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Exploradores cruise into 45th year

The Exploradores RV Travel Club is motoring closer to their exciting 45-year milestone, and their detailed scrapbooks highlight the trips, friendships and memories they have made along the way. Newspaper clippings and photographs of smiling faces have become a wonderful archival keepsake.

“We had something in there about every outing,” said Winnie Lodes, a charter member who was present at the club’s inception.

This nonprofit organization, founded in 1963, was originally named the Exploradores Trailer Club. “We started out as a trailer club,” said Lodes. “Most of us were friends and that is how it started originally.”

Back in the day, the members were younger with children. These days, the members are enjoying their golden years, with a few baby boomer members sprinkled in. “The membership changed quite a bit as time went on,” said Lodes.

Bob and Marie Sanchez founded the club that was limited to 20 trailers at the time, some of which were pickup campers. The first board members were Gene Emge, president; Fred Hemstreet, vice president; Eileen Pickering, secretary; Fred Robinson, treasurer; Maie Ellis, publicity director; and Bob Sanchez, trail master.

The first trip the group took, in November of 1963, was to “Little Pass Primitive Area” in the Anza Borrego State Park. “It looks like four families went on the first trip,” said current president Clay Mallard as he perused the scrapbook clip of an article from the old Fallbrook Enterprise newspaper.

This club has made its own history coasting, at times, to some long-distance campouts. In 1965, they went to Las Vegas and New Mexico. In 1970, they trekked to Chilliwack, British Columbia. In the early 1970s, they went to St. Helen’s in Oregon and Colorado Springs, CO. They visited Death Valley in 1992.

Although some of the faces have changed in the club, the one thing that remains is the central focus of those involved: to get outdoors and enjoy yourself, said Mallard.

Currently, the club has 30 rigs and trips are planned on a monthly basis. “We black out the months of June, July, August and December for our Christmas party,” Mallard said. The trips typically start on a Friday night and all return home on Sunday afternoon.

Trips are planned in advance by the Wagon Master, and this title is changed on a monthly basis. “They fill out the calendar a year ahead of time,” said Mallard.

Although many club members are from Fallbrook, Lodes and Mallard claim to have had members who have resided in Escondido, Oceanside, Riverside, La Palma, Los Angeles and Orange County.

Mallard considers the club to be fun, with an adventurous group. Their favorite activities, he said, include horseshoes, train rides, card games, dominoes, hiking, campfires and bird watching.

While this organization is on the go, they have also learned to take in the beauty of the nature around them and relax. “It’s also a chance to really get to know your friends,” said Mallard. “People are looking for good quality time, and if you are in a certain age bracket you take advantage of that.”

The Exploradores have built a reputation for being generous with the community, such as making donations to the Fallbrook Hospital Auxiliary, Food Pantry and fire victims. “We are grateful that we are doing well enough to support others in some small way,” said Mallard.

When thinking back to the Exploradores Trailer Club, Lodes has very happy memories.

For Mallard, it has been the friendships. “Being fairly new to Fallbrook, it has been a great way to get involved and give back,” he said.

With the club’s 45th birthday in October inching closer, Mallard is pleased at all the work past presidents have accomplished over the decades.

“The club has done so much for so many people for so long,” he said. “There have been a lot of active citizens involved in this club who have done such a good job donating their time to keep this alive for 45 years.”

 

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