I don't know if Paul or anyone else is planing a longer trip for the weekend of Dec 18-19, but I thought I would see what sort of interest there is in a trip to the 17 Palms Oasis, Pumpkin Patch, Vista de Malpais, and Font's Point area. This is an easy, stock friendly route that we generally end at Font's. If we time it right we can be at Font's Point for sunset, then drive out to road right after it gets dark. It could be cold at night, but there are some nice spots to camp out there too (I'll probably make it a day trip for myself). For people who want more of challenge, you could do Coyote Canyon, Calcite Mine etc on Sunday (or even break off from the group early on Saturday). The route does have some very deep soft sand in a few spots, especially in Short Wash, so 4WD is strongly recommended.
We've done this a few times in past years in December, and it's generally pretty nice out there. You can see some pictures from previous December trips to this area
here,
here,
here,
and here. This trip is a lot like the one we just did to Sandstone, we spend a lot of time out of the trucks checking out the Oases (17 and 5 Palms) and the Pumpkin Patch, and some time checking out the views from both Vista de Malpais and Font's.
I'll most likely go regardless of whether or not we make it a club thing, but if there is interest I'll set it up here, or just contact me directly.