IRG2.0 (Sold Out)

[Dean in Eureka, CA]

Eddie,
Click on "Pamplingrove" at the top of the page, then click on the link to IRG1.0...

Just got back from a wedding at the grove...
A couple we met in line down at the public works office.
The weather and conditions at Pamplin are splendid in spite of the forest fires still burning to the East and North.
The temperature was somewhere in the mid 70's in spite of the National Weather's Website which has been listing it over 100 degrees every day this past week.
The caretaker did say it got up into the 80's on one of the days during the most recent heat spell.
There was a slight high altitude smidgeon of smoke cover out there today, but the air quality was fine, it just made the sky a dull blue instead of bright blue and the sun cast a golden hue on the ground... You couldn't smell smoke.
There will be an access from the road alongside the meadow to wheel tears into the meadow and there is now an access to wheel tears back into the tent area, if you want shade... Lot of nice places back there for tears.
The meadow and tent area access is going to free up other space for the parking we are going to need.
For folks in the meadow and tent area, there will be parking areas near each area, so your cars will be close by.
This somewhat puts our parking concerns to rest, but it is going to take good orchestration on the committee's part and cooperation on the participant's part.
We will have at least three trailer dollies on hand with able bodied volunteers to assist in moving tears into these two locations.
We are going to ask that the caravan coming up from Mendocino stage themselves into smaller groups when they get near Pamplin as we don't want traffic to come to a stop on Highway 36, waiting to get into the grove.
We will be deep staging folks once inside the gate during registration check in, but please no large caravans at that point.
The committee will be meeting before the event to put a workable plan together so as not to end up with any bottlenecking during check in.
There will be an upper site near the cookshack, set asside for folks with health and physical issues if they wish to camp in that area.
Other upper sites will be available for folks coming long distances, if they wish to camp in those areas.

Other News...
The event schedule has now been finalized.
Ranger Leiterman will be back by popular demand to give his Talk and Presentation on Bigfoot, along with Ranger Pat's Welcome to the Redwoods and Talk About These Trees. (Both Encore Performances)
We will have today's Pamplin Grove Newlyweds on hand with us as Special Guests during the gathering and let me tell you... Teardrops played a role in today's wedding, going back well over two years, closer to three...

The event is gonna be fun and it may be twice as cozy as last time... Just remember, we're one big happy family when we get together.

About the only bad news I have to report at this time is that Highway 299 is closed right now somewhere between Redding and Weaverville due to fire conditions... Hopefully the road will reopen in time for our travellers wanting to use that route.

[Dean_A]

Hi Gage, looking good.

It looks like you, Dean from San Diego, and Dean of the Redwoods are in a 3 way race to the finish. I'm out of this race. Way, way, too many corners would have to be cut. My fall back goal is to have a campable TD in time for the SLO Gathering in mid September. I've been fiberglassing the walls flat on sawhorses and today will finish bolting the floor to the trailer. I'm more toward the end of the beginning than near the beginning of the end. Plenty of middle work ahead too.

Nor Cal or bust. Just a little 500 mile drive to go to get a taste of Dean's deep pit cooked meat. Yum yum!

Well, it's gonna be close. I think I can pull this off in 10 days, but I might be being overly optimistic.
I got the first piece of aluminum skin on yesterday, and I'll update my build pics when I get a chance.
Special thanks to Mike at SoCal Teardrops for coming in on a Saturday to sell me some edge trim.

[Dean in Eureka, CA]

Dean,
It's a two horse race now, I'm borrowing the Guffman from Jerome.
Guys like Steve and I should've finished our builds before even whispering a peep about hosting a gathering.

[Esteban]

Guys like Steve and I should've finished our builds before even whispering a peep about hosting a gathering.

Dean, A lot of people would've never experienced the joy of IRG if you held off.

We did the first SLO Gathering before I started building a teardrop. For the fun of it. And to get ideas. It was very fun and I got a head full of ideas.

I'm building a teardrop mostly following Steve Fredericks' inside out building process. It will be campable by September for the SLO Gathering. Maybe not "all done".

I'm actually relieved to get out of the race. Plan to enjoy IRG and Mendo and to pick up ideas on galley layouts and general inside finish. Lemons into lemonade.

My friends Ron and Lucia Dickey have been helping me with the TD building. Ron has a very special surprise for Dean and Joanie to add to the raffle. I'll be bringing it up to IRG for him.

[Dean in Eureka, CA]

Ranger Pat


Ranger Leiterman

Ranger Pat will be welcoming everyone and giving an educational talk about redwood trees on Wednesday July 23rd.
This guy is the sole reason why Swimmers Delight and Pamplin Grove are so popular with family campers.


Not sure about the existance of Bigfoot?... You might change your mind after experiencing the presentation Ranger Leiterman will be doing for us on Thursday July 24th. Robert is a State Park Ranger and BFRO Researcher. We are stoked about having him back! Please don't give him any guff about his shoes, OK?... He's been too busy fighting forest fires in other areas lately to keep his boots polished up real nice.

[Dean in Eureka, CA]

It looks like the perfect weather I've been wanting out at Pamplin is showing up a week early... Hope it holds.

[emiller]

Last time the temp in the trees was cooler than what the weather guru's said. I know my wife and I camped outside the trees and could only spend alittle time in the trees because it was cold. Of corse us desert people are wimp's when it comes to the cold. If it's under 75 deg.

[Dean in Eureka, CA]

UPDATE ON HIGHWAY 299 CLOSURE NEAR REDDING...
The road is open from 9:00pm thru 11:00am daily right now, but closed from 11:00am til 9:00pm for fire fighting efforts.
My hunch is that the road will be totally open come time for IRG travelers.

[doug hodder]

Smoke down here is practically gone now and reports are that the fires are about 85% contained statewide. Just what they said on the radio. Cooler temps really helped the effort. Doug

[emiller]

A friend of mine just came thru there from a motorcycle ride and he said the smoke was heavy. He said that on the news Northern California residents with respotory problems should stay indoors and that the fires wouldn't be out till October.

[Kevin A]

A friend of mine just came thru there from a motorcycle ride and he said the smoke was heavy. He said that on the news Northern California residents with respotory problems should stay indoors and that the fires wouldn't be out till October.

Come on Eddie, ya trying to scare people off?
I live 45 minutes from Pamplin Grove, spent most of this past saturday at a wedding out there. The only smoke I smelled was coming from the barbecue. There was smoke from the fires over head but high enough in elevation that it wasn't an issue. I'm not trying to downplay the seriousness of the fires but IMHO the news media has a tendency to blow things a tad out of proportion. If ya want an accurate report, ask someone who lives up here.

[emiller]

Not everyone lives in Eureka Kevin. I know from our largest fire in 2002 that burned 467,066 acres http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodeo-Chediski_fire the smell of smoke lasted over a year. Why I cancelled was because my wife has been sick with Valley fever http://www.dlrrphoenix.org/VF.html for some time now and both myself and Shawn Robinson are Asthmatic. So I wasn't concern to much of being at Pamplin but my concern was going thru most of California with over 800 square miles already being burnt. Believe me I would much rather be up there with you guy's for the gathering then just going to Mission Bay for my vacation. I just hope my wife does ok in San Diego because she really got sick at our gathering up at Bison Ranch two weeks ago.
Have lots of fun you guys.

[billnut]

Well Sis and I well be there with bell's on come He-- or high water.
Bill PS i well have pants on too

[Dean_A]

Dean,
It's a two horse race now, I'm borrowing the Guffman from Jerome.
Guys like Steve and I should've finished our builds before even whispering a peep about hosting a gathering.

OK, it's officially a one-horse race.

I've finally come to the sad conclusion that there's no way I'm getting this thing done in time. Not without cutting so many corners that I would be disappointed in the final result. I've worked too hard and too long (3.5 years) to half-ass the final details. So as much as it pains me, I will not be attending this year.

Driving the 12 hours, 700+ miles to the IRG was not going to be the wisest maiden voyage anyway, especially with a three year old and a wife who's not much of a camper (yet!).

Save a place for us in 2010. We'll be seasoned teardroppers by then!

[Gage]

OK, it's officially a one-horse race.
I've finally come to the sad conclusion that there's no way I'm getting this thing done in time. Not without cutting so many corners that I would be disappointed in the final result. I've worked too hard and too long (3.5 years) to half-ass the final details. So as much as it pains me, I will not be attending this year.
Driving the 12 hours, 700+ miles to the IRG was not going to be the wisest maiden voyage anyway, especially with a three year old and a wife who's not much of a camper (yet!).
Save a place for us in 2010. We'll be seasoned teardroppers by then!

Hell, your further along than me. I haven't even got my doors and hatch built yet. I hate being the only one in a race. But then again, that means I'm the winner by default.

Your's:


Mine: