Travels With Frito: Leaving Eureka Dunes

My mood was somber as Frito and I crawled the twenty miles across the empty desert, back towards Big Pine and civilization. The long, slow drive away from Eureka Dunes is always made regretful by the fact that you're departing this extraordinarily beautiful location. I've been there a half dozen times over the years, and who knows when I'll be back?

But depart I must, however slowly. Ten miles per hour; that's the maximum sensible speed on this seldom-graded highway across Eureka Valley. In the interest of preserving both shock absorbers and steering rack, the best thing to do is put on some good music, open both windows and sit back and enjoy the still-cool desert air, the morning sunshine and, in this case, "Neck and Neck" by Chet Atkins and Les Paul .

For nearly an hour I'd been doing just that, when on the horizon, far down the road ahead, a mirage appeared. The image was indistinct, wavering and shimmering as mirages do, but gradually it resolved into a familiar shape. It was another Sprinter. A big one, an NCV3 and apparently moving slowly, too.

As we converged there in the empty desert, I realized that he was going to stop for a chat. Why not? Neither of us had seen another vehicle for nearly an hour, and we were both driving Sprinters.

The huge Sportsmobile conversion pulled to a stop across from me and the driver, grinning from ear to ear, leaned out the window and shouted across to me: "PETER! And Frito!"

"What the heck?", I thought to myself. This guy, his wife and his vehicle were perfect strangers. As far as I could tell, I'd never seen either of them before in my life. "Who is this?", I thought, wracking my brains frantically.

"Do I know you?", I finally asked, feeling guilty for not recognizing the couple.

"I'm Fosterama! From the Sprinter forum!", he said. "We read your article on Eureka Dunes and decided to come here!"

Turns out, he'd recently retired, sold his retail business and decided that the Sprinter life was for them. So they got themselves one. A totally badass 4WD Sportsmobile conversion. A gorgeous unit with hot and cold running everything.



He told me that one of their first destinations, Eureka Dunes (and in fact the Sprinter purchase, too) was inspired by the "Travels With Frito" articles. Totally made my day, lifting me from desultory regret to delighted surprise in an instant. An awesome, fortuitous and happy meeting in the middle of nowhere if ever there was one.

So thanks, Fosterama for being my smallest, most committed fan club. Many happy trails to you both.

Hi Glasseye,
It was a fat chance we would see you and Frito below the Last Chance range.
As we were bumping down the washboard in Eureka Basin we didn't think we'd bump into you!
As we drove 10 mph (sometimes speeding right along at 15) we saw a white Sprinter up ahead and joked that it might be you- and it was!
Serendipity to have our paths cross like that!
Thanks for planting the idea- we had 2 great days at the dunes.
We just got back from the two week desert trip so I'll post a trip report once I go through the pictures on my cell phone.
Here is one of you with your classic avatar pose:

Hey Peter

Your Fan Club is probably way bigger than you realize. Count me in.

Thank you for all the wonderful pictures and very readable stories of your adventures.

Aghh! Looks like Bladerunner has attacked the forum pix!

Thanks, Camosun. IMHO, this forum is among the best on any subject, anywhere on the Internet. Anything I can do to make it appealing and useful is my privilege.