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myboyburt · 09-14-2009, 11:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wkerfoot

digger bear,

I think that I would change "most" to "all". I don't think that members renew for the national politics, at least I don't.

Bill

Ditto Bill!

My husband and I have a blast with our local unit and with other units in our region. I've learned to not care about stuff at the international level, it just gets in the way of my fun.

Airstream01 · 09-15-2009, 01:59 AM

I joined for the sweet red numbers I get to put on. And for the camraderie, rallys, and caravans that I look forward to participating in. But mostly for the numbers

StingrayL82 · 09-15-2009, 05:54 AM

The WDCU is an awesome unit. When Brooke and I joined it in 2006, Peter and Star Grover made us feel right at home, like we had been a part of the group for years. Rob and Zoe were extremely cool too, so much so that Rob hopped in my truck with me, at night, to show me where the local WalMart was....we had run out of propane. Everyone at the Cherry Blossom Rally (CBR) was just fantastic....even though it rained pretty much non-stop, until the last day (2006), we had a blast.

That said, the WDCU is, in my opinion, an anomaly. I say this, based on my experience with the first unit I belonged to, not any other unit...the unit near you may be different (I put that in bold red, so that people don't say, "Hey, my unit is cool too"!)

The unit I originally belonged to was all about Robert's Rules of Order and all that time-wasting crap that absolutely put a damper on my camping experience with them, added to the fact that the average age there was probably around 65/70 years old, which is fine, but I'm 36 and the generation gap was too great to relate to those folks. There was only one guy there who was in his 40's, and he didn't talk much. I even opened our Sovereign up for coffee one morning, and the result was they came, got their coffee and then left...nice unit indeed.

Then you have the International Board of Trustees (IBT). These are the fuddy-duddies who are so far stuck in tradition that you wonder if you stepped back in time. Parade of flags, wearing berets, black tie and white coats at dinners, you get the idea. Don't get me wrong, if that's what you like, then have at it, but it's not my idea of fun and camping...if I wanted that atmosphere, I would put on my Army Mess Dress and attend an Army Ball...same type of event.

So, you need to ask yourself, "Self, do I really want to fork over dues to a group I might not enjoy being around, or do I want to spend the money on something else"?

At least try one event with a local unit around you, to see if it's what you want, before making your decision. The opinions I've given you are based solely on my experience trying it out. The WDCU is really great, but you still have to pay the WBCCI dues which, if memory serves, is $75/yr. I'd rather spend a couple more days camping somewhere else or filling up my tank one more time.

Good luck in your decision.

**moosetags** · 09-15-2009, 06:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Airstream01

I joined for the sweet red numbers I get to put on. And for the camraderie, rallys, and caravans that I look forward to participating in. But mostly for the numbers

I, too, really like the big red numbers. It just doesn't look like a real Airstream without the big red numbers.

Brian

**azflycaster** · 09-15-2009, 06:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by StingrayL82

At least try one event with a local unit around you, to see if it's what you want, before making your decision. The opinions I've given you are based solely on my experience trying it out. The WDCU is really great, but you still have to pay the WBCCI dues which, if memory serves, is $75/yr. I'd rather spend a couple more days camping somewhere else or filling up my tank one more time.

Good luck in your decision.

Great advise, try it before you buy it.

BTW, the dues are $55 plus what ever the local unit charges per year. The WDC Unit charges $1 as does the Four Corners Unit.

StingrayL82 · 09-15-2009, 06:17 AM

Makes sense...my dues at the first unit must have been rolled into one...$55 for WBCCI and $20 for the local unit.

Thanks for the clarification, Richard.

bolerama · 09-15-2009, 08:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wkerfoot

Lisa and Paul,

Was Lauren Carlsen there? We met him in Bozeman, a great guy.

Bill

Hi Bill,

Yes, Lauren was the organizer. He was so energetic and pumped about everything, how could we not join? I couldn't believe the amount of work he put into organizing the event. Plus, he made supper for us all on the first night. Sheila, his wife, gave us a tour of their gorgeous 1959. Very impressive. We're so glad we went. He is now the past president of our group, so he's left some mighty big shoes to fill.

Lisa

teachernana · 09-17-2009, 07:49 AM

whew! love all these comments, I especailly am interested in the COOL RED Numbers, just got our new baby cloud in July and now are back to work (teaching) so time is limited
We live in the Santa Cruz area of Northern California and there are several groups-(one north of us, one south of us, one east...)so how do we choose? How do you go to a rally? Do you have to pay up front or can you just browse...
from Happy Newbie aka nanatams

Dakota's Dad · 09-18-2009, 07:31 PM

OK, well a report of kinds follows...

We debated if we should join, actually started a thread about getting in contact with our local unit (Kentucky) finally traded some emails with them, and decided we would try it out.. if we didn't like them, or vice-versa, no harm, no foul.

The region 5 rally is going on right now. As some of you may know, and anyone else can see if you click the links in our siglines we bought a basket case and are redoing it. It is not ready to camp just yet, esp. self contained. But the region 5 rally is like 20 minutes from our house, so we rolled up there on Wednesday to look at the bulletin board to see when the Kentucky unit social hour was... on our way to do some grocery shopping. So there are already like 50 AS's there. We walk over to the HQ building to ask about the BB location, get helped immiediatly by very friendly folks, go over to the BB, and run into more folks.. short story is we spent better then 3 hours just trying to check out the BB!! met some great folks. drove into the parking area to turn around when leaving, and had a couple people stop us and let us know that the people from our unit had been trying to find if we had registered and track us down. We went out to the social "hour" this afternoon.. 4 hours and a couple trailer tours and some great advice later, we made it out of there to get home and feed the dogs.

Older group? yes, but I really don't think they realize it! Heck in 6 hours we made more friends and had a better time then any other time I can think of. and learned some good stuff about AS trailers. As far as I am concerned, we already broke even on the $$ side, AND we got sweet red numbers for Toto when we are ready to roll!

I would say, give it try, or just make contact with the local unit, at least in our case, I think it will work out just fine.

of course as with all things.. YMMV.

dukester · 09-18-2009, 11:45 PM

We're not really group people either but we did heard good things about the local units. I think someone on this thread said it best... the WBCCI just encompasses the spirit of an Airstream. Wally's sister ran the club out of the factory and the entrance to the service building to date is loaded with club paraphernalia. If you're going to have the factory logo on your rig, might as well have the numbers too. We originally weren't big on any "advertising" on our trailer but are glad we joined and have taken a liking to our red badge of caravanning.