Hi SilverCabin; Your quotation is invalid with WDCU. I am not a past member of any club. I am new to Airstreaming [but not camping]. I have, for the first time attended last September North Norwich Rally as a guest. Ever since, I have made attempts to join the WDCU without any response whatsoever. I guess My 26' restored Argosy is not good enough to be in the club. But if you think that this will bother me, you just may be wrong again. After discussing this issue at hand with my wife, we will be very reluctant to join now not knowing what the problem is. We certainly are not interested in making anyone uncomfortable. After all there are plenty of camp sites. Thanks, "Boatdoc"
Boat DOC
I really don't think they want Us. I stood face to face with the local pres.and did she invited us to a meeting NOPE! I am a Firm believer in joining local and Supporting local.
I have had a generous offer from a WBCCI member in DC to come and camp all expenses paid. I appreicate that but thats to far for me to support that unit and their activities.
Like U said there are lots of sites out there and we will have fun outside the WBCCI and not have to pay them dang DUES or worry about the proper dress and Roberts RULES
__________________
Roger & MaryLou
___________________
F350 CREWCAB SW LONG BED
7.3 liter Power Stroke Diesel
1977 27ft OVERLANDER KA8LMQ AIR # 22336
My your roads be straight and smooth and may you always have a tailwind!
After reading a lot of threads about WBCCI, I have come to these conclusions:
1. Some people like WBCCI just like it is. For the most part they are not members of the Forum.
2. Some WBCCI members don't like the way WBCCI is run, but believe in getting Airstream owners together and try to avoid the rules.
3. Some people want nothing to do with WBCCI because of rules; they have never joined or have unjoined.
4. Some people believe the Forum is the best way for Airstream owners to get together.
5. Some people want to find out information and use the Forum for that and have no interest in the social aspects.
6. Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4 each believe they are the true interpreters of Wally's vision.
7. Some people straddle 2 or more of the above.
8. For the most part none of the statements in the threads seem to change anything.
9. I am a 4 and leaning 3. It looks to me the Forum is the future; WBCCI is the past. Maybe someday there will be an accommodation, but the WBCCI will have to lose a lot more members before change happens. And eventually, the Forum rallies will have more and more rules and opinions will recycle.
You're not being quite honest with your posting that you've gotten "NO" response, are you? Here is a response from YOU from my PM to you.
Re: WDCU
Quote:
Originally Posted by robandzoe Roman,
I've talked to Margaret and she has a spam filter on her emails and states she has never received them. If you do email her, ensure that you put WDCU in the subject line.
We'd love to still have you if you are interested!! I enjoyed meeting you at Installation! You're by far a black sheep - not with that gorgeous Argosy work of art you have!
If you are, let me know - as I won't bug you about it. Any questions, just ask. And I'll also send you a WBCCI brochure and flyer. We are unit 170.
take care,
Rob
WDCU President
Hi Rob; After sending two E-mails to Margaret and not getting any reply I have assumed I was marked as undesirable by someone And gave up.
You can be sure I would like to join WDCU and WBCCI. In the mean time thanks for your time in this matter. Thanks, "Boatdoc"
Roman & Margaret Kay Kruk
-------------------------------
So, if you're still interested, all you have to do is go to our website, WDCU - Washington D.C. Unit (#170) and visit this link WDCU - Washington D.C. Unit (#170) » Join Us and fill out the form and mail it in with your WBCCI dues plus the $1 for WDCU. Maybe you'll reconsider. The system is not perfect, and I'm looking into how to dock the pay of my membership chairperson for not responding.
I know you enjoyed our Installation Rally as all did!
Thanks,
Rob
President, WDCU
__________________
Rob, Zoe', Stanton, Bryce and Braedon Baker
Past President WDCU
Do you Listen to the www.theVAP.com
Plymouth, NY 13832 WBCCI #2820
This is your Cous!!! I know another WDCU member made the offer to you, but since you're family, I'll make the same offer! You come to a WDCU, I'll pay your rally fee AND WBCCI dues for a year if you give us a try!!
You can't say no to FAMILY can ya!! cause at WDCU, we're all one big HAPPY (most of the time) FAMILY!
Rob
__________________
Rob, Zoe', Stanton, Bryce and Braedon Baker
Past President WDCU
Do you Listen to the www.theVAP.com
Plymouth, NY 13832 WBCCI #2820
You're not being quite honest with your posting that you've gotten "NO" response, are you? Here is a response from YOU from my PM to you.
...snip...
So, if you're still interested, all you have to do is go to our website, WDCU - Washington D.C. Unit (#170) and visit this link WDCU - Washington D.C. Unit (#170) » Join Us and fill out the form and mail it in with your WBCCI dues plus the $1 for WDCU. Maybe you'll reconsider. The system is not perfect, and I'm looking into how to dock the pay of my membership chairperson for not responding.
I know you enjoyed our Installation Rally as all did!
Thanks,
Rob
President, WDCU
Boatdoc, I also contacted you with the PM below after your November post.
******************* Recipients: boatdoc 11-23-2008, 11:20 AM WDCU - sorry about the lack of response
I heard the WDCU Installation Rally was great. Sorry I missed it but glad you got to be there.
Did you ever get any response from the WDCU about your membership request? I guarantee you haven't been labeled as a "black sheep". Most of us in the unit could easily be labeled as "black sheep" by some standards.
I'm not sure what happened to your email, nor do I handle membership. But I can make sure you get what you need to join. Just let me know if I can help.
Dacia WDCU WBCCI #14764 **********************
But you never responded to my PM. As Rob says, all you have to do is go to the website if you still want to join us. I'm sorry you didn't get the response you wanted on your first inquiry.
Just as the WBCCI isn't perfect, neither is the WDCU or any other unit within the club. However, the diversity of the units within the WBCCI could be one of our assets. If anyone interested in the club is willing to put forth the effort, they will find units that will give them the experiences they are seeking. If someone isn't seeking experiences within the WBCCI, that's OK too. Just as long as you're out there camping and having fun.
Boatdoc, I also contacted you with the PM below after your November post.
******************* Recipients: boatdoc 11-23-2008, 11:20 AM WDCU - sorry about the lack of response
I heard the WDCU Installation Rally was great. Sorry I missed it but glad you got to be there.
Did you ever get any response from the WDCU about your membership request? I guarantee you haven't been labeled as a "black sheep". Most of us in the unit could easily be labeled as "black sheep" by some standards.
I'm not sure what happened to your email, nor do I handle membership. But I can make sure you get what you need to join. Just let me know if I can help.
Dacia WDCU WBCCI #14764 **********************
But you never responded to my PM. As Rob says, all you have to do is go to the website if you still want to join us. I'm sorry you didn't get the response you wanted on your first inquiry.
Just as the WBCCI isn't perfect, neither is the WDCU or any other unit within the club. However, the diversity of the units within the WBCCI could be one of our assets. If anyone interested in the club is willing to put forth the effort, they will find units that will give them the experiences they are seeking. If someone isn't seeking experiences within the WBCCI, that's OK too. Just as long as you're out there camping and having fun.
Boatdoc.
I also contacted you a few times to make sure everything was okay . You told me not to get in the middle of it and to not pass on the word to those that deal with membership. Out of respect I did as you asked. I wish now I had gotten in the middle. I enjoyed my day at Howe Caverns with you and your wife. I thought it was wonderful that I got to know two total strangers, by going off on a day trip. Thank you again for lunch and keeping me company all day. I had the impression that you felt like the WDCU was a good fit for you. I hope you will try again and join us in the future even if it is as a guest. Sorry it did not work out smoothly.
Boatdoc.
I also contacted you a few times to make sure everything was okay . You told me not to get in the middle of it and to not pass on the word to those that deal with membership. Out of respect I did as you asked. I wish now I had gotten in the middle. I enjoyed my day at Howe Caverns with you and your wife. I thought it was wonderful that I got to know two total strangers, by going off on a day trip. Thank you again for lunch and keeping me company all day. I had the impression that you felt like the WDCU was a good fit for you. I hope you will try again and join us in the future even if it is as a guest. Sorry it did not work out smoothly.
To all who attended 2008 WDCU Rally in North Norwich NY,
Perhaps by being disappointed that it takes the club secretary five months to answer two E-mail requests, I did not make myself very clear. Therefore I need to bring the truth to light. Both of us, my wife Margaret Kay and I truly enjoyed the rally. Everyone was extremely friendly and helpful. We were amazed over comradely within the club. Perhaps if one of you were the secretary of the club, we would have been already a member for few months. All of you have accepted some share of responsibility within the club, and we were amazed with your willingness to happily fulfill them. Many of you jumped in in the past with a offer to help with this issue. I believe that some of you sent messages to Margaret [the secretary] as well. However, none of you hold a title of the club's secretary. I have no axe to grind with any of you, because all of you are wonderful people. Common understanding is, that when you accept the nomination for a position within the club, you are expected to fulfill your duty. If you cannot, you should have declined to accept such position or resign when you are no longer able to fulfill your duties . For many years I serve on educational advisory board. The acceptance of that post was voluntary. No one has twisted my arms to accept it. Yes, the meetings very often fall on very inconvenient date, but I do change my schedule of obligations to my business, in order to fulfill my duties. Without my recommendations, the State Government would not appropriate funds where needed. I understand my obligations and I fulfill them because I have willingly accepted them. The day that I am unable to do so, I will resign with a prior six months notice so that someone else can be found to take over. I apologize to all of you if I did not make myself clear in reference to my complaints. But I believe that WDCU needs a secretary because it does not have one. Thanks, "Boatdoc"
After reading a lot of threads about WBCCI, I have come to these conclusions:
1. Some people like WBCCI just like it is. For the most part they are not members of the Forum.
2. Some WBCCI members don't like the way WBCCI is run, but believe in getting Airstream owners together and try to avoid the rules.
3. Some people want nothing to do with WBCCI because of rules; they have never joined or have unjoined.
4. Some people believe the Forum is the best way for Airstream owners to get together.
5. Some people want to find out information and use the Forum for that and have no interest in the social aspects.
6. Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4 each believe they are the true interpreters of Wally's vision.
7. Some people straddle 2 or more of the above.
8. For the most part none of the statements in the threads seem to change anything.
9. I am a 4 and leaning 3. It looks to me the Forum is the future; WBCCI is the past. Maybe someday there will be an accommodation, but the WBCCI will have to lose a lot more members before change happens. And eventually, the Forum rallies will have more and more rules and opinions will recycle.
Gene
I'd like to chime in with a #3 with a #4 on the side.
I simply don't understand why anyone would want to join a club that has such a para-militaristic feel, so many rules and regulations. The dues has absolutely nothing to do with it.
I understand that not all clubs follow the rules to a T of course, I get that part. But for the most part it's an army, governed to the N-th degree. One of my favourite excerpts from the Blue Book talks about the dimensions of the flags and pennants and how they're not to exceed x by y inches, and how those designed after January 17th, 1997 have to be approved by the International Board of Trustees...
ugh. It's like the original club with its original intent has been infected with a rules-regulations-bylaws-up-the-wazoo virus.
I know this topic has been beaten to death and back again, sorry about that. But I just......don't........get..........it..........
__________________ Michelle & family
(2 lively boys, 2 dogs & a hubby) 2005 28' International CCD
There are two distinctly different aspects to the WBCCI.
Leadership, International, Region, and to a lesser degree (usually unseen to a regular member) unit.
If you'd like to be a part of the club, just to go out and have FUN, you just don't get yourself wrapped around the axles of management -- you avoid it. I know it's not easy to do -- but if FUN is your thing, then FUN should be your mindset all year long. That EXISTS at nearly every unit that I'm familiar with. Airstream owners get together 6+ times a year locally to have FUN.
The advantages of the WBCCI are unparalleled for Airstream owners. 500+ rallies in 2009 alone -- more than 1,000 Airstream owner (friends) events in 2009.
For the non-member -- forget about the rules and organizational infighting that you see online. Try out a unit -- get out there and have fun. Nobody does more annual events than the WBCCI -- nobody.
To find out what is going on near you, check out SaveWally's WBCCI Unit Guide. The complete 2009 schedule is online. If you have any trouble making contact with a unit, just let us know -- we will make the connection for you if needed...
Last year Jan and I attended 7 WBCCI rallies. Six were with the Four Corners Unit and other was the with Rocky Mountain Vintage Airstream Club. We had all sorts of fun, met some of the nicest people on the planet and never heard the word "rule" mentioned once.
It's actually somewhat interesting that it wasn't until the advent of social networks that so much info has become available about the going-on at the international level. That's a good thing, obviously, but it's also a bad thing: It makes people think that the WBCCI is just all about the rules and regulations that the "greatest generation" was culturally adapted to and apparently fond of.
And I do think that this is, to a large degree, generational. Generations pass; their legacy has to be evaluated, accepted, rejected, rewritten, whatever.
Just for the record, I am not against rules. I am against rules that accomplish little or are to enforce conformity for conformity's sake. Rules have to make sense to me before I obey—most of us exceed speed limits because they often make no sense. They make so little sense there is a general national belief it is ok to speed up to 10 mph over the limit. Towns that enforce the speed limit are called "speed traps". This makes for a belief that it's ok to break other laws, an unfortunate and not uncommon result of silly rules. Yet there are people who would never disobey a speed limit; the rest of us pass them or in some cases, tailgate.
More and more rules seem to be the natural result in organizations that are around for a long time. But to some, rules are comforting. I am sure a lot of the local groups do not enforce WBCCI rules, though maybe others do. It appears the national organization has problems about this difference between what some people want and what others don't want, but the problems don't get resolved.
To me, supporting the local groups also means supporting what I don't care for at the national level. We went to one FCU rally and it was fine, but I have no intention of imposing on that courtesy by attending other FCU rallies since I don't want to join the WBCCI. Why should I pay for more rule books? If the FCU were a separate group, then it is very possible we would join it.
I wonder, though, why the local groups who are in opposition don't just secede and form a parallel group? If they can't figure out how to take over the WBCCI, and they believe an organization of Airstream owners makes sense, start your own. Then you'll have to figure out how to have an organization with reasonable and sensible rules and probably have to get insurance. Maybe you can convince JC to also support your group. Or if several groups secede, surely the WBCCI leadership will notice.
I've been involved in reform efforts in organizations and it is very difficult; I've also been involved in forming new ones and that isn't so easy either. The fact is, some people like to run things and some people like to have rules—these are the people who usually end up running things. The classic extreme example of this human tendency is the homeowners ass'n where the community busybodies take over and try to make sure everyone's grass is exactly 1.37" high, everyone's front door is the same color, etc. Most people don't want to be bothered with the necessary and unnecessary work of running an organization. Only the National Association of Anarchists is immune from stultification.
It's also important to remember perfectly reasonable people can like a rule that other perfectly reasonable people think was imposed by spawn of satan. I run into this a lot because I'm a guy who writes rules, knows the rules and believes meetings have to be run efficiently, but also believes everyone gets to say what they need to say. Some people don't like any rules and prefer chaos (unless they are elected to a Board and then there's sometimes an amazing transformation).
I think a lot of people avoid the national organization, but I don't think that is the answer. Change it or change where you are. There are plenty of Forum rallies which will accomplish the same thing as WBCCI local group rallies. These rallies are there because there's a need for them. There's also a need for communication among Airstream owners and the Forum does that better than WBCCI. This is why I said the Forum is the future. A parallel national organization, or loosely affiliated local or regional groups that use the Forum for communication may be the eventual future.
I've studied communities and how they are created and evolve, why they are needed, and what functions they perform for many years. I find the threads on the WBCCI fascinating because it is a real life example of some aspects of community, how it changes, and how people deal with change. I wonder where it goes from here?
I wonder, though, why the local groups who are in opposition don't just secede and form a parallel group? If they can't figure out how to take over the WBCCI, and they believe an organization of Airstream owners makes sense, start your own. Then you'll have to figure out how to have an organization with reasonable and sensible rules and probably have to get insurance. Maybe you can convince JC to also support your group. Or if several groups secede, surely the WBCCI leadership will notice. -- Gene
I think you might find that a majority of members get attracted to the club either through pride of ownership, or pride of ownership in combination with a history that goes all the way back to the mid-50's. A club that was authorized, and in many respects run through, the influence of Wally Byam himself, and directed by his cousin, who ran the club, Helen Schwamborn.
I think that there are plenty of members that make the leap all the way back to the earliest caravans, and want to be somehow be connected to that history.
The club has evolved into many different things, and now suits a whole bunch of different needs for different people. The club still runs numerous, volunteer run, extended caravans every year. Caravans where you can meet new people and build new friendships, over extended adventures of varying lengths. The club still serves its original purpose, to bring local Airstream owners together to have fun. It is everything that a club should be from an RV experience point of view. As a member you can roam all across North America and find courtesy parking at members homes, local, regional, and international activities. It's an in-person social network with plenty to take advantage of.
If you are the type of person, that simply can't just go out and have fun, that you need to be aware of, and stay on top of everything that goes on 1 level and on up, then you may be right -- it might not be worth the hassle to you.
I can tell you this -- the vast majority of this club doesn't pay any attention to what goes on, except at their local unit, and they may not even participate in the majority of what is available to them locally. But with membership, there's always the possibility of picking up, nearly last minute, going camping, and having some real fun.
To each their own, but to more than 6,000 WBCCI member families in North America, there's a whole lot going on...
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11-23-2008, 11:20 AM 
Most of us in the unit could easily be labeled as "black sheep" by some standards. 
It's like the original club with its original intent has been infected with a rules-regulations-bylaws-up-the-wazoo virus.
6000+ Airsteam families having fun! 
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