2019 - Rendezvous - Boulder City

2019 Rondy!

Friday April 5 to Sunday April 7, 2019 in Boulder City, Nevada

     Thank you to everyone who brought food for Friday night’s potluck and desserts for Saturday’s catered dinner. I still have beans and rice in my freezer. There was so much food left over! I greatly appreciated all the help folding the tables and chairs up and stowing them away. Little did I know that a baby shower was scheduled there the next day. I especially want to thank Sue Jaussaud and Joan McGovern for their miraculous clean up skills in the kitchen. I got my $50 clean up deposit back! ~ Mignon

...and thank you, Mignon, for heading up such a terrific Rendezvous! Great venue, great speaker, great trips, great company! ~ The rest of us!

 Emmett's keys and the "50/50"

     As an added “bonus round” to the Rondy silent auction, we had a fun little contest. Emmett Harder had brought his collection of keys that he accumulated throughout his life, and was donating them to Mignon Slentz. If you haven’t had the chance to see Mignon’s creations, she collects pieces of discarded junk and creates beautiful mosaic mirrors that cleverly include interesting desert junk. Mignon had convinced Emmett to gather up his collection of old keys for her to use in her art (everybody has a similar collection of keys – keys that you don’t remember what they are for, but are too afraid to throw them away!) Emmett was handing over his incredible key collection to Mignon on Saturday morning when a fun activity was brainstormed – a 50 / 50 contest to guess how many keys Emmett had! So during Saturday evening’s festivities, the Rondy attendees paid $1.00 per submitted guess. The person with the closest guess would win 50% of all money collected, and the other 50% would be donated to Desert Explorers. There was a flurry of contestants placing their bets, but in the end Nancy McClean guessed correctly; Emmett had 145 keys ! Nancy won $13 and the DE gained a donation of $14 . A good time was had by all. ~ Deb Miller Marschke

Chairman's corner by Bob Jacoby

I think a case can be made that the recent Desert Explorers Rendezvous in Boulder City is one of the best rondys we have ever had. I base this statement not only on the interesting and great time I had, but also on the comments that other club members have made regarding this excellent weekend.

I am only one person, and unfortunately I was unable to go on any of the Sunday trips. Nevertheless, here are some of the high points from my experience at the Rondy:

Superb Planning Effort -  Most of the credit for organizing the Rondy goes to Mignon Slentz. Very early in the process she volunteered to take over the planning. The result of that planning process was the tremendous event that took place. The facilities were very good, if not perfect, and everything else came together very successfully. Also, it is important to mention the work of our Treasurer, Mr. Bill Smith. It actually is a significant time commitment the Treasurer must take on during the three or four months of Rondy registration. Bill simply did an incredible job!

Excellent Inbound Trips -  I went on the Friday inbound trip led by Nelson Miller to the Walking Box Ranch.This trip was well attended and rightfully so. This ranch which is now a state park is between Nipton and Searchlight. It has a very interesting history which includes it being a haven for movie stars and celebrities many years ago. I found the place so interesting that I plan to go back there on my own. For anyone who missed this inbound trip, I highly recommend you also visit this very interesting place. I also want to mention Bob and Sue Jaussaud’s inbound Friday trip from Needles. This was a real interesting trip going to Kingman and Chloride, among other places.

Happy Hour Was Very Happy - . One of my favorite parts of every Rondy is the Friday night Happy Hour and potluck dinner. This is always an opportunity for everybody to visit and get acquainted with each other. That was certainly the case in Boulder City. We ended up with a turnout of around 70 people which amounts to about 70% of our membership. I had a great time seeing everyone.

Trips Were Special - Our trips on Saturday and Sunday really went well. I had the opportunity to go on Jerry Dupree’s trip to  the Valley of Fire. I had never been in that area before and I was very impressed with the amazing landscape. We also were able to view a herd of big horn sheep heading up themountain next to us. This was one of the most impressive sights I have seen on any trip! Kudos should also go to Bill Neill and Glenn Shaw who also led interesting trips. Bill, in fact led geology oriented trips on both Saturday and Sunday. Let’s don’t forget that 24 DEers had the chance to go on the Black Canyon Boat Trip on the Colorado River. This great and unique adventure was very special.

Saturday Night Dinner and Guest Speaker- Our dinner on Saturday night was catered by the Southwest Diner in Boulder City. This proved to be an excellent choice by Mignon as we feasted on Pot Roast and Chile Relleno Casserole. That was an outrageously good dinner catered by a very interesting restaurant. This really helped illustrate what a unique place Boulder City is. It really was created to house the construction workers on the dam.

I have just outlined a few of the high points of this great weekend. What made the weekend really special was the attendance of our members. That  made it a great weekend and a very special event.

~ Bob