Having met Roger and his wife at RR7 and hung out with him a bit at camp, all I can say is I'm shocked that has been implicated in this nonsense. They are good people, new to Rover's & wheeling & clubs and I wouldn't blame him if he split this scene.
But he didn't. Instead he chose to take this on directly and even further, picked up the phone to try and sort this misunderstanding out.
Having camped next to Roger, I know he's one of those dudes that is tidy & clean. Every piece of gear he had in his truck was in a box or bag, neatly stowed. No trash EVER laying around his camp.
That said, I spoke with some others on this topic yesterday off-line. Let me draw a comparison here if I may. I am an avid bow hunter here in Montana. While it's generally accepted, there are "anti-hunters" always looking for a reason to hate hunters. Thus, I do not enter the gorcery store in my camo to buy beer. If we head out to eat breakfast or something after or before hunting, we keep our conversations to another topic, not the gut pile we just left on the North Fork range.
What I'm saying is, whether we like it or not, when we roll our Rover to an event of Rover's each person represents the next. Not just your group...everyone. One person litters and we're all a bunch of "littering Rover a-holes." One person is seen drinking beer at his rig on the trail and we're all a bunch of drunks. Death Valley is a National Park with many families visiting. They don't know we just had one beer...it's justa sad fact.
Trust me when I tell you I deal with this subject often. For starters, I guide flyfishing trips on the river here in the summer. And yes, we enjoy a beer or two during the day. Always wrapped in a cuzzi to keep prying eyes off. When we break for lunch or camp, we spend time picking up every bit of trash...not ours, but our responsibility--it's ours to maintain.
Perception is reality. John sees pictures of people drinking on the trail...remembers trash he found...and well, this is the perfect example. In hindsight he may have jumped the gun, but understand that he's simply quick to react to protect the Land Rover identity.
Roger, you did the right thing here by taking this head-on. And I am quite certain that John is a man of his word and will remove or correct anything in relation to this.
A great learning experience for all, for sure. This is clearly the value of collective input from all results in. Some people just employ more tact than others.
