Mountain Rendezvous 2014 Road Trip – Part Three
Upon rolling into the Mountain Rendezvous 2014 event at Camp Tahquitz, we were greeted and checked in by Stuart. He reiterated some of the event information and gave us our welcome papers. which included a ticket for an event t-shirt and a raffle ticket. I looked forward to another cool American Adventurist Rendezvous t-shirt, and hoped that my raffle number would get called her for a change. It’s gotten skunked at both the MR12 and MR13 raffles.
After signing in, I was pleased to see that the spot where I had planned to set up was still available. Ha, no Plan B needed this time! Maybe my luck was changing and that raffle ticket would be a winner too…
We quickly got our camp set up: tent and everything that went inside it, camp table and chairs, the kitchen box, etc. Allison helped get things set up between running around and climbing trees and the like. She really loved the setting and being able to explore. As a parent, I love seeing her connect with nature as I did when I was her age.
We soon had visitors as well. Rendezvous volunteers Mitch and Apryl stopped by to say hi, as did Bill Widger who I finally got to meet in person. I also had a brief but nice chat with Nori Bennett, and soon connected up with official event photographer Brent Haywood and many others. There were a lot of folks missing this year for one reason or another, but there was no lack of others to meet. Attendance this years seemed to be around 200 or more!
After getting settled and grabbing a cold beer from the Land Cruiser, we headed down to the main fire ring which is the center of activity at Mountain Rendezvous. There Cam and his guys from event sponsors Mojoe Outfitters were getting started on grilling up some quesadillas on their grills as hors d’oeuvres for the attendees. Dave and Nori had already jumped in to help, and the smell of grilling onions and chili peppers filled the air. No wonder a small but hungry-looking crowd had gathered.
The quesadillas were excellent, and it was nice to have a warm snack to tide me over until dinner. Allison wasn’t interested in the quesadillas, but she didn’t go hungry either. A surplus of large, grilled red chili peppers was declared, so I happily accepted one. I verified that it wasn’t a hot pepper with a brave bite, then offered it over to Allison. Her eyes got big and she said no way! I explained that it wasn’t spicy or hot, it just had a nice flavor, like a bell pepper does. With great skepticism, she took a small bite, chewed, and then her face lit up. She loved it! Well, look what happens sometimes when you try something new… I got one more two more bites and Allison happily devoured the rest.
We mingled longer and said hi to various people around us, before eventually making our way back to our camp for dinner before dark. Allison again romped all over the area while I cooked up our simple dinner, another lazy dehydrated offering, this time the Persian Peach Stew with Chicken from Backpacker’s Pantry. The name had me curious since I’d first seen it, so I’d been wanting to try it for months. It wasn’t a great dish but I’d certainly have it again. We then discovered that I’d forgotten the traditional Raspberry Crumble dessert (still, not bad only forgetting one item this trip) but we substituted generic chocolate chip cookies. No matter, we’d be feasting like kings for dinner tomorrow night.
After dinner (and a beer I knew would haunt me in the middle of the night) we hung out some more as darkness settled over the area. Lights of all varieties lit up most of the camp sites, including our own. We spent some time enjoying the rapidly cooling air, and wandering around taking some night photos. Allison was having a good time prowling around with the old dSLR and I tried to give her some helpful hints for using it in the dark conditions.
Night photo by Allison
We decided to run in early. It had been another long day getting here and we were both weary but content from the day’s adventures and excitement. Again,w we both slept well and I was grateful for our comfortable sleeping pads and a cozy sleeping bag.
Tomorrow would be the big day for MR15, with the big dinner, group photo and raffle. I’d also be making the rounds, socializing and getting vehicle photos, all to be detailed in the next post.