El Camino Del Diablo - Thanksgiving 2001

Thanksgiving morning was cool and a bit breezy with a veil of high
cirrus clouds. Linda and I met the Knights and their guests, Phillip
and Patricia Bender (from Reno), at Maricopa Road at 7:30 AM and headed
to Gila Bend. We arrived in Gila Bend shortly before the 9:00
rendezvous time to find the Tom, Kris and Amanda Epperson and Mike and
Luke Curtis already at the McDonalds. The lines for breakfast in
McDonalds were long so we didn't depart until 9:30. But the delay gave
us just enough time to get Mike Curtis' CB wired up and working. The
next stop was Welton where we met up with Ron and Shelly DeSimone and
their sons Nick and Tony. The DeSimones are members of the SW Pinzgauer
Association and had driven over from LaHambra, CA in their Pinzgauer to
join us.

After topping off the fuel tanks and taking a quick 10-100 break, we
headed for the trail with six vehicles (3 Grand Cherokees, 1 CJ-7 & 2
Pinzgauers) and 15 campers. Just after entering the Barry M. Goldwater
Range, we stopped briefly to air down, hand out the permits and
complete introductions. The trip to Tinahas Altas Mountain was an
uneventful 45 minutes and we arrived around noontime to find the
primary camp site still available. We made camp, ate lunch and then
began preparations for baking the turkeys.

This year I took a combination of Mesquite and Grape wood. The Grape
wood, which I had never used before, burned down into coals just as
nicely as the Mesquite. Once the turkeys were in the pit, we settled
down for a relaxing evening around the campfire. Tom opened a big
bottle of his famous (or is that notorious) grapefruit wine which was
passed liberally around the ring. Up to this point everything had gone
very smoothly but we did notice that the wind was becoming more gusty.
This was just a hint of things to come.

Some time during the night the wind gusts got so strong that parts and
pieces of our camp were being blown away. One of my tarp poles came out
of the foot allowing the tarp to lift and bending the other three
upright poles. Linda was holding on to it for dear life and yelling for
me to wake up and come help dismantle it before she ended up flying to
Yuma (or Oz). Everyone else had similar stories to tell the next
morning, while we searched among the rocks for all the things that had
blown away in the night. Those in smaller tents fared the worse as the
wind gusts would flatten the tents and slap the occupants on the head.
Linda and I slept in the back of the Pinzgauer which was more
comfortable than a tent, but we were still woke up when each new wind
gust came roaring across the desert like a freight train. At least it
didn't rain so the turkeys were still safe in their pit.

Friday morning was still breezy but the wind gusts had decreased to
more tenable levels. But we all decided not to put tarps back up until
we were sure the wind gusts were not coming back. While eating
breakfast we saw the Border Patrol helicopter making its usual morning
run through Tinahas Altas Pass and then on across the Devil's Highway
toward Tule Well. Around 10:00 we walked over to see the tanks and the
petroglyphs. I hadn't noticed on previous trips but this trip we found
many locations where grinding holes had been worked into the rocks. We
even found some behind the big cave rock in camp that had not been
noticed before. Mike, Luke and Tom made another attempt to climb to the
top of the mountain but didn't have the equipment to make it safely any
higher than around tank five.

We got back to camp and started making final preparations for
Thanksgiving dinner. The turkeys were exhumed around 1:30 and, as
usual, were perfectly cooked. Everyone pigged out and then complained
all evening about being stuffed. After dinner, Jack Knight announced
that he was not feeling well (no it wasn't the food) and that they and
the Benders were heading home. We said out goodbyes and waved them off
as they took the trail back to Welton. We also made the traditional pot
of turkey soup. But nobody was hungry enough to eat any until much
later in the evening. Tom broke out another bottle of wine (orange this
time) and we shared it around the campfire. Although it was still
breezy, there were no big wind gusts to blow away our camp and everyone
caught up on the sleep they had lost on Thursday night.

Saturday morning was again sunny and breezy. The Ron DeSimone announced
that Shelly wasn't feeling well (I swear it wasn't the turkey, really!)
and they were heading home early. With only three of us remaining and
everyone there having seen Tule Well, the Nameer Grave site and
Christmas Pass several times before, we decided that we would modify
the itinerary. Rather than break camp and head to Tule Well, we would
stay at Tinahas Altas. Then, on Sunday, we would drive to Tule Well,
then on through Christmas Pass and egress to I-8 at Tacna. With that
decided, we took a one hour side trip through Tinahas Altas Pass. The
south part of the pass is very flat and does not require 4-wheel drive.
As we emerged from the pass we turned to the north and headed for the
north branch of the pass. Like the southern branch of the pass, it is
only a couple of miles long. But the northern trail crosses numerous
gullies and washes and offers the only significant 4-wheeling on the
devil's Highway. It is only about a 2.5 rating but was fun while it
lasted.

By late afternoon the wind was coming up again. I checked the weather
reports and they were predicting 15 to 25 mph winds with gusts of up to
45 mph! There was a travel advisory for I-8 due to crosswinds and
blowing dust. We all decided that we didn't want to suffer through
another night of high winds so made hasty preparations to break camp.
By the time it was dark the wind was getting so fierce that we had to
move dinner into the cave. I even parked the Pinzgauer across the front
to help block the wind. We quickly ate leftover turkey soup, packed the
remaining items and headed for Welton. On the way, we encountered the
Border Patrol parked on the road with their lights off. They flicked on
their lights as we approached and we stopped briefly (essentially at
their request) to chat. They only wanted to identify that we were the
Roadrunners and where we were coming from. Surprisingly they didn't ask
to look inside the Pinzgauer. I guess Linda and I didn't fit the
profile of a "Coyote" ... even with our dust masks on.

We stopped in Welton briefly to air up tires and then hit the road for
home. The cross wind on I-8 was strong but not as bad as the reports
had made it sound. When the Eppersons and I stopped for a 10-100 break,
Mike continued on to Gila Bend to stop for dinner at the McDonalds (I
promise, the turkey and soup really were good!). At Gila Bend, the
Eppersons rendezvoused with Mike and headed home together via Route 85
while Linda and I continued home via I-8. We were all home before
midnight.

It was disappointing to have such windy conditions make us cut the trip
short, but dem's da breaks. At least we didn't get a heavy rain that
would have put out the coals in the turkey pit. That would have been a
real disaster! And thanks to everyone on the trip for all the work they
did to contribute to another successful Thanksgiving.