Embedded Files
-- Ken H., Adult Leader, Aug. 2011
This is going to sound like a Chevy Chase vacation, but truth be told, everything did happen as described. This journal attempts to list the things that didn’t go as planned for this trip in the numbered list below.
Day 1 [Saturday]
Got up early and left Irvine at about 8AM and got to the I-15 North exit at Lanewood just before Barstow around 10ish.
[too early] Some of us got there too early so In-N-Out is not opened for another 45 minutes. So we ended up in Carl’s Jr. instead for drink/brunch.
[unplanned hike – lack water] Later, after everyone met up at the In-N-Out there Mr. A brought out a map and decided to take a detour in Mohave National Preserve to see the Amboy Crater. Sounds innocent enough.
Got to the Amboy Crater without any incident. Temperature was about 110°+ at the parking lot there. It was HOT!!
We thought we were just going to see the crater from the parking lot and move on, but Mr. A had a different idea. He wants to hike up the crater, which is about a mile away.
So off we went hiking to the crater in HOT temperature. Feels hotter because of the heat coming from the black lava rocks on the ground.
Soon we began to run short on water since we didn’t plan on this hike and most everyone only has maybe a bottle of water
By the time we got up to the top of the crater, the temperature seems even hotter now, but Mr. A was in a mood to give quick lessons on the lava flow, sand dust, wind direction, and …etc.
Finally started hiking back, quite a few people were in their flip flops, which makes for some pretty heated toes. Alex C. stubbed his toe on the way in and shed the first blood for our trip.
Finally back at the parking lot, by now everyone is VERY VERY thirsty. So we went into the tiny, tiny town of Amboy and found a diner which’s been there since 1875 or so. We mercilessly drank up the COLD drinks the diner had on ice. A lot of comments on how this diner has the best tasting Coke everyone has ever tasted.
[upset stomach/dehydration] Oops, Steve C can’t make the next hike because he ate something that didn’t agree with his stomach on Friday night and the hike to Amboy Crater dehydrated and tired him out. Later Steve slept for like 12 hours straight to recoup his energy.
[attacked by bees] Continued on the trip to our camping destination, Black Canyon Group Camp Site at Hole-In-The-Wall.
Very nice site. Set up and settled down quickly.
Time for the planned hike just by the visitor’s center across the way.
Very nice hike indeed, with all the special geological formation in the canyon.
Our luck quickly turned again, all of a sudden, in the narrow canyon that only one man can pass through the narrowing, we were attacked by swarming bees (OK, minor exaggeration here, but a lot of bees).
After we escaped from the canyon, and counted our casualties, a lot of people got stung by bees. Among the more serious cases, Tony W. had a swollen ear about 1/3 larger than usual and kind of reddish. Alex C. and James L. both got stung under the eye and swollen. Others got stung in the head, back, and arms, but none was swollen. Luckily, no one has any bad allergic reaction from the bee sting. Whew, end of the initial panic.
Day 2 [Sunday]
Broke camp and headed out around 9:30ish. Danny C. and Olek had headed out early with 6 gas tanks. Their mission is to fill up these six tanks to later gas up Mr. A and Sagar’s car in Kelso Sand Dunes.
[came close to running out of gas] Got to Kelso Sand Dunes and just in time because Mr. A’s car was just about running on fumes.
Again, very, very, very HOT. Sand was burning to touch.
Saw the mighty sand dune and having yesterday’s lesson from Amboy Crater, we brought along an extra 6 gallon of water in the water tank and had everyone drank up and filled up their bottle before heading out to conquer the dune.
What a struggle for the younger scouts like Darren, Billy, Ashwin, and Rohit to make their way up the dune (considering that three of the more established scouts gave up not even a quarter of the way in J ).
Darren, Billy, and Ashwin almost gave up but with much prodding finally make it to the top. On the last leg, Billy broke down in tears but with encouragement (and the promise from CY of unlimited use of iPad on the house boat) continued on.
Rohit came very close and reached the base of the last steep slope.
Way to go you young scouts.
Finally, at the top of the dune. Next is a mad dash down the steep slope of the dune from about 400 feet up.
[minor confusion on where to have lunch] Gased up Mr. A and Sagar’s cars and stop at the Kelso Depot for a quick lunch and enjoyed some air condition.
[up in flames/smoke] On our way to Henderson, where Mr. A promised we can have an early dinner at a nice air-conditioned restaurant and catch a movie in a nice air-conditioned movie theater. So, with vision of paradise, we set out from Kelso Depot to continue our trip.
Most of us needed to stop at Primm (just cross the state line into Nevada on I-15) to get gas.
We waited in line and finally got to gas up our cars.
Whoa…. There’s heavy black smoke coming from the I-15 direction. Some poor folk’s car must be on fire.
The scouts, out of the cars and in the convenient store getting refreshments, rushed over to see the fire.
Soon, we started hearing rumors of Mr. A’s trailer caught fire and our boat and Jet Ski, life jackets, wave board, knee board, food supplies, and etc. were going up in smoke.
Thinking this can’t happen; we finished at the gas station, parked the car and went over to see for ourselves…. **GULP** the rumor is…happening right in front of our eyes.
Luckily no one is injured and Mr. A's car is also safe.
Thus began a long wait at the Primm fashion outlet’s food court with much trepidation.
Finally around 6:30ish in the evening, Mr. A came back, looking exhausted and ragged with slight burn on both of his arms.
Quick meeting.
We should continue.
Got out iPhone and started browsing for a used Jet Ski. Made calls to find a suitable replacement
Sean has left early from Kelso Depot to pick up some food supplies in Henderson, and was waiting for a decision there after we had earlier notified him of the fire and our loss.
All met at the Super-Walmart in Henderson to restock the supplies lost and purchased more life jackets.
Continued to Boulder Beach Group Camp site
Day 3 [Monday]
We split up in the morning with Mr. A, CY, and Danny C. went to Vegas to purchase a used Jet Ski and the rest of us continued on to Lake Mead to Temple Bar Bay to complete the house boat paper work and load the stuffs on them.
[drinking water, what drinking water?] Got everything loaded by perhaps 1ish in the afternoon. Meanwhile we found out the tap water here is not recommended for drinking due to higher than normal level of arsenic.
The people working at the marina were nice enough to call the small restaurant they have there to let us fill our water jars from their drinking water tank.
Unfortunately the restaurant only had enough in their tank to fill two of our water jars.
No other choice but to call Danny C. and the guys in Vegas to also pick up water.
[can anyone start the Jet Ski] Finally at 3ish PM, the Jet Ski, boards, and water came to the dock.
Ready to get the boat out of the marina
But, wait… The Jet Ski won’t start! So, started almost 3 hours of fruitless attempt to get the Jet Ski started. Meanwhile, the scouts are getting restless on the boats... So, CY started them on one of the merit badges.
About a quarter after 5, the guy at the dock came over and said we are supposed to be out of the dock by 5 otherwise we can’t leave until tomorrow morning
Finally at close to 6 we put the Jet Ski back on the trailer and pulled it back out of the water to the parking lot at the ramp.
Just after 6 we were finally on our way out of the dock.
But not too far, because Mr. A and Danny C. are coming back in the morning in the kayak to get the Jet Ski to the mechanic.
Got to a place nearby and beached both boats. Scouts immediately jumped into water and had the kayaks unloaded and everyone was relieved to be in the water finally. The day seemed to end on a high note.
[did anyone secure the boat] Later at night, we noticed wind was blowing one of the boats into the other.
Bang!! The two boats collided.
Ouch… what’s the damage? Hmm, we have bought the collision insurance. Hopefully it’s not too bad, but the deductible is like over $500. That would be over $1,000 for the two boats. Well, we will have to wait until morning to find out.
Got out and reset the stakes and the rope. This time, made sure it wouldn’t come loose again.
Day 4 [Tuesday]
Mr. A and Danny C. took the kayak at about 8ish in the morning and rowed to the dock to get the Jet Ski. The inspection of the boats shows very, very little damage, if any. The sides of the boats were already pretty beat up with dents and scratches. Whew, what a relief.
[sinking kayak] Hmmm, somehow the kayak had taken in too much water from the previous night (probably from the scouts turning it over too many times) and it started to sink half way to the dock
Danny C. didn’t have a life jacket but was wearing his water shoes…not a good combination!
Amazingly, they managed to get the kayak to a nearby shore and drained the water. Danny C. didn’t drown.
About 11ish AM, we spotted Mr. A and Danny on the Jet Ski towing the Kayak back to us.
Cheers and screams for the triumphant return!!
Turns out the Jet Ski was fine. It just had a different start up (choke lever position) than our previous one.
[one engine down] On the move again to the south-east corner of Lake Mead.
Darn it!! One engine went out. Radio in the situation to Temple Bar Bay.
2-3 hours later the mechanic came and fixed the engine.
Finally got to the cove of our destination. Beached the boats and secured them.
Everyone had a good time enjoying the swim, the kayak, the Hobie Cat, Jet Ski, Knee board, and …etc.
So, other than Danny almost got drown in the morning, this seemed like a good day…
[wrong opening] At dusk Mr. A looked over and said, "Finally a day without much problems!"
5 minutes after that statement was made, we all heard a loud rebuke from Mr. A…
Turns out that Olek had mistakenly poured the motor oil down the wrong pipe in the Jet Ski!!
Thus started about an hour of tense moments taking things apart and figuring out where the pipe leads to and what damage it had caused
Finally someone suggested calling the previous owner and see what advice he could provide or possibly giving us a number to call for tech support for the Jet Ski
Meanwhile, we used up almost our entire supply of paper towel to wipe down the front of the Jet Ski to remove the motor oil spilled while pouring into the wrong pipe.
Turned out that it was a pipe used for cleaning the engine compartment with fresh water from a garden hose. So, Mr. A took the Jet Ski out around the cove a few times to have the motor oil cleaned up by the lake water.
Whew…
Day 5 [Wednesday]
Beautiful morning at the cove, peaceful and serene!! Now, this is more like it.
[Hobie, what Hobie] Ken was out in the lake with the Hobie after a quick lesson from Danny (who then for some reason left Ken alone in the Hobie). Wind picked up and just then the line to the rudder broke. So now Ken, a newbie, couldn’t control the boat, but luckily somehow managed to crush the Hobie into some over-growth soft bush branches near the shore and avoided the rocky part. End of use for the Hobie.
[ran out of water] Mr. A and Danny set out on the Jet Ski back to Temple Bar to pick up more water while we move past it to our last destination for the night.
[generator went out] The generator on one boat (the boat with Mr. A, CY, Sean, and Ken and Tej’s patrol) went out close to 5PM. Radio the problem in to Temple Bar Bay.
"Temple Bar Bay, Temple Bar Bay, this is boat 333. Our generator went out. Over."
"Roger boat 333. Our mechanic goes home at 5PM. I can get one out to you first thing in the morning at 8AM tomorrow. Over."
"Temple Bar Bay, without the generator we can’t run stove, micro wave, refrigerator. Over."
"Roger boat 333. The earliest I can get a mechanic out to you would be 8AM tomorrow. Over"
"!#$*&%(@!#$)(*%!#)@$"
Sean and the dads got busy putting things into ice chest
[oooh, what’s that smell] In addition to the electronics in the kitchen not working, we also found out the toilets also don’t flush without the generator. Unfortunately the way we found that out is after scouts had already done their things. So now we got two piles of "brownies" being baked in the bathrooms and fermented in the nice August heat of 100°+. That fresh baked brownie smell coupled with the odor from the waste tank below the boat makes for one interesting combination. But thank God for our ability to get used to things, we quickly become accustomed to the smell J .
[oh no, a tangled line] The tow line for the wave board got sucked into the Jet Ski engine. This happened after Mr. A had told a story the previous night around the camp fire about how the old Jet Ski had once sucked in a line and ended up with holes in the shaft (in their attempt to loosen the rope) that required repairs. With all that’s happened up till then, we were hoping to get the rope out without doing any damage. Luckily, this time Mr. A eventually got the rope untangled and out of the engine (after having to cut the rope at one point).
Day 6 [Thursday]
Other than having to wait a long time near the marina for them to send pilot out to get us back into the dock, things went pretty smoothly for a change. Home sweet home!!
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse