We are getting down to the last of the 2014 Reunion coins and it is beautiful, and your going to want one. They are $5 plus shipping. Get your order in now. Email Larry Boggs at: lnboggs@sbcglobal.net All profits will go to the Wildland Firefighter Fund. We have raided over $400 selling coins for the fund so please join us with this great cause.
OK for all of you that attended the Tahoe reunion, please send us your photos so we can put them on our site.
Thanks to all that attended and please make comments on our site for all to read. Steve
ATTENTION
TAHOE HOTEL REGISTRATION
CUTOFF DATE IS APRIL 21ST.
If you have not already registered you need to by April 21st to secure the great deal at this 5 star hotel.
If you register after that date, call Theresa Hiatt-Downer, the Hotel Conference Sales Manager at: 530.543.2114 direct to register. If the hotel is not full she will honor our special low room rate.
GREAT NEWS
The hotel has agreed to reduce the daily room rate from $119 + tax to $99 + tax. This is a great rate for this hotel.
We also found an option while visiting the beautiful Lake Tahoe area. It is always fun to get out on the lake and one way is to travel to Emerald Bay on one of two paddle wheeled boats. You can get discounted tickets through: Travelzoo.com Go to there search block in the upper right corner and type in: $23 – Lake Tahoe: Scenic Cruise to Emerald Bay Reg. $49
OAK GROVE HOTSHOT TEE SHIRTS
Due to not having enough requests for a minimum order we are unable to fill the few requests we did get. If you still want a Tee shirt contact the company below. They have our artwork and will fill your order.
LIMEY TEE’S
730 W. 9th Street
Chico, Ca 9598
530-343-8321
REMINDER
Oak Grove Hotshot
2014 Reunion
May 20th and 21st
South Lake Tahoe
Happy New Year, the clock is ticking and if you have not looked at the clock lately, time is ticking away for the May 2014 Oak Grove Hotshot Reunion. To secure your room and rate, you need to make your reservations now. There is a limited block of rooms available with excellent rates which are way below the standard room rate for this time of year. If something comes up you can always cancel your reservations up to 72 hours in advance of arrival date.
Collectively, all of you know where more Oak Grove and Chilao crew members are than we do, so we are asking you to contact fellow crew members notifying them or reminding them of the up and coming Oak Grove Reunion. Todd Heckert found Gerry Himango, crew of 1960, and both are planning to attend. Come and join us watch beautiful Lake Tahoe dry up along with everything else in California.
And please reply to this reminder telling us if you are planning to attend or not.
OAK GROVE HOTSHOT
TEE SHIRTS
It has come to our attention that there maybe some folks that either want another “Tee shirt” or missed out on getting one at the 2012 reunion. The organizing committee wants to help but here is the reality.
The artwork will be the same as for the 2012 Arcadia reunion, so your cost will be the price of the shirt(s). Shipping adds cost and time to the high tee shirt cost so we will not ship but will bring the shirts to the 2014 reunion and deliver there.
We will only offer one color, BLACK in either short or long sleeve.
Price for short sleeve will be $21.00
Price of shirts includes taxes.
Price for long sleeve will be $25.00
March 1 will be the cut off for shirt orders.
Send shirt orders to:
Larry Boggs, 838 Jacobs Court, Chico, California 95926.
Shirt orders are to include Name, phone number, email, mail address, shirt quantity, size, specify Short or Long Sleeve Shirts and a check for the full amount of the order.
If you have questions you can contact Larry:
Larryboggs7851@gmail.com or call 530-343-1989
REMINDER
Oak Grove Hotshot
2014 Reunion
May 20th and 21st
South Lake Tahoe
Our next reunion is informal, no speakers, no raffles, no nothing except seeing each other and talking old times. Our basic plan is to have a place, a time and we hope you show up. Bring your family and tell your old fire fighting friends. This reunion is open to all not just the Oak Grove Crew.
Make your reservations now so you don’t miss out on this reunion. You can always cancel if plans change.
We have made discounted block room arrangements for the Lake Tahoe Resort Hotel; formerly the Lake Tahoe Embassy Suites. For room reservations call: 800.988.9894 The group name is: HOTSHOT.
Lake Tahoe Resort Hotel really does it all. Free Breakfast Buffet served in the atrium, and nightly Happy Hour, also in the atrium, are included in every reservation at Lake Tahoe Resort Hotel. Lunch and dinner are served, for your dining pleasure, in Echo, featuring California Casual Cuisine, in a relaxed environment where you can catch all the latest sports action on the many flat screens surrounding the room.
We have had a challenge coin designed specifically for this reunion. All former Oak Grove Hotshot crew members that attend the reunion will receive this beautiful special coin.
If you have any questions please call Steve at: 888.532.5196 and email us at oghotshot@comcast.net and let us know your coming. We would love to hear from you and don’t forget our blog at: oakgrovehotshots.wordpress.com
The images below represent both sides of a 1 3/4″ coin that will be given to every former crew member that attends the 2014 reunion.
Oak Grove Hotshot
Challenge coin
2014 Reunion
May 20th and 21st
South Lake Tahoe
Our next reunion is informal, no speakers, no raffles, no nothing except seeing each other and talking old times. Our basic plan is to have a place and time. We have both now and we hope you show up.
We have made discounted block room arrangements for the Lake Tahoe Resort Hotel; formerly the Lake Tahoe Embassy Suites. For room reservations call: 800.988.9894 The group name is: HOTSHOT.
We are also having a challenge coin designed specifically for this reunion. All former Oak Grove Hotshot crew members that attend the reunion will receive this special coin.
There has to be at least one of the activities below that is still on your bucket list.
Just some of the area activities include:
Golf at six area golf courses
Lake Tahoe Cruises.. Either the Tahoe Queen or MS Dixie Paddlewheel Boats
Tahoe Ducks… tour boat
Fishing
Balloon Rides
Spa Services
Horseback Riding
Hiking
Charter Boat Rentals
Helicopter Tours
Kayaking
Power Boat Rentals
Bike Rentals
Bike Tours
Almost forgot Gambling
I am going to be there so make plans now and do not forget to network with your fellow crew members. If you missed the 2012 Reunion you do not want to miss this one.
OAK GROVE HOTSHOT
2014 REUNION
Due to everyone having had so much fun recounting stories with fellow crew members at our 2012 Reunion, we are planning another in May, 2014. This will also give crew members that were unable to attend the 2012 Reunion, a chance to catch up.
The 2014 Reunion will be much lower key with no speakers or fan fare. Basically, we are just picking a place and a time to get together.
The place is Lake Tahoe, and as America’s largest alpine lake, it’s easy to have a fun time at Lake Tahoe. The recreation at this mountain vacation paradise is virtually unlimited. Hiking and biking, world class golf, water sports, paddlewheel boat cruises, trail riding and so much more.
Lake Tahoe is famous for 12 months out of the year. Casino gaming. Black Jack, Craps, Roulette, Baccarat and Sports Books are all there. Tahoe casinos also boast a wide variety of excellent restaurants and the biggest names in entertainment perform regularly.
We are planning two nights at the Embassy Suites (www.embassytahoe.com) Embassy Tahoe is located in the heart of South Shore’s action, right on the state line.
Fly into Reno (approx. one hour away) or into the South Lake Tahoe Airport.
We will keep our blog up to date and remind you as we get closer. Until then continue to help us find former crew members who would like to join us.
We know this is two years off, but please let us know if this sounds interesting to you so that we can get an estimate of attendance.
Oak Grove Hotshots Blog 
Robert (Bob ) Powers said,
October 30, 2012 @ 1:28 am
Bob Powers- live in Twin Falls Idaho Retired in 1994 From the Sawtooth N.F. I missed the reunion would like to make the next one. in 2014
Oak Grove Hotshots said,
November 12, 2012 @ 5:55 pm
When I packed to leave the reunion I stuck the Oak Grove HS name tag on the inside of my suitcase, then I went to Ontario Airport and flew to my daughters in Denver. When I opened my suitcase there was a card from TSA saying they searched my bag then I saw a yellow sticky note saying: “I worked on both the Oak Grove and Chilao HS crews in the early 70’s great job. ONT TSA”. Todd Heckert
Jerry Rice said,
January 15, 2013 @ 10:11 pm
I would like to be at the next Oak Grove Hotshot reunion I live in North West Iowa. I con drop down to Leedy, OK. and pick up Bob Harell.He want>s to join us.
Wayne Crowder said,
December 7, 2013 @ 3:52 pm
Count me in this time. I’ll be riding in on the scoot Monday afternoon.
Steve Arney said,
January 18, 2014 @ 4:10 pm
You can always trust a retired fireman….
A circus owner ran an ad for a lion tamer and two people showed up to be interviewed for the job. One of them was a retired fireman in his late sixties and the other was a gorgeous blonde in her mid-twenties.
The circus owner sits them down & tells them, “I’m not going to sugar-coat it. This is one ferocious lion. He ate my last tamer so you two had better be good or you’re history. Here’s your equipment — chair, a whip and a gun. Who wants to try out first?”
The young woman says, “I’ll go first.” She walks past the chair, the whip and the gun and steps right into the lion’s cage.
The lion notices her entry & starts to snarl and pant. He roars and begins to charge her. About halfway there, the blonde throws open her coat revealing her beautiful naked body.
The lion stops dead in his tracks, drops down on his belly & sheepishly crawls up to her. He starts licking her feet and ankles. He continues to lick and kiss her entire body for several minutes and then rests his head at her feet.
The circus owner’s jaw is on the floor. He says, “I’ve never seen a display like that in my life.”
He then turns to the retired fireman and asks, “Can you top that?”
The tough old smoke-eater replies, “No problem, just get that lion out of there.”
bob & barb powers said,
January 20, 2014 @ 10:35 pm
Steve I missed out on2012 and ordered 2 shirts what ever the year. Thanks see you there. sent the order to Boggs.
Bill Vaughan said,
May 10, 2014 @ 3:26 am
I plan on attending but only may 21st. Who do I contact at the hotel when I get there? Looking forward to this. I have a bunch of pics from 59-64.
Bill Vaughan
9708467916
Oak Grove Hotshots said,
May 10, 2014 @ 4:41 am
Bill look for either Larry Boggs are myself.
Jim Stumpf said,
May 22, 2014 @ 1:32 am
Larry/Steve good job on the 2014 reunion organization. Great to see old friends and spend time getting caught up. Location was o.k. but not near as good as Southern California, think you will get a better turnout in the south. Keep up the good work.
Jim Stumpf
Dick williamson said,
May 27, 2014 @ 6:03 pm
When I first heard about this reunion I thought it might be too close to the first one in Arcadia. After attending I’m glad we did. Whether its been 2 years or 30 since you’ve last seen someone this is an excellent way to get people back together again.
The hotel selection was fine with a comfortable and relaxed atmosphere. Great layout for this type of affair. Great price too. Thanks Steve for your effort in that and organizing the event.
The coin came out good too. I know Larry put in a lot of time to solicit thoughts and ideas from several other people for the design.
Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate for allowing much outdoor activity but that couldn’t be helped.
We had a fun time and experience seeing everyone there. Glad we went.
Jack Gregory said,
September 23, 2014 @ 4:56 pm
I have to say that the 2014 Reunion was simply OUTSTANDING!
Larry and Steve: You two are the best. THANKS for working so hard to keep alive what was all a big part of our lives. As I have said on my LinkedIn profile “My Hotshot/Tanker Crew experiences on the Angeles National Forest is why I made the USFS a lifetime career choice!”
Here is a Dropbox link to both some Reunion pictures as well as a few Angeles Crest Tanker pictures that were taken with an Instamatic camera (remember those?): https://www.dropbox.com/sh/afrrjw1sudy43hp/AAAj-cW8JHSQYtwX0VnIsOjWa?dl=0
While Jackie and I loved the Lake Tahoe location (we made a week trip out of it coming from Marietta, GA), I think that we would have more attendees if the next Reunion was back in the Southern Cal area again. Suggest somewhere like La Jolla, or other nice locations in and around the San Diego coast (there are many.)
A mailing list of the attendees would also be nice.
Crazy Jumpin Jack Gregory (770-789-0471)
jjgregory@mindspring.com