Brass Monkey Sidecar Rally

We left Yuma on Thursday morning with all intentions of getting to Death Valley CA. for the annual Airheads Death Valley Rendezvous. We were then planning a trip over into AZ. to visit friends and tour around AZ. after leaving Death Valley. The weather forecasts were not looking too good though....I was just getting over a bought with the flu but felt well enough to make the trip...I thought...
We arrived in Quartzsite around 10:00 AM Thursday and while shaking off the chill a guy on a Ural sidecar pulled up and told us of the planned weekend sidecar rally.
After a discussion we decided to hang around Quartzsite for the rally. The weather forecast for this area was "rain" but the Death Valley forecast looked even worse...
Thursday night was beautiful and warm. Not a cloud to be seen. Friday night came a deluge of thunder, lightening and heavy rain....

A Ural from out in the desert...a young guy has been boon docking all winter out in the desert...I passed an "honorary airhead sticker" over to him...


This is "Johns" Ural...he was giving a ride to a motorcycle gal from Switzerland. John also has a Russian Machine Gun which is usually mounted on the nose.

Another Ural in German Military color scheme...our campsite in the back ground...

Saturday morning we awoke to a soaked tent and everything was wet. The rain poured down all night and the cheepo tent leaked like a sieve.......the tents' "lake" in the morning....Darian took all the soaked items to the campground laundry and I proceeded to reserve a motel room at the Super 8 for our final night. The campground folks let us leave our tent up to dry and we packed it up on Sunday AM.

This is a "Watsonian" side car. A wide body with seating for 4 small folks....has a front and rear seating area. All enclosed with removable roof covers. A very neat sidecar but it sure is big.

Another nice little rig with a BMW K bike tug. He came through a snow storm to get there...

This /2 Conversion was owned by one of the Rally organizers. A very well done rig with a /5 engine. It also had one of the rare "Hella spotlight / mirrors I have been searching for....very nice Steib chair attached. This rig sat low to the ground.

A BMW with a "Texas" sidecar. A nice rig...real nice couple on board...

A Big Blue Harley Rig;

Another Watsonian Double rig just like the white one....pretty odd to see 2 of these rare cars in the same place. This one was for sale for $9k or so. The owner insisted that I take it for a spin but I passed. The mountings were not very rigid on the front lower attachments but he said it drove just fine....

A Triumph Scrambler with a Velorex Rig....I loved the "Union Jack" paint.

A trick BMW with a Ural chair. This rig was set up very well with smaller / wider wheels.

Another Velorex chair.....these are different and narrow.

Not sure who makes this one:

I think this is another Velorex.(?)

Nice rig here:

A nice Honda with a giant air horn mounted on the chair:

The locals held a classic car / bike show Saturday night...another Harley Rig:

Ural

2 Wheel Drive Ural:

BMW Oilhead Cruiser with a Ural chair:

On the road home Sunday morning....the old Hag was running fine down the road but I was having an idle / cold starting problem. Had a hell of a time getting her going in the AM....luckily my battery held out and got her running.

We arrived home and I'll need to investigate the tuning of the bike....will likely need to adjust points / valves / timing again...maybe take a look a the carbs to see why she doesn't want to idle....

I really looked over the Ural 2 wheel drive rigs. The "off-road" option could be a lot of fun. Maybe some day....
We were pretty sad to miss the Death Vally Airhead gathering. When it rains there the entire area turns into muddy bog. We camped there one year and a 2 hour down pour turned the place into a gooie morass....The desert rain is on mostly sandy ground so mud is non-existant.

I ended up running a fever 2 nights while we camped so was glad to be close to home...