Ride to Little Utah (Friday, February 22nd, 2019)

Little Utah!


The rain finally stopped during the night, but it's still pretty cold, and in fact, we woke this morning to snow on the hills near our camp.

The Havasu Side by Side club rides don't start until tomorrow, so today we are doing a little ride with our friends Russ, Lorraine, Robert and Marti to a place that they call Little Utah, because it reminds them of spots you would see in Moab.

We're not there yet, but the stops along the way are still quite beautiful.

It was a little muddy getting here.

Steve grew some antlers.

From the front this rock looks like a baby elephant.

From the side it looks like a desert big horn.

We're always amazed by the diverse beauty of the desert.  So much fun today exploring it with friends.

Desert Bar (Saturday, February 16th, 2019)

The Desert Bar, also known as Nellie E Saloon near Parker, Arizona is one of those incredibly unique places that you just have to take people if they haven't seen it before.  It has sole and character that you just can't imagine unless you visit it.



The desert bar is about 5 miles down Cienega Springs Road off of highway 95, just north of Parker, AZ. It is a bumpy ride in on a semi maintained dirt road, and that is part of the experience. Each weekend, October through April, this bar opens up and welcomes visitors from near and far to enjoy hot food, cold brews and breath-taking views of the surrounding desert.

The Desert Bar is completely off the grid, using a combination of solar, generators and pumps to create oasis in the middle of the desert.

It's hard to imagine the number of visitors this place attracts during the winter months. And today was no exception.

It took us awhile to find the perfect table, but once we did, it was time to sit, relax and enjoy some cold beer, gyros and other good food.  Yes, I said gyros.  A Greek restaurant (Nikos) from Lake Havasu caters the Greek food, or there are hot dogs and hamburgers as an option as well.

Here's to friends and family!

Looking down toward the band and Greek restaurant.

 The bridge across the wash is the main entrance to the Nellies.

As you can see, this place is packed, and the crazies thing is that everything has to be hauled in and out, each weekend, down the dirt road that is the only real entrance.

We enjoyed a super fun day with friends and family, in the sunshine of this very unique oasis.

Pirates Cove Poker Run (Saturday, February 9th, 2019)

One of the fun parts of the Havasu Side by Side club in the volunteer opportunities it provides.  And sometimes great volunteer opportunities come with even better camp spots.

The view out our living room window.



And our front window.

Last year our side by side club ran the Pirates Cove Resort poker run for the first time ever, and it was such a huge success that we decided to do it again this year.  The owner and general manager of the resort are great men to work with, making our jobs so much fun.

There were 175 cars registered for the run, and 140 of those made it out on poker run day.  The drivers meeting started at 8:00 a.m., and filled the outside bar.

Steve and I are guessing that our club provided about 50 volunteers for this event.  Steve worked in the communication center, which is the heart of the operation, with many club members standing by all day to provide great support to him.  There were about 30 people out on the course, setting up, manning stops, helping drivers and sweeping the course at the end of the day.  There were also 13 of us at the final stop, generating hands and tallying results.

 The poker run course was 56 miles long, beginning and ending at the Pirates Cover Resort.  Of the 140 cars that started the poker run, around125 finished successfully.  

Helping with the poker run was a really fun experience, but as with anything we do, some of the best times were hanging with friends at the campsite!  

We had a wonderful appetizer potluck on Friday night.

Roaring campfires.  Word provided by our good friends at Pirates Cove.

Wonderful meals at the Pirates Cove Restaurant.

And of course relaxing mornings and evenings watching the sun rise and set from our beautiful camp sight!  

A huge thank you to Pirates Cove for their hospitality during our stay, and to all of the club members that made this such a memorable experience.  We hope to see you all again here next year!