Bob Thompson - no apology

[dscluchfc]

This sort of political upheaval has been happening and boiling since I bought my trailer in 2002. At that time, I was Chairman and CEO of a large major Political Action Committee as part of my professional responsibilities.

I was up to my nose in politics DAILY then, and I still am even though I am no longer running a PAC. Once you travel in those circles, it seems you always do.

The LAST thing I wanted was more POLITICS involved with my RECREATION designed to get me AWAY from POLITICS.

I have never joined the local unit despite a very good friend who is a "5 or 6 star general" WBCCI member continually prodding me to join. I was ALMOST persuaded to join the 4CU unit when it was formed because of the monumental fight they had to even get a charter from the powers that didn't want an "internet based" unit. Eventually the powers that objected agreed to a provisional charter that would only be made a full fledged unit if certain criteria were met...and they were met.
Most of the 4CU activities are over 500 miles from my home, and I still have not joined WBCCI.

I just want to camp.
I want to be on the road and see and do things I can't do when I am working.
I don't want meetings, I just want to camp.
I don't want organizational politics and responsibilities.
I just want to camp.
I enjoy the "commumity" that Air Forums has and the sharing of information and problem solving as we all maintain our "bucket of rivets".

Maybe I will get my loose ends tied up in a couple of days, and I will get to hook up and see some highway later this week in New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado.

Perhaps I may even see you....on the road.

[Lothlorian]

David:

Ditto to what you said about just wanting to go camping. I was involved professionally in an amateur sport for over 30 years as a coach. Many of those years I had to work for parent run organizations. As a coach and a parent of children who did dance and sports I have had my fill of board of directors and meetings. So many times meetings were not about the sport. It was about peoples personal feelings and they would always drag them into the meetings and go on and on and on and on (yuk!).

No more clubs for me. All I want to do is camp and plan my future retirement. I want to meet new interesting people where ever I go. I would like to attend a rally some day but only as a guest. I just want to let the good times roll and use airstream forums for learning from very interesting people.

Bob who ever you are I just wish you luck and may you always have good days of camping.

Brian

[Beginner]

Bob
I'm glad to see you back and swinging. Keep your guard up.
Second is the observed part.
I belong to a very old fraternity. It too suffered from being very conservative to a degree. We missed young men joining our ranks, mostly from the Vietnam WAR and not wanting to be part of any organizarion. We lost two or three generations of men due to this. However in the last few years, our membership being the average age of 65 or better realised that change was necessary to survive. Even more it was realised that when the fraternity was strong the men of the present was running it.
We had a few younger men knock on our door each year. Then came the first Desert Storm and the desire for the young men to be a member of an old organization, something bigger than they were. Then the second Desert Storm and more from the first war started showing up in even heaver numbers. Those of us older members realised as stated before that when the organization was flourshing the men of the time were running it. The elders gave advice in sticky situations. A couple of chrasmatic men joined and the flood gates opened. We went from 3 to 5 new members a year to 12 to 15 men wanting to join a year. We, the older ones realising the above situations and stepped back. It is once again a meeting place of popularity. The old rules are still in place and are followed to the SPIRIT, but we have come to realise that the old rules are vague enough to allow vitality and growth. The new guard is in their thirtys, the rest of us are in our late fifties AND MUCH OLDER and are feeling younger and revitalized by the mew bloods enthausim (yea I know its mispelled) but the change,... I have been moved.
I am new to the organizaton. I have had my Airstream only a couple of years. But I realise that Wally was about camping and organization. You needed the organization to accomplish the wonderful things (caravans etc) not I think the organization for the organizations sake.
Once upon a time a man had a job from his twentys to retirement. Those days are gone, so are a lot of things, however, the WBCCI can flourish again with the needs of the younger couples in mind.
I look forward with great anticipation going to the Wilder West Caravan, I just hope it is still offered when I retire, and other things, seeing this country as part of a caravan or not. The WBCCI has wonderful things to offer, they just need not to get caught so much in the nit picking details and remeber the root pholosiphy (yea I blew that one too).
By the way, the time is way off as I am in Mountain Standard Time instead of Eastern Standard Time as usual (8:40 PM)
My two cents worth'
Still a
Beginner

[Gene]

Some really good posts from doug&maggie, dscluchfc (that's a mouthfull), Lothlorian and beginner (we ought to get him spelling lessons).

I have been involved in many organizations—some got things done, others got stuck in the past and destroyed themselves. One in particular comes to mind. I spent more than 5 years working to straighten things out, modernize procedures, help get the financial side in order, and encourage looking forward as well as taking care of the present. But the old timers just kept getting older and couldn't hear that the world was changing. If anyone new came along, they didn't stay long. When I resigned from the board, after trying trying to explain the internet's impact and how they had to grasp the opportunity, I told the board "I am old and I'm setting an example by resigning so there's space for a younger person". They missed that one and since I was also a officer as well as a board member, I was replaced by an older person as vp. The experiments with a more active internet presence ended, money is very tight and membership continues to drop. One constituent organization has withdraw from the organization and another seems to have disappeared. It is sad because this is an organization that had some major successes, but is now unraveling.

I admire the people in the WBCCI who are trying to reform and advance the organization. I, in reading these threads for some time now, can't see they have accomplished anything, but maybe it's behind the scenes. From outside it looks like I'm watching the Guardian Council hold onto power in a self perpetuating oligarchy. The bosses select their successors and choose the same type of people who do the same things. Anyone new is blocked by a tangle of rules and costs set forth in the mysterious bible, the "blue book". It has the fascination of watching a train wreck in slow motion, but after a while, you want to see the final crash and explosion, but in this case, the wreck just keeps going on and on and on. That gets boring.

It seems there are elections in a few days. I don't understand how they work, but it appears they are made to look democratic, but aren't. Maybe something will change and I suppose we'll find out in a while. While all this goes on, the rest of the Airstream world keeps moving on and the WBCCI is getting left in the dust. Even Airstream itself, a company which sometimes seems to be living in the past, is starting to have a presence on the Forum. The Forum may be where the energy is shifting now, but it's not democratic and the rules are vague, so it carries it's own seeds of destruction. The Forum's energy is solely that of the characters who post on it and they make it whatever it is. I wonder what comes after the Forum?

Yes, it's time to go camping.

Gene

[munimula]

It is real easy to take swipes at the WBCCI. There have been a series of bonehead moves made by the IBT over the past few years. It is worth noting the good work that the 2020 Committee is doing. Have any of you dissenters actually read the position paper they drafted for the mid-winter meetings? see http://wbcci2.org/NewDirections2020.pdf

There are some really good ideas presented in this doc. Hopefully the WBCCI is not as adrift as some of you would think. I am still twenty years away from Caravanning. I really hope the club exists once it is my turn to hit the road. As I have stated previously - being a member of the WBCCI has enabled me to camp in places I would not otherwise have access to -- Rogers Farm, Grovers Farm, West Point, and Ft Schuyler, to name a few. The club has introduced me to people I call good friends. Oh...and I met my girlfriend at a WBCCI Rally -- totally unexpected.

For me the club just gives and gives. I enjoy volunteering my time to the WBCCI and giving back where I can.

--Dave

[bob280]

Yep, I not only have read the 2020 Reprt and all of the surveys and comments, but I no members of the 2020 Committee on a personall basis. They worked hard on the 2020 Report, but the problem is that the current leadership has given only lip service to it. (My opinion, of course) For example the Club President stated at the Sarsota Rally that seven or eight items had been addressed, but has failed to tell us members what those action items were and as far as I can tell nothing happened. Requests from the membership for more details and all we get is that the leaders have don x number of actions y number of things being worked on , etc. but no detairs. As a saying goes, "where is the meat?"

So perhaps you can inform me as to what the leadership has actually done in reference to the 3030 Com wonderful report and recomendations.

[munimula]

Originally Posted by bob280

So perhaps you can inform me as to what the leadership has actually done in reference to the 3030 Com wonderful report and recomendations.

No more Teen Queen contest?

Bob, my reply was not directed towards you. I wrote it more to inform the people who must sh*t on the club that efforts are being made to fix what ails it.

[Gene]

Originally Posted by munimula

I wrote it more to inform the people who must sh*t on the club that efforts are being made to fix what ails it.

I wonder who you do mean?

When we heard about the WBCCI, we thought that sounds like something we might want to join. Then I started reading about the internecine quarrels, declining membership, etc., and thought "why would we want to get involved in that, or give that type of leadership our money?"

I hope you get it reformed. Then we'll reconsider.

Gene

[Lily&Me]

We second Gene's motion. Make the changes, let us see them in place, then we will consider joining.

[bob280]

Originally Posted by munimula

No more Teen Queen contest?

Bob, my reply was not directed towards you. I wrote it more to inform the people who must sh*t on the club that efforts are being made to fix what ails it.

It is understood that you are a good person and it is hoped you will partake in unit and regional activities as well as caravans.

The Club is going through a problem time but it will hopefully survive with better leadeership oriented towards camping and fun rallies and lots of fellowship,

[StingrayL82]

Bob,

I've followed your "adventure" for quite some time now...I think it's been a couple years now, right? I'm glad to see that you were reinstated with no lost time.

Leo,

I honestly don't know how you manage to keep fighting the way you do. Sorry I jumped ship, right after you started the Save Wally website...being in the Army keeps me all-consumed. The good news is that I was promoted to Sergeant First Class this year....woo hoo!!!

As a former member of the WBCCI, and a younger man of 35 (soon to be 36), the last thing I want to do, when I'm going camping with family and friends, is mandatorily attend a meeting and dealing with close-minded fuddy duddies who fart dust and have no time for opinions from us young whipper snappers...no offense to the elderly meant at all but, rather, to the stick-in-the-mud good ole boy board members who think it their right to rule with absolute power and not listen to the underlings, ie: the IBT I saw at the IR in Salem in '06.

The last time I checked, the WBCCI was supposed to be a Democracy, not a corrupt dictatorship, which is what the IBT is, in my opinion.

Until the IBT realizes that it will not survive, unless something is done NOW, and not 2020, their membership will keep dwindling, both from the elderly members taking their final camping trip and the disgusted members who just want to have fun.

Brooke and I had a blast with the WDCU, when we lived in Maryland. Even though the Cherry Blossom Rally in '06 was soaking wet almost all weekend, we had fun. To me, it was camping at its finest and making new friends, like Star and Peter Grover, and Rob and Zoe, and Colin....wonderful people. The IBT should take note from the WDCU's model and consider adopting it.

I'll keep being a renegade Airstreamer, until something changes.

[Chuck]

Originally Posted by StingrayL82

...the last thing I want to do, when I'm going camping with family and friends, is mandatorily attend a meeting and dealing with close-minded fuddy duddies who fart dust and have no time for opinions from us young whipper snappers...

Who forced you to attend a meeting? In 6 years as a member, I've never been "forced" to do anything by the wbcci.
except...have a good time, whether I wanted to, or not.

How many times do we have to say it? YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE INVOLVED WITH ANY OF THIS to be involved w/ the wbcci, if you don't want to. All I ever do is just what you all say you want: get together w/ airstreaming friends and have a good time camping. Thats it.
The only reason I'm even reading this thread is because Bob is a member of my unit. I know Bob. I've camped with Bob. Bob is a friend of mine. And let me tell you something--you're no "Bob Thompson"!
(Ok, that last part was just a little joke ;-)
But seriously: If this had happened to the Region 27 president, instead of the Region 1 president, I would very much be "{shrug} um...yeah. whatever. When's the next rally?!"

[RedSHED]

Originally Posted by Chuck

... YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE INVOLVED WITH ANY OF THIS to be involved w/ the wbcci, if you don't want to. ..."

True enough ... except the dues. We pay money for dues, and increasingly it seems that the leadership are using dues money to enjoy perquisites not consistent with a corporation shelling off members and spitting up red ink. The candidates are selected by the EC, the media is controlled by the EC. Can you get a new idea or candidate in there? Not easily. Do we need new blood and new ideas in there? Desperately.

[Gkiesel]

I'm with Dave on this one. All clubs are what you make of them. For me the WBCCI has been great. Maybe I'm just fortunate to have a great unit. Yeah, there gettin older, so am I, some members drop out each year. But I've never felt any of this stuff that goes on at the international level. I send in my coupon,show up, drink beer with friends of all ages. and enjoy life for the weekend. See you down the road, George.

[StingrayL82]

Chuck,

I was given a membership to the DVNJ Chapter as a "gift" for dropping too much money on the refurbishestoration (yeah, figure that one out) of our Sovereign. I went to the the Turkey Rally in '05 and had never been to a single WBCCI event before in my life. Sherri had just died, and the kids and I needed a distraction, so we went.

Again, no offense to the older folks, but I think I was the only person under 55 there (I was 32 at the time), so I had noone to relate to, and there were very few kids there the same age as my children...grandkids that had been dropped off with Grandma and Grandpa.

When it came time for the meeting, I was told that I had to attend, since it coincided with dinner. The meeting was about as boring as could be, and that clued me in that this wasn't what I had thought it was going to be. I can do without rules, when I'm camping, unless it's the courtesy rules, i.e., keep your animal on a leash, clean up their poo, don't make loud noise after 1000, etc...

The International Rally in Salem cemented my belief that the WBCCI was not for me. The idea that changing an organization's name, which had been in existence for decades, would make it better and increase membership was, is and ever shall be (to me) preposterous, and the manner in which that meeting was conducted was ludicrous.

I cannot, and will not in good conscience, pay dues to an organization that misuses those funds and tells me what I can and cannot do in said organization. Kudos to all the Chapters who do their own thing and disregard the Blue Book, but ask yourselves this: If you joined the Club, aren't you expected to abide by their rules? If I don't agree with the rules, I leave...I don't need to belong to a club to enjoy myself and drink a toast to the genius who invented my rig.

Good luck overthrowing the regime, so you can change those crappy rules...just like RedSHED said in not so many words, seems like the Good Ole Boys are cemented in their places, trading out amongst themselves every so often.

So what's the point to being in the club then? If you are out doing your thing with your friends in your Airstreams together, why in the heck are you in the WBCCI???? If you can't change their rules, and not for lack of trying, without getting sanctioned, censured or even thrown out, then leave and have fun with your friends and family without the rules.

I, for one, wear a beret everyday and it's crappy. It doesn't keep the sun out of your eyes, when it rains it smells like a sheep and it makes look like a Frenchman....great.....just what I wanted.

Chuck, I truly didn't mean to get you ruffled, and I apologize if I did. I am just relaying my experiences. If it seems like I've been rambling, I probably am....I've been up since 0400 and working an extra shift for another soldier, sorry.

[Ed Emerick]

So here I sit at the 2009 International Rally in Madison WI...................

HAVING A BLAST (again, #10 now)

This is what the club is about, nice grass site, great weather, good people, and a meeting to go to when I want to.


Couple of notes on the International, the seminars that they have set are some of the best I have seen in some time, those that set those up, they did a great job!

The VAC parking as always is great, 60 + coaches here and it great to see old WBCCI vintage members ( and non vintage as well!)

Most of all NO ONE has tried to shove politics down my throat this week.


Just a good time with good people.


Get out and pull your trailer, that's what the club is about.

[Chuck]

Its not "you"; its this notion that keeps getting repeated that wbcci membership "requires" that you do un-fun things with un-fun people. It just ain't so.
Whoever decided to hold a meeting over dinner at a rally...well...might as well just send an engraved invitation to everyone to just quit. Thats just..."extremely misguided".
But that doesn't make the whole wbcci like that. And the international...well, what it projects about the club is about as far away from reality as you can possibly get. It probably does more to steer people away, than to draw them in, which is a sad commentary indeed. But yeah, it almost did that to me, as it was my first direct exposure to the club, too. It was only by chance that I found the NEU, and learned that it is absolutely n o t h i n g like that.
The wbcci is not the army; nobody here can tell you what kind of hat to wear. period.

and "10-00"?? you've got to be kidding, right? at 10, we're just getting started. Usually its the campground owner that has to come over and tell us, "you people are having way to much fun. please quiet down".

[rgesch]

Originally Posted by RedSHED

True enough ... except the dues. We pay money for dues, and increasingly it seems that the leadership are using dues money to enjoy perquisites not consistent with a corporation shelling off members and spitting up red ink. The candidates are selected by the EC, the media is controlled by the EC. Can you get a new idea or candidate in there? Not easily. Do we need new blood and new ideas in there? Desperately.

...and in a lot of units you MUST be present (attend the business meeting) in order to cast your vote. This is a problem for some folks, especially when important issues come up; Name Change, SOB MoHo, ect.

Not a big issue for me, but the club has lost members over it.

...and gee, I wish I were at International right now!

[Frank's Trailer Works]

Originally Posted by Ed Emerick

So here I sit at the 2009 International Rally in Madison WI...................

HAVING A BLAST (again, #10 now)

This is what the club is about, nice grass site, great weather, good people, and a meeting to go to when I want to.


Couple of notes on the International, the seminars that they have set are some of the best I have seen in some time, those that set those up, they did a great job!

The VAC parking as always is great, 60 + coaches here and it great to see old WBCCI vintage members ( and non vintage as well!)

Most of all NO ONE has tried to shove politics down my throat this week.


Just a good time with good people.


Get out and pull your trailer, that's what the club is about.

Unfortunately Ed, I was not parked the grass nor was my entire unit. There was however plenty of space for 13 non vintage units to be parked on the grass. I found the seminars very boring. Did you manage to attend one of the daily Skymed seminars? They were fantastic. We left three days early and are finally having a good time. I had been told that there was a huge division within the club, but finally saw it first hand. Glad you were able to have a great time. I just look forward to getting back to my unit and going camping again. I did enjoy meeting you and wish we could have spent more time together, but we were far away from the rest of the group. To be honest with you, the entire International experience has turned me off to the entire club. I came with an open mind and was sorely disappointed. When I voiced my unhappiness with being separated from the rest of the VAC I was told "oh well, that's how it goes" and the VAC's new president told me "If you are unhappy, that is your problem not mine." If your president is not batting for you what do you have? Sorry Ed to wreck your fun, but I traveled a long way, recruited a bunch of people to come along and we were slighted. There is no other way to view it. I hope the west coast VACers enjoy their club. They can have it.

[byamcaravanner]

Originally Posted by Ed Emerick

So here I sit at the 2009 International Rally in Madison WI................... HAVING A BLAST (again, #10 now)

Ed, this was #1 for me and we did have a blast, but it was in spite of the activities of the Club and the VAC. I have to say, this was the most pathetic Airstream event we have attended… certainly not worth the $415 we paid to attend.

Originally Posted by Ed Emerick

So here I sit at the 2009 International Rally in Madison WI................... This is what the club is about, nice grass site, great weather, good people, and a meeting to go to when I want to.

Ed, this comment is a bit disingenuous… of the nearly 900 trailers on site, only 60 +/- were on the grass. We were told on Friday that all but a few Vintage units would be located on grass, which was welcome news after our trek to Madison in 90 degree plus temperatures. We were all shocked on Saturday when with only 20 trailers on the grass we were directed onto the pavement. When we raised our concerns with the VAC officers it was like looking at those three monkeys… HERE NO EVIL - SEE NO EVIL – SPEAK NO EVIL. The soon to be installed VAC President Scott Scheuermann, said to us “If you are not happy, it’s not my fault.” Thanks for your great leadership Scott. Even the grass site was tainted by a homeless squatter “tenting” along the fence of the facility. It was not comforting to be warned by a parker as we first stepped out of our vehicles to keep the kids away from this area located only 100 yards from our trailer. Several days later, the police came by and rousted the guy out.

I will agree with you in one respect… we did meet a lot of great people.

Originally Posted by Ed Emerick

Couple of notes on the International, the seminars that they have set are some of the best I have seen in some time, those that set those up, they did a great job!

It was certainly great to hear PeeWee speak, but listening to Herb quickly reading off Fred’s notes on the ’62 Calif/Ohio differences was less than inspiring.

What I missed was any onsite activities for the kids… I’ve seen more outdoor fun for the kids at a 40 trailer WDCU rally. Sure they had some crafts, but no sprinklers or rock-walls or the sort big-time stuff one would expect at a big-time event like this. No wonder the Teen Queen is defunct. Other than catching up with old friends... the most fun our kids had at the rally site was dodging cars on their bikes.

Originally Posted by Ed Emerick

Get out and pull your trailer, that's what the club is about.

I totally agree… we have had great fun using our trailer (and a borrowed one) over the last two years. What I am curious about is… why doesn't the International create an event that reflects that kind of fun?

For my money, the International was a bust! Luckily, we had many events outside the International planned for the folks we invited... this made for happy times and great memories.