WBCCI Questions

[Bluto]

I don't belong yet, but am thinking about it. I have a couple of questions:

1.) How far in advance do they announce the place where they are going to hold the International Rally?

2.) What is the draw to going to the Sedalia rally? I have never traveled to that part of the country and wonder why it is being held there instead of by the ocean or a place with a mountain view.

3.) What sets the local chapters apart from each other? Where can I find the type of group they are? By type, I mean where they hold their rallies and things the groups like to do.

[Alumaholic]

I will let someone else answer (1)

(2) The IBT is rarely held in a place of scenic beauty in the spring or fall when the weather is nice. They are usually held in an aesthetically challenged location and always when it's is hotter than Hades.

(3) The various units have hugely different "personalities." Many have a "Shadow President for Life" who works around the clock to keep things just the way they are. Attend a few rallies and get to know the members of several units, before you join. Then join the Four Corners Unit.
It's really pretty simple

[Lance M]

Hey Bluto,
I am new to the WBCCI. I can't say too much about your first two questions, but I can say that the HOTC unit is a whole lot of fun loving people that love to get together and have a good time. I'm packing the trailer right now to attend our campout at Live Oak Ridge Park in Belton. So go hitch up, drive on down to Belton and see what our unit is all about. Then go to a rally with any of the other units and pick the unit that best fits your style.

[damonbeals]

Originally Posted by Bluto

I don't belong yet, but am thinking about it. I have a couple of questions:

1.) How far in advance do they announce the place where they are going to hold the International Rally?

Normally two years ahead, as you have to plan that far ahead for a Rally that size. 2013 is in South Dakota, details where announced today at the Winter IBT meeting, so more details coming soon.

2.) What is the draw to going to the Sedalia rally? I have never traveled to that part of the country and wonder why it is being held there instead of by the ocean or a place with a mountain view.

I can't speak for those that choose, but they try to get it central so it can draw from both sides of the ocean, but they have had Rallys on the East coast in the past. The club constitution states that the Rally must be held over Wally Byams birthday, so July 4th will always be within the dates of the Intl Rally. Which also makes find locations a little more difficult.

3.) What sets the local chapters apart from each other? Where can I find the type of group they are? By type, I mean where they hold their rallies and things the groups like to do.

Like any big club with Units or Chapters, you will find very active Units and some that are not. I would suggest to go to http://wbcci.org/index.cfm?pageSRC=Regions select the area you are in (Texas?) and look at the website for the Unit's within that area. Again some Units have active webmaster and others don't. But look a there upcoming Rally calendar and newsletters to see what they have coming up. And feel free to call them for more information.

Damon Beals
#4827

[DKB_SATX]

We have an excellent unit in this part of Texas, the Heart of Texas Camping Unit. We welcome visitors to any of our functions, and our focus is on camping with friends in our Airstreams. A bit farther afield, I have good friends who are members of Texas Highland Lakes and enjoy their unit. That's by no means an exhaustive list of units who have good people, just ones I personally know of in our general area.

Our January campout is this weekend at Live Oak Ridge at Belton Lake (the reservation site says they're full but they've opened an off-season loop for our group, we don't anticipate it filling up.) Our February campout will be boondocking in Luckenbach.

I think they generally hold the International over the 4th of July because that's Wally Byam's birthday. That's one of those traditional choices that may not be the best overall.

[Bill M.]

The International rally is held the week before the 4th of July week.
Next years location will be announced before this years rally.
You can get phone numbers of the leaders of the local units from the WBCCI website.
My main attraction to WBCCI is the caravan programs. First rate. But you have to be retired to take advantage of it. The main attraction of the national rallies is probably seeing others whom we have caravaned with. Our local unit is very active and we go to a rally or dinner once a month when we are not out on the road on a caravan.
For me, the national rally is just not really a strong attraction.
One course of action would be to call some of the local units and go to a local rally to meet people. Try several units if there is a choice close to you. You can be associate members in more than one local unit if you can not decide.

[TBRich]

A few other things about the membership process should be pointed out:

(1) You may join ANY Unit of WBCCI that you wish...it does not have to be located in your geographical area...

(2) Memberships run from 1 Jan through 31 Dec of the calendar year. If you join on or after 1 July, your membership year will officially be the next calendar year, but you will have all membership privileges for the remainder the current calendar year.

(3) One might think that #1 above would be a deterrent to enjoying local activities, but it isn't ... because once a member of any Unit, you may attend any other Unit's functions.

(4) Joining WBCCI through a Unit, the cost is currently $65, the International dues ... plus the Unit's local dues. The amount of Unit local dues will vary from Unit to Unit. (In the case of the 4 Corners Unit, for example, that is just $1, so a total of $66 for the whole sheebang through the 4CU.)

(5) You may join without a Unit affiliation, called Member at Large...the International Membership for MALs is currently $85. I personally do not see the point of doing this, but some people prefer it this way for their own reasons, I presume.

(6) Once a member of any Unit (or MAL), you may join any other Unit as an Affiliate (or Associate), by paying only that Unit's dues... That typically puts you on the Unit's mailing list for newsletters, member directories, etc, so you are in that Unit's communication loop about anything that does not require a vote. (Affiliates/Associates do not have a vote in the hosting Unit's business...you vote on Unit and WBCCI matters through your home Unit.)

(7) You may transfer your membership from one Unit to another during the renewal period for the next calendar year.

(8) You may also become a Life Member of WBCCI...that cost is determined by your age and that of your spouse (if you have one). More information can be found at http://www.wbcci.org/index.cfm?pageSRC=Membership

Hope this helps...if you have other questions, please ask...

[dwightdi]

WBCCI had about 6,000 family memberships last year. They held 16 nationally sponsored caravans in US,Canada,and Mexico. The miles and days vary quite a bit and can be found on the WBCCI.org website. The unit functions can vary quite a bit. Some hold meetings or rallies monthly and may sponsor some caravans of their own. There is also courtesy parking that some members offer to other members. There are also Airstream or WBCCI exclusive campgrounds at very reasonable cost. The whole thing is kept low cost because the organization hires very few people and most functions are conducted by volunteers at cost. If you have time to participate, it is well worth the cost of the dues.

[AWCHIEF]

I am in south Mississippi which is region 6. Looking at the schedules for the different units in this region. The Mississippi unit seems to be the least active with Pensacola being the most active. However I was just reading rather heated and long thread about their problems and I am not sure that I wish to be associated with people that behave as some of them appear to be. New Orleans seem active but all the upcoming events are located in parking lots in town. Not exactly my idea of fun. Does any one have any suggestions as to a good unit for me to join/associate thru?

[jaydthompson]

You might check out the Louisiana Unit they have some good rallies, especially the one at Eunice. Contact Judy Erb, the president. Also, the Pensacola Unit has some great folks in the unit, go and visit them. We are in the Big Bend FL unit which gets to be a long ways away, but we are having rallies at Foley, AL and Niceville, FL this year.

No matter what unit you join, you can rally with anyone.

[sandlapper]

I hope you find a place to join. All things considered , the WBCCI is a GOOD thing. Not perfect, but GOOD. We might not be enjoying the Airstream lifestyle we cherish today if not for the deep roots sewn in the early days by dedicated members of the WBCC. Those roots are so deep it has helped Airstream survive 80+ years.
Safe & happy travels. John

[Alumaholic]

Originally Posted by sandlapper

I hope you find a place to join. All things considered , the WBCCI is a GOOD thing. Not perfect, but GOOD. We might not be enjoying the Airstream lifestyle we cherish today if not for the deep roots sewn in the early days by dedicated members of the WBCC. Those roots are so deep it has helped Airstream survive 80+ years.
Safe & happy travels. John

... and I could not agree more.
I do hope Bluto will test drive a few units and join WBCCI soon.
I apologize for any negative tone in my earlier post.

[Bluto]

All sounds good to me. We'll be joining mid year and try to attend a couple of chapter events this Fall. We'll plan ahead to also attend the International in SD next year.
Thanks for all the answers to my questions and for the extra insight about the club.

[Mikethefixit]

I just wouldnt jump in Bluto till I attended some buddy rallys. Im not a member,nor will I ever be.I will not fund others trips. I had a two page document but I canceled it all for fear of being moded or edited.
Bluto these are some of the nicest people in the world at a local level .I just have a problem with the high eschelon of the orginization.
So do what you need to do to make you happy.

[dwightdi]

Consider the $65 a year as your entry ticket to a broadway of activities. You do not need to participate in them all to get your money's worth. The majority of the $360,000 collected in member dues goes to pay the 5 people at the Jackson Center Headquarters ($200,000). Recently, they have reduced the national and Regional officer travel expense allowance for their travel to sponsored events.

If the members would accept less participation of the officers in local events, we could cut it some more. We need to use more electronic communication than face time, but this a group of old people, who think face time has a higher value than verbal or electronic communication. The club does need to do some "lean" budgeting and rightsizing the management structure to reallocate how the monies are spent. The club is only 6,000 members and we have the same management structure as 30 years ago when we had 23,000 members and communications were in the dark ages. The number of officers that have part of their travel expenses paid has been 43 in all those years. We need to reduce that number down to around 19.

[kb0zke]

If I'm reading the number correctly, the Heartland Owners Club has approximately 1000 members, and one full-time employee. I think that there is a bit of back-office help provided, and there is some financial backing from Heartland, but that's it. Dues are $60 to join for the first three years, and $18/year thereafter.

Granted, the HOC doesn't do all of the activities that WBCCI does, but it seems that the ratio of employees to members is a bit off in WBCCI. I think dwightdi has a pretty good handle on things.

Since we don't own an Airstream (yet), I'm a bit of an outsider here. Should we buy an Airstream, we'll look at the benefits we would get for the $65/year cost, and decide whether that membership would be worth it for us. I understand that the factory provides little, if any, support for WBCCI, so I would expect that dues would be higher than for HOC, which has some factory support. I have been rather confused about all of the "chiefs" in the club, and just how the dues-paying members are connected to the people at the very top. The structure appears to be what may have been needed when the membership was several times what it now is, so perhaps it might be time to look at what the structure was years ago when the membership was closer to the current number, and then reduce it to allow for the current communication technology.

I am looking forward to a brief visit in Sedalia this summer. By then my wife's foot should be much closer to being normal again (surgery around Thanksgiving), so she will be able to come along and visit too.

[Protagonist]

I just bought my Airstream (2012 Interstate class B) back in late December, and enquired through the WBCCI web page about joining that organization less than two weeks ago. I mailed off my dues last week, and haven't yet received a membership number, mainly because of the rally being held in Hattiesburg that has apparently kept everyone busy. But that's okay, because my Airstream has been in the shop getting an alarm system installed— there's a story behind that— so I wouldn't have been using it anyway.

Despite not even getting a membership number yet, already I've heard back from two WBCCI Unit members, one in the Unit I decided to join (Greater New Orleans, just because I live here) and one in a neighboring unit that I may join as an associate member unless I switch my unit affiliation next year, and already have an invitation to a monthly luncheon meeting being held next Saturday so I can meet some of my fellow WBCCI members.

The reason I decided to join WBCCI in the first place was to have fun in my Airstream. My coworkers, neighbors, and extended family for the most part are not RVers and don't understand either the appeal or the inherent tribulations, so WBCCI will serve to introduce me to a whole new group of people who share my interest, and who are fellow Airstream owners to boot. That alone is worth the membership dues, I think, even if my career ends up keeps me from attending most of the rallies or caravans until I can afford to retire.

[Jim Foster]

Join a unit which has monthly rallies.
You don't need to buy an Airstream to go to lunch.

[tinbender]

Protagonist,

Just this past October I met several units from your area at a rally in South Carolina. Not sure exactly what unit they belong to but probably the GNO since they lived all around the lake area, as I recall. What a great bunch of fun and very friendly people. I was invited to their daily happy hour and you know that the food and drink was great. Never seen them before in my life but I didn't meet any strangers if you know what I mean. You'll certainly be in good company with them.

Are you aware of the Mardi Gras rally? All of the folks that I met told me about it and are going to attend. It may be booked up for trailers/coaches by now but it may be possible to get in on some of their activities. If I remember correctly the rally is parking at UNO. From my experience of having lived in NO and having been to Mardi Gras, both sides of the river, I would think that this is a great rally to attend. Have fun either way.
TB

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by Jim Foster

Join a unit which has monthly rallies.
You don't need to buy an Airstream to go to lunch.

True enough. That would be like private pilots and their thousand-dollar hamburgers, where they rack up flight hours by flying someplace just to buy lunch and then fly back home the same day.

I joined a local unit not because of their rally schedule, which may or may not mesh well with my work schedule, but rather because they are close by, and whatever events they do hold will be easier to attend given that aforementioned work schedule.

I honestly don't know yet if my local unit holds monthly rallies; I'll find out when I meet them for lunch. Given a choice between getting information about the Club from one member over the phone, and getting the same information from a bunch of members over a good meal in a social setting, I'd much rather do it over lunch. Everybody has to start somewhere, and it's as good a start as any.

Hopefully I'll get my poor abused Airstream back from the shop this week, fixed up good as new and with an alarm system to help deter future burglaries. After that, I still have some more outfitting to do to get it ready for use. Only then will it make any difference to me where and when the local unit is holding a rally.