Thanksgiving at Quartzsite

The weather forecast was perfect, high 70's and mild winds.  Anticipation was high.  Claudia and I just finished up our stint as Camp Hosts at San Elijo and were rarin' to go.  We met up with our guests for the week,  Larry and Linda Slycord, at the Elk's Lodge in El Cajon on Tuesday, November 20th and headed east on I-8.  We pulled into the BLM camping area off Highway 95 in the early afternoon.  Four of the group were already there and in the process of getting set up.  As more rigs came in, we slowly started to fill in a 12-rig circle and get the pop-up shelters rigged.

Gizmo and Shadow got re-acquainted.

After getting set up, the ladies started a game of Mexican Train.

A couple of us went flying!  Butch Weiser showing off his "new" P-51.  This was the FIFTH airframe for this plane.  Butch likes to tinker with his planes to make them go fast.  He got a couple earlier P-51's up around the 140 MPH mark...but they came apart in the air.  After some serious reinforcement, this one stayed together.  I got in quite a few flights with my glider, but the rocky ground made for some VERY "interesting" landings.  My glider sustained a few new dings, but, what the hell...nothing serious!

The evenings were set up for star gazing.

Thanksgiving Day had us all in anticipation of some Trash Can Turkey.  First thing is to read the instructions.

Then you drive a metal stake into the ground, slip the turkey over the stake and cover it with a trash can.

Place charcoal all around the trash can and then on top.

One perfectly prepared Trash Can Turkey in the oven.

And the final result is...

OOPS!  I believe there were a few too many coals on the top of the can.  We'll make a note of that for any future attempts.

Luckily, Larry had his deep-fryer with him so all was not lost...

due to very adequate stupidvision by the critics.

Dinner was superb!

As I said...  Dinner was followed by a great campfire.

The following day, Dave led us in a "very calm" off-road trek to see some gold mines up in the hills.  According to the instructions, only high-clearance vehicles would be needed.  4-wheel drive was NOT required...RIGHT!  We set off...

and found a mine!

Remember when I said we needed high-clearance vehicles?

Here goes Larry!

So far so good!

Almost there!

The last hurdle and it's all over but the car wash...or the body shop!

But first, we need to do a little road construction.

...and we made it!  Thanks Dave!  It was a really boring trip!  Sure wish there had been some excitement!

Sunday morning saw eight of the group leave...after some more flying , of course.  The remaining four rigs (Decker, Scott, Barber and Slycord) headed for Sweet Darlene's for breakfast.  (I sure wish we could get enough to eat out here!)  Tonight will be a "Cook what you have left" dinner and a final campfire.  Tomorrow, we all head out for civilization.

Oh yeah, we had an official meeting of the Sun Diego Allegro's Saturday morning.