Preamble:
Many years ago in the Old South Africa a group of youngsters stole a old man neighbour's garden Gnome & took it with on a trip to Europe.
This was before Social Media - they would take photos of the Gnome at various sites in Europe (Eiffel Tower, London Bridge, the Ponte Vecchio in Florence, on a Ski Slope in Austria etc.) &then post them, with a letter from the Gnome to the owner in SA.
Birth of an Idea:
At Marakele I was chatting to a few of the ladies & one of them (I think it was Monica) told a story of friends of hers who took a Mascot (think it was a Minion) on a trip & posted pics of it at great locations.
We decided it would be a great idea. I just needed time to thrash out the 'How & Why'...
The First 4x4AG Trip Mascot:
Erno (Muttley on this Forum) a 'sleeper' Club member did just this on his recent Namaqua/Richtersveld/Wes Kus trip.
He & his mates took a little wooden crocodile along which they photographed along the way (see below).
They took it further, they had rules about the croc, each day one person had to care for it, leaving it in the car or forgetting to put it to bed etc would get you a strafdop.
The Mascot Challenge:
Get yourself a Mascot,
Take it on a trip.
Take pictures.
Post the best one's here.
NB: Anyone can enter, but if you win you need to attend the YEF or collect your prize, I'm not posting it to Oleg in Tajikistan...
At the end of the Club year we will get everyone to vote on the best pics.
At the YEF every year we will announce the winner.
I'll arrange an appropriate prize for the winner.
I think we should restrict it to 5 pics per Mascot per Trip to stop some chop dumping dozens of pics here.
Obviously, to win you need:
* A great Mascot
* Great settings
* Good quality, well taken photos.
Erno is the first entry (even though his trip was a few months ago - but he is the 'starter' entry).
You have one year.
Let's see how much fun this can be...
Many years ago LCCSA had something similar.
However there was only one mascot which was passed from member to member who then posted reports.
Not surprisingly it disappeared somewhere along the way and that was the end of it.
On our ACVWSA forum years ago we actually had a beetle we would do the same
But post it to one another country wide and take pics and post it on the Forum
Great idea
Syncro Cox Camper
SJ 410 TarzanTiny
Millennium Beetle VR6 T Liberty
And a few VW Air cooled Toys
However there was only one mascot which was passed from member to member who then posted reports.
This is what was suggested at our Marakele chat.
However I decided that was a kak idea because:
1. The logistics of getting it from Tripee tp Tripee.
2. It would go missing (as LCCSA found out).
On our ACVWSA forum years ago we actually had a beetle we would do the same
But post it to one another country wide and take pics and post it on the Forum
Great idea
I saw pics of that beetle, I think Dirk Shubert showed me, this, the chat with the girls & the Gnome story is what started this idea (for the4x4AG Challenge) fermenting in my sick, twisted mind...
… many years ago ( 20 ?! ) a group of about 4 of us
campers found we all had Black Kettles so we there & then constituted ourselves as
“The Honourable Order of the Black Kettle”
These days I'm only in touch with one of those pioneers but occasionally still send Black Kettle setting photies from various campsites that I happen to be at …
Eg. Top to Bottom:
1. Remote site West of MataMata …
2. Blouberg GR
3. KZN Midlands BoerWar BattleFields Trip.
4. Barberton Mtn Land nr Eureka Ghost City
5. Wild Camp at Itala … above Pongola R.
6. Marakele … overlooking the Vlei
…
Attachments
... Famous Fiver VoorLoper ...
... Veni Vidi Vici ...
