I was told 'Not to Join'???

[Hittenstiehl]

Dwightdi I think your reply provided many good ideas and suggestions for units to try out.

[ALANSD]

Originally Posted by Air Apparent

The Northern Illinois Unit of the WBCCI has been transitioning from a traditional unit to a more casual, less structured unit. Many of our rallies are being held in state parks or Army Corps of Engineers Parks with no rally fee. We are having pot luck meals and less structured activities.
I invite all Airstream owners, including those who are not WBCCI members, to join us at one of our rallies to take a "test drive". See the Airforums calendar for our rallies.

We are using electronic communications with our members including Airforums, Facebook, Constant Contact, etc.

Organizations are either growing by re-inventing themselves or slowly dying. We have had many new members join in the last several years bringing new blood into the unit. We welcome and want younger members to join our unit to help us become a truly cross generational unit. We are looking to do things differently and not the same old way. We look forward to new members helping us to become the premier Airstream unit in the Midwest. I would like to see the Northern Illinois Unit become the 4 Corners Unit of the Midwest.

The WBCCI isn't for everybody. But don't judge it solely on the past. I didn't like how things were done in the past as well. I have noticed that the WBCCI is changing even at the national leadership level. I am considered a rebel by some. I am a baby boomer and I am president of the Northern Illinois Unit this year. My wife and I are still working for a living. I am having minimal business meetings. My goal is to maximize our fun using our Airstream.

Don't judge an organization solely on internet threads. Take a "test drive" and then judge for yourself. If you are interested in creating a great unit, come join us.

As the politicians would say "I am President of this unit and I approve of this message".

very well stated and exactly where this should be going....congrats.

[Air Apparent]

Dwightdi:

Well stated.

[Oregon Ms]

Being new, the independent type and not much of a "joiner", it was with trepidation that I stepped out and went to my first WBCCI Oregon rally last month. What I found were warm and welcoming like-minded people who made an effort to include me, a newcomer.

It was a diverse crowd, what we had in common were our Airstreams, pets and common interests in traveling and camping and plain old having fun.

Some drank beer (like me), some drank wine (most of them) and a some of them didn't drink at all (nobody cared). Some were old, some were young, all seemed pretty chill and happy to be there camping out in their shiny rigs.

During the day we went our separate ways, reuniting for dinner. Perfect for me.

The Oregon club seems to be a popular, growing, thriving club who seems to be making an extraordinary effort to be accessible to new Airstreamers like me.

Like I said, I went with some trepidation, but I left feeling happy and looking forward to a time when I could do that again and hopefully bring my husband next time (he had to work).

Seeing a park filled with lots of different kinds of cool Airstreams and warm congenial people was a real treat for me.

I went there knowing I'd look like an idiot backing that thing in by myself, I was afraid people would be watching, judging etc, the reality couldn't have been farther than that. It was all about support and encouragement and empathy for my backing-up newness.

My advice is don't knock it till you try it, you might be pleasantly surprised inspite of yourself (like me).

In summary, glad I went.

[Gene]

Originally Posted by bobzdar

Maybe you don't realize it, but you come off as having a fairly large sized ego yourself....

I don't agree. I think he was simply stating his case and that was it.

Threads about the WBCCI often say old people have made the club old fashioned, militaristic and a group of fuddie duddies making for dullness while they wait to die. As an old person, I hope I'm not any of those things and know plenty of old people who enjoy life to the fullest, do not live in the past and are suspicious of authority. We do fall asleep earlier than we used to (but every week we try to make it to the end of Saturday Night Live; sometimes we succeed).

It is attitude, not age.

Although we do not need to go to rallies, the ones we have gone to were fine. They were all Four Corners Unit rallies. We went to the balloon fiesta 3 times and enjoyed it, but it got too big (200 Airstreams) and we'd seen enough balloons for a while.

Gene

[AWCHIEF]

Curious, did the OP ever make a decision one way or the other?

[Blue Pearl]

Welcome to the Oregon unit Oregon MS, we have a great group of people who welcome everyone into our Aluminum Family. Hopefully we will meet down the road at a Rally soon.

[SteveSueMac]

Originally Posted by AWCHIEF

Curious, did the OP ever make a decision one way or the other?

Post #66 suggests a nice luncheon and a desire to join. No updates since then and no posts from OP since June 2013...

On edit - I see her profile has a WBCCI number with Denver - so she must just be touring the world and we haven't heard since :-)

[tifspiff9]

I've been lurking on this thread for a while and come back for updates. We are young (30s) newbies full-timing in our Airstream. We looked at joining WBCCI to obtain the same numbers as DH's grandmother to continue the tradition.

I must admit, I haven't seen too many pleasant things said about the current state of the "club". However, a lot of the recent posts have inspired me to finally join and see if we can be part of the change. My biggest concerns have been being "forced" to attend/contribute and others' views being forced upon us. I actually was fearful we would be kicked out if we weren't active enough. The latest kerfuffle was the cross on the front of the Blue Beret magazine. I'm not going down that road but the amount of comments that led to on a Facebook post just seemed way more dramatic than I was looking for.

However, I have seen awesome things about the Four Corners unit specifically as well as one in Oregon (something northwest?) and I feel those may be more up our alley. I think we'll just be MAL for now and see where we fit. Maybe we end up so involved in the change or maybe we just live on the outskirts continuing our own family tradition. Inquiring today to see if our number is still available.

[AWCHIEF]

For the massive sum of one whole dollar you can be a member of the Southeastern Camping Unit. You can participate in all club activities with any units or not at your discretion. Participation in all activities is optional to include the politics of the club. I left my former state unit because of the heavy emphasis on politics and religion. I found just the atmosphere I was looking for with the SECU.

[hickory]

We attended the balloon festival in 2012 &2013. Went to the taco meal put on by the rally sponsors. Joined the crowd going in, got set down, said hi to the fellow next to me. He said are you a member of the "xyz"club, I said no. He said then why in the he// are you setting here. Hmm didn't realize there was a seating order and didn't realize we had gotten mixed in with a group.
Oh well we enjoyed meal and left it with them.
Hickory

[sandlapper]

Originally Posted by hickory

We attended the balloon festival in 2012 &2013. Went to the taco meal put on by the rally sponsors. Joined the crowd going in, got set down, said hi to the fellow next to me. He said are you a member of the "xyz"club, I said no. He said then why in the he// are you setting here. Hmm didn't realize there was a seating order and didn't realize we had gotten mixed in with a group.
Oh well we enjoyed meal and left it with them.
Hickory

Hickory,

It is regrettable you encountered such a butt head at the rally, and I apologize for his rude behavior. It is obvious you are a better man than him.

I can assure you that whomever he was, he does not speak for the club, and he is an exception, not the rule.

Hope you will give us another chance sometime soon.

[Msmoto]

If I encounter a mean sprited person, it is their problem not mine, unless I want to somehow engage. The vast majority of jerks have no friends, are often using alcohol, and are miserable people.

For me the easiest thing to do is simply remove myself from any further interaction.

For sure, these, buttheads do not represent the group as a whole.

Be well

[StreaminGuy]

Originally Posted by Msmoto

If I encounter a mean sprited person, it is their problem not mine, unless I want to somehow engage. The vast majority of jerks have no friends, are often using alcohol, and are miserable people.

For me the easiest thing to do is simply remove myself from any further interaction.

For sure, these, buttheads do not represent the group as a whole.

Be well

In my best Slingblade voice, "I like the way you talk".

G

PS...as a side note, great job with the photos at Alumalina and nice meeting you there!

[sandlapper]

This picture was taken at Alumalina just a couple weeks ago.

57 rigs, about 125 people.

33 of the 57 are WBCCI members....over half.

The remaining 24 are close friends.

In the picture is:

a Region President,

A Region VP,

A unit President,

Various other Unit officers from up and down the East coast,

and a lot of happy campers.

Can you spot any unhappy campers?

All one, big, very happy family.

You do not need to join the Club to have this kind of fun.....but why not?

[DreamStreamr]

MsMoto
I wish I knew how to "like" your post about getting beyond the mean spirited person we might encounter in life. Well stated!


Sent from my iPad using Airstream Forums

[Msmoto]

I just do not have enough time to engage myself in concern over the potholes in the road. Mainly I try to avoid them. Most folks who have negative attitudes are fear driven, insecure, and unhappy. The only way they will change is if they are willing to seek out help, admitting they are out of control.

Hope this does not get anyone too excited....

Oh, if you want to see more Alumalina photos, hare is a link
https://flickr.com/photos/72826370@N...57651597466675

Lots of happy campers....LOL


Ms Tommie Lauer
Greensboro, NC
2015 Serenity 30 RB / 2008 Dodge Cummins 4 X 4
WBCCI #4165 AIR #31871

[mefly2]

Life is as good as you will let it be ...

[pathfinder2]

live and let live

[xrvr]

Remember if someone has a problem with you, it's their problem, not yours. Peace, jim