On May 2nd through 6th, I attended the 19th Annual DAM Gathering of the Tears at the Antlers RV Resort at Lakehead on Shasta Lake. As I said of last year’s gathering “I haven’t had so much fun with my clothes on in a long time.” Since last year’s gathering.
I arrived at the Antlers resort on Wednesday the 2nd, a day before the official opening of festivities. There were already about 30 trailers at the site.
I had decided to take a site on the other side of the loop, but when I found my site from last year (near enough to the restrooms/showers for convenience, but not too close) was open, I decided to take it. As I parked my trailer, the folks next to me were setting up their camp with the trailer turned 90 degrees to the driveway direction. My trailer’s overall length precludes that, but I think it was an advantage in the next day’s rain storm.
Wednesday was overcast and warm, but we had received multiple weather forecasts calling for rain on Thursday, so I set up two sides to my canopy to try to keep the rain away from my cabin door. My canopy is only 10 feet wide, so if it covers the galley with the hatch open, it barely reaches the cabin door. I suffered with water dripping down my neck from the canopy while cooking for a while until my neighbor Fred suggested using my Coleman Lantern stand as a tent pole to extend my canopy out over the galley.
My canopy extension
The photo was shot Friday after the sun came out. The Gathering looked a bit like a refugee camp after a hurricane by mid-day Friday as everyone hung out their wet tarps, tents, and canopies to dry in the sun.
The real fun started Friday night with the Dutch Oven cook-off. I don’t know how many cooks entered the competition, but many others just brought DO items just to share for the pot luck dinner. I always have trouble deciding what to bring to pot luck dinners, so I decided to make what I make best; beer. I made a special beer for the gathering, my DAM Red Ale, and then at the last minute made a batch of English Dark Mild Ale to have a lower alcohol alternative. Few people liked the Mild, but the DAM Red ale was pretty popular.
The DO Cookoff was won by Debbie (Nevadatear) with her Pina Colada cake, which I had watched her make that afternoon, and the People’s Choice Award went to Steve Vaz (Reddiver) for his Dutch Oven Chicken Enchillada Thing. I was lucky to get the last piece of the cake. Yum!
Friday evening also featured the celebration of Lee’s cross-country scooter race victory. Lee (Lazybones) built a scooter for the Scooter Cannonball Run from Georgia to LA on the chassis and body of a 1953 Salsbury scooter, and rode it across the country at speeds of up to 95 MPH to win the race by a substantial margin. Many of us followed his progress in posts on the Teardrops and Tiny Travel Trailers forum (www.tnttt.com).
Lee’s Salsbury Scooter
On Saturday, I tried to take a picture of every trailer at the gathering. I can’t just walk by and snap a picture. I have to greet and introduce myself, chat a little, maybe accept a cold beverage, etc. In other words, I dawdle, and it took from 11:00 AM to almost 5:00 PM to make the complete rounds. I know I missed several trailers but you can see most of them in my 2012 DAM Gathering gallery.
Saturday evening brought the Giant Chili Pot Luck dinner in which we all contribute our chili (canned or home made) to one giant pot. It always turns out much better than I would expect for such a random mixture. Once again, I brought a keg of beer (thanks to Rob Brooks for carrying it from my camp to the dinner). About half way through the evening, someone came to me saying “there’s nothing but gas coming out of the tap.” A quick inspection revealed that we had, indeed consumed all 5 gallons of the DAM Red Ale. There was still some Mild as well as some single-malt whisky remaining at my campsite, so several of us adjourned there for night caps before turning in.
Sunday morning after breakfast, I packed up my camp, hitched up my trailer, said goodbye to old and new friends and headed north to Grants Pass, Oregon to visit a friend.
You can read about my near disaster on the trip home in the DAM Near a Disaster post preceding this one.
All’s well that ends well, and my second DAM Gathering trip was a huge success and a lot of fun. I can’t wait for next year’s 20th Anniversary gathering.