Well I am not sure just where to start; here we are two-thirds through January and I already have logged more than 2000 miles on LRDG activities since Dec. 27^th.  It was relatively quite during the last quarter of 2007; we took part in the Sept 1^st J & S “America Remembers” event and Cherries Jubilee event the following week. After that Donna and I started our Eastern road trip by trailing the jeep north to Rick’s for some servicing and continued on to see our daughter Andrea in Seattle. After spending a few days with her we then really went east.

Every year after Christmas, Donna and I celebrate New Years Eve with Rick and a number of his friends at his home in Yreka. He had completed the work on the jeep so when we came home I brought it home on Jan. 3^rd.

In the last newsletter I had mentioned the author Steve Pressfield and his upcoming fictional book, “Killing Rommel”. We have kept in close contact and back in Oct. he asked me if we (along with the vehicles) would be willing to participate in a video promoting his new book, which is supposed to be released in late May or early June. He spent time with the publisher in New York trying to get them to “spring” for the cost of production (which was considerable), when they were reluctant; he decided to do it himself. So he spent Nov. and Dec. getting it all set up for a January 14^th & 15^th shoot (see photos).

Rick departed Yreka on Friday Jan. 11^th; and I left on Sat. Jan. 12^th, with my trusty “Trooper” George Escobedo traveling with me. We rendezvoused up with Rick at Santa Nella on Interstate 5 at noon on the 12^th. After a quick lunch we continued heading south, our destination was Dumont Dunes, which is about 45 miles North of Baker, Ca. off of Interstate 15 (towards Las Vegas). We spent the night in Barstow, Ca. with a planed arrival at Dumont Dunes around 9:30 AM on Sunday the 13^th. We had some minor delays and also hooked up with another “Trooper” George Sicre; finally arriving at noon.  

 What I was expecting when we got there and what was reality was two different things. I had expected four people, Steve Pressfield, the director; Nick Vitale, Cameraman; Phil Arfman and a sound person. What was there was the above, plus 17 other assorted personal.

After we had a quick lunch, we started to unloaded the vehicles and make up our campsite, while they went to scout for locations. Nothing much else exciting happened that day. They told us when they would arrive the next day, so that we would be ready. Rick made Scampi with pasta for dinner; the only problem was that the weather got very cold during the night.

The next morning everyone showed up at 7:30 AM, we had a quick catered breakfast and then we all moved to the first location. There we spent the morning watching them take and retake a number of dialogs of Steve talking about the LRDG & S.A.S. We took the stage after lunch.  We did the same thing over again the next day at the second location. They wrapped it up about 3:00 Pm that day. We decided to break camp and move up to Date Ranch about 20 miles north to see if we could get some “oasis style” photos. We did succeed the following day and left our perspective way on Wed the 16^th. I know that this paragraph doesn’t sound like much fun but we all had a blast. I can’t wait to see the footage. I will let you know when it gets posted on the Internet. Posted above!

2008 planned events:  

1.      April 12^th – Pacific Grove Good Old Days Parade http://www.pacificgrove.org/god/start.htm

2.      April 16^th – 20^th – MVCC Camp Delta meet

3.      May 18^th – Castroville Parade – Only if I am not in North Africa. http://www.artichoke-festival.org/parade.html

4.      May 23^rd – 25^th – Watsonville Fly-In – Only if I am not in North Africa. http://www.watsonvilleflyin.org/

5.      June – TBA – Marine Corps League Barbecue – Toro Park, Monterey

6.      July 4^th – Parade – TBA

7.      Aug. 13^th – 17^th – MVPA Convention Portland, Or.

 For the last event (the Convention) I would like as many supporters as possible to plan to attend. We are planning a large display with two LRDG trucks the LRDG jeep and possible a S.A.S. jeep. We will be looking for a lot of help with set up and tending a retail table. Please contact me if you plan to attend and can help.