San Diego, CA SDSWS Trip To Location Where ROTJ Was Filmed, March 8th-9th!

Anyone know the adress of the Denny's were eating at in El centro?

 

the only Denny's listed on the yahoo yellow pages in El Centro is at:

(760) 352-2576
1455 Ocotillo Dr # B
El Centro, CA

from interstate 8 going east:
9. Take the IMPERIAL AVE exit towards EL CENTRO 0.2
10. Bear Right on S IMPERIAL AVE 0.3 (go north)
11. Turn Right on OCOTILLO DR

 

have we gotten the fire pit situated yet? We will need a fire...

 

I bought a personal heating device... lol... I'll be warm... everyone huddle around me! I'll be bringing a couple of warm sleeping bags too. I bought a metal detector, and am bringing some chairs for us to sit on. Sue Dawe says for everyone to bring a chair to sit on.

 

Is anyone bringing wood for a fire Or should we forget about having one?

 

doh! a little late for the chair thing...

 

I'll bring an extra one.

 

Thanks Colt!


And now...

It's time to play the "what will I forget next?" game!!!

 

For those bringing FRS radios, we'll be on channel 12-sub-18 for the drive out. Not a really common combination of channels, so it's likely to be clear of chatter. We can always pick a SW themed channel for the time we're out there and the drive back, but for the sake of those who may be catching up with us actually on the road, 12sub18 will be the official SDSWS channel for the caravan. If you see what looks like SW geeks in a car, see if we answer on that channel! (note: you may need to use the call button a few times to get some of our attention, since the car stereos/exhaust noise of certain race cars tends to be quite loud compared to the little personal chatterbox radios.)

 

i'm bringing radios...but they only have ch 1-18...are they frs?

 

they should be FRS. You will be able to hear us talk on channel 12 but you won't be able to transmit to us without the subchannel enabled. subchannels narrow down the frequency to get rid of crosstalk and noise.

 

I just wanted to let you know that this trip sounds ridiculously amazing! Wish I could join you and hope that you are having an awesome time!

 

Is anyone else heading out there tomorrow? I just know I'm gonna get lost, seeing as how it sounds like you all are gonna start probably before I get there. If no one else is going, I guess I'll just have to set my radio to 12-18 and hope for the best...May the Force be with us...

 

Well that was a BLAST!!! I can only report on the first day of the event, up until about 3pm when I had to leave, but I can report WE SUCCESSFULLY FOUND THE EXACT SPOT OF JABBA'S SAIL BARGE!!!
WOO HOO!! Yes, we brought back parts of the barge as relics. Very cool!!

Trip diary of JediG60racer:
3/8/03
1am: begin packing car for trip
1:30am: print mapquest directions to Anakin's house
2:30am: finish packing car, go to bed
3:30am: can't sleep, too excited
4am: zzzzzzz
6am: wake up, jump in car, follow mapquest directions
6:45am : hopelessly lost, call Anakin. Am 20 miles away from proper place
7am: pick up Anakin
7:30am: hit Alpine rest stop, no one there. (Find out later we were supposed to meet at "view point" not "rest stop") Thinking we're behind the fleet, we jump into hyperspace to rendevous
8:15am : Arrive @ Denny's on Imperial. Meet Armand there, order breakfast
9am: Sue (our guide) arrives at Denny's. Food still not served yet.
9:15am: Linda and rest of SDSWS arrives, barely beating the food to our table.
9:45am : first SDSWS wave departs Denny's for the Dune Sea
10:10am: arrive at Imperial Recreation Park (appropriately named) and get first view of Dune Sea of Tatooione. Setup camp. Make shade. Rest. Annoy local campers with Boba Fett helmet and sniper rifle.
11am: 2nd wave of SDSWS arrives. Apply suntan lotion. Brandon begins setting up his tent.
12pm: Put together new metal detector. Set up SDSWS banner. Brandon still setting up his tent.
1pm: Brandon still setting up his tent.
1:30pm: amidst grumblings for food, first excursion into the Dune Sea leaves. Brandon still setting up tent.
1:40pm: Amazed that Linda's Excursion has not sunk into the deep sand! Bouncing around in back of Sue's Jeep over the Dune Sea en route to Jabba's Sail Barge.
1:45pm : arrive at Buttercup Valley, begin scouting for landmarks.
1:50pm: Move vehicles to approximate location of the barge.
1:51pm: Linda's kids find the leftover remnants of the security fence with their metal detector!!! We parked within 20 feet of the barge site!!! Finding lots of nails and parts of barge construction.
1:52pm: Locate another fencepost
2pm: have discovered most of one side of the fence, including gate. Located nesting ground for Sarlaac and several baby sarlaacs. Found lots of remnants of sarlaac pit construction.
2:10pm: Found meteorite that landed on location of Jabba's Sail Barge!!! How cool is that?!
2:15pm: Sue's dogs are exhausted from heat, headed back to camp with bags full of relics from Jabba's Sail Barge.
2:30pm: arrive at camp, Brandon has finished putting tent up!
3pm: left for San Diego.

I have lots of pictures to accompany the diary, just need to upload them. Who wants to host them?

 

Here are pictures. First we have JawaJames wearing Armand's self-made metal Mandalorian helmet:
[image=http://camo.flage.net/albums/albuq42/Dsc01399.sized.jpg]

Here's our guide, R2D2, with Sue - who was also at the filming of ROTJ
[image=http://camo.flage.net/albums/albuq42/Dsc01400.sized.jpg]

JawaJames wearing *his* custom Mandalorian helmet
[image=http://camo.flage.net/albums/albuq42/Dsc01401.sized.jpg]

AnakinWisler guards camp
[image=http://camo.flage.net/albums/albuq42/Dsc01402.sized.jpg]

Some jawas unload droids from their sandcrawler in the background while MJF bargains with a particularly furry one about claimstake rights
[image=http://camo.flage.net/albums/albuq42/Dsc01403.sized.jpg]

Busy trading in modern-day downtown Mos Eisley
[image=http://camo.flage.net/albums/albuq42/Dsc01404.sized.jpg]

What makes you think there are settlements that way?
[image=http://camo.flage.net/albums/albuq42/Dsc01405.sized.jpg]

Pursued through the Dune Sea by an Imperial transport![image=http://camo.flage.net/albums/albuq42/Dsc01406.sized.jpg]

An x-wing flies over the ruins of Jabba's Sailbarge (could someone please CG out the strings?) while we approach the site for the first time
[image=http://camo.flage.net/albums/albuq42/Dsc01407.sized.jpg]

It appears the Imperial transport has deployed a biker scout!
[image=http://camo.flage.net/albums/albuq42/Dsc01408.sized.jpg]

And here we are
[image=http://camo.flage.net/albums/albuq42/Dsc01410.sized.jpg]
[image=http://camo.flage.net/albums/albuq42/Dsc01411.sized.jpg]

"I think it's a little over that way"
[image=http://camo.flage.net/albums/albuq42/Dsc01413.sized.jpg]

It should be right about here!
[image=http://camo.flage.net/albums/albuq42/Dsc01421.sized.jpg]

JediG60racer stands upon the place Master Skywalker once fought for Han Solo's freedom
[image=http://camo.flage.net/albums/albuq42/Dsc01417.sized.jpg]

Having given up using lightsabers to dig, the search partry resorts to simple shovels
[image=http://camo.flage.net/albums/albuq42/Dsc01423.sized.jpg]

Look, sir! Droids! well, no it's actually the remnant of the security fencing
[image=http://camo.flage.net/albums/albuq42/Dsc01424.sized.jpg]

All good archaeologists take careful measurements
[image=http://camo.flage.net/albums/albuq42/Dsc01426.sized.jpg]

JediG60racer finds a piece of foam from the Sarlaac Pit
[image=http://camo.flage.net/albums/albuq42/Dsc01427.sized.jpg]

Baby Sarlaacs!!! Exactly upon the spot of the original Great Sarlaac Pit!!
[image=http://camo.flage.net/albums/albuq42/Dsc01429.sized.jpg]

Careful! They're small, but they're a bit grumpy! Crikey! That one almost got my finger!!
[image=http://camo.flage.net/albums/albuq42/Dsc01431.sized.jpg]

All the relics from the sailbarge that were collected during the first expedition on Saturday
[image=http://camo.flage.net/albums/albuq42/Dsc01434.sized.jpg]

A landspeeder unloading R2 units in colorful modern-day Mos Eisley. This one's got a bad motivator.
[image=http://camo.flage.net/albums/albuq42/Dsc01438.sized.jpg]

 

SWEET!!!! Thieves and vandals kick a$$!

 

For those of us who couldn't make it: THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

Looks like everyone was having a good time. Maybe if this becomes a yearly event I can go next time.

 

well i got back around 6:15 - and this time no speeding on the way home.
today we did a lot of shooting of the film tentatively called 'shadows in the sand'
smugglers, sand, jedi, sand, sith, sand, stormtroopers, sand, mandalores, sand, and jawas.

this afternoon we went out to take Joe and Matt to the site... took us a while to find the fencepost markers. i found a section of wood with paint on it that sue ID'd as part of the barge, and we found more foam, and Joe found these shaped plastic tubes that look reminiscent of the barrels of jabba's deck gun (but smaller), or maybe the exhasut pipes of something.

lots of fun, some sunburn, chapped lips and such...

will post pictures later tonight

the AOTC soundtrack lasts from my house to Ocotillo (just across the county line and down the mountain)

 

WOW! That was a BLAST!!! I'll post my pics later tonight. We were successful in making a "Fan Film!" Donny did some cool stunts while dressed in Jason's Stormtrooper armor this afternoon. I took a couple of "dives" down the Dunes while prefoming some lightsaber stunds.

We were also successful in finding actual pieces of the Sarlaac Pit!

Now...back to cleaning all the sand out of my hair.

 

*MJF collapses in the computer chair - getting up at 3:30am for two days in a row can take a lot out of you*

Wow... the trip out to rediscover Jabba's sail barge was more succesfull than I could have possibly imagined. Pictures will be coming within the week. On the trip out I had in my car Jason (TK-7603), Donny (foxbatkllr), and my three little Padawans. We caravaned out to the Imperial Dunes early Friday morning using FRS to communicate between the cars. We challenged the other cars to answer trivia questions and had great fun referring to each other as Rogue 5, Rogue 2 etc. We stopped and had Breakfast at Denny's in El Centro which was roughly half-way between San Diego and the Imperial Dunes. We then arrived at the Dunes at roughly 10am on Saturday morning and began to set up camp. We then made our first expedition out onto the Dunes. The first time I drove out onto the dunes in my expedition, I was a little bit apprehensive and feared I would get stuck out in the sand. I made a total of three trips out to the Dunes over the course of the weekend, and took "air" several times. Riding out to Buttercup Valley was one of the best rollercoaster rides I've ever been on.

It was amazing, we found the exact spot of Jabba's sail barge in less than one minute's time! As soon as we got out of the car, my youngest daughter turns on the metal detector and the thing beeps right away. She had found the post of the chain link fence that surrounded the set. Using pictures taken during the filming of the Sail Barge scene back in 1982, we quickly assertained the exact spot of the sail barge set. We unearthed many other fence posts to make sure we would be searching in the proper location. Over the course of the two days we found numerous items from the set including:

- two latex pieces from the Sarlaac Pit, one which had the cut-out shape of where one of the Sarlaacs teeth were
- A plank from the Sail Barge
- A piece of wooden Railing from the sail barge
- A wooden piece with metalic silver paint from the front of the sail barge
- A wooden piece with greenish paint from the side of the sail barge.
- numerous nails from the sail barge, some hinges, chain link fence ties, etc.
- We found numerous yellow insulative type material which was used to make the sarlacc pit. Several pieces still had the sarlaac colored paint on them.
- We also found sandbags used on the set to hold down their equipment during the frequent sand storms in the area
- We also found numerous pieces of "sand dune colored wood" from the set. During filming, the crew would create "fake dunes" covering their film equipment in case the camera panned that direction.
- Just today we found some odd looking plastic type pieces that definitely look like they could be out of a Star Wars movie. They look like they might be from the Gun barrell of the giant gun on the Sail Barge.

Also while at the Dunes we filmed a fan film - foxbatkllr was our director. This was the SDSWS's first attempt at making a fan film. It will only be roughly 5 minutes in length, but we are very pleased with our first attempt. Some border patrol agents stopped by to inquire if we were filming Episode III... lol... We created quite a stir in our Jedi Robes, jawa robes, stormtrooper and Boba Fett costumes. Also this morning we went out to the dunes at first light in our Jedi Robes to be photographed by a professional photographer against the backdrop of the dunes.

On the way home tonight, I had AnakinWisler (Colt), Foxbatkller and Jason in my car. It was fun playing the "Star Wars lines" game all the way home... I am soooooooo tired right now. At our next meeting all of us will have a lot of great stories to tell about our trip. We were sure to bring plenty of pieces of foam from the Sarlaac pit, and nails from the set to give out to those of our members who couldn't make it out this time. I think we will definitely be returning to the dune sea in the future!

 

What an awsome trip that was! it was great camping out with everyone! Im stoked that we actually found the spot. I also think a round of applause is in order for Foxbatkllr for directing and filming the fanfilm, and a double applause for doing it in trooper armor in Sunday while it was really hot.

 

got a great label for James in the film, Faceless smuggler 1 and Jawa keeper

 

Despite being burnt to a crisp, I had an awesome time!!! Found some relics, a big chunk of foam and an octagonal ex-belt-buckle (looks very SW-ish). Shooting the film was a blast, even though I go out like a tool in the first 5 seconds of the Jedi-Sith fight... I quickly began to agree with Anakin's thoughts about sand... BTW, I got quite a few shots of the filming, so I'll probably get those up tomorrow. Can't wait to see what the finished product looks like!!

 

my pictures will have to wait to tomorrow... rather sleep now...

hey.. i'm not faceless for most of the film!
maybe we could have used the sarlacc bit as my burnt face from the blaster bolt...

i left a bit of sand in the shower.
saw sue + mike on the road, they passed me around Ocotillo..

 

this was "Awesome"!!! Mark up the first appearance of "dark luke?" It was interesting being the person who gets to play five people on screen at the same time, adn gets to play one other charachter as well.... oh, we'll have to make a followup move....tremors IV:the sand slasher!

this movie is corse, its gets in everyone dvd machine and it's sometimes irritating to fall doen a hill several times on your face in trooper armor!