I came to CA from New England in 1984 and coming through the desert in CA I thought it was the most desolate place I ever saw.  Nothing but rocks, scrub brush and emptiness as far as I could see.  I came to work in construction and see what CA was all about.

We moved to a neighborhood in San Diego, and I worked in construction. On a Friday night a neighbor down the street met up with another family with motorhomes, trailers and desert toys headed to the sand dunes.  It was some strange looking equipment and tires, but it looked like it would be fun.

The following year I met the neighbor down the street, and he told me about life in Glamis.  He offered to let us come along sometime in the next season.

While working on a large construction site as the superintendent my foreman’s truck needed to stay at certain location to allow the crew to use the generator that was mounted to his truck.  He walked around the site and really needed an onsite means to get around.  We asked the shop for another truck however none were available but offered a “quad" if that would work.  Not knowing much about them I said OK.  They sent us an ’85 250 two stroke quad racer. Late one Friday I asked if I could ride it on the site and after that ride I was hooked.   

Within a year I had 6 quads of different sizes for each of the family and one spare. We went to the Glamis for the first time with the neighbor on Veteran’s weekend 1990 and have been going ever since.

Since then we have camped along Gecko Road every year and enjoy family and friends along with meeting lots of people and their families enjoying good times in the desert. 

While camped along Gecko I met Bob Mason and he talked to me about what was happing with access to the desert and the efforts to keep it open to everyone. Through Bob I got informed about what the challenges were and the effort needed to help keep the dunes open.  My sons and I soon found ways to volunteer at events like the ASA Media Day, Desert Clean ups and facilitating the people and things to help spread the word about the coordinated help needed behind the scenes.  

My sons ran the Desert clean up station at the ranger station for many years along with volunteering in the camp ground area at the SSSS at the Orange County fair grounds.  The ASA provides breakfast and lunch to the vendors and volunteers that help the ASA with their continued efforts to spread the information to keep duners informed.

We went to several dune information meetings held at vendors that support the dunes community and the ASA.  Meetings at Sand tires unlimited, Funco, Fodrill Motor sports, and others.   

For their efforts they were nominated for the JRS Volunteer Service award.  

We continue to enjoy the dunes and help out where we can.  My sons now bring their families, the next generation of duners.