2008 Trip Reports - The Desert Explorers Rondy Recap

Renezvous 2008 from the Eyes of Newbie

by  Carl and Nancy Noah

We recently joined the Mojave River Valley Museum after hearing about the Desert Explorers from a friend. We've gone on a few outings with both the DE and MOE groups and had a great time on each trip. We've been impressed with the leaders' historical knowledge and enjoy the running commentaries over the CB.  We're becoming more and more interested in the history of the places we visit, but aren't ambitious enough to do our own research. We really appreciate the leaders sharing thier knowledge and research with us. We definately want to be a part of these groups, so...when we heard about the 2008 Rendezvous, we fit it into our schedule. We really didn't know what to expect. We weren't at all sure what the "Creative Showcase" was all about, so we were particularily looking forward to this.

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We arrived in the campground early Friday morning and were disappointed to find only one other DE.  I guess we were too anxious for all the activities to begin. We noticed a lot of activity at the motel in town , but didn't pay attention. We must have been really tired or we'd have been able to put it all together. We came in from a few days in Death Valley and decided to rest up a little bit before the potluck. We rested too long! When we got moving again, the campground was full of DE and we barely had time to get our potluck contribution ready and get over to the potluck.

 We had a great time at the potluck. We met up with our new friends from the other DE trips and met people we'd heard about (you guys tell a lot of stories about each other!) It was great meeting new people as well.  When we go on other DE and MOE trips, we'll know even more people now.

After eating our fill at the potluck (boy, there sure was a lot of great food!) we enjoyed walking around the "Flower Building". We looked at all the items at the silent auction and had a hard time selecting which trip we wanted to sign up for on Saturday and Sunday. They all seemed equally interesting. When we asked about a trip, we were told that the leader was great and that was the one we should go on. Then we asked about another trip and we got the same answer! It was very confusing! But we finally made our choices. Then it was time for the speaker presentation. Susan did a great job describing the history of the town. We had no idea so much was going on!

We went on our selected trip on Saturday and then came back in time for the catered dinner. We had a great time socializing and meeting more people. The dinner was really good. Where can I get the recipe for that sauc they put on the chicken?  After dinner we moved our chairs and got ready for the "Creative Showcase". Like I said, we're not sure what we expected, but it was a very different presentation than we had seen before. We really enjoyed hearing about everyone's interests and talents. It was a great way to get to know them better. What a lot of talent in the group. After the Creative Showcase, we left and went back to our camper. We'd had a really long day sitting in the hot sun earlier on our trip and we were getting tired. We would have liked to see the silent auction, but it was too late for us.

We had a terrific time at the Rendezvous. It was such a great opportunity to meet and socialize with a lot of people, many whom we will be going on trips with in the future. We really enjoy 4-wheeling and it's even better with a group.  We enjoy the safety in numbers, knowledgable leaders and, most of all, the social aspect. Keep up the good work! You'll definately be seeing more of us!