him let me out. He stands out because he is the only one with a white roof.
Here he is coming back down to pick me up.
When I am taking pictures in the dunes, it is really hard to get the perspective of how big these dunes really are. But I got a few that will help you see it.
I took these pictures from the top of competition hill after we climbed it. The dots below are three RZRs driving by, right where we just were at the bottom of the hill.
Here we are looking back down at our friends at the bottom.
Then back to the ride.
The views in the dunes are spectacular!
There are a lot of burned out cars in the dunes.
As we understand it, prior to the border wall, as illegals would cross from Mexico into the U.S., they would drive their cars through the sand as far as they could. Once the car got stuck, they would burn it so it couldn't be identified. Then they would cross the rest of the way on foot.
As we would come across one, it was always fun to stop and look.
Another car.
When we finished riding the dunes, we took another short ride to the Dunes Diner. It is a restaurant just off the highway near Buttercup. We had to cross the highway on an overpass to get there, so that wasn't good with sand paddles, but it was fun to see anyway.
Just outside the diner, there is a gated mansion. A little paradise in the desert. I'm not sure who would want their mansion out here, but someone does.
It's so well concealed by the trees that you can't really see it, but it is huge.
This is the Dunes Diner. It is closed for remodeling this year. People like to take the sand highway in their sand car, side-by-side or whatever and ride from Glamis and come up here for a meal. Maybe some day we will have a chance to do it!
We met some great new friends on this trip that we look forward to getting together with again, and we truly enjoyed our time in the dunes. I think we are finally learning how to ride them!
The Imperial Sand Dunes is such a pretty place, I told Steve I would love to come back sometime and just photograph it. Not at high speed from a RZR, but up close and personal.
So much for the rest and relaxation, time to hit the road again. We headed out today for the Imperial Sand Dunes. We usually go to an area of the dunes called Glamis, but this time we went further south to a place called Buttercup.
Glamis is the yellow dot, Buttercup is the red dot.
Buttercup is just west of Yuma. It is very close to Interstate 8 which goes between Tucson, AZ and San Diego, CA. We haven't been here before, so we are excited to try it out. We drove down today, and will be camping here until Tuesday.
One of the first sights we saw at Buttercup was the plank road. It is the remains of a road that was built in 1915 to allow the first automobiles to cross the Imperial Sand Dunes, giving them access to San Diego and Los Angeles from Arizona. It was used from 1915 - 1916 when it wore out and a new plank road had to be built. The second plank road was used until 1926 when a 20 foot wide asphalt-like concrete road was finally built.
This replica of the plank road shows what it would have looked like when it was first built.
The original plank road had been completely covered by sand over the years, but was dug up and revitalized from 1973 - 1974, and this is what it looks like today.
This plank road was not far from our campsite at Midway, and was really fun to ride over and see.
The camping area has filled in a lot now! We heard UTVs running all night, and someone in another camp played music all night, but we slept like babies for the most part. We woke up to a nice stiff breeze this morning, but as the morning went on it left us and it heated up quickly.
After breakfast, we all drove into Camp RZR to see what they had going on and get checked in for the drawings. They had about 10 items to choose from for today's drawing, so we put our ticket stub in the jar for the item we wanted, which was an audio system. We'll keep our fingers crossed!
The parking lots were already very full when we got there.
But it didn't take us much time to get checked in. Then we walked through all of the vendors, but mostly we kept looking for shade.
It was really hot out there today.
They had some really nice RZRs on display.
John and Sheila came back later in the day to tell their camp story about their son. His first time at Camp RZR was last year, when he was two weeks old, and now he is back again at the ripe old age of one year and two weeks.
They had a big trough of cold water which was awesome! We carried a big thermos cup of ice water with us but the water ran out quickly, so it was great to be able to refill.
When we got back to camp everyone ate lunch and then some of the group went out for a ride. Steve was going to ride with John so he could get some more coaching, so I stayed back at camp. But at the last minute that didn't work and Steve ended up taking his own car, which was good as he got some more experience riding with very knowledgeable duners!
Brandon broke his drive belt on the ride. This is a picture of John trying to pull him.
At the end of their ride they ended up at Oldsmobile Hill watching cars run and jump, so Todd, Jen and I jumped in Todd's sand car and met them there.
We went to the top of the hill and parked with the rest of the group to watch the action on Oldsmobile Hill in the cool breeze of the afternoon.
There are great views from the top of the hill!
John and Eric aren't very good sitters, so it wasn't long until they joined in the action, climbing the hill and jumping off the dunes.
When they got tired of jumping, they came back and sat on the hill with the rest of us.
Just as John got comfortable, a guy broke his belt trying to get up the hill, and was stuck in the middle of the hill with chaos going on all around him. He kept signaling for his buddies at the bottom of the hill to come help him, but no one ever came, so John (being the great mechanic and guy that he is) pulled onto the hill to help the guy out. He had a spare belt, but he didn't really want to give it up. So, (being the great business man that he is) John offered his belt to the guy for $200 cash on the spot, and when the guy accepted, John, (again, being the great guy that he is) helped him install it.
By the time they were done installing the new belt, the shadows were growing long on Oldsmobile Hill.
I rode back to camp with Steve and we all settled in for the evening.
This was our big campfire night, so we had a chance to just relax and talk, and we even learned how to make "hot buns"... you take some coals from the camp fire and put them under your chair if you're cold. It warms you right up from underneath. Our friends and family in Colorado really need to try this out!
The second night we were here, Jen and I took a black light under the big tree looking for scorpions, but fairly quickly, we found ourselves a big ole snake instead, and we both came high stepping it back to the safety of the front porch! So tonight Steve went with us, and before we found the snake again, we were able to find our scorpion. It was about 2 inches long.
We had a great time just hanging out with everyone enjoying the fire, the music and most of all the company on this gorgeous night, on the edge of the Imperial Sand Dunes.
