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I recently attended my first LDRS in Jean, NV. I was there to do photography for LAUNCH and was impressed with much of what I saw. The Jean dry lake bed is a huge area in the middle of nowhere that is perfect for flying rockets. Perfect if you aren't doing it in July anyway. In July it is just too hot to do much of anything there. I expected to see people bursting into flame as they carried their rockets out to the pads - IT WAS HOT! And then there was the dust - by day four everything was covered with it. Dust devils chased us around the field all weekend. It took a lot of effort to keep my camera gear clean. But beyond the hot and dust there were the rockets and the people who fly them.
 Before proceeding, I have to tell you that I've never been a big fan of Tripoli. I've never been a member of TRA and have rarely attended their events. I have to admit that I bought into the negative image of the TRA presented by many people on the internet but, sometime during LDRS, my opinion changed. That weekend I met some damn fine people and I've come to the conclusion that all the BS about which organization is better needs to stop if we want the hobby to survive. More on that some other time. Back to LDRS. The first thing that impressed me was the rockets - there was a wide variety of stuff flying over the lake bed. I saw everything from 'A' powered model rockets to 'N' clustered 300+ pound monsters. There were breathtaking successes and spectacular failures. LDRS was the first time that I actually witnessed a bowling ball lofting (BBL) contest. I've got to say that I still think that BBL is a bad idea - IMHO, it's a horrible accident waiting to happen. That said, the Jean dry lake bed is probably as safe a place as any to conduct this event. The rockets and launchers use by the BBL contestants show a surprising variety, including a closed breech tube launcher that really got the rocket moving.
The Thor-X upscale (see the accompanying photo) was an incredible thing to watch. The center N with the 3 outboard M motors really got everyone's attention. It's probably the most impressive high power flight I have ever witnessed.
Though I was impressed by the rockets, I was even more impressed by the people flying them. Contrary to my expectations, the people at LDRS were pretty much just like the people that you find at launch events all across the country. True, there were large and complex rockets but the wild biker mentality I was conditioned to expect just wasn't there. The way the range was run and the attention to safety ws much like we do it in Muncie, Indiana. They had more pads setup than we do, and some of their pads were bigger (even a lot bigger) but the range had a very familier feel to it. I had a great time meeting many of the people whom I've read about on the internet and in various rocketry publications. People like Gary Rosenfield, Frank Kosdon and Eric Gates were on hand to help out and just chat a bit. At first I was a little intimidated by these guys but I found them to be friendly and easy to talk to. This was my first LDRS but, with luck, it won't be my last. -Mario
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