Here we are in central Oklahoma and the weather is great. Clear sunny skies, moderate temperatures and very little wind. Any time you can be in Oklahoma in May and there are no storm warnings it is a good thing.On the medical front the good news is that there is no news. Hopefully, that will be the continuing story for 2009.
Web site. If you are reading this on line you have found the new web site. Technically this is not a web site but a blog. The term blog is shorthand for a web log and that means that you are reading a journal on the World Wide Web (www). See, now you have learned something. The web site that I was using was difficult, complicated and time consuming. With the blog page I have more flexibility and it is much easier to use. On the left side of this page you will see the heading labeled Links. You can get to the minutes, standing rules and next month’s flyer by clicking on the appropriate link on the left side of this page. On those pages there is a link to get you back here. There is also an archive section on each page so you can look back at previous newsletters and minutes. This blog is also easy enough to use that I can post an item at any time and then alert all of the members. For example, if one of you wants me to alert members as to the medical condition of another member just email me and I can post the information and then send everyone an email to look at the site.
Rally. It is unfortunate that we had so few members attend this rally as the weather, hosts and facilities were great. The Bennetts and Sidebottoms greeted us with an Hawaiian leis and kisses!!! We also got to sample some pineapple upside down cake at the reception. Sitting around the reception table on Tuesday evening were the hosts plus the Mathes’, Severe’s and Genrichs’. After much catching up the ladies started their card game while the rest of us debated the best way to handle a number of RV-related issues.
The RV park is on the west side of Guthrie so everyone had to drive through the town to get to the park. During that drive we encountered a detour for a movie location. Due to the cities business and residential architecture movie companies have used it as a location for a number of movies.
Wednesday breakfast saw Mike Bennett manning the grill and we received made-to-order omelets, fresh fruit and coffee. After breakfast we gathered up to head downtown for a trolley ride of Guthrie. We boarded a reserved trolley for a one-hour tour of the city. I have never seen so many brick office buildings in one place. Guthrie became a city of 10,000 on the first day of the Oklahoma Land Rush; April 22, 1889. Virtually the entire city is listed as a National Historic Landmark. That designation is applied to 1,400 acres and 2,165 buildings and we saw a large part of that. This is a place to visit. In the afternoon we toured the world’s largest Scottish Rite Masonic Temple. Quite a sight in the middle of Oklahoma. Impressive is not a strong enough word for this building. Everything is large/gigantic; rooms, windows, etc. That evening we gathered at the R & R Restaurant located in the former Santa Fe Railroad Depot. At one time Guthrie was served by six railroads and 40 trains per day. That building also houses a railroad museum equipped with a number of model railroad dioramas. The meal, service and price were quite good. It is worth another visit.
Thursday morning saw Mike the Chef and Gary Assistant Chef hard at work manning the grill and serving French Toast. After the meal I spent some time addressing a number of items. No, it was not a business meeting and if you were not there you just missed out. Later that morning we had a golf tournament in which Jack Mathes took first place followed closely by John Severe. No, I do not know the scores and I would not believe them in any case. The afternoon was taken up with personal chores and more solving of the world’s problems. That evening Chefs Mike and Gary cooked up the Hawaiian luau pig. Unfortunately, they could not dig a hole in the RV park so they did the next best thing and used a BBQ grill. The end result was a great meal.
Friday morning saw everyone at the getaway breakfast. There are always last minute items to take care of and preparations for launching the coaches back into the ever- increasing stream of weekend traffic. Over all, the rally was a success; great weather, great food and great fellowship.
June Rally. In reference to next time, pay attention to the information on the June flyer. The park would like your reservation three weeks in advance. Yes, that is right now. I know that many of you do not like to make commitments more than a day or so in advance but you might make an exception in this case. It seems that the park is quite busy and they will not guarantee that sites will be available unless you make that reservation three weeks ahead. That does not mean that you cannot get a site if you call them later. We all know that most Rvers who are passing through do not make reservations more than a day or two in advance, if at all. In any case, come to the rally.
Minutes. You might notice that there are no meeting minutes this month. That is because we did not have a meeting. See, that is something else you missed.
Chapter benefit. When we think of the many benefits in belonging to a chapter, one of the items often left out is information sharing. I have been to two rallies in the last two weeks and I saw that benefit more than once. As we all know, there is more to RV ownership than just driving and camping. You need to know how to manage and maintain that house on wheels. A big help in that is the combined knowledge of chapter members. While all of the coaches have differences, most of the equipment operates in the same manner. There are thousands of questions you could ask and if you know the answer to them, write your own book. If not, maybe other chapter members know the answer to that bothersome problem you are having.
Directory. Later this year I will provide everyone with a roster of members. Currently I am attempting to ensure the accuracy of my information.
Six-State. For those thinking about attending the Six State Rally at Shawnee, Oklahoma in September you might want to consider registering sooner rather than later. The electric sites go to the first 500 who register. I do not know how many will attend but there were 800 coaches last year at North Little Rock. You can register on line at http://www.fmca.com/ or use the form in the magazine.
