I’m a day behind on the rally updates.  Better late than never, right?…

Sunday was day 6 of the Alpine Coach Desert Rat Rally.  On the agenda for today (below) you can see it’s our last day of scheduled activities.  The major events were a swap meet and an evening farewell wine & cheese party.

After the morning devotional, people started bringing in crafts and swap meet items to the rally tent.

Raymond put a few of his items up for sale.

I even tried to get rid of a few extra things as well but didn’t have any takers.

Around mid-day, my mom, stepdad, brother, Cheryl, Stilla and I went into town to check out the “Big Tent” at the RV show one last time.

We found food and snacks around the outer perimeter of the “Big Tent” to tide us over until evening.

We wandered around the RV show area and checked out all the vendors that hadn’t already packed up.

The only thing we found that we needed this time around was a new door mat for $5.

When we got back to the rally site, I saw a bunch of our Alpiner’s working on a generator.

It seems that Mike Hambarian’s belt broke.  Luckily, in common Alpine fashion… fellow Alpiner Dean Sandmire had an extra one on hand to save the day.

Soon it was time for farewells.  We had cheese and lots of hors d’oeuvres to go with multiple bottles of wine, courtesy of Guaranty RV Sales.

Frank Halasz and Norm Cannon poured copious amounts of wine.

Thanks were given once again to our Rally Hosts Frank & Dessa Halasz and Co-Hosts Norm & Beth Cannon for an awesome rally!

What a great evening.  Everyone had a blast.

At one point, most everyone went outside the tent to watch the full moon rise.

In the late evening, it was announced that they needed volunteers to put up the chairs and tables before we left for the night.  Unfortunately, most folks took it literally and before you knew it… almost everything was put away and stacked.

And then most everyone just stood around socializing… even without the chairs and tables 🙂  Go figure.

There was only one “smart” group in the bunch that left their table and chairs in place until they were ready to call it an evening:

And of course, it was a very popular table.

I don’t know if we finished off the wine, but a lot of folks tried.  Here’s Norm (below) still pouring late into the evening.

It was an awesome farewell party… I don’t think anyone wanted the rally to end 🙂

Check back tomorrow for a recap of our last day and departure.  Although, not everyone departed…

Our 5th day at the Alpine Coach Association “Desert Rat Rally” was another fun day of 4-wheeling followed up with a great catered Mexican food meal and the arrival of my Mom, Stepdad, brother Steve & Cheryl.

Here’s our rally agenda once again (below) to refresh your memory – today was Saturday the 23rd:

After morning coffee and donuts, everyone that wanted to go on the scheduled 4 Wheelers Day Trip to the Desert Bar lined up between the Coaches in their 4-wheel drive vehicles.

Since no one else was taking an ATV, I left ours loaded on the back of the Silverado and we (Stilla and I) jumped into Frank Krauland’s Jeep once again.

Fellow Alpiner Bob Schiller also joined us to fill the fourth seat in Frank’s Jeep for the trip.  Six Jeeps altogether convoyed north to Parker, AZ.

We all arrived safely at our start point next to a gas station north of Parker to air down the tires for the rough road ahead.

All six of the Jeeps aired down their tires and got lined up in a row, ready to go.

We started off the trip by going up a really rough section which set the tone for the rest of the day.

This picture (below) doesn’t do this hill justice.  For some perspective, notice the Jeeps waiting at the bottom of the hill in the background.  Frank made it up the boulder-strewn hill with no problem in his Rubicon Jeep.

Follow along with some more pictures of our 4-wheeling adventure:

At one point, fellow Alpine Coach owner, Mike Hambarian got too close to the edge of the trail…

… and started sliding dangerously down the slope.  He fortunately got stopped but was stuck at a precarious angle.  Naturally, his wife Donna clambered out through the driver’s side door.

We hooked up tow straps on both the front and back of Mike & Donna’s Jeep to keep it from sliding further down the slope.

We hooked one strap to a vehicle in the front; the other to a vehicle in the rear.

Mike jumped back in his Jeep and powered out of the dangerous situation with the help of the tow straps and the other two Jeeps.

Whew!  Safely back on the road 🙂

After getting Mike’s Jeep back on the road again, and with all the excitement over; everyone piled back into their respective vehicles…

… and continued on down the trail for a little more adventure.

Here’s Frank navigating down a steep slope while I expertly guided him with hand signals while taking pictures 🙂  Who says I can’t multi-task ?!?

And finally, we reached our destination… the Desert Bar (←website link).  You may recall that I wrote a post last Sunday about our previous trip to the bar when we took the main route; aka ‘the easy road’.

The parking area was so full that we had to park a little way down the road and hike up to the Desert Bar.

And here we are again at the Desert Bar.  Click (HERE) for more pics from my friend at Google Images®

We got here later in the day than the last time we were here; the lines were long and the seating was scarce.

I must have stood in the food line for over an hour 🙁  By the time I got food for Stilla and myself, most of the other’s had already finished a couple adult beverages and were ready to head back.

After enjoying the ambience of the Desert Bar for a while, we took the main (easy) unpaved road back out and stopped in the town of Parker so Frank could wash his Jeep.  A couple of the other folks in our convoy did the same.

Frank had to feed quarters into the air compressor to air his tires back up at the gas station next to the car wash.  Thanks again for the ride Frank!

We got back to the rally site just in time for Happy Hour 🙂  Bill Figge made his famous Margarita’s.  Greg Vaughan and Sandy Johnson assisted with dispensing the popular beverage.

Everyone mingled and socialized while we waited for the caterers to finish cooking our authentic Mexican dinner just outside our rally tent on stove tops that they had set up earlier in the evening.

Rally host(s) Frank & Dessa called off table numbers at random for folks to go get their evening meal from the caterer.  They also thanked all the volunteers that have made the rally successful so far, with a special thanks for the co-host(s) Norm & Beth Cannon.

Our caterers for the evening meal were from the Sonora Restaurant (below).  Sorry, but I couldn’t find their website to reference.

The authentic mexican food was very good.  And there was even second helpings for those that didn’t get enough, along with plenty of leftovers for folks to take home.

Lots of folks stayed and socialized for awhile after dinner:

Here’s our table (below), we called it the “cool table” 🙂  Unfortunately, we were in the corner right next to one of the loud speakers that blasted our ear drums every time an announcement was made.

Some of the ladies even started up a game of ‘hand and foot’ after the meal… we’ll have to learn this card game if we want to be included in their fun 🙂

And then the day just kept getting better!  My Mom, Stepdad Jim, brother Steve & Cheryl arrived just before our evening meal.  They parked their Class-C near our Coach…

… and unhooked the trailer with their ATV’s.

They made the three hour trip from Casa Grande to visit us during the last couple days of the rally.  Hopefully, we can visit the “Big Tent” on Sunday with them before it’s taken down.  We also plan on doing some off-roading together on the ATVs (Yeah, finally!)

They came into the rally tent after our evening meal was finished and met some of our Alpine Coach friends.  Afterwards, we joined another group of Alpiners and enjoyed good conversation and a campfire until we called it a night.

In closing… Stilla snapped a nice picture (below) of a saguaro cactus near our camp site along with a couple more evening sunset pics for your viewing pleasure:

Stay tuned…

Here’s your Day 2 (20 Jan) update to the Alpine Coach Rally now going on in Quartzsite, AZ.  I’ll start off with another copy of our rally agenda for the week (below):

At 8 AM there were already folks milling around the north side of the tent catching the early rays of the sun and waiting on the donuts to arrive.

After the donuts arrived… they didn’t last long.

At 9 AM most of the guys could be found in the rally tent for the “Gearhead Session”.  Our first scheduled speaker was Paul from ARP Happy Camper (←website link).  He talked about Norcold and Dometic refrigerator systems and sold safety enhancements (controls).  Since we have a residential 22 cu. ft. Amana refrigerator, I didn’t pay as close attention as most of the others.

Our next speaker was Dave from Dave’s Diesel Diagnostic Service. Sorry, no website seems to be available for Dave, but he can be contacted at david.e.atherton@gmail.com.

He gave a very informative presentation with lots of hands-on visual aids to describe common problems with diesel engines along with common-sense troubleshooting procedures.

Dave got a lot of attention and business after he completed his seminar as many folks signed up for his $75 diagnostic service.  He uses a diagnostic connector that he hooks up to his laptop utilizing Cummins Insite™ (Service and Diagnostic Software) to give folks a report on the health of their Coach.  I didn’t sign up for the service, but the week is still young 🙂

After a very informative “Gearhead Session” we had an Alpine Coach Association (ACA) Membership Meeting led by Tom Polk.  Our Rally host Frank Halasz and the ACA Treasurer Steve Maurmann also officiated alongside Tom at the head table.  I learned that the ACA now has 210 members.  There’s only 70 members (Coaches) in the Alpine SoCal group with about 20 of those members here at the Rally.  We hope to have an informal meeting on Friday, which will be my first one as president of the SoCal group.  Some of you may recall that I was voted in at the SoCal Lake Powell Rally last year that I co-hosted.

After the membership meeting, I used the time to change the oil in the ATV.  I already had oil and a filter on hand.  I was able to knock it out in a short amount of time and didn’t even spill a drop of oil in the desert dirt 🙂  Many thanks to fellow Alpiner Greg Vaughan for lending me his surplus beach sand bucket to use as an oil pan 🙂

Looks like some heavy-duty planning is going on here with the Rally Host(s) Frank & Dessa Halasz, seen below collaborating with Tom Polk.

Stilla attended the Ladies “Gearhead Session” at 1:30… sorry, I forgot to ask her what the subject(s) were 🙁

Anyway, she had to cut her Ladies “Gearhead Session” short because we volunteered to make the trash run again at 2 PM and had to leave.   We used to opportunity to also load up our Blue-Ox Aventa™ tow bar into the bed of the truck to go get it serviced.  The tow bar has become rather loose and sloppy at the ball socket after all the miles of towing the Silverado around behind the Urban Escape Vehicle.  I was told there was a Blue-Ox service tent next to the “Big Tent” at the RV show in Quartzsite.

We found the Blue-Ox Tow Bar service tent on the south-side of the “Big Tent” in Quartzsite right next to the Redlands Truck & RV Service tents.

There sure were a lot of tow bars in for service and/or repair (above).  We had to leave our tow bar with the technicians until Friday and paid a $30 service charge.  Hopefully, when we get it back, it will be like new again and we can have a little more ‘peace of mind’ while going down the road.

We headed back to our Rally site off Plomosa Rd.

I took little ‘Coach’ for a walk around all the Alpines at our rally site and snapped some pics:

We now have more than 50 Alpines in attendance.

The rally attendees were busy doing all sorts of things.  Some were just hanging out and socializing… others were getting some work done.

Around 4:30 it was time for Happy Hour again in our rally tent.

And soon the potluck dishes started arriving.  Everyone brought in one or more dishes…

… until the tables were overflowing with food.

Lots and lots of potluck… these Alpiners don’t mess around when it comes to food 🙂

And lots of dessert too 🙂

Our rally hosts drew numbers to determine which tables would go first.

Pretty soon everyone had gone through the line and piled their plates with a sampling from all the various dishes.  I’m sure no one went back to their Coach hungry.

And now here’s some pics of all the happy and well-fed Alpiners:

After dinner, the never-tiring “Engineer Mike” helped Greg Vaughan with a battery problem.  It seems that Dave the Diagnostic Guy (remember him?) had come by earlier to do a diagnostic test and report on Greg & Marcy’s Coach and found it wouldn’t start.  Uh Oh… Hope its not serious 🙁

This evening’s sunset.

And that’s a wrap for Day 2… check back tomorrow for a full recap of Day 3 🙂

Today was Day 1 of the Desert Rat Rally.  This is the 15th annual Alpine Coach Association Rally held here off Plomosa Rd just north of Quartzsite, AZ.  Here’s our agenda for the week (below):

The first thing I did this morning was to attach the sunscreen to the awning to make our patio a little more comfortable from the mid-day sun.  The weather has been warm and mild so far with only a light sprinkling of rain in the late evening.  The forecast calls for partly cloudy to sunny for the rest of our rally.

Tom Polk greeted Coaches as they came in throughout the day and directed folks to parking spots along with the help of a few others.

More and more Coaches rolled in during the day and the rows of Alpines grew longer and longer.  We now have about 50 Alpines in attendance!  Several more are still expected.  Today was all about meeting and greeting as old friends met up again with folks they hadn’t seen for a while and new ones got introduced.

The check-in table set up in front of our rally tent and was a busy place all day long.  Packets were handed out to all the arriving attendees.

Of course, Mike Fleming aka “Engineer Mike” stayed busy answering questions and helping folks with their various mechanical issues.  And as usual, a crowd always seems to gather when an engine hatch or compartment is opened…

I volunteered to make the daily trash run at 2 PM, so I parked the pickup near the check-in table for a few hours prior as folks filled up the bed with their trash bags.  John Foster jumped in to help me throw the bags into the dumpster at the local transfer station.  Thanks John!

Happy Hour kicked off at 4:30 and shortly thereafter we had sandwiches from Subway® delivered.  Our Rally host(s) Frank & Dessa Halasz greeted everyone, recognized new attendees, and thanked co-host(s) Norm & Beth Cannon for all their hard work and help.

The first get-together of the Rally was a success and the sandwiches were well received.  Good food with good people 🙂

Now, how about some awe-inspiring Arizona sunset pictures to close out todays blog post:

Check back tomorrow for a full recap of Rally Day 2…