At the time that I was corresponding with Herb Desind starting in 1976, the local rocket club I belonged to (Skywatchers/ROMAR) had dwindled to only five or six regular members. We had lost our ability to maintain NAR Section status because we didn't have the required 10 NAR members.
Also, at the time, there were no other active clubs or sections in the vicinity. Organized model rocketry was pretty dead along the Colorado front range.
In one letter I sent to Herb, I lamented this state of affairs, but enclosed some pictures of some of my own models, some club sport launches, and a copy of our newsletter, the Cosmic Steppingstone.
Herb and his fellow Marylanders were delighted to hear from a rocketeer in Colorado, but were very surprised at the lack of activity in the place where model rocketry virtually began.
They were all really impressed with the wide-open flying fields we enjoyed here, as suitable large open spaces in the D.C. area are few and far between.
Here is an excerpt from Herb's April 4th, 1977 letter:
"I enjoyed looking at the photo material you sent and your publication is very good. I am sending you a number of items here. I am sending along some copies of ZOG which is the NARHAM publication, and the Nike-Larc, which is the Laurel area publication. This is all I could get as of now. All here were very interested in your publication, especially since your club is on Estes' doorstep.
Yesterday, when I delivered one of your copies to NARHAM, the president took it and ran to his car with it amidst objections from others, but all will get to see it at our next meeting."
Herb was also amazed when I wrote him that, to date, I had only visited Estes on two occasions. He thought that, being so nearby, I would have been down there bugging them quite often. I did mention that I was loosely acquainted with Wayne Kellner and Dane Boles. In a February 6th, 1978 letter, Herb wrote:
"Please tell Mr. Kellner, whom I do not know, that many here want the Cineroc and Camroc put back on the market, not Star Wars toys!"
I never passed this on, but I sensed there was a lot of frustration out on the East Coast over the unavailability of Cinerocs at the time.
Ya think?