Nets up!  Constipated fershlugginer outbound distbin is now dumping vast 
   quantities of drivel across the ether, among this vile spew is a jewel or
   two such as the following.

   Duel In The Desert...The first ever Vanagon Chili Devastation.

   Panamint Beach Chili Cookoff and fais do do.
        
   Ken and Jerry, the proprietors of this high desert roadhouse, welcome the
   vanagoneers to their Panamint Springs "Resort".

   AAA map reference is Death Valley and Lake Mead.  Panamint Springs is 
   east of Lone Pine CA on SR 190 in Death Valley National Park.  For those
   coming up from Ridgecrest through the TronaZone you'll go left on Panamint
   Valley Road 30.6 mi north of Trona, and then left on SR190 to Panamint
   Springs Resort.  For the rest of the pilgrims, coming from the great 
   beyond you're on your own.  Recommendations are go to Death Valley Jct.
   (SR190 and SR127) and follow SR190 west to PSR.

   OK now that you're orientated, why in the blazes would you blow a
   perfectly good fall weekend to hoof around in the vastness with a bunch of
   bus junkies anyhoo?  

   DVNP is delightful in fall and spring and hellish in the summer and cold
   in the winter so now's the time.  Time for what, you ponder...

   Beach Party!  Bring yer sun stuff, yer chair, and a Hawai'ian style shirt,
   heck, it's the last party of the summer, ain't it?

   Stuff that might go down:

   The first ever Vanagon Chili Devastation.  Cooked on site for your
   gustatorial ecstasy.  Amaze yer friends with yer Culinary Prowess!

   Moonlight Mtn Bike Ride.

   Panamint Beach Bocce Championships.

   Premier Desert Open Competition Lizard toss.

   Death Valley National Park Inaugural Dutch Oven Gourmet Extravaganza.

   Tasting of Rassleberry Beers from yer own private stash of uBrewery
   Kraftwerk as schlepped through the vastness in yer conveyance.
   
   Buzzard Watching, Power-lounging, instructional help on building yer own
   kuhlsnake (Bring a bandanna and a needle and thread).

   Moonlight skinny dipping at Saline Valley Warm Springs (Palm Springs).
   
   Various side trips and exploratory expeditions to such notables as Darwin
   Cyn., Kelso Dunes, Mahogany Flat, Saline Valley, Stovepipe wells, Devils
   Golfcourse, Ubehebe Crater, Scotty's castle, Furnace Creek, Badwater,
   Dante's View, Zabriskie Point, Artists Drive and the beat goes on...

   Ken and Jerry's fone service provider a cell-feller from Beatty folded so
   they have no direct fone.  They do have a fine bar with draft beers, hot
   showers, motel accommodations, potentially a couple of potbellied pigs,
   one named Charlotte, a fine dawg named Rex, a good shaded campground area
   and a large flat location suitable for circling the wagons in true
   vanagoneer style.

   If yer cookin' chili, and y'oughter, they have 110AC available so you kin
   use that old crockpot one more time before the garage sale.  

   Soooo....

   Some folx will be arriving Wed nite or so they say.  Jerry said via a 
   fone message, that we were all welcome and he'd put up the whole passel
   with no problem and we din't need reservations or anything like that.

   Last time I checked camping electrically was ~$15/night camping wohu was
   like $7 per campsite and the starry view campsite on the grande prairie
   was free.

   With the knowledge that most will be available at PSR Saturday Night, 
   let's make the chili festivation for Saturday Night.  Thursday night
   is bag what you can on the way in if you're gonna be there Thursday, or
   eat at the fine restaurant on the premises and blotto out at the bar or
   some such.  

   Friday night could be a pasta, garlic bread, bag salad, sort of thing for
   those in attendance for moonlight bocce or a lizard toss.  Easy to do,
   hardly any prep and the salad can be killed before Saturday's Chili
   Devastation. 

   Lunches are on your own as is traditional.  Breakfasts can be arranged as
   Dutch oven delights, potato and green chili surprise, biscuits and gravy
   or some such nonsense depending on volunteers and consumer demands.

   The main thing is endofsummer magical madness involving hawaiian shirts
   chili, beer, moonlight, porcine personalities, hot showers and the silence
   of the high desert.

   If you plan to do chili, and you should, contact me directly.

   Bring List:

   Hawaiian Shirt 
   Appetite
   One GIANT SIZE SIX POUND Firelog per person.
   Some Razberry beer (Wasatch, Black Dog, Petes Winter Brew, Pyramid, Hood
   River etc etc.)
   Flashlight
   Money for the bar and campsites
   Dutch Oven
   yer lunch stuff
   Mtn Bike with lights for a ride if you do that sort of thing
   Binoculars
   Camera, Flash,Film
   Lots of Alu-Mag Engine Case Combustibles (Tradition here)
   Hat, sungoo, lawn chair.
   Single Malt
   Walking Shoes

   So I'll be there Friday afternoon to greet the early worms and await the 
   come-latelies.

   alf (head-chili-head)

   PS:  If y'all never done no chili I can post out a recipe or three for you to   try yer hand on.  

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         ___  / __   __/   ____/         Al Knoll HP Performance Technology /
        /    /      /     /             Center    Roseville, CA, USA 95747 /
       _____/      /     /             916.785.9453    (Telnet 785-9453)  /
      /           /     /             email:  alf@hpptc38.rose.hp.com    /
   __/         __/   ______/         ___________________________________/