Grays Wells Dunes–Motorhome Stuck in the Sand !! Déjà Vu

When something has been said or done well, have no scruples.  Copy it!

This past weekend was a holiday weekend.  Thus, lots of folks were out playing.  There was a big shindig around us.  Every place you could see on the dunes people were riding and congregating.  This was a big event.  Vendors were selling event t-shirts, hats and most anything a  dune buggy or ATV owner might be willing to dig out his wallet for.  We didn’t buy a thing but we sure did look.  Now next year they’ll probably sell the left over items from this year at a reduced price during that year’s event.

When we pulled out of Glamis and the dunes on Friday we knew this was going to be a big, big weekend for the Imperial Sand Dunes.  We figured there would probably be several hundred toy-hauling RVs sitting at the base of those dunes with a few more hundred on the slopes.  We also figured this would be one spectacular site.  We were a little off.  We discovered that we were off when we took our  little drive on Sunday to Gordon Wells And Gray Wells.  These are both areas that more RVs and ATVs converged on over the holiday weekend.  It was party city.

There weren’t just hundreds out enjoying their time off.  There had to be thousands.  The areas were packed with weekend warriors.  They were partying and they were riding.  Just about every type of RV was to be seen as well as just about every type of OHV/ATV/ROV/UTV (you name it) was around also.

Now that the weekend party is over the tickets will probably start.  Actually, they’ve already started.  As I’ve mentioned previously, there is a Highway Patrol station between the Dunes and Arizona State line.  The little black and white cars are like bees swarming on this highway and it’s rare to drive on I-8 here without seeing at least one or two cars pulled over to the side of the road.  Now with all these weekenders heading home I am sure it will be a very busy one for the officers as they freely hand out those tickets.

------------  That was going to be the post for the day but then this happened ------------ 

We came back Sunday afternoon to our own little sand problem.  Actually, it wasn’t OUR sand problem.  It was another déjà vu situation with a motorhome stuck in the sand.  The motorhome belonged to the Shadowtracks duo.  Nancy, however, swears it wasn’t her doing.

We had a similar issue last year only a few hundred feet from where this one got stuck.  At that time it was later in the evening but this is the photo I posted then.   It was dark and you can't see much but you get the idea.  The driver of the motorhome took a wrong turn and got stuck in the sand.   I’m not going to tell you whose motorhome it was that got stuck but I will say that the “Sands got stuck in the sand” …. kind of ironic, huh? 

This time it was a little earlier in the day so it was much easier to see exactly what was going on.  Some of the area on the BLM has soft sand and driving can be a little difficult.  It looks like the sand is packed but after all the rain we had a few days ago, it is definitely not packed.  We now have photos to prove that.

First, they tried pulling it in reverse using a rope.  The rope broke.

Then, the shovel came out and the boards went down.

Then, they tried pulling it forward using cables.

Success!!  These are the tracks that were left.

Celebration!

Gorgeous sunset to end the day.

‘Tis just life on the road.