WBCCI Dream Micro-Caravans

[munimula]

What a coincidence...a short article in the May Blue Beret calls for posting Unit Caravans at the soon to come new website. It your Unit is planning a caravan it can be posted at wbcci.org. Contact is Marion Pember at happihart2@aol.com.

[eubank]

That's good news, David! (I wish I lived in a place where the BB -- and practically all other mailed matter -- would arrive in a timely fashion.)

Lynn

[pjtaia]

International Caravan Chairman is dead set against changing anything having to do with the outdated, overly long, worker-unfriendly caravans. I suggested, twice, about 5 years apart, that they make the caravans shorter, during the summer, etc, and I received virtually the identical reply: We're not changing anything - if you want a short caravan, do it yourself...

L.A. Phil

[eubank]

I've been sitting here attempting to pinpoint what advantages are conferred by having the main club have short caravans (as opposed to having caravans by regions or units). It's actually kind of hard, but I'll give it a stab. (I'm not numbering these as numbers might give the incorrect impression of importance.)

-Publicity
-Insurance (?)
-Placement in some historical archive

There have got to be others. Somebody help out here. I figure that once we get a reasonable list that folks agree on, we can maybe sort through importance, which may be much harder.


Lynn

[dwightdi]

As long as the Caravan is announced in a Unit or Region Newsletter, it becomes officially a WBCCI sponsored function and the liability insurance will be applicable. The insurance is just for claims against the leaders' liability and for the campgrounds you use during the caravan. It is just like rallies. I would think you still need to follow the rules about establishing a Kitty fee. The club has a caravan sinking fund to cover the potential for the leaders to run off with the deposit money, but I am not sure that you could recover from that for a Region or Unit caravans. This fund is administered by the National caravan Chairman and does not appear on the WBCCI books.

You could advertise them in the Blue Beret within the Region write ups that appear monthly. I think you could also list them on the new website, which we hope to get approved tomorrow. AirForums will allow you to list them on their site, but I do not believe you can have a Buddy caravan. I think that is a good thing because a potential liability suit from a non-member.

Unit and Region caravans do appear in historical archives, but I am not sure that is very important to many people. It should be all about the fun you have on the caravan.

[eubank]

Ok, so no advantage from insurance. So the advantages are the separate listing in the BB (publicity, but even that may be changing with the new site) and the historical archive thing. Oh, and the fact that it gets a number.
Lynn

[munimula]

Originally Posted by scrablr

International Caravan Chairman is dead set against changing anything having to do with the outdated, overly long, worker-unfriendly caravans.

I fully intend to invite Marion Pember, the current Chairman of WBCCI Caravan Promotions, to our Unit cocktail party at International. I hope she will belly up to our well-stocked bar and be willing to talk about the future of the WBCCI. I will provide an updated perspective from the top here to the current mindset on promoting micro-caravans after international.

[jaydthompson]

Marion is a retired Army Chaplain and I am certain he will be pleased to attend your Unit's cocktail party. I would also and would like to meet you. I am one of the co-leaders of the SW Adventure Caravan as well as the 1st VP of Region 3. I will be more than willing to talk about the future of WBCCI and how we can together work to keep it going.
Our Unit (Big Bend FL) has had two Unit caravans this Spring each nine days long with 10 rigs on one and 12 on the other. The first was during Spring Break so a couple of our teachers could attend, in fact they planned it. We met in a GA State Park in St, Mary's, GA for three days, then to Savannah to Skidaway island State Park for three days then to Andersonville, GA for three days at the farm of one of our members. We had activities at each location. Each person made their reservations etc. The second caravan was from a Unit Rally at Reed Bingham State Park, near Valdosta and took nine days to get to Myrtle Beach, SC for the Region 3 Rally. We made three stops, cooked together, had a ball. Both of these caravans were listed on Marion Pember's link.

I believe that is the way to have short caravans and publicize them.

[munimula]

Originally Posted by jaydthompson

Marion is a retired Army Chaplain and I am certain he will be pleased to attend your Unit's cocktail party. I would also and would like to meet you. I am one of the co-leaders of the SW Adventure Caravan as well as the 1st VP of Region 3. I will be more than willing to talk about the future of WBCCI and how we can together work to keep it going.

Getting the WBCCI to recognize and promote micro-caravans along with national caravans would be wonderful and a way to make the club more attractive and relevant to airstreamers who would otherwise have nothing to do with the club. i look forward to talking this out with you and Marion further at Sedalia. anyone else here who wants in on the discussion at sedalia is most welcome.

[jaydthompson]

We are in Sedalia. Good camping facility, grass sites, 3-point hook-ups and good wi-fi. Am parked in Gold section, site A-1. Stop by and we,ll get together.

[Aviator]

Just a quick note of support for short caravans which can be done during a weeks vacation. I think they would provide a taste and incentive to participate in longer ones when our lives allow.

[AWCHIEF]

I also would like to see shorter caravans, I am still somewhat working and it is hard to totally take off for more than a week at this time. Come next February all bets are off. Second retirement is kicking in and it will time to start hitting the road.

[jaydthompson]

The subject of shorter caravans is on the agenda of the caravan leaders meeting next week here in Sedalia. The week long or 8-9 day caravans are pretty prevalent in some units, the trick is to publicize them so more folks can find out about them and participate. The new club website will have a link to "short or unit" caravans. Perhaps we can have a thread in the Forums which s these short caravans. Also pursue an area in the Blue Beret high lighting these. The short caravans is the way we started caravanning and was a great introduction! Anyone can go along on a short unit caravan to see what it is like

[munimula]

tonight i am one week away from our Watchung NJ Unit Caravan to Sedalia. i am so ready to hit the road.

[Skatiero]

I love the idea of short caravans! So many of us are not in a position to do more than a week at a time.

[eubank]

Katie, there are several units in your part of the country. Have you checked to see if they are offering any unit caravans soon?

Lynn

Originally Posted by Skatiero

I love the idea of short caravans! So many of us are not in a position to do more than a week at a time.

[mbmbstreamer]

I am leading a short Caravan to Sedalia from Georgia. We leave on Friday morning. Spending 2 nights near Memphis and 2 nights in Warsaw, MO. On Tuesday, the 26th we enter the Fairgrounds for the International Rally.

Both stops are in state parks and we plan pot lucks. At each stop we have a list of things to see and do, but all are optional. There is no Kitty Fee and no real "rules". We have 3 rigs for the first leg and will have 7 in Missouri. We have room for more.

This is the 2nd "Official" Unit Caravan this year. The first went to the Florida State Rally. We leave our unit rally on Labor Day for a week on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

If anyone wants to talk about short caravans, contact me. We have "led" 6 in the last 4 years and enjoyed every one of them. The longest was to Bozeman, MT in 7 days. The largest was an 8 day trip to Gilette, WY. We can only participate in the short variety, as we both work. But some day...

Matt Hackney, GA Unit

[mbmbstreamer]

Speaking of publicity, the new WBCCI Website has a page listing short caravans. Contact the ECC and list yours!

[dwightdi]

The new WBCCI.ORG website went live last night. The site has been taken over internally by the ECC and has new capability and features. The WBCCI.net sites continue to exist. There are links to all the local sites and activities on the new WBCCI.ORG site. Please take a little time to review the new site. Constructive ideas are welcomed and if any corrections are necessary, or changes you would like to see, contact the ECC committee. Here is the link to the New Website at the old address. http://wbcci.org/

[fraubear]

Originally Posted by dwightdi

There are links to all the local sites and activities on the new WBCCI.ORG site. Please take a little time to review the new site. Constructive ideas are welcomed and if any corrections are necessary, or changes you would like to see, contact the ECC committee. Here is the link to the New Website at the old address. http://wbcci.org/

Thanks, Dwight. There is a little more tweaking to be done and some more pictures to be added to the new wbcci.org, but overall we are pretty pleased with the results of our work. Buttercup is to be congratulated. He did an awesome job. We hope members will take time to explore the site (Airstreamers are, after all, great explorers, right?) and will find their way around after a just a little searching. The response has been very good so far and we are looking forward to adding more features and including more contributions from our own members. As you well know, this is just a start. We have a lot more planned to improve technology use within WBCCI.

Carolyn
ECC