Greater Bay Area Airstream Club Silver Bulletin Eric McHenry GBAAC President Thanks again to all who attended and helped make the Chowchilla Rally (hosted by Golden West) successful. As always, it was a wonderful rally; and I d encourage any of you who haven t been to the Lakes RV and Golf Resort to add this location to one of your to-do March 2017 locations, especially if you re traveling in that area. It s a beautiful RV park situated in a mainly agricultural area in the Central Valley. Of course, the addition of our gleaming Airstreams added to the attraction, as usual. Looking forward, I d like to remind you all of a couple of upcoming events, which, as always, have more information located on our Unit website (http:// greaterbayarea.wbcci.net/). First, coming in June, we have our always-popular Coyote Lake rally, starting on June 8. The rally is held in a County Park campground with running water, flush toilets and warm showers. Partial hookups (water and electric but no sewer) are available in the adjacent loop, but we camp mainly in the drycamping area next to the lake. Some spots are left; check our website for registration information (you make your own reservations). Next, be sure to mark your calendars for our 2017 Region 12 Rally to be held in the beautiful Jackson Rancheria Casino Resort RV Park starting October 10. Registration should be opening within a few months, and Region 12 hopes to approach filling the park with Airstreams (~100 sites) as was done a few years ago. Finally, on the long-range-planning front, we have a unique opportunity in 2018 when the WCCI International Rally comes to the West Coast. It will be hosted in Salem, Oregon, at the Oregon State Fairgrounds from June 17 to 30, 2018, with an expected attendance of over 800 Airstreams if past trends continue. Given its location on the West Coast, we hope to have a large number of Region 12 attendees and will be coordinating our May/June 2018 rally to allow for caravanning up to Oregon. Bottom line: We have lots of great activities coming up. Check out the full rally calendar on our Unit website. See you on the road, Eric 1
Once again, Cecelia and I were not at the Chowchilla rally, but we were Airstreaming in another state. We attended a rally put on by the El Camino Club from Southern California. What was unusual was that the rally was in Lake Havasu, Arizona. One of their members lives there and hosted the event. The event is called the Winter Blast. Every February, the manufacturers of fireworks display their new creations at shows and demonstrations for buyers in the United States. These are mostly cities and Robert s Rules of Order municipalities that put on 4th of July celebrations. The public is invited to observe as well. The rally takes place very close to the event at the local rodeo grounds. It is dry camping, but there are great bathrooms and showers close by. You can sit at your trailer or in the rodeo grandstands and see a great show. The performances run from 7:30 to 10:30 each night for four nights. It was spectacular. Our hosts are big car collectors besides being Airstreamers. Lake Havasu has a large contingent of 2 automobile collectors as well. Arrangements were made to visit several private garages and collections of rolling stock. It would be very difficult to describe all that we saw that day. It was better than most car museums that I have visited. Our owners/hosts were exceedingly gracious and humble. The Lake Tahoe Airstream Club is talking to the El Camino Club about a joint rally next year in Lake Havasu. Let the Stansburys know if you are interested in attending. A Place They Call Home: Costco members share their unique ways of living For most families, traveling in tight quarters while on vacation can be challenging. The Curren family enjoyed being together in their 27- foot-long Airstream travel trailer so much that they made it their permanent residence. We really liked the simple lifestyle; we liked to be together as a family; we liked exploring and adventuring together, says Costco member Jess Curren from their latest stop, McDowell Mountain Regional Park in Arizona. The family started their journey with a six-month house swap in Virginia in July 2013. While driving there in their minivan, they visited the Airstream factory. By November that same year they had purchased a used Airstream for $40,000 and abandoned the house swap to head out onto the road. By the time we were four months into the road trip we were like, This is awesome. Why are we still paying a mortgage on a house we [have] no desire to go back to? This is ridiculous; we just need to sell it. Curren says. So, in 2014, the family sold their house in Utah and the majority of their belongings in order to travel full time in a 188-square-foot 2008 Airstream International travel trailer, which they call their Spaceship for Planet Earth. For their adventure, Curren put her photography career on hold and started blogging (currentlywander ing.com) about their experiences, and her husband, Sam, works as a remote programmer. Their three children 11-year-old Rachel, 9- year-old Andrew and 6-year-old Cara adapted to home schooling with lessons that incorporate the places they visit. Jess and Sam sleep on a pull-out gaucho sofa bed. They converted the queen bed in the back bedroom into twin beds and a toddler bed arranged in a U-shape, giving each child his or her own space and opening up more floor space. They also added 400-watt solar panels so they can go off the grid. The experience of being able to be with our kids while they re growing up and having my husband completely involved in their lives and in our family is invaluable, Curren says. Christina Guerrero The Costco Connection, March 2017, Volume 32, Number 3
April 13-17, 2017 San Francisco North/ Petaluma KOA 20 Rainsville Road Petaluma, CA 94952 (707) 763-1492 http://koa.com/campgrounds/sanfrancisco/ Host: Golden West Unit TBD May 19-22, 2017 DRY CAMPING Fallen Lake Leaf 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/. Upcoming Rallies 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 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.bodegabayrvpark.com/ Host: Golden West Unit TBD Milestones March Birthdays 13 John Masiello 17 Carolyn Meeker 20 Clark Dooley 20 Janet Walde 24 Dennis Shakespeare 27 Cecelia Stansbury March Anniversaries 03 Clark & Betty Dooley 19 Peter & Janet Walde 22 Allen & Linda Sickler 24 Richard & Judy Kleiman April Birthdays 01 Tom Smithson 20 Rhonda McKinnon April Anniversaries 20 Robert & Cecelia Stansbury Toscano RV Center 2531 East Pacheco Boulevard Los Banos, CA 93635-9417 Sales (877) 485-0190 Service (209) 826-2488 http://www. toscanorv.com 3
Bill Dash, LaVerne McHenry, Judy and Ken Bechthold, Brian Handshoe David and Bill Dash Margaret Handshoe, Ken and Judy Bechthold Ivy and Brian Handshoe, Clark and Betty Dooley Roger and Roberta Peeples and grandson Tristan 4
Judy Bechthold, Brian Handshoe, LaVerne McHenry, Chris Harvey, Margaret Handshoe, Clark Dooley Linda Bauer, Dale Harrington, Shari and Jim Gong Michael and Lillian Rivera and new Golden West members Chris and Melanie Harvey Richard Kleiman, LaVerne and Eric McHenry 5
Betty Dooley, Ivy Handshoe, Melanie Harvey, Roberta Peeples Ivy Handshoe Clark Dooley, Chris Harvey, Margaret and Brian Handshoe, LaVerne McHenry, Judy Bechthold Clark Dooley Chickenfoot winners LaVerne McHenry, Ken Bechthold, Chris and Melanie Harvey 6