Petunia and I will probably join the club and give it a try ... we'll join "at large" since we will be fulltiming and not aligned with any particular local club.
We have been receiving the Blue Beret to see what the club is like. We have also joined the Escapees and receive their publication as well.
From what we have seen .. and we may feel differently after we join and participate ... the WBCCI could benefit from a revamp and freshening up.
The Airstream Club seems a bit stuck in the past and mired in this obsesive "Wally Worship". I find it sad that the club has dropped the 1 year free membership for new AS owners because they can't retain them. That speaks volumes.
The Escapees .. on the other hand ... seem to be a "with it and happening" organization of energized RVers. These folks are into everything .. and their publication reflects the enthusiasm of the members.
I actually enjoy "marque type" clubs. For many years I was an active member in the BMW Motorcycle Owners of Amercia (BMWMOA). Again .. another exciting group of people with an excellent monthly publication.
Airstreamers remind me alot of BMW riders .... fanatical about the marque ... a quality marque with a small market share and loyal owners.
I hope I am wrong about the WBCCI .. but I do know of an elderly retired couple (in their 70s) who joined a local group and felt ignored, excluded and isolated by this "clique" .. as they described them. Losing this couple is a big loss to the club ... they are truly fun and interesting folks.
Sorry for the long post ... my fat little fingers are fatigued.
Airstreamers remind me alot of BMW riders .... fanatical about the marque ... a quality marque with a small market share and loyal owners.
Apple Computer is the same thing....
I'm one of them crackpots too!
I multitask all my fanatical stuff!
Eric
__________________
Computers manufactured by companies such as IBM, Compaq and millions of others are by far the most popular with about 70 million machines in use worldwide. Macintosh fans note that cockroaches are far more numerous than humans and that numbers alone do not denote a higher life form. -NY Times 11/91
I used to own an Apple Computer Dealership back during the good ol' days of the Mac Plus to all the way up to the G3. Finally got out of it in late 2000.
Man,
what a year it has been. This years state rally was a hoot.
I cant believe how much has happened in a year. I was a little wary of maintaining my membership in the WBCCI but now I am going to be a Unit Officer.
See, if you just give it a shot, it will become what you make of of it.
Did I mention that I am only 38 years old?????????
Read this thread from the beginning and maybe your curiosity will be intrigued enough to give it a shot.
__________________
Computers manufactured by companies such as IBM, Compaq and millions of others are by far the most popular with about 70 million machines in use worldwide. Macintosh fans note that cockroaches are far more numerous than humans and that numbers alone do not denote a higher life form. -NY Times 11/91
I was really on the fence until this last rally. In fact, that's why we went, to try and get in one last rally to decide if we should renew or not. And actually, when we drove out to the beach, we had decided to blow off the rally and just enjoy a weekend exploring the beach by ourselves. But then we decided to be social and join in and see how the rally went. It was really fun. People went out of their way to be friendly to us, the previous owners of our trailer were there, we made friends with another couple who were also into Geocaching. And we still spent most of our time wandering around exploring, but when we came home to the trailer there were people to talk to and hear how their day had gone, and tell them about what we saw.
I'd say it increased our enjoyment of this trip quite a bit more than it would have been if it had just been us alone. Not that we mind travelling solo either, which we've done plenty of this summer, but it was fun to be part of a group to come back and hang around with in the evenings too.
So we went ahead and signed up for another year, and of course if they get you for another year, you're probably going to be in it for life Really, the toughest decision was which unit to go with. I guess we're doubly lucky to have two units in our area, WA and OR, both active and with very friendly, welcoming attitudes.
And since we signed up to stay in the WBCCI, I went ahead and coughed up the dough for the VAC membership as well. If you're going to be in, you might as well be in it all the way!
In my short tenure on this forum, I don't think I've seen any other Airstream topic that generates as much "spirited" debate as WBCCI participation! [Just an observation.]
My $.02 on the topic...let's not forget the core activity here -- it's all about camping (and, in style)!
We joined WBCCI about 7 years ago for a short time. I'm pretty sure pasting your numbers on your coach was a requirement then. Is this still a requirement? They're a bear to get off if you need to take them off...
The clever plexiglass panels that bypass the actual pasting onto the coach are an option as long as I don't have to bolt the things to the coach for traveling.
I'm interested in WBCCI again, but I want to be a baldy!
Originally posted by smily You can drag a horse but..............
I was making a point that it is not just for the retired crowd it is is for all and it is what you make of it!!!!!!!
Smily
My point Smily is that not all local clubs may be as good as yours is....and not a lot of us want to get into the interstate club scene.....perhaps I may make a cameo and give it one last shot in Lansing for some sort of connection, but the local one out here is a total dead issue......
I agree it's what you make of it, but a fair number of us don't have the time to be able to participate and spend all the time needed to make the (IMHO) long overdue changes to some of these regional or local units. Glad to hear all is well in your neck of the woods though....but your unit/chapter is WAY to far for me to be an active member....so I suppose I'll just have to camp instead!
Drink, sure, but the drink has got to be a good one if I'm gonna take a sip....I don't want to have to filter the water, make cubes and work on the mixture of the beverage....it would be nice if the basics were covered first, which is not the case in every bar or.....regional club.
Eric
__________________
Computers manufactured by companies such as IBM, Compaq and millions of others are by far the most popular with about 70 million machines in use worldwide. Macintosh fans note that cockroaches are far more numerous than humans and that numbers alone do not denote a higher life form. -NY Times 11/91
Originally posted by Silvertwinkie perhaps I may make a cameo and give it one last shot in Lansing for some sort of connection......
If you are going to give it "one last shot", I personally would suggest avoiding International -- I think your chances at making "a connection" would be better in a smaller group.
I'll second that. If my only exposure to the wally club was my brief visit to the international last year, I probably wouldn't have pursued it any further. Only a couple of very "chance" meetings made the difference.
We felt so out of place wandering around the rally, it wasn't even funny. There we were, pushing an infant in a baby carriage on a 95-degree day, and all we saw were old people. REally old. I mean, people wearing long pants/sleeves, and sweaters in that heat. It really looked like some weird nursing home field day, to me. Nice people...sure....but um...not really my crowd.
Now, after the fact, I found out that those were not the only people in attendance, but because the event is so HUGE, its not surprising that we just didn't happen to run into anyone under the age of 80.
But it just so happened that there were some younger, hipper 'streamers that decided to stay at the very same nearby campground that we did, and we got to chatting. AND we just happened to run into some local club officers, who encouraged us to come to their future rally on Cape Cod....which we were planning on checking out, anyway. At that smaller rally, where we actually attended, and didn't just visit, we made some connections that we found were worth maintaining.
so, I think that's the key: "owning the same make of trailer" isn't enough of a common bond to keep people together in any club; its a good start, but not enough for many. The likelihood of running into the sub-group that does fit, at such a large gathering, is probably pretty slim.
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