Got Desert I.D.?
One of the vendors at the Hi Desert Round-Up was Got Desert I.D.? Got Desert I.D.? was launched in 2009 by Russ and Valerie Rogers in memory of a friend, Mike Roark, who passed away behind the wheel of his sandrail on his way back to camp. Emergency responders found Mike’s I.D., but they didn’t know who to contact other than those at his home address. There was no way to locate Mike’s camp or to know who was with him during the weekend trip.
Russ had been waiting for Mike to arrive in camp. When Mike didn’t show up, Russ doubled back and found Mike and the emergency responders. If Russ hadn’t doubled back, emergency responders would only have had Mike’s home contact information, yet his whole family was camped just a couple miles away.
Russ and Valerie realized that this same scenario is commonplace when people go off-roading: someone has trouble and emergency responders don’t know how to locate the person’s camp and others who are with him/her.
The Got Desert I.D.? placard includes information such as the location of camp (fill in GPS info if you have it), name and age of the person, and emergency contact info of someone else in the party (i.e. cell phone number). The placard is enclosed in a heavy vinyl pouch that can simply be zip-tied in plain site to any vehicle. Got Desert I.D.? is available for free, you just pay shipping. Donations of any amount are accepted with funds going toward the purchase of defibrillators for the emergency vehicles in the dunes and other desert areas.
Got Desert I.D.? operates entirely on donations and has distributed over 12,000 I.D. cards. It’s a great program that addresses an unfilled need. For more information, check out:
www.gotdesertid.com.
Located adjacent to Johnson Valley OHV, the Lucerne Valley Market is a huge draw to the OHV enthusiasts who visit the area. It’s actually more of a general store than just a market, offering anything a road-weary traveler might desire. The automotive/hardware/building supplies and home maintenance/fishing and camping aisle is frankly one of the best we’ve seen and have personally logged quite a bit of quality browsing time here. It’s typically our last stop going out to ’wheel and first stop going home. The market also offers a wealth of maps and guidebooks of the desert area, great produce, a Deli counter and prepared sandwiches for on the go (call ahead to order or grab what they have), souvenirs and local artisan crafts, hats and sunglasses, sun block, tools and automotive supplies, large capacity AC systems and swamp coolers, ice and beverages, 4Wheel Drive Magazine, and excellent customer service.
A Lucerne Valley Market neophyte, Kevin Blumer stumbled in after the Hi Desert Round-Up looking for a fix-it for his mashed tail-pipe — victim of a lengthy departure angle. He of course found what he was looking for and came across some guidebooks and maps he couldn’t live without, as well. The hack-saw did the job and earned a place in his on-the-go tool kit and a good story to go with it.
Most of this year’s trail...
Most of this year’s trail offerings were fairly mild runs for stock and modified 4x4s, however, Cougar Buttes was just a few miles from base camp at Anderson Dry Lake so everyone who wanted to got their rock crawl fix in easy enough.
Gen-Right was among the many...
Gen-Right was among the many vendors at the Hi Desert Round-Up and had a number of its vehicles on the trails during the day and on display in the booth at night. Gen-Right owner, Tony Pellegrino, is very active in the fight to keep public lands open for motorized use.