Greater Bay Area Airstream Club Silver Bulletin LaVerne McHenry GBAAC First Lady and Past President Hi there! Eric is out of town on a short fishing trip, so I m filling in for his President s report on the Petaluma KOA Golden West rally. Some of you might know that we live in Santa Rosa. That s a hop, skip and jump from Petaluma. We ve driven past the Petaluma KOA maybe a gazillion times, but we ve never, ever camped there. And while it was going to be a crazy busy weekend for us, we decided we still wanted May 2017 to join the crowd and check the place out. Since both Eric and I are still workers, and we both had to go into the office on Thursday, Eric decided to take Aolani (our Airstream) to the campground on Wednesday night. That way, we d be set up right after work on Thursday. As soon as Eric got settled into the campground, I received a text message from him saying, wow, this place is really nice! Then he started sending me pictures, and he was right the campground IS nice! If you get a chance, and especially if you want to get the kids out, this is the place to go. It s super clean and is very well maintained and managed. It has beautiful sites, a petting zoo, a jumping thingy, bikes to rent, and a swimming pool that sits on a bluff looking out to the open area surrounding the park. As I drove in the next day, I had to stop in the driveway as a flock not sure if they re called a flock, but a group of peacocks decided to cross the road. Yes, roaming peacocks even! Because it was Easter weekend, we had a smaller group than normal. There were nine rigs and a motorcycle! Did I mention there are cabins at this KOA, and they are very clean and cute? Since Judy had to work (tax season), Ken Bechthold rode his super-cool motorcycle out and stayed in one of the cabins. Seriously, these cabins are very nice. As Eric and I did our nighttime walk through the campground, we felt like we were in the high-rent district as we walked through cabin lane. So keep this campground in mind if you want to go camping with family and they might not have a rig available to camp, and especially if they have kids. Thursday night I arrived just as the gang was headed out for dinner, so of course (cont d on page 4) 1
Robert Stansbury here again. Cecelia and I were not at the Petaluma Rally because we are on the WBCCI Civil War Caravan. This is a THREE-YEAR Caravan. One month for the next three years, the caravan explores different theaters of the Civil War. This war covered 23 states, and there were over 10,500 battles. Obviously, it would take a lifetime to cover all of this history. We will see most of the top 50 engagements. Since we are in the middle of this caravan, I will fill May Birthdays 08 Bull Ingall 21 Norma Masiello 23 Dorothy Farinha 25 Lynn Killitz June Birthdays 03 LaVerne McHenry 06 Connie Squires 17 Stephanie Valorosi Toscano RV Center 2531 East Pacheco Blvd. Los Banos, CA 93635-9417 Sales (877) 485-0190 Service (209) 826-2488 http://www. toscanorv.com Robert s Rules of Order you in on what happened in a later article. The city of Carson City, Nevada, has approved our permit for the October 6-8 Urban Rally. This event will be hosted by the Lake Tahoe Airstream Club. Since we are also members of the Greater Bay Area Airstream Club, we want to open it up to you first. I have very few parking spots downtown. If you are interested, let me know in May when we return to Nevada. Otherwise, you Milestones May Anniversaries 09 Robert & Maureen Van Tuyl 12 Ross & Linda Bauer 14 Carter & Connie Squires 21 Dennis & Shirley Shakespeare 22 Jack & Kathy Hampel will be put on the waiting list. E-mail me at burytone@yahoo.com. Now for some information for your 2018 calendar. The contract for the 2018 Region Rally has been signed. It will be held in Las Vegas, Nevada, at the Oasis RV Park. This is a resort on Blue Diamond Boulevard just south of the Strip. It is a great location and should be a lot of fun. As usual, this event will be in October, starting on October 3 and ending on October 7. See you down the road. June Anniversaries 16 Vince & Karen Martinico 19 Tim Lundell & Penelope O Neill 29 Jeff & Lynn Killitz 2
May 19-22, 2017 DRY CAMPING Fallen Leaf Lake Campground 2165 Fallen Leaf Road South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150 (530) 544-5994 https://www.recreation.gov/ Host: Lake Tahoe Airstream Club Linda and Chuck Maddox Cecelia and Bob Stansbury Note: This is a special event where we will join the Lake Tahoe Airstream Club in the beautiful Lake Tahoe area for a dry-camping rally. Attendees must make their own reservations. See information by clicking on more details under Fallen Leaf Lake Rally at http:// greaterbayarea.wbcci.net/ rally/. June 8-12, 2017 DRY CAMPING Coyote Lake-Harvey Bear Ranch County Park 10840 Coyote Lake Road Gilroy, CA 95020 (408) 842-7800 Host: Greater Bay Area Airstream Club Eric and LaVerne McHenry Upcoming Rallies July 22-29, 2017 INTERNATIONAL RALLY Upper Peninsula State Fairgrounds 2401 12th Avenue North Escanaba, MI 49829 (906) 786-4011 http://www.upstatefair.org/ September 14-18, 2017 Bodega Bay RV Park 2001 Highway One Bodega Bay, CA 94923 (800) 201-6864 http://www.bodegabay rvpark.com/ Host: Golden West Unit TBD October 6-8, 2017 URBAN RALLY Carson City, NV Host: Lake Tahoe Airstream Club Cecelia and Bob Stansbury Note: This is a special event where we will join the Lake Tahoe Airstream Club in Carson City, Nevada, for an urban rally. Only a few parking spots are available in downtown Carson City. Attendees must email Bob Stansbury at burytone@ yahoo.com in May. Latecomers will be put on a waiting list. October 10-14, 2017 REGION RALLY Jackson Rancheria Casino & RV Park 12222 New York Ranch Road Jackson, CA 95642 (800) 822-9466 http://www. jacksoncasino.com Host: NorCal Unit November 9-13, 2017 INSTALLATION RALLY Yanks RV Resort 40399 Livingston Road Greenfield, CA 93927 (855) 926-5778 http://www. yanksrvresort.com Host: Greater Bay Area Airstream Club TBD 3
(cont d from page 1) E and I piled into Eray and Simon s rig for a cocktail or two. It s fun to sit in their rig and watch the people walk by and take pictures. They have such a beautiful, special rig. Speaking of rigs, later after dinner, during our walk, we found our Janiece just arriving with her brandnew rig! Some of you may not know this, but Janiece lost her rig in the San Jose flood this past spring. She arrived at the storage lot ten minutes too late, and her rig was under about six inches of water. At least two inches of water got inside. So, while the rig was still beautiful and could be cleaned, it was totaled because the contaminated flood water of course got into the wall insulation and would have resulted in mold. Janiece had to tearfully give up her rig and hope there would be something on the horizon. It didn t take long. Because we know good things happen to good people, Toscano RV in Los Banos just happened to have a 2015 25-foot front-bedroom Flying Cloud being traded in. Between our very own Clark Dooley, who lives in the area, and David Morse from Toscano, they got Janiece into her new rig! Now all Janiece needs to do is find new spots in her new rig for all her stuff! This is a great story and ending, but here s something we should be reminded of: Let s all check our insurance policies and understand them. We worry about driving and what can go wrong, but who would have thought of a freak flood in the middle of San Jose because of a failed dam? Just something to think about. Our rally hosts, Dale and Nancy Harrington and Jack and Shirley Whitcomb, served up a great Easter dinner on Friday. Yes, some of us got to eat Easter dinner twice! And as always, after dinner we played a wicked game of Chickenfoot. I m starting to understand how it s played, I think. Between Chris and Melanie Harvey (new Golden West members) and Laura Jean (Roger and Roberta Peeples granddaughter), I figured we had no chance! But then Roberta sneaked in there and won the game! Way to go, Grandma Roberta! Speaking of Roberta, she, along with Melanie and Laura Jean, rented those banana bikes from the campground. Now, I wasn t present to witness the rides they took, but rumor has it that steering had its difficulties! I don t have pictures or witnesses, but that s the rumor I heard. Eric and I had a super busy Saturday. We needed to leave the campground by 4:30 a.m. to travel up north to Lake Sonoma. Eric is a ham radio guy (still thanking Roger) and volunteers to man radio transmitting for events. There was a 50-mile footrace around Lake Sonoma yes, 50 miles of running on mountain-to-lake trails that even ran through thigh-high water a couple of times. Thankfully, we had a non-eventful day and returned to the campground in the afternoon, kind of just in time for happy hour. We of course had great appetizers to sample, the highlight being the Cowgirl Creamery cheese that the Dashes brought back from their day trip out to Point Reyes. Yum! It was a burn-yourown-meat and bring-aside-dish night, and we starved. (Well, okay, we (cont d on page 5) 4
Remembering Airstream s fanciest trailer: the Land Yacht The nautically-themed trailer is out of production, but its memory lives on in other Airstream models By Megan Barber Airstream trailers have been nicknamed a lot of things: the Silver Bullet, a Toaster-on-Wheels, and even the Silver Twinkie. But the now iconic American aluminum trailer especially its largest models has also been known as a land yacht, thanks to its highend design reminiscent of the largest ships on the sea. Airstream lived up to this title in 2014 when it debuted what it called the most luxurious Airstream ever conceived. The special edition model the Land Yacht 28 boasted three rooms and was designed with the help of Mauro Micheli, head designer at yacht design firm Officina Italiana Design, with cabinetry from the Italian firm Tecnoform. All of that impressive pedigree meant one thing for the Land Yacht: It was fancy. Designed to resemble a luxury watercraft, the 28- foot trailer slept six and came with boat-deck plank flooring, LED lighting, and Corian countertops. The master bedroom boasted a pillow top queen mattress, a 30-inch flatscreen, and plenty of under-the-bed storage. The technology and decor was also first class. A powered pedestal table moved the dining room table out of the way to free up space, and a powered outdoor awning made shade accessible. The interior came in two color options, dark wood and cream or a lighter wood with dark grey seating fabric. The Land Yacht started at $146,362 and because it was a special edition model, it had limited production. It doesn t come down to how many Special Edition units we sell, it s about creating truly unique models that allow our team, and those we partner with a creative outlet to try new ideas, said Bryan Melton, General Manager of travel trailers at Airstream. When you remove certain constraints, you allow engineers and designers to maximize their creativity. The results are truly special, like the Land Yacht, which continue to make strong statements within Airstream s prolific history. Not long after the debut of the Land Yacht, Airstream took many of that model s favorite qualities and added them to the remodeled Classic trailer and their new line of Class-B luxury touring coaches. Today, the Land Yacht is still on the product page of Airstream s website, but according to a reputable Airstream dealer in Colorado, the only Land Yachts still left for sale are in Canada. For many Airstream fanatics, the Land Yacht will go down as one of the fanciest and best designed trailers in the company s history. (cont d from page 4) didn t.) Sunday morning we needed to head back on the whopping 20-minute drive to Santa Rosa. (Remember, we re still workers, so we couldn t stay until Monday.) The morning started off beautifully, but within a few minutes the rain came in, and gosh darn it, the sky opened up on us. Luckily, our 20- minute drive was uneventful, and our rig was tucked away until next time. 5
Roger Peeples, Eric McHenry, Ken Bechthold, Eray Honeycutt, and Janiece Fister Eric McHenry, Roger Peeples, and Eray Honeycutt Roberta and Roger Peeples Simon Yen, David Brown, and Eray Honeycutt Simon Yen, Eray Honeycutt, LaVerne and Eric McHenry, and Ken Bechthold Eric McHenry, Ken Bechthold, David Brown, and Janiece Fister 6
Eray Honeycutt, Simon Yen, Janiece Fister, LaVerne and Eric McHenry LaVerne McHenry, David Brown, and Janiece Fister Chickenfoot winners Ken Bechthold, Roberta Peeples, and Chris Harvey Melanie Harvey, Roberta Peeples, Chris Harvey, and Janiece Fister Laura Jean with grandparents Roberta and Roger Peeples Nancy Harrington, Simon Yen, Bill Dash, Melanie Harvey, David Dash, and Janiece Fister 7
Laura Jean, Grandma Roberta Peeples, and Simon Yen Simon Yen ( Sometimes you think it's the ocean and it turns out to be the sky ) and Deb Dash The unfinishable jigsaw puzzle Simon Yen, Dale Harrington, and Janiece Fister Eray Honeycutt, Dale Harrington, and Janiece Fister David Brown, Simon Yen, Eray Honeycutt, Dale Harrington, Janiece Fister, and Shirley Whitcomb 8