Wally Byam Caravan Club International. The Airstream RV Association REGION 12

Transcription

1 Wally Byam Caravan Club International The Airstream RV Association REGION 12 California Nevada Newsletter-January 2011-Vol Issue 2 Editor: Nancy Harrington President Judy Bechthold (Cell) (Home) jabkeb@aol.com 1st Vice President Joe ten Berge (Cell) (home) joe.tenberge@gmail.com 2nd Vice President Bob Stansbury (Cell) (Home) burytone@charter.net Secretary Inside this issue: Cecelia Stansbury (Cell) Inside Story (Home) cecstansbury@yahoo.com Inside Story 2 Inside Story 2 Treasurer Kathy Hampel Inside Story 3 (Cell) (Home) Inside Story 4 mycashew2001@yahoo.com Inside Story 5 Parliamentarian Office Vacant Inside Story 6 PRESIDENT S MESSAGE We had a good turnout at our Region 12 Rally in Hemet. The San Diego Unit, under the leadership of Joe and Anne Thomas, put together a great number of activities which included tours, seminars, delicious food and fantastic entertainment. The Board Meeting was held on Saturday and four motions were presented. Following are the results: Motion 1 was to provide a subsidy of $750 for the Region 12 breakfast to be held in Du Quoin. This motion not only passed but was amended to include a free breakfast at the Jackson Rancheria Rally to be paid by the Region. Motion, as amended, passed. Motion 2 was to provide a travel allowance, not to exceed $1,500, to the Region 12 1 st Vice President for travel expenses to the 2011 Mid-Winter Rally and IBT Meeting in Robstown, TX. All reimbursable expenses must comply with WBCCI Blue Book bylaws and policies. Motion passed. Motion 3 was that Region XII (Roman numeral) be changed to Region 12 (Arabic numeral) in all future and updated references. Motion passed. Motion 4 was to make changes to Region 12 Policy Number 2 in such that any references to net profit are changed to net income and region reimbursement to the president for supplies is reduced from $425 to $225 and the savings of $200 be made available for the Region 12 Membership Chair. Motion passed. Two unofficial polls were taken from those in attendance at the region rally. The first was whether we should keep the Region 12 breakfast at Du Quoin on July 3 rd, as has been the tradition, or move it earlier in the rally so Region 12 members can find out who is present at the rally. The majority of those polled want the breakfast moved to an earlier date in the rally. At press time the date selected is 6/29/2011, at 7:30 a.m. The second unofficial poll was to find out if Region 12 members want to lengthen the region rally from the current length of 4 nights to 5. Again, the majority of those polled want the change and we will lengthen future rallies. However, we cannot do that for Jackson in 2011 because the contract has already been signed. Those who wish to come earlier or stay later can make arrangements with the RV Park. In 2012 at Bakersfield RV Resort we will stay 5 nights. Cntd on pg 2..

2 PRESIDENT S MESSAGE CTD. Speaking of the 2012 rally, I d like to say a great big thank you to the San Joaquin Unit for volunteering to host the rally at Bakersfield RV Resort. Ross and Linda Bauer will be providing capable leadership to their unit and other units who will chip in to help We were very pleased with the Rose Parade Rally and encourage everyone who has not attended or it s been quite some time since they ve been there to sign up for the rally this year. It s going to be limited to 25 rigs so early registrations will be essential. Reducing the number of rigs at the rally has given everyone more room around their rigs, meals are easier to manage and we all get to knowing each other much easier. For more details on the Rose Parade Rally, please see the article later in this newsletter. I hope to see many of you at the Hobo Rally on January 31 st. If you haven t signed up yet, you still have time. You can send your coupon (online at and your check to Kathy Hampel but be sure it will get to her by 1/29. You will be welcomed at the gate even if you have not been able to sign up early. Please come and enjoy all the activities. New Members and Members in the News We would like to invite WBCCI units to send information about their new members or if they have a member in the news. If possible keep the article to about 100 words and if you can include a picture of the member or members, we will post it in the newsletter. Golden West Unit has 3 new members. They are Jeanine Wilson, Doug & Elena Sale. Jeanine Wilson joined Golden West at the November installation rally. Jeanine purchased a 24 Airstream Safari built in this is her first Airstream and trailer. Inside it is just beautiful. It was lovingly kept up. She also has a really friendly dog named Gracie who travels with her on all her adventures. Jeanine is enjoying her new trailer and lifestyle. She is getting involved with her new hobby by volunteering to help at the HOBO Rally. When you meet Jeanine give her a big hug and introduce yourself. Doug and Elena Sale joined Golden West Unit at the January Rally. If the name sounds familiar you would be correct. He is the son of Lou & Betty Sale. We all knew Lou from our HOBO days. Doug has his mother s trailer which is 31 years old and looks like new. Both Doug and Elena are excited about joining and getting involved. On the left Jeanine & Gracie Outside her new Airstream. On Right Doug Sale with Golden West President Nancy Harrington at his installation in January.

3 ROSE PARADE RALLY December 28, 2010 January 1, 2011 Pasadena, Ca Ken and I pulled into the Pasadena Unified School District parking lot on Dec. 28 th, a nice sunny day. Soon the large tent was erected, a security fence installed and WBCCI members began arriving. By happy hour we had 22 rigs parked. 11 rigs came from California, 1 from Nevada, 1 from New Mexico, 2 from Arizona, 4 from Texas, 1 from Michigan, 1 from Ontario Canada and 1 rig with two crazy ladies from Tennessee (mom Joan, daughter Courtney and 8 month old grandbaby Ben). On New Year s Eve 2 more rigs from California joined us for a total of 24. We were so glad that Marlene Bowman who lost her husband, Don, earlier in the year came with her son and family. We were also happy to see Joe ten Berge, Region 12 1 st VP, whose wife Teressa passed away in November. Best wishes to you both. Arrival dinner, prepared by Margaret Dow of the NorCal unit, was delicious chicken stew with dumplings. Many readers are familiar with her Hobo Stew hmmm good. The next morning found us fixing breakfast in the rain but staying fairly dry with our awning and the large tent to protect us. The rain lasted for one day only and for the rest of the rally we enjoyed good weather. Bob and Cecelia Stansbury put together tours of local points of interest and, in the evenings, a caravan of Christmas lights. All attendees received tickets to two of their choices for the Equestfest, Band Fest, Float Decorating and Float Viewing (after the parade). Everyone stayed busy with all the activities or just kicked back to relax at the rally site. Tuesday night s dinner was prepared by Karen Walton, Golden West Unit, and was, of course, delicious spinach ravioli. Margaret and I shared in preparing 4 breakfasts and I ended it up with a dinner of Frito Pie (aka Taco Salad) on New Year s Eve. New Year s Day morning around 5:30 a.m. Joe ten Berge and Jack Hampel, Santa Clara Unit, took everyone s chairs in Jack s pickup to the parade site on Colorado Blvd to stake a claim to our viewing area. They stood watch on the sidewalk until noon at which time they were able to set out some rows of chairs and our official chair watch began. During daylight hours people pulled 3 hour shifts and through the night until the parade began at 8 a.m. we did 2 hour shifts. Around 8:30 p.m. on New Year s Eve, back at our tent, we started partying. Large food trays were brought in and the music was great from our own DJ Ken Bechthold, Region 12 1 st Mate. We danced and ate until after midnight. On New Year s Day, Kathy Hampel, Region 12 treasurer, and I made everyone an egg sandwich to take with them to the parade route. We had great views of all the spectacular floats, bands, horses and all else. Until you ve seen it all from 20 feet away, you just can t imagine how much work, time and money goes into these floats. TV doesn t do it justice. After the parade we returned to camp for a lunch of leftovers more than enough to go around. A few people had to leave but most folks chose to stay over until the next day, 1/2. Everyone seemed to be quite comfortable even though we were dry camping and all said they had a great time. Region 12 will host the Rose Parade Rally again this year. Be sure to sign up early because we are going to, again, limit the number of rigs. Submitted by Judy Bechthold Region 12 President Rose Parade Rally Chair

4 PAGE 4 WALLY BYAM CARAVAN C LUB I NTERNATIONA L IN MEMORIUM Teressa Taylor-ten Berge (Member #265) died on November 17 th in Modesto, CA. Teressa joined the Denver Colorado Unit in 1977 with her husband John Taylor. John passed away November 26, 2004 while in Hawaii with his family. Teressa was engaged to Joe ten Berge in 2006 at the International Rally in Salem, Oregon. They married later that same year on December 16 th. Both are members of San Joaquin Unit and were affiliates of DENCO. Her WBCCI resume was extensive, but she was most lately International Membership Chair and just some of the other positions she held was: International Public Relations Committee Chair ( ), Secretary (1982), Blue Beret Chairman, DENCO Unit President (2003), member of the VAC, and a founding member of the Classic Club. At the time of her death she was Region 12 Secretary and 1 st Lady for Joe, Region 12 1 st VP. They made their home in Los Banos. We have greatly missed Teressa over the last couple of months and will always keep her memory with us. She was always smiling and willing to help everyone. She was a first class lady. Teressa with husband Joe.. REGION 12 RALLIES October 13-October 17, 2011, at Jackson Rancheria RV Resort, Jackson, Ca., hosted by the Santa Clara Unit, Bob Stansbury Chair, burytone@charter.net October 17 through October 22, 2012, at Bakersfield RV Resort, Bakersfield, CA, hosted by the San Joaquin Unit, Ross and Linda Bauer, Chair, minilinda@aol.com

5 PAGE 5 LAW MATTERS The National Park service has announced that there will be seventeen "free" days at all national parks and monuments in The first is in conjunction with Martin Luther King day on January 15 through January 17. The second period is to commemorate National Park week from April 16 through April 24. The first day of summer will also be free, June 21. The next period is National Public Lands Day, and will be observed on September 24. The last free period will be the week ending that also marks Veteran's day, November 11 through November 13. All entry fees are to waived on these days. In addition, the Park Service intends to have special programs on those free days to also emphasize the special days. Richard Jirus Legislative Chair jirus@aol.com Trailer 1851 Blue Beret Is Now Online The Blue Beret is now online at If you are traveling and want to know if there are any clubs or rallies going on, and you don t have the latest Blue Beret magazine with you, you can always go online and check to see if there are any WBCCI units in the area. If there are you could get in touch with the person in charge and see if there might be room for you to attend the rally. Most parks now offer free Internet service. If you do not have a computer then go to the nearest library and use theirs. It is free and you only pay for printing. You just might make a great friend for life at a rally. As we all know Airstreamers are the friendliest people and will make you feel like a long lost friend and there is never a shortage of delicious food at the rallies.

6 PAGE 6 WALLY BYAM CARAVAN C LUB I NTERNATIONA L This is funny, and how true... A good laugh for people in the over 50 group!!! Also for those who know people like us. When I bought my Blackberry I thought about the 30-year business I ran with 1800 employees, all without a cell phone that plays music, takes videos, pictures and communicates with Facebook and Twitter. I signed up under duress for Twitter and Facebook, so my seven kids, their spouses, 13 grandkids and 2 great grand kids could communicate with me in the modern way. I figured I could handle something as simple as Twitter with only 140 characters of space. That was before one of my grandkids hooked me up for Tweeter, Tweetree, Twhirl, Twitterfon, Tweetie and Twittererific Tweetdeck, Twitpix and something that sends every message to my cell phone and every other program within the texting world. My phone was beeping every three minutes with the details of everything except the bowel movements of the entire next generation. I am not ready to live like this. I keep my cell phone in the garage in my golf bag. The kids bought me a GPS for my last birthday because they say I get lost every now and then going over to the grocery store or library. I keep that in a box under my tool bench with the Blue tooth [its red] phone I am supposed to use when I drive. I wore it once and was standing in line at Barnes & Noble talking to my wife and everyone in the nearest 50 yards was glaring at me. I had to take my hearing aid out to use it, and I got a little loud. I mean the GPS looked pretty smart on my dash board, but the lady inside that gadget was the most annoying, rudest person I had run into in a long time. Every 10 minutes, she would sarcastically say, "Re-calc-u-lating." You would think that she could be nicer. It was like she could barely tolerate me. She would let go with a deep sigh and then tell me to make a U-turn at the next light.. Then if I made a right turn instead. Well, it was not a good relationship.. When I get really lost now, I call my wife and tell her the name of the cross streets and while she is starting to develop the same tone as Gypsy, the GPS lady, at least she loves me. To be perfectly frank, I am still trying to learn how to use the cordless phones in our house. We have had them for 4 years, but I still haven't figured out how I can lose three phones all at once and have run around digging under chair cushions and checking bathrooms and the dirty laundry baskets when the phone rings. The world is just getting too complex for me. They even mess me up every time I go to the grocery store. You would think they could settle on something themselves but this sudden "Paper or Plastic?" every time I check out just knocks me for a loop. I bought some of those cloth reusable bags to avoid looking confused, but I never remember to take them in with me. Now I toss it back to them. When they ask me, "Paper or Plastic?" I just say, "Doesn't matter to me. I am bisacksual." Then it's their turn to stare at me with a blank look. I was recently asked if I tweet. I answered, No, but I do toot a lot." P.S. I know some of you are not over 50. I sent it to you to allow you to forward it to those who are.

7 SAVE THE DATE OCTOBER 13, OCTOBER 17, 2011 JOIN THE FLOCK AND FLAMINGO TO THE FOOTHILLS FOR THE REGION XII RALLY JACKSON RACHERIA CASINO AND RV PARK JACKSON, CALIFORNIA JOIN US FOR LOTS OF FUN, FOOD, AND FRIENDSHIP IN THE GOLD COUNTRY AND SIERRA FOOTHILLS OF CA. IT S NEAR LAKE TAHOE, SACRAMENTO (THE CAPITAL) AND A 2½ HOUR DRIVE FROM SAN FRANCISCO

8 PICTURES FROM REGION RALLY PAGE 8

9 Meet our new Region 2nd Vice President Bob Stansbury and his wife Cecelia. Cecelia is also our new Region Secretary. PICTURES FROM THE ROSE PARADE RALLY