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One of the great advantages of retirement is to have time to go on adventures and to see places you have always wanted to see but not had the time to go there. Many of our emeriti are seasoned travelers and have gone to places such as China, Europe, Scandinavia, Africa, and, yes, even Burbank. This area of the web site aims at sharing their adventures with you. So far, however, although many emeriti have traveled lately, they seem to forget to take their cameras with them, so we don't have much to show here yet. As a stopgap, Ren the web guy has provided a few pix with the hope that the other members will send him some photos and text to share with you.

Ren the web guy enjoys off-road adventures, that is, taking properly equipped vehicles off the pavement to lost and wondrous places seldom seen by modern men. This allows the opportunity for nature photography, fishing, historical research, and testing oneself and one's vehicles agains the elements and the laws of physics. The area of most interest has been the east side of the Sierra Nevada mountains, from Mojave north to Walker, CA., on US395. On both sides of this road we can find historical sites, ghost towns, beautiful scenery, and the occasional fish.
The Monache Gang - Its really just a bunch of old codgers who get together somewhat regularly for off-roading, fishing, and/or hunting season. Monache Meadows is a large meadow area in the southern Sierra ideal for off-road driving and deer hunting. Plus some supposed Big Foot sightings. Its been a regular camp area for the guys for years.

From left, Ren, alias the Perfessor; Hawkeye; Ol' Horny; Big By; and Sureshot. Seated, from left, Big Rob and Portagee Bob. Several other members are not shown, such as the Mad Russian, The Colonel, and Vaporlock. How they got their nicknames is a long story. Picture was taken at Ricardo Camp in Red Rock Canyon State Park in 2000.

Hardware - Naturally if you are going exploring you need equipment to get you there. From left, Portagee Bob's 1986 CJ7; Ren's 1982 CJ5; Shurshot's CJ7; and to the right rear, the Colonel's Blazer. None of these are equipped for what is called "extreme" off-roading. however, we have gone to some hairy places with no major problems. Picture was taken at Ballarat, west of Death Valley, in 2000.

Monache Meadows - This is a large meadow area one mountain range to the west of US395 north of Mojave. You get there via the Kennedy Meadows turnoff at Pearsonville (hubcap capital of the world), then turn north at Blackrock ranger station. The road in is fairly rough, but once there, the scenery is well worth the effort. The water is provided by the south fork of the Kern River. It harbors a population of golden trout.

While some of the area has been incorporated in to wilderness areas that cannot be traversed by vehicle, there are still lots of places to explore. Several sightings and vocalizations of Big Foot are recorded for the area.

Well, it ain't always warm and sunny out there in the wilderness. This particular weekend at Monache had the usual weather pattern - if you don't like it, just wait ten minutes. It was pretty cold too, until the morning we left. Picture was taken at base camp in June of 2009. Fortunately we had a chain saw with us and were able to collect enough firewood for the time we were there.

Hopefully those of you who have pictures of trips would be willing to share them, and make sure to take your camera next time. We would like text also to describe what we are seeing in the pictures.

For more adventures of the Monache Gang, go to http://www.monachegang.org and click on the Adventures link.

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