Here is the story of Memorial Day 2010. We invited several friends to join us for a fun day at Sycamore Creek and some off-roading in the Rhino. We had 3 families join us as we set off into the desert. The trip up was uneventful and we found a good spot to set up camp and let the kids play in the water. The first Rhino ride of the day almost ended shortly as Mark got the Rhino stuck in the sandy/pebbly shoreline but after some finagling he was able to get himself unstuck with no help. The rest of the afternoon was spent with everyone taking turns riding in the rhino and playing around camp. We all packed picnic lunches and brought several items to entertain the kids as the adults talked and BS’d. As each group of riders came back there were stories to be told of the fun trails Mark would take them out on and some were funny as the kids worried they were going to flip or die out on the trails. Mark took a few breaks in between rhino runs to eat, hydrate, and BS with the rest of the adults.
The day is getting late so we have the last 2 runs of the day. The first ride has someone from each family out on the rhino and they are gone about 20-30 minutes. Once Mark gets back he hydrates again and heads back out with the last group of the day 2 adults and 2 kids (Mark, Melissa, Isaiah, and Marie) wanting to find a trail that he found that he thinks is the other path into Sycamore Creek from the Beeline. After a bit of time (not sure really how long....but a LONG time) we start to think man they have been gone a while. The kids start speculating that the Rhino has flipped, that everyone fell off a cliff and died, that they are lost, that they ran out of gas…etc. The 4 adults that were left kept insisting all was fine and let the kids keep playing. Then we heard a phone ring. Now mind you we are down where there is little to NO service so a phone ringing was strange. Miguel answers the phone and the call drops. So off he goes to climb up a small hill to see if he can get a small bit of service. He only gets thru enough to here that they are LOST. OK now what? With an hour till it gets dark what do we do? Do we call for help? So we sent Miguel and John back to one of the vans (the only one we had keys for) and off they went back up the windy fire road back to the Beeline where they can get service to try to get back in touch with Mark. That left Eileen and I with 5 kids and a 11 yr old and we had to admit to the kids that they were right in their rantings about the group on the rhino (no parent wants to do that..lol) So Eileen and I kept calm and busied ourselves with packing up some little things and taking down a few of the easyups to make things a bit easier later when the rest of the party was sure to arrive. While we busied ourselves with that the kids decided they were going to save us all by building us a fire to help us survive the night out in the desert. So they dug a hole, found rocks to put around it and gathered “wood” to start a fire. They were convinced they could start the fire by banging 2 rocks together and making a spark. Bryce even worked on sharpening a wooden stake the kids found early in the day into a “spear”. We are not sure if it was for protection or to hunt for food. Then we saw the group returning. Minus one major person and his Rhino. Seems John and Miguel were able to locate the lost group but Mark was unable to return with them as he did not want to leave the Rhino behind. The kids were a bit disappointed that they were unable to try to start their fire…lol. There were no Hi glad you are safe, just awww we cannot finish our fire!
So now we got the fun job of packing up camp with one major thing different. NO RHINO! Yep all the stuff that took 3 loads on the Rhino to get down to camp now had to be hauled up by hand. 5 coolers, 3 easy-ups, a dozen or so chairs, a table, plus bags, backpacks, toys and food and corral 8 kids ranging in ages from 6 to 11! Oh happy happy joy joy! After a few trips we did get it all back up to the vans and packed away so that we can start making our way back up the hill and off to meet Mark where he is stopped by the side of the road waiting for our return about 45 minutes after the last time he saw anyone from our group. We find him and load him up on the trailer and head to Fountain Hills for a break and some dinner!
Now we can all share stories and hugs and make sure that everyone’s nerves are ok. Mel did have a short time of panic but held it together once she realized she had to hold it together for the kids. Marie did not panic too much and she didn't need the inhaler that was back at camp...good thing and Isaiah slept part of the time so he really did not seem to mind they were lost and ran out of gas. Mel had to wave down help off a major highway only to discover that trying to flag down help only got her a few beeps from some admirers of her hot, sweaty, sexy, I'm stuck and need help, body!!! LOLOLOL! They did find someone to sell them some gas for $20!!!! But hey at least then they had enough to make it to the Beeline. An officer did stop to tell Mark he could not drive the Rhino on the freeway as he could not keep up with the 65 mph speed limit. Luckily it was right around the time that John and Miguel showed up to ge the rest of the group so we did not need him to help find us to let us know what was going on. In the end everyone was well, we all got back together. No, the kids did not get to finish their fire ring. Yes, my body is sore. Yes, Mark will not live this one down for a very long time (LOL). And we learned some valuable lessons like Mark will have the gas can and a cooler with water strapped to the back at all times. He will bring his GPS with him also and will leave his wife with a set of keys to the van!
