Adventurers` Club News May 2010 - The Adventurers` Club of Los

The
Adventurers’ Club News
©
Volume 54
May 2010
Number4
The Adventurers' Club News
The Official Publication of the Adventurers' Club of los Angeles, California
May 2010
Volume 54
Publisher
Editor
Number 4
Allan Smith #1069
Robert G. Williscroft #1116,
Northridge, CA 91328
(818) 626-8989; Cell (818) 613-9445; [email protected]
Asst. Editor
Bob Zeman #878;
Santa Barbara, CA 93111
(805) 964-5731; bokemangaolcom
Club Phone (323) 223-3948 (24 Hrs)
immadventurersclub.org
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DIRECTORY
INSIDE FRONT COVER
PRESIDENT'S PAGE
1
ARTICLES
OFF TEE BEATEN PATH —TALES FROM THE ADVENTURERS' CLUB, VOL 2
2
YOUSEFF — A MOROCCAN ADVENTURE
THE SHANGHAI TEASCAM
4
IN AFGHANISTAN W ITH US SOLDIERS
5
9
EXPLORING ARIZONA MINES
8
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
WHAT'S HAPPENING.
10
BOOK REVIEW: THE UNTOUCHABLES — M ISS ION ACCOM PLISHED
12
THRAWN RICKLE
13
THURSDAY NIGHTS AT THE CLUB
14
FORTHCOMING PROGRAMS
21
NOTES
21
PRESIDENT
2ND VIC E PRES
SECRETARY
AD DRESS
Allan Smith
Mike Gw altney
Alan Feldstein
2433 N Broadway
Los Angeles, CA 90086
1" VICE PRES
TREASURER
DINNER R ESERVATI ON S Mfil LING ADDRESS
-Vince Weatherby
Rick Flores
(323)-223-3948 (VoiceMail) PO Box 31226
Deadline: Tuesday Noon
Los Angeles, CA 90031
The
ADVENTURERS’ CLUB NEWS
©
Volume 54
May 2010
Number4
THE PRESIDENT’S PAGE
Allan R. Smith #1069 - Presi dent
I
am glad to start
I would like to remind all members that
off this edition of
the Club has a dress code. On regular meett he new sl ett er by ing nights, we are pretty relaxed, but we
l et t ing you k now
want you to appear at least as good as you
that the book Pierre
would to go to the mall shopping with your
and mysel f hav e lady. On Ladies’ Nights, you should wear
been working on for
normal business attire. Typically, this means
the past year is now
a shirt and tie, and a jacket. Here in Southreleased. Of f the
ern California, we often tend to forget that
Beaten Path – Tales of
we still are a “Gentlemen’s Club.” Nobody
the Adventurers’ Club is a walk back in time
is cracking the whip, but we would apprewith many stories, cartoons Off the Beaten Path– Tales of the Ad- ci at e your
and photographs that even
cooperat ion
venturers’
Club
is
a
walk
back
in
time.
our ol der members have
in this.
never seen. I trust you will find the stories
Please note that I will be leading a trip to
and history of your club interesting.
a secret ghost town in the White MounAs you will noti ce, it i s my pleasure to tains. This will be scheduled around the
wel come Robert Will iscroft back as the
middle of June, so keep a lookout for the
edi tor of our newsl etter. I must thank
date if you wish to sign up. Next, I am filmBob Zeman for hi s st ellar service to the
ing an expedition down the Grand Canyon
cl ub and ex cel lent work as the editor.
the end of May. I am so looking forward to
Many of you are not aware, but Bob Zethis as I will be the oarsman, as well as
man driv es from Sant a Barbara ev ery
videographer. I will be gone for threeweeks
week to attend the club and t ake t he
and may not submit a message from the
w eek l y mi nut es. Hi s cont ri buti on i s president in the next addition. However, I
greatl y appreciated.
will make up for it in the following newsMike Gwaltney has completed the disletter.
play case just outside Chase Hall. It is a
Lastly, NOHA is quickly gaining momendisplay of members’ books and videos for
tum and if you are interested in assisting
sale. If you have a book or video, please or donating to the silent auction, I encourcontact Mike or myself and let’s get it in age you to contact David Finnern or Steve
the hands of our fellow members.
Lawson.
ADVENTURERS’ CLUB NEWS
1
May2010
Off the Beaten Path
Off the Beaten Path Tales from the Adventurers’ Club, Vol 2
Pier re Odi er (#988)
S
ince 1922 we have been meeting every
members who normally have so much to
Thursday, yes every Thursday, to listen say. Nobody felt that their stories where
to some of the most incredible diverse adworthy of inclusion into a new volume.
venture stories. Some story tellers climbed,
Against these odds we set out to create the
some dived, some walked, and some flew,
second volume of Tales from the Adventurbut al l ven- At the end of the evening, we all go home more ers’ Club. It is a
tured off the
real shame that
inspired
than
before
the
meeting.
beaten path.
so many stories
The audience always is awed by these inare lost forever. Today we can only rely on
credible stories.
the occasional taping of the stories. Now,
At the end of the evening, we all go home with the advance of technology, even these
more inspired than before the meeting. The
tapes are must be converted to CD for them
next daywe return toour daily routine void
to be used. With the passing of time, and
of the motivation to adventure imparted
with members departing on the Great Adto us by the speaker at the Club. In a short,
venture, we hav e lost a l ot of potential
the memory fades and we only vaguely rematerial. – lost it forever!
member the evening t hat so inspi red us.
Withthis new volumewe tried to retrieve
How can we relive that moment that took
some of the past, but the task was overus to far away places?
whelming, considering that in many cases,
In 1972 the idea was conceived to colno record remained. Every member has a
lect some of these tales of adventure into story to tell, and we hope that this volume
a book that was to celebrate fifty anniverwill inspire each member to write down his
sariesof the Adventures’ Club. In 1983 that
story so it can be used in the next volume.
volumewas reprinted and distributed at the
As creator of the Tales From The Advenclub. Since then, many other stories only
tures’ Club Vol. 2, I feel so much more enremained in
riched for having searched
So
guys,
start
collecting
your
stories
t he memoout the stories, met the stories of those
rytellers, and discovered the
who attended the meetings. Many are now
vast hi story of our club. Of course, for
lost forever. What happened?
some of the tales, I had to reach into the
It seems to be such a simple mat er to distant past, before the time of any of here
collect the Thursday night stories i nto a
today, but it was worth the time and effort.
book, but in reality this can be an advenSo guys, start collecting your stories in orture in itself. The call went out for stories der that we can create the third volume
to be submittedfor the current volume, and
without having to search sowidely and long
immediatelya strange silence came over the
for the current storytellers.
May2010
2
ADVENTURERS’ CLUB NEWS
Youseff
Youseff – A Moroccan Adventure
Charles Jonk ey #1026
I
just returned from wild adventures in cial festival deep in the Atlas mountains.
Morocco. My brother, Paul, and I flew to
The trip would last a week. In a couple of
Marrakesh and immedidays we met Youseff
atel y began to search
early in the morning to
deep in the old Medina
st art our j ourney. We
for a musician friend of
took a local bus to the
mine. I met Youseff five
cost al t ow n of Esyears ago as he worked
saouria. There we met
in his tiny shop building
other Gnawa musicians
exoti c musi cal inst ruwho invited us to stay in
ment s. He i s a mast er
their house right on the
Gnawa musician.
wallsof the Medina next
The Gnawa are an etht o t he ocean. One
nic group of the Sufi reev eni ng, I recorded
ligious order, descended
Youseff pl ayi ng t he
from slaves of the SubGimbri, a three-stringed
sahara region of Africa . Cover for Jonkey’s CD –Youseff
bass instrument – basiLarge groups of
call y a camel sk in
slaves were brought
covered box with a
across the Sahara in
wood poll for a neck.
the late 1500s.
The strings are made
Gnawa music is
from sheep gut. The
verypowerful, and is
musi c was soul ful
used in healing rituand stimulating. He
als and wi th trance
smok ed a special
dances. Youseff
pi pe (st uffed wi th
showed me a video
cannabis) to get into
of awoman in trance
the proper mood.
during one of these
We continued our
sessions who pulled
j ourney t hrough
out a knife and startCasablanca and on
ed slicing i nto her Youseff & Jonkey with a Gimbri
to Meknes. I was alarm. (Doesn’t seem too healing to me.)
most arrested the second day as I filmed
We found Youseff in his tiny shop. He the Medina wall and surroundings. A man
was really happy and excited to see me. I walked up to me and asked if I was “filmpresented him with a CD of his music from ing the secret police.” He carried a gun, and
my previous visit. He invited us to a spedemanded to see the footage I had taken. I
(Youseff continued on page 4)
ADVENTURERS’ CLUB NEWS
3
May2010
Youseff / Shanghai Tea Scam
(Youseff continued from page 3)
complied, and was eventually let go with a
us by spilling the blood of sheep and chickwarning.
ens to find a husband or increase their ferA few days later Youseff
tility. Huge groups of people
took us up into the mountains
were dancing in the streets and
to the tiny village of Sidi Alit
playing drums. We took refuge
to witness the Gnawa festival.
in an outdoor cafe while a large
The streets were packed with
group of peopl e passed by
localsin tribal dress. Mybrothdragging two goats to be sacrier and I were the only Westficed. They were playing loud
erners there. Hundreds of vilmusic and dancing w ildly. I
lagers crammed the streets in
took my camera out t o film,
a very festi ve atmosphere.
but immediately a number of
Strange rel igious icons were
men pointed at me quite agibeing sol d, incl uding dri ed
tatedly to put the camera away.
chameleons and other weird Jonkey in nati ve dress with The crazi ness conti nued l ate
Youseff
animal parts.
into the night.
People visited a sacred mausoleum while
Another w ild adventure on my trip to
women offered sacrifices in a gully below
Morocco.
The Shanghai Tea Scam
Vi mal Gair ola #1075
I
recently returned from a week in Beijing
and Hong Kong. It is quite difficult to
get around in Beijing because very few locals speak English (I’m sure Pierre can attest to thi s). I think the
ones who speak English try
to dupe the traveler every
way they can. I was being
taken to a “tea house” in
Beij ing by a tour guide I
had hired locally. Luckily,
I absolutely refused to go
to the tea house because a tea house is to
be experienced in Japan, not China!
I was in Shanghai four years ago, walking
around the Bund as the country was prepping up for the Olympics. A girl approached
me and gave me the same story: I am a student from Beijing and since college is closed for
winter vacation, I have come down here so I can
practice my English (in Shanghai?). I thought
she would go her way after
some small tal k, but she
insisted I go to a Chinese
Garden close by. As I was
walk ing towards Nanjing
St reet , she kept w alki ng
along with me. At thestairs
leading off the Bund, I just
told her “bye” and walked away quickly.
I guess we just have to be very alert everywhere.
Virtually all the time, including my visit
to Beijing and Hong Kong recently, the cab
(Shanghai continued on page 8)
May2010
4
ADVENTURERS’ CLUB NEWS
InAfghanistan
In Afghanistan with US Soldiers
Gordon Cuc ullu #1131
M
y coauthor, Av ery Johnson, and I
After hours of waiting we were finally in
joined a small group of soldiers from the air forthe four-hour trip toKyrgyzstan,
the 95th Military Police Battalion, 18th MP
arriving somet ime just before midnight.
Brigade deploying to Gardez, Afghanistan Manas is the main staging area for all US
at the Mannheim, Germany, headquarters and NATO personnel deploying to Afghanto embed with the unit for our forthcomistan. Fortunately the dining facility (the
ing book , Warrior
"mess hall" that we
Poli ce. Thi s i s my
old soldiers knew is
third book (our first
now hi story) runs
as coauthors) and
24/7 due to the ecwil l feature stories
centric traffic patfromMPs in thecurterns of arrivals and
rent war – I´ve been
depart ures, and
with them in Guanserves a full-course
tanamo and Iraq and
midnight meal.
w e needed t o see
I didn´t realize I
t hem in acti on i n
w as hungry t i ll I
Afghanistan to comgrabbed a tray, applete research.
proached the chow
Fl ying on a con- First Class accommodations on our contract DC-10
l ine, and smell ed
tract DC-10 aircraft out of Ramstein AB,
the bacon. As I learned in Iraq, contractors
we had an interim stop at Incirlik, Turkey
provide a lot better food for our soldiers
where we dropped over some passengers than did the old unit facilities. We were biland had an unexpect ed ov ernight delay
leted in huge tents that held upwards to
because weat her at our desti nation of
400 soldiers including a Croatian unit on
Manas, Kyrgyzstan, was all snow and blowits way out of a year tour in the Masir-eing wind.
Sherrif area of Afghanistan. Earplugs and
Since w e were dressed for subfreezing eyeshades are highly recommended.
conditions at Manas we turned into sweatFor three days we waited for space on an
balls hauling gear to a temporary Air Force
Air Force C-17 flight to Bagram, where libarracks about a mile and a half from the
aison personnel from the 95th would meet
terminal. The barracks were a mess, defius. Finallywe got the word to show up sevnitely not up to Air Force standards - dirty
en hours in advance for a just-after-midwith broken bunks. The next morning the night flight. We have promised not to pubbus scheduled to pick us up didn´t show so lish exact flight times as part of operationwe made the bag-drag back to the terminal
al security measures.
again.
We quickly grabbed side-of-the-fuselage
(Afghanis tan c ontinued on page 6)
ADVENTURERS’ CLUB NEWS
5
May2010
InAfghanistan
(Afghanistan continued from page 5)
seats when we boarded. The worse seats operations that the 95th was in wanted to
are t he ei ght see us, so we caught a ride on
across t hat are
a short takeoff and l andi ng
more cramped
aircraft to Forward Operating
than any commerBase Sal erno, l ocat ed i n
cial airliner. When
Khowst Province near the Payou consider that
ki st an border. We met t he
ev eryone i s recommander of the 3rd Briquired at thispoint
gade of t he 1 01st Ai rborne
to wear body arDivision (Air Assault), Colomor, hel met, and
nel Viet Luong, most interestthose wi th weapingly son of a Viet nam War
ons to carry them,
refugee. He joined the Army,
pl us a carry- on
he sai d, as a way of payi ng
bag, you can imagback for his citizenship and the
ine the tight condi- Sergeant Eakin owns two restaurants in
refuge our country gave to his
tions. Luckily the Greensboro, North Carolina named
fami ly.
Sweet
Basil’s
and
Basil’s
and
Lo
fl ight i s only 9 0
The 3/101 soldiers areknown
minutes.
as Rakkasans (Japanese for paratroopers)
On the way one of t he sergeants across from the days when they were stationed in
from us opened a copy of Food & W ine
Occupation Japan andlater jumped intocommagazine. Turns out he is owner and head
bat in Korea. The proud tradition persists.
chef of two restaurants in GreensWe spent
boro, NC, and i s deploying with his
some t ime
Nat ional Guard unit. His name is
wi th t he
Khan Eakin, and as w e talked he
publi c afgri nned and st uck a thumb over his
fairs officer,
shoulder. “My sous- chef is three
Major Justin
row s back,” he l aughed.
Pratt, who
We hit Bagram just before dawn
assi st ed us
and were barely inside the terminal
wi th maps
when the base was struck by severand Internet
al Tali ban rock et s. On al ert , we
connections
Riding
the
Blackhawk
learned that sadly an American conand offered
tractor had been killed in the attack. We
to embed us later with some of their units.
were in Bagram for three more days and
We hope to be able to take him up on his
took fire almost every night.
offer.
Before we flew out, we learned that the
After a few days in our own tent, we flew
new unit that had taken over the area of
in Blackhaw k hel icopters west to FOB
May2010
6
ADVENTURERS’ CLUB NEWS
InAfghanistan
Lightning, located on the other side of the
cigarette. It is a great chance to meet solfamous Khowst-Gardez Pass through the
diers and contractors and swap stories.
Hi ndu Kush mounWithin a few days,
tai ns. It w as a specafter gett ing accust acul ar ri de as w e
tomed to the 9,5 00
zigged through mounfoot altitude, we bet ai ns t hat tow ered
gan to ride on patrol
abov e us on bot h
missions with theMPs
sides of the hel icopinto the more remote
ter. The tops of the
vil lage areas. At the
mountai ns are st il l
moment the Taliban is
snow - cov ered and
just beginning to stir.
t ypi call y surround
Theyhunker downfor
hi gh alt it ude pl ai ns
the winter and come
upon which the Interout when the weather
national Security As- Afghan guard mans a roadside checkpoint
improves.
sist ance F orces have
We have an aggresbuilt bases.
sive schedule and will shortly be accompanyWhen we arrived at FOB Lightning we
ing units on dismounted cordon and search
felt at home, recognizing the soldiers with operations and visiting the moreremote outwhom we spent two weeks i n Germany
posts smack up against the Pak border.
prior to ChristI´ll have more
mas. U nli k e
from AfghaniIraq where I
stan as the emmostly lived in
bedunfolds. The
cont ai neri zed
weather
is
housing uni ts
warmingup and
(sort of l ow thingsare sureto
end mobi l e
get interesting.
homes) hous(Avery and I
ing in Afghaniare both blogstan consist s
gi ng ( war ri or of B-huts cobpolice.blogspot.com),
bl ed together
and posti ng
with plywood The lead vehicle, in which Avery rode, had a long arm extended things on my
and dimension from the front bumper with rollers on it
Facebook aclumber. Since smoking inside is forbidden,
count. Hope members who are interested
I usually wander outside to a communal
tune in to see our latest adventures along
smoking area to light a cigar, and Avery a
with some great photos.)
ADVENTURERS’ CLUB NEWS
7
May2010
Shanghai Tea Scam / Letters
(Shanghai continued from page 5)
drivers take you for a ride. It happened to
me in Beijing: 130 Yuan from airport to
hotel (info said about 90 Yuan, which is
what I paid from the hotel to the airport
three day later). This guy was insisting 150
Yuan so I told him to put the meter down,
and he still took extra.
The cab driv er in Hong
Kong took me on a circuitous
route from Temple Street in
Kow l oon t o Ferry
Landing, unt il I
st arted l aughi ng
at w hat he w as
doing and pulled
out a map. Then
he made a quick
U-turn in front of
thePeninsula Hotel and went the
right way.
Same in India (and I am from
there and speak fluent Indian and Nepalese). Last year going from the apartment
to Delhi airport to catch the flight to Ne-
pal at midnight, a cabbie took me on a circuitousroute. Once we reached theairport,
I told him to call his dispatch and then he
made a pretense of calling and told me the
li ne was cont inuously busy.
Eventually, he told me to pay
just what I thought was the
proper fare.
In Vienna, Austria,
l ast summer, the
Lonely Planet info and
the girl at the information desk said t hat it
would be 32 Euros from
ai rport t o hot el. A cabbie
who said he was from Croatia
took us on a altered route, and
w ent to the ot her side of the
Danube Canal which he did not have to
take. When I told him this was not the
Danube Canal, he looked totally startled,
and then meekly started acting as if he were
a tour guide, pointing out the sites on the
way to the hotel. Charge: 43 Euros.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Gem Show for thethirtieth (not the
third) time.
In the w rite-up of Koteka Quest
on March 4 th, the speaker relied more
on the video and hadno difficulties w ith
his presentation.
– Bob Zeman (#878)
We received the following note from Roger Haft.
– Editor
Dear Sid and Vince:
Thanks for providing one of the best programs
I have seen at the club. Keep up the good w ork.
– Roger Haft (#1098)
To the Editor:
I made a couple of errors in the last
issue of the Club News that I would like
to correct.
Charles Carmona's participated in
the Tucson, Arizona Int ernational
May2010
Thanks, Bob.And while I’m at it,thanks for your
dedicated effortsduring myabsence fromthe Editor’s
Post.I amcertain yourefforts havebeen appreciated
by everyone.– Editor
8
ADVENTURERS’ CLUB NEWS
ExploringArizona Mines
Exploring Arizona Mines
Gar y Mortimer #1086
I
hardhats, tall boots, gloves, ropes, safety
glasses, water and a minimum of three light
sources on each person. The group is very
experienced, and it is a real treat being invited to explore with them. Many of the
mines are accessible only by four w heel
drive vehicles and/or walking. To enhance
my safety, I only enter mine tunnels that
the experienced individuals have “checkedout” in advance. The photography is a bit
different than I am accustomed to – but
do not remember if I have rel at ed
my latest “adventure” stuff – exploring
very old mines for mineral samples.
Three foot rattler
This last weekend I entered an old mine
with a small group of mineral collectors.
Whilst in the shaft complex I was able to
photograph bats flying around my head, a
three-foot rattlesnake, and a big-horn sheep
that was using a shaft for his desert hide-away. A week before, a Ring-Tailed Cat was
encountered deep in a tunnel. We vacated
Ring-tailed cat
fun and informative. When the flash goes
off, who knows what it may reveal....
Earlierin the year, before the rattlesnakes
came out of their underground winterquarters, I took my Aussi, Pepper, on the trips,
but now that the snakes are out, she stays
home with Cheri. Besides, she does not
seem to like the rats and cactus stickers
that are in the mines. She tended to wait
for me at the entrance.
Desert big horn sheep
the tunnel in deference to the cats home
turf. We go into the hard-rock shafts with
ADVENTURERS’ CLUB NEWS
9
May2010
What’sHappening...
What’s Happening...
Medal of Honor recipient Walt Ehlers
(#1119)sharinga friendlymoment with
the Archives guys
Martin Bloom acquires newsailboat
Walt with
Pierre Odier
(#988)
M
Walt with
Mike Gwaltney
(#1128)
arti n Bloom (#11 47) is the proud
owner of a new 41 ft Beneteau that
he will be taking possession of on May 1.
Martin will be mooring the Kitty Hawk in
Marina del Rey, just a short distance from
Steve Peterson’s boat.
Things do get slow from time to time
Elyssa tells it like itis!
Frank Haigler
(#825) in a
recent moment
of reflection
Bob Silver (#728)
may or may not be
reflecting on the
General’s words.
O
n a recent meetingnight, Vince Weatherby’s young guest, Elyssa, regales onlookers with her representation of a bear
attack.
May2010
10
ADVENTURERS’ CLUB NEWS
What’sHappening...
sional category or personal bibliography,
either in the printed program or in oral introductions, no matter how distinguished
a presenter may be. In addition, the SPT
offers no support for travel or lodging, so
the present economic recession, plus the
closing of many airports due to Icelandic
volcanic ash, caused a fifty per cent reduction in the number of participants this year.
Prof.Claude L. Hulet does it again –
forthe 33rd time!
T
he XXXIII annual inter
national Symposium on
Portuguese Traditions (Europe, America, Africa, Asia),
founded and organized each
year by Claude L. Hulet, took place in the
Sunset Recreation Center at UCLA on the
17 th and 18 th of April.
Foreign scholars came from four continents to join UCLA and other American
scholars to present eighteen papers, many
of them illustrated, ten in Portuguese and
eight in English, the languages of the Symposium, during the two-day international
event sponsored by the Latin American Institute, the Medieval and Renaissance Center, and theDepartment of Spanish and Portuguese. Among other dignitaries, Consul
General of Brazil, Ambassador José Alfredo Graça Lima, and the Honorary Consul
of Portugal, Mr. Edmundo Macedo, honored the Symposium with their presenceand
warm welcome.
The following Universities and Foundations were represent ed: Lisboa, Nagoya,
New Mexico, Nova de Lisboa, Rio de Janei ro, as w ell as F resno, Stanford, UCB,
UCLA and UCSB, The Luso-Brazilian style
luncheons were the two customary axes
around which the Symposium revolves.
SPT is unique, inasmuch as it has no fixed
theme, participants come to present papers
on their on-going research, thus providing
an insight into what our profession is doing. Also, the SPT operates on the basis of
equality, their being no mention of profesADVENTURERS’ CLUB NEWS
Editor’s Note:
Eachmonth wewill featurerecent activitiesof members
andfriends onthis page.Please send your material
along with anyphotos tothe Editorby email or snail
mail. Designateit for “W hat’s Happening....”
11
May2010
BookReview - The Untouchables
BOOK REVIEW –
THE UNTOUCHABLES – Mission Accomplished
Authors: Brian Shul & Walt Watson, Gallery One, Marysville, CA, 2006 (184p; 11 x 14 x 1 hardbound), ISBN: 9780972268219. Revi ew adapted fr om Amazon.c om by Robert G. Wi ll isc roft #1116 – Edi tor.
I
n his highly acclaimed bestselling book
Sled Driver, pilot/author Brian Shul gave
us a personal glimpse at what it was like to
fly the world’s fastest jet and introduced
us to his RSO Walt Watson.
In The Untouchables, Shul
and Watson
take you with
them on their
hottest SR-71
mi ssi ons during the Libyan
Crisis in 1986.
Flying support
of t he F -1 11
bombi ng raid
on Libyan terrori st camps,
Shul and Watson were t he
only S R- 7 1
crew ev er t o
fly three missions in three days.
Roaring across the African desert faster
than a Magnum .357 bullet, the crew reveals in riveting detail what it was like to
outrun enemy missil es and complete the
most exhausting missions of their Blackbird career. The Success of every SR-71
mission flown also depended on the diverse
efforts of the many dedicated individuals
who made up the Blackbird community.
Shul masterfully intertwines cockpit action
with the fascinat ing revelations of that
May2010
unique cadre of civilians who helped design, build and maintain the most remarkableaircraft of the Twentieth Century. Lavishly illustrated with rare photographs, The
Untouchables is a riveting sister volume to
Sled Driver, takingyou straight
into the t hick
of
combat
t hrough t he
firsthand perspect iv es of
both pilot and
RSO. The Untouchables transport s you di rectly into the
cockpit as the
mi ssi on clock
cont i nues t o
t i ck dow n
and by li fti ng
you i nt o the
very essence of the SR-7 1 mystique, reveals through the poignant words of those
who were there why the people and the
plane were truly untouchable.
The Twentieth Anniversary Commemorative Edition of this magnificent book is
si gned by S hul , and is av ail abl e onli ne
through Amazon.com for as much as
$999.95! Club members can get a copy directly from author Shul for well below a
hundred dollars – assuming, in fact, that
he still has any copies left.
12
ADVENTURERS’ CLUB NEWS
Thrawn Rickle
THE THRAWN RICKLE
Robert G. Willi scroft #1116 – Edi tor
I
’m back! I can tell
you that there is
at least one happy
person – Bob Zeman. He intends to
stay on as Assistant
Editor, however, to
pi ck up t he slack
w hen I get ov erwhelmed. With abit
of luck, and the membership (that’s you
guys!) submitting material, we will try to
put out an edition every month.
Just keep in mind that the morematerial we
receive, the morediversewe canmake theNews.
I will be looking for three kinds of input:
(1) Articles about whatever you are doing
or have done, anything that will interest our
readers; (2) Short items about your current
activities for “What’s Happening...,” with
photos if possible; and (3) Photos of anything you are doing. In the modern world, I
can always find an appropriate photo on
the Web, but we are all more interested in
seeing your own material, your own photographic efforts – especially now that Steve,
Shane, and Rick have told us how to do it.
We had an event happen in our home this
Friday that has given me pause to think.
Michele has owned a miniature Schnauzer
since 1996. He and I had several altercations when I first came into Michele’s life,
but event ual ly Winnie and I reached a
grudging respect for each other.
The past several weeks, the little fellow
became rather ill, with an age-related condition for which there really is nothing one
can do. During the past week, he and Ispent
ADVENTURERS’ CLUB NEWS
a lot of “quality time” together, genuinely
cementing out relationship. Then, at 2:30
am Saturday morning, it became clear that
he was at the end of his journey. We took
him to the vet, where he was injected with
a tranquilizer while nestled in Michele’s
arms. Winnie went OTGA with quiet contentment, knowing he was loved.
During this same period, I have been assembling and verifying thenew Roster. This
process has brought me into contact with
several of our older members, and I was
reminded that the Club has been a part of
their lives for a very long time. When was
the last time you spent some “quality time”
with one of our senior members?
I ask you to keep in mind that every Club
member was once an active adventurerwho
earned the qualifications to be selected for
membership. For a couple, the scourge of
Alzheimer’s has robbed their mental acuity
and even their memories of adventure, but
for the remaining older members, although
perhaps no longer able to get about, their
minds are strong and active. I know what
it would mean to some of our older brothers to spend a few hours with a younger
member who wants to hear their tales of
adventure, and w ho wants to share the
unique camaraderie our Club represents.
It might even be possible for several active members to bring an older member to
a Club meeting, and make sure he is properly att ended and brought back home.
Don’t j ust pass this off as another good
ides. Please do something about it!
The password for the online edition is
“acla1 005”.
13
May2010
Minutes– March 25, 2010
THURSDAY NIGHTS AT THE CLUB
March 25, 2010
Shane Berry (#1093)
since he exposed to get maximum sky images, then “developed” the photos into attractive images. These were some photos
from his recent trip to Cuba .
The el ements of photos hav e not
changed. The discussion i ncluded the
guidelines called ruleof thirds, leading lines
and vertical composi tion. Elements of a
presentation were included, fill flash as was
the concept of catching the peak of action. Equipment was discussed, tripods,
difference of use and needs of types of
cameras, inexpensive and expensive were
considered and the significant improvements of less ex pensive cameras. It still
Adventure Photography
dventurers travel to all the corners of
the earth i n all types of conditi ons,
weather, elev ati ons and pol itical situati ons. Most adventurers li ke to phot ograph and document their t ravels and discov eries. Adventure photographers have
special needs.
Steve Bein talked about the similarity of
film vs. digital. Though he now exclusively
A
Steve Bein with a Golden Eagle
uses digital, he grew up with film. He considers that the digital files are to be treated
as negative film, to be developed into a
satisfactory image, just as film in the past.
Although he gave some examples of digital play with images, his basic talk was that
the digital file is the place from which to
make an attractive picture. He discussed
the useof the histogram to include the most
data in photos. Though this looks washed
out if the histogram is towards the right,
but not fully right, the data is most usable.
He also showed the dynamic range with
some photos which appeared too dark,
May2010
Shane Berry in Morocco
boils down to the person behind the camera more than the equipment.
It is a constant trade off between weight,
cost, quality of gear and what you want to
achieve with your images. What gear do I
take? How do you get by with a minimum
of gear? Shane Berry is basically an outdoor landscape photographer and he is able
to get all of his photography needs down
14
ADVENTURERS’ CLUB NEWS
Minutes– March 25 & April 8, 2010
to seven pounds. He gave a short demonstration onhis basic photography equipment
needs whendoing adventure travel photog-
the Nik’s computer software for photography. HDR is the hot button for landscape
photography which produces images that
can be of National Geography quality. Software programs such as Photomatix makes
HDR easy for every photographer. Nik’s
software is a plug-in forusers of Photoshop,
Lightroom and Aperture that can produce
amazing images using the Nik’s Silver Efex
Pro (B+W), Color Efex Pro 3.0 and Viveza 2.0. Some of his photos of Brazil, Bolivia, Morocco, Cambodia, Picos De Europa National Park in Spain and Utah were
on display.
Downtown from Hahn - Rick Flores
raphy. His camera gear includes a Canon
XSI Rebel camera body, aCanon 17-55 MM
2.8 lens with image stabilization, an EF 70300 MM F/4-5.6 image stabilization telephoto lens, polarizing filter, U/V hazy filter and warming filter, Lee’s Neutral Density Graduated filter ( .6) with a Conkin
holder and a step-up ring holderfor thetelephoto lens, and finally a Manfrotto backpacking tripod. A Tamrac 515 camera bag
holds his main camera.
Shane Berry gave a short discussion on
High Dynamic Range (HDR) and some of
April 8, 2010
Bob Z eman ( #878)
A
llan Smith is leaving for Washington
DC to promote his movie Rescue Men.
Larr y Stern promoted a book cal led
Tears in the Darkness. It
i s about t he Bataan
Death March and what
happened l ater. The
mai n character is Ben
Steele, of Billings, Montana, who i s t he first
cousin of Judy Steele,
Larry’s wife.
Charles Car mona returned from a visit
to the Aria Hotel in Las Vegas. Charles,
who neither smokes, drinks nor gambles
says the hotel is just as decadent as the others.
We had a surprise visit from Bill Morse
who now lives with his wife on a two-year
commitment in Cambodia. Since their arrival, the mine detection unit has cleared
163,000 square meters of land and found
Photographers Shane Berry, Rick Flores &
Steve Bein
(Mi nutes continued on page 16)
ADVENTURERS’ CLUB NEWS
15
May2010
Minutes–April 8, 2010
(Mi nutes continued from page 15)
100 land mines in this area. Duri ng this
period, there were 23,000 signals given that
turned out
t o be ol d
belt buckles, cans or
other scrap
metal.
Thei r
M u se u m
also acts as
Every Child has a right to walk an orphanin safety
age. Bill returns in a few days, with Pierre Odier to
visit an area on the Thai border. Temperatures are in the 90-degree range and the
humidity is often around 95 percent. Nevertheless, the NGO has not lost a man due
to their excellent training.
Bob Oberto returned from a demonstration at NASA’s Dryden Space Center. The
G l obal Hawk
was conducting atmospheric experiments.
Thi s
unmanned UAV
has a range of NASA’s Global Hawk
3 0, 0 00 mi les
and can fly at an altitude of 60,000 feet.
Robert Williscroft was startled to find
an 80-pound pit bull attacking hi s front
door. He called the police.
Jay Foonberg was privileged recently to
enjoy a conversation with 99-year old John
Wooden. Though physically frail, the man
still is mentally brilliant.
Steve Bein brought some artifacts back
from Midway Island, that he donated to the
May2010
Club. Steve also told the story of Masada
as he showed a pot chard from the area.
Mas ada
He found some items from the area of the
legendary King Solomon’s mines.
The Invasion of Grenada
M
ajor General William Mall (USAF ret)
planned and led the U. S. invasion of
Grenada in 1983.
A 9,750 ft runway had been built on the
The Island of Granada
island anda military coup supportedby Cuba
had taken control of the government. President Ronald Reaganwas concerned about the
16
ADVENTURERS’ CLUB NEWS
Minutes–April 8, 2010
289 American medical students there and
asked the Air Force to evacuate them.
General Mall was called from a football
game on Saturday and flown to Fort Bragg,
North Carolina, where the plans were being drawn up. All of the James Bond gear
was there. But the operation (Urgent Fury)
grew from a rescue operation to an invasion.
In the midst of this, it turned out that
the Marines who were going to land in the
north of the island had different frequencies on their radios from those of the U. S.
Army’s 82 nd airborne divi sion who were
landing on the south.
General Mall’s missi on was to land a
number of gunships each with 56 paratroopers on the island. He had hoped to land the
planes on the runway but it was sabotaged.
He sent a surveillance crew in but its boat
was swamped and the engine quit.
In air drops, someone always is injured
and troops are always scattered. But the
troops had to bail out at 500 feet over the
island and the drop was successful.
On Sunday afternoon, a Navy seal team
was dropped in the water and four men
drowned in heavy surf.
The gunshi ps l eft Florida on Tuesday
(four days after the football game) with no
lights in radio silence. They expected light
fire from one enemy 20 millimeter gun but
were surprised by anti-aircraft fire from
about 17 guns. This was due to the enemy
being warned.
The two lead aircraft were hit by lightning and anti-aircraft fire and veered off
the island. So the troops on General Mall’s
plane were the first to land. Soon excellent
firi ng by support ai rcraft w iped out the
worst enemy guns. But the men of the 82 nd
were undersniper fire for two days. As they
were low on fuel, thegunships then flew to
Howard AFB in Panama.
A squadron of F-15s was on alert in case
enemy aircraft attacked the operation. So
the squadron missed the war.
As a result, a democratic government was
installed in Grenada and the students were
evacuated in good shape. The missing surveillance group was found three days after
the invasion.
Interestingly, the commander of theArmy
B-47 Stratojet
unit was Norman Schwartzkopf who never met a press conference he did not like.
In retrospect, General Mall said t here
were a number of situations in which the
U. S. could have lost a lot of men but only
19 lost their lives.
In answer to questions, General Mall said
he likes the B-47s. They are faster at 850
knots than the B-52s at 650 knots. Also,
theycan beoperated witha three-man crew.
The B-58 Hustler was too hot because it
used vacuum tubes rather than transistors.
C-5s are too big and take up too much air(Mi nutes continued on page 18)
ADVENTURERS’ CLUB NEWS
17
May2010
Minutes– April 8 & 15, 2010
(Mi nutes continued from page 17)
port.
During the Cuban missile crisis, General
Mall was flying a B-47 equipped with nuclear devices. If given
the order, he was prepared to fly to his designati on and drop his
weapons. At the time,
the US had numerous
bombers, 1 48 ICBMs
and 4 6 submarines
ready to attack if t he
Soviets had not backed down.
gel ’s F light funicular in Los Angeles. It
stopped working during their ride.
Jim Dorsey returned from back-to-back
trips to Baja. He collected data on the diminishing numbers of gray whales. These
figures wi ll be summarized and taken to
Washington DC in an effort to put the gray
whale on the endangered species list.
April 15, 2010
Bob Z eman ( #878)
V
ince Weatherby and Robert DeMott
stepped in to preside tonight.
Steve Bein and Shane Berr y returned
from a weekend trip to the Antelope Valley. The lighting was good in the morning
but the poppies weren’t blooming. Around
midday the poppies came out in their splendor.
Bob Silver and Steve Pe ter man attempted to ride the newly-renovated An-
Gray Whale up close and personal
Alan Feldstein returned from a divetrip
to Bird Rock near Catalina where the visibility approached 100 feet.
Rick Flores returned from a quick trip
to Connecticut.
Vince noted that Bill Burke who recently gave us a program on being the oldest
American to summit Mt. Everest is back
in Nepal for another attempt.
The stage looks much better now thanks
to the renovation efforts of Mike Gwaltney.
Robert Williscroft is putting out a new
roster. He urged all to update their data.
Marc Weitz is presenting a lecture on
Art Deco of Africa this Saturday.
Gene Arias is currently public information officer for his group at Los Alamitos.
Angel’s Flight – Downtown Los Angeles
May2010
18
ADVENTURERS’ CLUB NEWS
Minutes–April 15, 2010
Recently, two enlisted men – a sergeant major and the son of an LAPD officer – were
killed overseas. Their bodies were brought
back to Los Alamitoswhere full military honors were rendered. Gene showed slides of
these emotional ceremonies.
John Goddard donated two items for
auction at the Night of High Adventure.
One was a mushroom coral and the other
was an artifact from Truk Lagoon. Truk was
the site for the Japanese auxiliary ships in
World War II and was hit by two Allied
bombing raids.
This is caused by three things – large increase
inhuman populationwhich causes more pollutants flowingto the ocean; El Nino storms
Giant kelp forest
Ocean Restoration Project
N
ancy Caruso is a trained marine biologist who runs a nonprofit called
“Get Inspired.” She says there is no science without creativity.
whichripped hugeamounts of kelp fromtheir
bases and spreading of the sea urchins which
completelydestroy thenutrients on the rocks
where the kelp hold fast.
Nancy Caruso
She described the giant kelp that can
grow up to 110 feet tall. It is an algae and
used in making many products. A few decades ago, kelp was regularly harvested,
without damage.
Now, 80 percent of the kelp forests off
of Southern California has disappeared.
Black Sea Urchin
Nancy goes to public schools to show the
comparisons between the kelp forests and
our forests in the mountains. She teaches
(Mi nutes continued on page 20)
ADVENTURERS’ CLUB NEWS
19
May2010
Minutes–April 15, 2010
(Mi nutes continued from page 19)
children how to plant and grow kelp. She
has had success over the years at Crystal
Cove in Orange County and Heisler Park
Beach in Laguna.
sea urchins’ natural predators have been
removed from the local coastal waters.
Our Indian
a nc e s t o r s
used t o pi ck
up abalone at
low tide. Then
t he Chi nese
arri v ed and
paid for abalone t o send
back to their
count ry. The
Japanese used
divers to find
the deeper abal one. Wi t h
the growth of the local abalone industry
and sport divers, the abalone were depleted from our coastline.
Today there are strict rules for taking abalone – only allowed in northern California; divers must be free divers, a limit of
three per day, and a minimum size of nine
inches.
Nancy uses money from grants t o buy
baby abalone from an abalone farm in Goleta. She andher volunteers then plant them
off the Orange Countycoastline. She is also
trying t o restore t he
white sea bass population.
She urged all to attend the kelp fest held
April 24 on the main
beach in Laguna to celebratethe return of the
kelp and see the exhibits.
Red Sea Urchin
The kelp is grown in small tank s in
schools and then transplanted to the ocean
where volunteer diverstake it down to tiles
placed on the bottom. The young plants
are then rubber banded to the tiles.
Sea Urchin Eggs - Sushi
Nancy has recruited 287 divers over the
years to aid in this project. They also aid in
removing the sea urchins, which are a serious threat to the giant kelp, because the
May2010
20
ADVENTURERS’ CLUB NEWS
Programs/ Notes
Forthcoming Programs
April 1, 2010
April 8, 2010
April 15, 2010
April 22, 2010
–
–
–
–
April 29, 2010 –
May 6, 2010
May 13, 2010
May 20, 2010
May 27, 2010
–
–
–
–
June 3, 2010
June 10, 2010
June 17, 2010
June 24, 2010
–
–
–
–
Bus Cornelius – Experiences of World War II
Major General William J. Mall, Jr, USAF (ret.) – Grenada Invasion
Nancy Caruso – Get Inspired!
Mike Leum –Train like your life depends on it, because someday
mine might depend on you
LADIES NIGHT – Yue Chi –Drive the Silk Road: From Istanbul
to Beijing
[open]
Jack Hammett – Pearl Harbor Dec 7th 1941, “I was there!”
[open]
Joe Fuhrman & Steve Bein – Midway Atoll Photographs and
Experi ences
[open]
[open]
[open]
Allan Smith – Making of Rescue Men: The Story of the Pea Island
Life-Savers
NOTES
ADVENTURERS’ CLUB NEWS
21
May2010
PO Box 31226
Los Angeles CA90031
Adventurers’ Club News©
The
May 2010
FIRST CLASS MAIL