Manzanita 2009 Rendezvous - Meet Opportunity - NOW WITH PICS

[Dedicated_Dad]

Just got settled after returning to PB. GREAT day. I had the opportunity to meet RumpShot and his lovely wife, as well as Mike and his better-half as well. Apparently I missed Tom by literal seconds, hopefully I'll have a chance to remedy that before I'm forced to leave lovely SoCal...

If anyone hasn't had the pleasure to attend this (or a similar) event, I'd highly recommend it. Good people, neat stuff, beautiful scenery, GREAT company... I couldn't ask for a better day!

'Course I'm paying for it now, but that's the story of my life any more... A little ice, a couple of pain-pills and a good nights sleep and I should be fine in the morning. Well worth the little discomfort to have finally had the chance to shake the hand of some of the finest people I "know"...

DD

ETA: As I arrived home, and began emptying pockets and etc., I realized that I'd made a point to take my camera, then utterly failed to take any pictures of the folks I went to see. Some days I'm dumb as a box of rocks, especially when I'm hurting... If you guys took any, I'd be much obliged if you could forward them to me in e-mail...

[308Mike]

ETA: As I arrived home, and began emptying pockets and etc., I realized that I'd made a point to take my camera, then utterly failed to take any pictures of the folks I went to see. Some days I'm dumb as a box of rocks, especially when I'm hurting... If you guys took any, I'd be much obliged if you could forward them to me in e-mail...

I took quite a few with my phone and although they're not as good as if I brought my camera (Which I forgot along with a more protective hat to cover my ears), I'll post and email some after I see which ones are worth saving.

[Dedicated_Dad]

...(Which I forgot along with a more protective hat to cover my ears)...

If I'd realized that, I'd have bought the one you were modeling for you!

It really WAS you, Bro!!

DD

[308Mike]

...(Which I forgot along with a more protective hat to cover my ears)...

If I'd realized that, I'd have bought the one you were modeling for you!

It really WAS you, Bro!!

DD

Do you know how much they wanted for that dead animal hat? $150.00!!

EDIT:

Dana, Kimberly wanted me to let you know she REALLY enjoyed the outing and the entire experience, now she REALLY understands when I say to her I was born in the wrong century, it's nice to be in a time when you didn't worry about your neighbors taking your thousand-dollar rifle sitting propped up right in front of your tent door, even though nobody was around to keep an eye on it and make sure it didn't grow legs and walk away, to live in a time where freedom was paramount, nobody even THOUGHT of government assistance, people RESPECTED each other, HONOR was a cherished value, a man did as he said he would - his word was his bond, and if a man said he'd sell you something for a certain price and a deal was made, and another man came along and made a better offer, he was told the item was already sold even though he could make more money - but then his WORD would be no good!!

Oh, how I would love to live back in those values; where personal responsibility and accountability were absolute. Where people walking around with guns and knives all over their bodies didn't cause panic or stimulate calls to the authorities because they thought something MIGHT be wrong and they were fearful, oh so fearful.

It's quite likely we'll be going to the next rendezvous, so we BOTH thank you and your wonderful wife (she shared a LOT of info with Kimberly and she REALLY enjoyed talking to your wife) very much for encouraging us to experience this way of life!!

We hopes others will do the same and those values will continue to grow and spread!!!!

THANK YOU!!!

[Rumpshot]

Just got home. Really glad that you folks set aside the time to visit a Rendezvous. Really glad to have had the opportunity to meet DD. Always glad to see Mike and Flintlock Tom along with his lovely wife. Sorry I did not have an opportunity to spend more time with you guys. It was a busy day with our Son-in-Law, Daughter and their two boys (our Grandsons!!! ) arriving about the same time AND our next door neighbors from Poway for 16 years. There was lots of visiting, sharing photos and failing to take pictures.

DD expressed a STRONG interest in attending Rumpshot's Revenge this year. You guys need to help me keep that interest up and to make the trip. Not that far, he can visit his son in San Diego this fall and check up on his recovery too.

[308Mike]

Like I said I would post, here's some pics:

I saw standing about in front of Rumpshot's shelter, looking up Trader's Row towards the parking lot:

Trader's Row_x1000.jpg

One of the people in character, selling his wares - those wood chairs are INCREDIBLY comfy, and the fold right up too!!

Trader and His Tent Shop_x1000.jpg

One of the guy's campsite setup right behind his tent shop:

Trader's Campsite and Tent_x1000.jpg

A comfy-lookin' tent camp (but not much room inside the tent:

Tent Camp_x1000.jpg

A good-sized teepee (quite roomy on the inside too and even with a small fire in the middle of the floor) - there's enough room you can keep everything inside:

Teepee Camp_x800.jpg

I thought about changing this one to black and white, but it does okay in color too:

Teepee Silhouette_x800.jpg

Left to right, part of Rumpshot's Better Half, Rumpshot (center), and DD partially in the picture:

Rumpshot His Wife and DD_x800.jpg

My wife (straw hat & blue jacket) and DD looking to see what might be worth spending money on:

DD and Mike's Wife Shopping_x800.jpg

*I* found something to spend money on, but I'm NOT paying $150 for it!!

Mike Wearing Coyote Hat_x800.jpg

Too bad we didn't see any PETA members out here. with all these hides and skins, people wearing dead animals, etc., and here's a Raccoon coat for only $90.00:

Raccoon Coat_x800.jpg

Rumpshot had plenty of people stopping in to say: "Hi!", but what a GREAT group of down-to-earth people out there!!

Rumpshop With Wife Visiting_x800.jpg

Parking lot:

Parking Area_x800.jpg

Inside a teepee looking up through the top where all those poles meet:

Inside Top of Teepee_x800.jpg

More dead animals to please the PETA crowd. They were well tanned and VERY soft. Sleeping on a pile of those would keep you pretty warm, but probably not nearly as warm as some of the thick bear skins we also saw. These are all hung up inside the big teepee:

Skins to Trade and Sell_x800.jpg

[Rumpshot]

Mike you got some good pictures. I could tell you traveled around the camp a bit to get some of these.

The folks I was visiting with in front of my "store" were neighbors from Poway. We lived next door to them for 16 years. They adopted one of our dogs when we moved. We had 13 years of catching up to do. My daughter and her husband were also in the picture.

I just don't understand PETA. If God didn't intent for us to eat animals, why are they made out of meat?

You also didn't mention the little guy wandering about with a knife on his belt that was almost bigger than he was.

Really glad you guys all made the trip up the hill to visit. Sunday ended up a prettier day, but we had to pack up and hit the road. Didn't get that done as early as we would have liked.

[308Mike]

Dana, are you going to post the date of the next Rendezvous here in San Diego?

[HTRN]

She swears if we lived on a farm and didn't have stores handy she'd be a vegetarian.

Do what I plan to do when I move to the Poconos: find out who the local small producers are like 4 story hill farms. Once every 6 months to a year, you buy a quarter, or even half a cow, and they process it. Price is higher than Supermarket, but it's much higher quality beef(for Instance, a sixth share from Neptune Farm in Salem, NJ is typically around 70lbs, with a finish cost around $5.50/lb - all grass finished Herefords) Some have Minimum orders.


HTRN

[308Mike]

Thanks for the info, and I'm sure others do too:

:jacked:

I grew up with my family being 1/2 owners of a small farm out here. We had a few Black Angus steers, some goats, some pigs, and what seemed like THOUSANDS of rabbits, a few chickens, and a couple of Dobermans patrolling the property for coyotes and other pests.

When we butchered the steers, we got 1/2 and the other owners got 1/2. It filled our freezer for a long time. We even named the steers, one was named Slick, and the other Curly (due to the large curl in his fur up on his back). My parents pulled us out of school to help when they were butchered, and did this also for the pigs (especially when we used one for a Hawaiian Luau which was slow-roasted over 24 hours in a BBQ pit and had an apple in its mouth). My brother and I were assigned to use lye-water and scrape the hair off the pig's hide before having it BBQ'd.

Since we were just before our teens and staring to get that rebel streak, when we'd have steak, my brother and I used to comment about how good either Slick or Curly tasted that night, which pissed my mom off and gave us more steak to eat 'cause it caused her to think about it and she usually lost her appetite for the meat. Yes, we were assholes, but what do you expect from pre-teenage boys?

Later, our Doberman used to rest his head on the kitchen table and just watch us eat and hope for some scraps. He'd lay his ENTIRE head on the table and you could see his eyes flicking back and forth from person to person and plate to plate and was funny as hell 'cause he looked so damn PITIFUL even though he was NOT starving (he got a dozen scrambled eggs with some milk stirred in every week which kept his coat nice healthy and shiny), and we couldn't resist those sad, droopy eyes even though we KNEW what kind of teeth were in that mouth right below those sad eyes.

Even to this day, if I mention ANYTHING containing either name, Slick or Curly, my mom will say, "Knock it off!"

Thanks for prompting the trip down memory lane!! My wife was wondering why I was sitting here at the keyboard with this silly smile on my face for so long.