Why do you not belong to WBCCI

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by Hittenstiehl

Unless that was tongue in cheek. Don't be mislead, I think he was joking, Ties are not required in any way.

Sometimes this forum is like the old telephone game. ;o);o)

You're right. Nothing in the WBCCI International Constitution or Bylaws requires the wearing of a necktie. However, there is also a "Protocol Book" that is not available to rank-and-file members that DOES list the appropriate attire for events at the International Rally— see paragraph 7r, page 44 of the WBCCI "Blue Book" published 6/27/2014. Protocol books are distributed to the IBT by February 15th each year.

And the WBCCI Store sells "official" red neckties and "official" blue neckties, so there must be some occasions not listed in the Constitution and Bylaws where an official necktie IS required— see Appendix 9 of the WBCCI Blue Book issued 7/5/2014.

But since the Unit level doesn't have required neckwear unless it's listed in the Unit constitution or bylaws, my comment about ties was tongue-in-cheek to that extent; I don't want to ever be a Region or International officer so hopefully I'll never need a necktie for club activities.

[Hittenstiehl]

Thx Protag.

[Gnorts]

Originally Posted by KWN306

I'll probably will get a lot of sh*t for what I'm going to say but AS owners are snobs, just like BMW motorcycle owners.

I have owned many BMW motorcycles and went to over 100 rallies, what a bunch of fakes.

I go camping to enjoy the outdoors not to have my head filled by a bunch of garbage from folks telling me how great the product is and then you read posts on this forum about new models falling apart.

I've took delivery of a 2015 AS in January, every time I use the trailer something else breaks or doesn't work. The trailer has spent more time at the dealers waiting to get repaired than it has in my driveway.

I owned three Keystone products before purchasing the AS and not one of them ever had a warranty issue.

The build quality of the new AS suck IMHO.

Wooh, that aroma of sour grapes... It must suck to be you.

[RangerJay]

Originally Posted by Protagonist

...... there is also a "Protocol Book" that is not available to rank-and-file members that DOES list the appropriate attire for events at the International Rally— see paragraph 7r, page 44 of the WBCCI "Blue Book" published 6/27/2014. Protocol books are distributed to the IBT by February 15th each year.

And the WBCCI Store sells "official" red neckties and "official" blue neckties, so there must be some occasions not listed in the Constitution and Bylaws where an official necktie IS required— see Appendix 9 of the WBCCI Blue Book issued 7/5/2014.

......

..... in 2015 this is a quaint blast from the past ...... straight out of the 1950's .....


Jay

[sheriff1]

Like the man said,
I DON'T WANT TO BELONG TO ANY CLUB THAT WILL ACCEPT PEOPLE LIKE ME AS A MEMBER".

Seriously, we will be checking out our local groups soon and getting acquainted.


2015 F350 CC 4X4 6.7 Diesel
2010 27FB Silver Cloud "The Silver Spoon"

[hhendrix]

We have been a member since 2009. When I first got the "promo" packet from WBCCI, the dvd was like something from the 60's and every picture in the Blue Beret was really very old people. Lots of them. All of them.
When we went to our first rally, I told my wife "If we can get thru this first weekend without having to do CPR, maybe we'll hang in there for a while." We even thought about bringing a defibrillator from her office. Seriously. As it turned out, we had a great time and have made a lot of good friends of all ages that we often see outside the rallies.
My wife is on the local board and we have hosted several rallies. We DO NOT wear berets or ties. In fact, I've never seen a tie at any rally and beret maybe once or twice. We go to great locations, have great food, have fun and interesting events, and happy hour starts promptly at 5 every time.
That being said, the governing board is bloated, bureaucratic, somewhat autocratic with entrenched leadership, way out of date and out of touch, has ancient and silly rules like dress codes, and sometimes acts more like a Christian organization than a camping club.
For example, at the last international rally, one of our board members towed her trailer all the way there by herself only to discover that no one would help her park her trailer of even show her the way because it was the "Lord's day." That didn't stop them from smoking cigarettes or drinking alcohol, so I guess that's approved by the Lord but not parking. Many locals start the meeting, meals, or events with prayers honoring Jesus. That gets right in your face if you're Jewish or another faith that doesn't recognize Jesus. It's a CAMPING CLUB!!!!
The international organization election of board members is really a coronation as a "nominating committee" selects one person to run for each office. So why bother voting.
Our unit is very open, progressive, inviting, tolerant, and full of fun people of all ages and convictions. While some other units are shrinking we are one of the fastest growing units. You almost never hear any discussion of religion or politics except that religion plays way too big a role in the organization. I can't even figure out how religion became so entwined in the club. Nothing I've ever read about Wally Byam indicated any religion was a major part of his life or had anything to do with Airstreams. In fact, when asked, he said "His religion was camping."
If it wasn't for the clubs insurance coverage for rallies and caravans, many of our members don't see a huge benefit to the larger organization. Probably the single biggest and best benefit is meeting the members of other local units. Very few of our members go the the international. There's just not much interest in except for a few who are trying to inject new blood into the leadership. Kind of a Don Quixote thing maybe. I wish them the best but frankly, I find many other ways to beat by head against a wall with better results.
I read all the comments so far and only a couple know what they are writing about. The rest are uniformed, too cheap to even being a contributing member here, clearly don't like people, or people don't like them so they don't see any reason to socialize beyond Facebook, the narcissists playground. Sorry, my rant drifted a little off course.
None the less, I stay in the organization because of all the wonderful and generous people we have met traveling the US. For example, the organizers of the Mardi Gras and Albuquerque Balloon Festival have worked so hard to put on a premiere event, that I feel both obligated and privileged to support their efforts.

[Wayne&Sam]

I stopped by the WBCCI office in Jackson Center a few years back. Two workers in a pretty nice building. My gut reaction was that they should probably have one employee and rent an office. I'm not a member so I don't know, maybe they do a lot more than I think and someone bequeathed them the building. I hope so.

[m.hony]

We stopped by WBCCI headquarters in September 2014. There was one employee who appeared to live in a newer Class A in the back.


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[dmusca]

My husband and I joined by accident this year. We were camping at a regional park near our home and just happened to stumble upon a rally going on for the Arizona unit. My husband and I are in our 30s, with two small children ages 3 and 5. We are by far the youngest members and our group was very eager to have us join. They said its always exciting to get "young blood".

We just bought our vintage airstream in October and figured why not join? Everyone seemed very friendly and invited us to participate with the events they had going on that weekend. They even had us join in the rally photo 10 minutes after meeting everyone. We have attended one other rally which was at a beautiful campsite near Sedona. All the locations I have seen on the list for rallies look like great places and are not parking lots. My husband and I do work and don't get to the rallies until late Friday or early Saturday. There is still plenty of things going on when we arrive and I really love how our unit has embraced our family, especially our girls. They are even sensitive to our food allergies with gluten. We may be years apart in age but we never run out of things to talk about with our unit and we look forward to attending more rallies in the fall!

[overlander63]

I discontinued my membership after the thirteenth WBCCI member told me my employer should sponsor rallys, so I could come conduct seminars, and fix their trailers for free.

[Gnorts]

Originally Posted by sheriff1

Like the man said,
I DON'T WANT TO BELONG TO ANY CLUB THAT WILL ACCEPT PEOPLE LIKE ME AS A MEMBER".

Seriously, we will be checking out our local groups soon and getting acquainted.


2015 F350 CC 4X4 6.7 Diesel
2010 27FB Silver Cloud "The Silver Spoon"

That was Groucho Marx, having been asked if he was a member of a Jewish country club.

[jcanavera]

Originally Posted by Stefrobrts

That does not describe any rally I've ever been to.

Same here. Quite honestly we hear more trailer talk at the Air Forums rallies than we ever did at a WBCCI rally. I think the big difference is that if you belong to a local unit, the friendships are much more personal since you have more events and you all live in the same geographical area. For the forum rallies we come from all different locales and states and for many of us it's one time a year. So the talk becomes less family and local issues and more trailer oriented.

Jack

[63air]

We belonged as an at large member because of our work schedule . Paying more in dues and not being allowed a vote in the organization was enough for me to drop membership.

[Kiwiman2157]

My grandparents, Bud and Sadie Johnson of Ft. Myers, Florida, joined WBCCI in the 50's and were given the WBCCI number 2157.
In the 60's and 70's, growing up north of Dayton, Ohio, I always thought that it was the absolute coolest thing to come home from school and their rig was parked in front of the house. I periodically traveled with them and learned all about towing trailers. I am sure I drove my grandmother nuts asking her to tell me all the stories about their travels.
"Travel while you can because you will regret when you can't" she would always say!
My grandfather's eyesight began failing in the 80's and they sold their rig, (a 1976 Ambassador and a 1976 Oldsmobile, the last year with a 455) in 1983. Even though their rig was gone, they introduced me to several people they had traveled with over the years pulling their Airstreams. The last few summers, the pulled 15,000 miles. I do not recall they ever attended International Rally's or were officers in their unit but. know they went on the club caravans to Mexico and Canada in 1959 and '60.
In 2003, I did the crazy thing and bought a 1986 Airstream 345 Classic 36' motorhome...off eBay no less! My grandparents were "trailer people" so, I have always figured they were looking down on me shaking their heads, laughing.
It took my partner and I 6 months to undo the mice occupation and fixing the motorhome to make it livable after it had sat on a dealers lot in Salinas, CA for 2 years. We loved have it just the same.
I decided that I would see what it was all about to be a WBCCI member so called the office in Ohio. The lady very patiently explained the different memberships then, I decided to "go for broke" and ask for a number! Back in the old days, my grandfather told me that WBCCI numbers were never reissued.
The lady at WBCCI gave me the bad news the 2157 was not available. I was BUMMED. I asked if she would let me know when it was. Four months later......I got a call that 2157 was available and joined immediately! The next year, we decided to upgrade to LIFE MEMBERSHIP.
It was suggested that we go to the February 2004 Denco Club luncheon to try them out. Like several people here have said, we figured that we would be out of place. At the luncheon, it turns out that many of the people were like is, working and in their 40's and 50's enjoying their Airstreams. We were welcomed like we were long lost relatives! Incredible!! There was a period of 3 years where we did not miss a Denco Unit Rally or Luncheon activity.
We went to Bozeman 2008 for the International Rally figuring to try that out. We worked on Welcome Committee staff then, drove the shuttle all around the University of Montana campus as good Eagle Scouts do. As many of you have noted, the classes provided at International: CB radio, knitting and how to back a trailer certainly did not apply to us as Airstream motorhome owners.
Yup, as with any organization, there will be politics. At one point, the Denco Unit had a president who required that all rallies would be held in Colorado even though some members lived in New Mexico. I had set up a Unit Rally in Angel Fire, NM but, that was not acceptable to him.
We transferred to the Four Corners Unit who were sponsors of the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta Rally and is a marvelous event. We were received in that unit with open arms!
To join WBCCI or not is the question? That will be up to you and your situation. For me, it was a "family tradition" to do so. My grandparent's memory lives on because of FOUR red numbers!

[lucca53]

Hi KWN306 why did you buy a Airstream you had 3 Keystone trailers?These are manmade so not always perfect but I have a love of the History that the Airstream has and seeing many Vintage trailers in our group together is fun,we love talking trailers,its about the brand sounds to me you like camping alone thats great but just because i own a Airstream and don't like plastic fantastic square things next to me make me a snob.

[Lumatic]

Originally Posted by Stefrobrts

That does not describe any rally I've ever been to.

Ditto

[AWCHIEF]

I have only attended three official WBCCI rallies. The two I attended with my original unit were almost 100 % focused on politics and the other was with another unit and was just the opposite. I almost let my membership lapse until I discovered the Region 3 Southeastern Camping Unit. Focus is 99% on fun and camping. Politics is kept in the background and not shoved down members throats. They are strongly represented at many independent non club rallies in the south east.

[m.hony]

At the Mississippi Unit End of Winter Blues rally in Vicksburg in March only a few minutes at breakfast on the last day were devoted to politics. That was the only "official" part. The rest was very relaxed. We toured a lot of attractions and ate a lot of fine food. What's wrong with that?


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[jcanavera]

I remember the motorhome issue led to some bad feelings within our unit. We had some of the long term members who held positions within the International and supported allowing Thor built motorhome owners to belong to WBCCI. This strained some relationship between the younger members and them. I remember the discussion at a rally where one motorhome member who made an impassioned plea that "it isn't fair!". It was interesting that they had a fairly new motorhome, but her husband liked to trade in frequently. I think when the final votes came in the unit voted to allow Thor motor homes. I think we all know that the Thor amendment was defeated by the majority of unit members at the International that year.

Jack

[switz]

We joined even before getting the first Airstream (it was ordered). The dues check for a "local" unit and International was mailed in to International and was cashed. About a year later, I got a renewal notice in the mail from the "local" group. I was surprised that there was absolutely no communications from that "local" group for an entire year and I had no contact information.

By this time we found another "local" group and attended a rally without the trailer (another long story) just to see if real people existed. This was a vibrant group having a great time with all ages in attendance.

We changed our membership to the new group and upped the ante to Life memberships. We have been to many rallies (for us) and had lots of fun in the process.

This year we went to the International WBCCI rally in Farmington along with 21 other trailers from our group. The get togethers with the group were fun.

We also got to see the elder WBCCI statesmen in hat, tie and white shirts. We went to some of the official programs as well as the technical classes. I learned where I could access the technical materials on line and will get the information that way in the future. We did not stay the entire time as there was not a lot to do that was of interest to us, the heat was oppressive and we had cooling issues in the trailer.

We do not plan on attending another International rally, unless it is relatively close - like in a neighboring state.

For us, the action is in the "local" group.