We started the meeting with a summary of the January trip to Pismo Beach and while the sand was great and the wii playing was fun, Joe couldn't stop gushing about how beautiful the butterflies were.  It sounded like a great trip and there are plans to return in June. The main hope is that Pismo gets closer to LA by then.

There was a recap of Achy Breaky and the most recent Gorman trip as well, with some pictures of both trips and a few stories about each trail.

The next trip, planned for this weekend, has been changed.  Instead of Ocotillo Wells, the new destination is "Fearless Folly" trail near El Mirage.  It will be a day trip for most on Saturday, though Chris and Sharon may camp and others could probably join in if interested.  The plan is to leave from the Rite Aid on Valley View near Lampson at 7:00 on Saturday, which should put us on the lake near 9:00.  I believe our fearless leader (Warren) will be providing guidance and leadership for this trip.

The rest of the calendar stands as follows:

March 8th, Wildomar

April 5th and 6th, Mojave Road

April 19th, Big Bear Earthday project on White Mountain Trail (Attendance strongly requested/greatly appreciated)

The May trip has been rescheduled and relocated to the 17th and will be in Big Bear, possibly to include John Bull, Holcomb Creek, Deep Creek or something else fun to be decided at a later date and subject to change with little notice.

In other news, we also discussed the meeting place.  This has been a topic of conversation for months and we have finally been able to make a decision.  Four locations were discussed and they will be attended through out the next few months as the meeting roves around to the different locations for a "test drive" of the service, food, atmosphere, parking lot smoothness (or roughness), and what every other criteria are developed for this complicated and intense meeting place evaluation.  The places in no particular order are (drum roll):
"My Place" in Huntington Beach
"Mel's Diner" in Seal Beach
" Coco's" on Valley View north of the 22
"Sizzler" on Beach north of the 22
The March meeting on the 5th will be at the Mel's Diner in Seal Beach, for no reason than it is close to a long time club meeting attender who hasn't been to a meeting in a while (sorry I didn't catch your name, but he does have a rather clean looking Suzuki Samurai).

We had a pretty big turnout this month despite Addie's refusal to join us for another fine evening of dinner and stories.  In total we had about 9 adults, yes it is a grey area (plus two well behaved children).

Mike (Cool Army Jeep Guy) brought presents to the meeting in the form of calendars with Jeeps and other decorations on them.  So there are new wall decorations for much of the club.  Thanks Mike! A great way to get on the club's good side.  To all other potential members, we like cookies and cakes too.

With this, the meeting moved to the parking lot to check out Joe's Jeep's new attitude.  Turns out he put on a Rubicon Express 4" short arm lift and 34X12.5 TRXUS Mud Radials on black wheels.  Looks pretty tough and should provide him with a whole different wheeling experience.  He seemed ready to get out and give it a try.  Maybe we will see some more "Air Joe" in El Mirage.