HSUMD General Meeting at the Historic USO Building.

Our speaker at the March meeting will be Society member and Board Secretary Tammy Pounds, who has written two books, including one about visiting Death Valley. The meeting will be held at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, March 18 at the Historic USO Building, 230 West Ridgecrest Blvd.

Tammy operates an Air Bed and Breakfast out of her home with the help of the family dog, Sophie.  She has written two children’s books featuring the friendly pet, Sophie the Superhost, and the subject of the March meeting, Sophie Goes to Death Valley.  Both books mention the B & B, and the guests from around the world that Tammy and Sophie welcome there, as well as the points of interest you can see around Ridgecrest.  One of the main ones of these is, of course, Death Valley, which brings us to Sophie Goes to Death Valley.  This book is unusual in that it starts out with the sights along the way from Ridgecrest to Death Valley.  On arrival, Tammy does a great job explaining all the natural wonders in and around the Valley, and Katie Merrill, her young illustrator, has wonderful pictures throughout the book.

After teaching us how to explore the desert, Tammy will also talk about the book she’s working on now, called Lost in the Mojave, about how her grandmother and her boyfriend spent five days lost in the local desert in 1947.  A simple jaunt to test out a new firearm turned into a spontaneous desert exploration, and that became a lesson in how not to travel in the Mojave.  Since Tammy is here, you can tell (spoiler alert) her grandmother made it out alive, but the story is well worth hearing.

Tammy is a fourth generation Ridgecrest native, and raised her four children here. She loves the outdoors and is a self-proclaimed fair-weather outdoors adventurer.  She teaches yoga and is a bee keeper.  Tammy credits her grandfather as her inspiration and example as a writer. She is active in the community and is the current president of WACOM and on the board of the Historical Society.

The HSUMD meets on the third Tuesday of most months. Each meeting features a presentation on some topic of local interest.  Meetings are free, and all are welcome to attend. For more information on this or future meetings, call 760-375-8456.

(Yodel.today/Facebook)