SoCal Desert Rendezvous 2012

After a long gap in posts, it's time to catch up on the Astrolander camper project. After the winter Science Olympiad season (whereupon the author loses all momentum on this and all other projects while he coaches high-school kids through some overly-complicated machine or robot construction), I finally got back in the saddle and started prepping the van for the next adventure.

A random visit to the Reserve America site had revealed an open three day slot at the San Elijo State Beach campground for the 4th weekend in March, so I grabbed it on instinct. Of course, just a few days later the planned date for the Expedition Portal forum SoCal Desert Rendevous was announced and guess what? Same weekend. After some discussion and in deference to familial harmony, we decided to aim for the beach camp. However as the date neared and the weather fouled, we finally decided that cold weather + impending rain + beach didn't mix and made a last-minute switch to attend the Rendezvous after all. It all worked out and we had a great adventure!

From ExPo Desert Rendezvous 2012

The setup for the Rendezvous was that just prior to the weekend, participants would be given only the GPS coordinates to a starting Checkpoint - further instructions would then follow.  We arrived late enough on Friday afternoon that the Checkpoint was no longer manned, but fortunately I'd been able to score the final coordinates a bit earlier and knew where to go.  It worked out for everyone because upon arrival at checkpoint we made some new friends who followed us in after everyone aired-down their tires.

From ExPo Desert Rendezvous 2012

Annika was glad to have a few minutes out of her carseat and took the time to explore the desert, the tracks for the railroad that serves the nearby Gypsum mine, and to make a new friend.  More on that later.

The dirt track into the main camp area was eight or ten miles of mixed surface.  Some dirt road, some washboard road, and some very deep silt beds.  Probably not much of an adventure for most of the attendees, but this was some of the first real off-roading in our van, and Kimberley was not digging the journey, especially the parts where I had to get somewhat off-camber to stay out of the deepest silt ruts or change to another track.  I was glad I'd read-up and watched some videos on driving in these conditions so I'd known what to expect, but more importantly I was glad to have finally fitted good front and rear recovery points and that I'd brought along some Maxtrax traction mats.  Ended up not needing either, but "Be Prepared" is stamped on my bones decades after the scouts.  After all the silt, the van ended up looking like a powdered doughnut:

From ExPo Desert Rendezvous 2012

After the adventure of getting to the Rendezvous camp, the rest of the weekend was relaxed and fun. There were somewhere around 60-70 rigs throughout the weekend, representing everything from Jeeps with trailers, Sportsmobiles, 4x4 trucks and Subarus.  There was even a 2wd Sprinter and someone managed to drag a pop-up tent trailer that didn't look like it had much ground clearance, so clearly the off-roading part wasn't THAT hard.  The guys from Overland Gourmet make their usual huge impression with a catered meal on Saturday, and the Desert Challenge and trash-cleanup events went pretty well (although our area was unexpectedly clean). I was able to get my kite photography rig up for a little while, although the wind was very inconsistent.

From ExPo Desert Rendezvous 2012

This one ended up being one of my favorites:

From ExPo Desert Rendezvous 2012

But if you ask Annika what her favorite part of the trip was, it was making a new friend:

From ExPo Desert Rendezvous 2012

We met Joe and his Dad at Checkpoint 1. I was a bit more confident in my GPS and where I was going (since I'd been able to scout the route somewhat via Google Earth), so I lead them into camp. They were only around for Friday evening and Saturday morning, but long enough to make a huge impression on Annika - she's been talking about Joe non-stop since then!

Please click on any of the album-links in the above photos to see full-size images and a few more pictures from the week-end.


UPDATE: Two more can't-miss images from other forum members Tim and Bryon:

From ExPo Desert Rendezvous 2012

From ExPo Desert Rendezvous 2012

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Four more lives that could have been saved by PLBs

So apparently this is turning into the 406MHz Personal Locator Beacon advocacy blog, but dammit this is important. Since I wrote last week about the out-of-bounds skier who died due to a cascade of missteps both personal and professional, two more stories of tragedy have hit the news. Once again, both stories could have been very different if someone had bothered to make the investment in a PLB.


First, there was the boating accident that saw two NFL players and their friend lost at sea. One man survived by clinging to the overturned craft, but as of today the Coast Guard search has been called off for the other three. The rescued boater spent nearly two days with the craft before rescue. Even with poor weather, the search could likely have started many hours earlier had a PLB alert been triggered.

Next comes the story of two off-piste snowboarders in the Alps. Once again, one of the party survived, this time by using a GPS-equipped iPhone and what seems to be a lucky strike with a WiFi signal from a nearby resort. His friend died, though that may have been the result of a fall. In either case, a PLB might have sped up rescue operations for one or both of them. This is also a good reminder that the COSPAS/SARSAT network is a GLOBAL cooperative effort. In this case, the same satellite constellation would have been notified, but rather than US Coast Guard, or Park Rangers, or the RCMP, the appropriate Swiss authorities would have been notified.

Seriously people, if you're going to be spending any amount of time away from the comfort of your urban/suburban environment, take one minute to think about how much you'd spend to be able to call for rescue in an emergency. How much would you pay to call 911 if you were trapped in a burning building? Lost at sea or stuck in a blizzard is just as serious and just as deadly. Why wouldn't you spend a little money to make sure you could call for help?

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Arrived!

Had a little trouble with RV parking (somebody in my spot), but the Camparu is all set up, so I'm off to explore until someone realizes I don't belong here!

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Arrived, time for dinner!

Whenever possible, eat local and avoid franchises!

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Bugatti near Buttonwillow

Nice finding to break up the asphalt.
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Live blogging Maker Faire

Heading out now, only about an hour behind schedule.

Added a ground strap to the CB antenna to try to lower the SWR a bit.

And so it begins...

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All good things...

Well, we're back home. Saturday we spent the whole day hanging with my Uncle and his family in Phoenix. Usually the only times we see them are when they come to CA, so it was nice to get to see them in their world for a while. My cousins are growing up fast, and they're three great kids, so it was a lot of fun getting caught up on their lives.

Sunday was the uneventful but pallatable drive back home.

My recommendation for anyone looking down the barrel of a long roadtrip: Books on Tape/CD.

This is the absolute best way to dispense with dozens of hours on the road. Even if its a book you've already read, or a movie you've already seen, just having a narrative you can pay a little attention to makes the drive so much easier. Its less troublesome than trying to find (and keep) a talk radio station, and lasts a lot longer. We first figured this out after buying an abridged recording of Jurassic Park coming back from Vegas one time. Despite the crushing holiday traffic, the drive just seemed easier somehow. Now we never take long roadtrips without something in the arsenal.

This trip was Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix which was selected as much for its great length (21 CDs) as for our love of the books. Jim Dale has read all of the Potter books thus far and he has a real talent. Its also a real joy to have the continuity of presentation from book to book. Cars put Kimberley to sleep, she normally can't even make a 2 1/2 hour drive to L.A. without dozing, but with the book she stayed with me through the 9+ hours to the Grand Canyon, the short hops in between, and the 7 or so hours from Phoenix back home!

I also highly recommend Tom Clancy's The Cardinal of the Kremlin as read by David Ogden Stiers. Its amazing how a book can come alive when read by a really talented actor. Clancy can be a little dry in the first third of any book as he sets up the characters and plotlines, but Stiers ability as an actor really translates to helping you establish characters in your mind. Cardinal is one of only two Jack Ryan-universe books that I haven't actually read in book form, and I may not read it myself, as I'm sure that experience would not eclipse Stiers' performance of it.

Back to the real world now!

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Just the Two of Us...

Wow, what a day. The week before Thanksgiving is definitely the time to come to a place like this. We've suspected most of the week, but now we're sure: We're the only guests in the villas right now. Whole place all to ourselves. Pretty amazing. Not only that, but we had the Pink Jeep tour all to ourselves too. It was nice, I must say, since Kimberley got to ride shotgun (and thus avoid any motion sickness) and asked a million questions. The "Ancient Ruins" tour is really worthwhile. As a child I visited the various ruins at Tuzigoot, Montezuma's Castle, etc. and got very comfortable with the idea that they must be viewed from afar lest they be damaged. Well, imagine my surprise when this tour walks you right up to the ruins. Close enough to get some fabulous pictures of the petroglyphs, the construction, the whole mess.

 I thought I knew a lot about the history of the area, but we learned quite a bit, especially about the differences between the time period of this particular dwelling versus some of the later ones seen elsewhere. Its thought this dwelling was home to the Ancestral Hopi from ~1100AD to ~1380AD, before the majority of them moved further north to join the other Hopi people. Their lifestyle was quite different than the Yavapai who followed, which makes for an interesting contrast.

   In any case, it was a blast. Our guide was great and we really got the royal treatment since it was just the two of us. 

   After that and a quick lunch, we headed to the former Ghost-Town turned artist's community of Jerome. Toured quite a few more galleries, saw a lot of nice stuff, and even got to watch a glassblower work for a little while. At the last gallery we hit on our way out, we found a beautiful etching done by a local artist. The piece is printed by first etching the design onto a steel plate, then the plate is inked and then paper is rolled onto it. Each time through the process results in a slightly different piece, since the inking, etc. are all done by hand. In any case, its a beautiful piece. The artist is Robin Anderson and his style is right in between Leonardo DaVinci and Picasso's pen/ink drawings. Fun! Here's another piece that's similar. Its funny, Kimberley and I have such different tastes in art, but actually buying art is really easy because for some reason we always seem to both immediately latch on to some pieces, and that's how we know the piece is right for us. Neither of us is sure why, because one or the other of us will pass on lots of similar pieces, but there's almost always that "one piece". We capped the evening off with a private dinner for two by Chef Michael. My main course was the Duck with Armangac and Figs, and Kimberley had the Shrimp and Asparagus Risotto. Michael used to own two restaurants in the Big Easy, and sold them both to come out to Sedona and open this place. Top notch food, to be sure, and he'll have a cookbook out sometime next year. Very cool. Needless to say, we'll be sad to be leaving on Friday. The Adobe Grand Villas are fantastic, even if we hadn't had the whole place to ourselves! What a romantic trip! Cheers!

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Things Beautiful...

Well, Sedona is everything they say it is. Beautiful scenery, art, the works. The villa I'd booked was a huge success, Kimberley was blown away. A fitting place to celebrate 10 years together. Rather than try to take my own pictures, I'll just refer you to those provided by the management. Trust me, they're accurate. The Tuscany Villa. There's fresh bread in the bread machine every afternoon, and the executive chef Michael is amazing. Breakfasts here are a thing to remember. Falling asleep by the glow of the firelight is romance at its finest! Spent most of our first full day shopping/gallery hopping. Found some really beautiful ceramics, glass work, and more. Got a little of the christmas shopping out of the way, at least. The local artsy mall "Tlaquepaque" is supposedly a reproduction of a shopping village in Mexico, but it also seems to be the front for some really aggressive timeshare salespeople. Not once but twice I got suckered into a conversation before I realized that I was in the middle of a pitch about all the free stuff we'd get if we'd just attend their little "presentation". Ugh. What's amazing about this town is that even the more mundane places are surrounded by vistas that would command attention anywhere in the world. Here's a shot Kimberley took from the back parking lot of one of the art malls...

   Thursday morning we're taking one of the famous "Pink Jeep Tours" to a set of Ancient Ruins, that should be a ton of fun too. We've also decided to splurge and have dinner made for us by Chef Michael. We're really excited, the menu we selected from looked amazing. Anyhow, somewhere along this way this turned into a moment by moment narrative, which was never really how I envisioned this blog happening, but what the hell, I'm on vacation. Wish we could stay here forever, its really beautiful. All of it. Except maybe for the timeshare people....

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Things Grand...

OK, the cafe with the free wireless hotspot didn't materialize, so I'm sitting in a Starbucks-Analog in the village, writing this for the next time I get internet access. The drive from San Diego to the Grand Canyon (Tusayan Village, actually), was a long one, but relatively uneventful. The directions were fairly simple so we skipped the GPS in favor of printed directions, but I was glad to have set up the Valentine 1, as we had one or two moments with the California and Arizona Highway Patrols. I'd been worried about our first hotel, ambitiously named "The Grand Hotel", after reading some last minute bad reviews on Expedia or some other travel site... Turns out to have been unfounded. While far from "Grand", everything was clean and the food in the hotel restaurant wasn't bad. If you're ever in the area I recommend the Tenderloins of Elk in a Cherry Madeira Reduction with Shitake Potato Hash. The Grand Canyon the following morning was suitably beautiful and of course more aptly named, especially so in the chilly November morning. I'm not sure if it was the early-ish hour (9am?) or the turning of the cold season, but we enjoyed a very quiet morning at the South Rim. We started with one of the basic vista points, which impressed Kimberley quite a bit, took a bunch of pictures, and started to head out on our way when she spotted a small herd of Elk grazing on the side of the road. Yep, Elk. One male and two females, by my count. They hardly noticed the group shooting photos, only the male took any notice of Kimberley when she stood on a small rock to get a slightly better photo... After that we bounced west along the south rim, stopping at a few places to look and take pictures. We stopped in at the village post office to send a couple of postcards and had another reminder of how tech-centric we've become. Kimberley had forgotton her parent's mailing address, and there was no cell phone coverage, so we attempted what was, for both of us, the first pay-phone call in many years. Apparently you can't call California from Arizona from a payphone with coins anymore. We actually had to get a long distance operator and use a credit card to make the call. I guess there's still a place for calling cards these days, but I haven't used one in years since its always cheaper/easier on a cellphone... After that minor adventure we ended up at the rim lodges. We started out on the hiking trail that follows the rim. It was a beautiful walk, but I figure we only got 2 or 3 miles before the altitude and the climb (quite a bit of elevation change) got to Kimberley and we started taking the rim loop shuttle. If you're not up for a long walk, this is definitely the only way to fly. You can get off at any of a number of vistas, see the views, then get back on the next shuttle. The loop ends at Hermit's Rest, where the views are even more amazing. 

   After that, we had a beautiful lunch at the El Tovar hotel, and then on our way to Sedona. I'll just say that the drive and the vistas were exceptional. More photos to come when I've got more time. Cheers... Read More...

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Going on Vacation!

Yep, finally some time off! Although Kimberley and I have only been married for a bit more than four years, this November we'll be celebrating 10 years together.

To make it special, I've planned a wonderful trip through Arizona, seeing all of the sights that Kimberley has never seen, and that I haven't seen since a child. We'll spend one night at the Grand Canyon, three nights in Sedona, and two nights in Phoenix visiting family.

Should be a fun and romantic trip, and I'm especially excited about the B&B I've booked for Sedona. We'll be in the "Tuscany Villa" at the Adobe Village Villas (http://www.sedonasfinest.com/).

Is it just me or is "Adobe Village Villas" redundant? :)

Anyhow, I've ordered a new supersmall laptop to replace my ancient Fujitsu P133 Lifebook that I've had since college. I've long since learned the value of having really good maps on hand at all times, and the GPS tracking and route adjusting makes it all the better, especially since map-reading is not one of Kimberley's stronger skills.


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Parents: Teach your kids how to read maps. Teach them how to compass orient a paper map, how to sight landmarks, and keep track of where they are. This is one of the GOOD things I learned in the Scouts before I realized they were a group of passive Gay-Bashers. The other thing I learned in this context was that Navy people (my ScoutMasters at the time) insist that "orientate" is a real word. As in: "This is how you orientate a map with a compass." Ugh.
...End Rant

The point I was going to make before I got distracted was that I'm going to try to Blog the whole journey, and post some pictures, if I can. Although that depends largely on how much success I have dialing in to an ISP and how frustrated I get at Dialup speeds. I haven't used anything but a Broadband connection to the Internet in more than 6 years...

Wish us luck, it should be a blast! Read More...

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