From Dave and Donna De Graffenreid|
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From Dave and Donna De Graffenreid
Hosting the Western States Spring Roundup was a wonderful experience. We were the coordinators and all of you actually put on the rally. This club is all about volunteering. Everyone was so quick to ask "what can I do". Working together as a big team made us all feel a part of the rally and many new friends were made. We learned that it takes cooperation, patience and flexibility to make it a success and you all demonstrated this with ease. We'd like to thank everyone individually, but that is impossible; everyone was so helpful. It started with the parking and registration and continued all week long until the last pancakes were served. Thanks again.
From Lillian Trubert
This report is so much water over the bridge for the nearly 200 lucky Western Staters who were lucky enough to attend this fabulous roundup which ran from March 18th to the 23rd. We all know what a great roundup it was and how much fun was had by all, but hopefully a brief recounting of the festivities will fire up the enthusiasm of some of those we missed, and we can look forward to seeing you at the September Roundup at Mariposa, California for some Gold Country shenanigans.
The weather was prescribed by the Palm Desert Chamber of Commerce - warm, clear and perfect. See what our very roving reporter Dallas Jensen writes below. At another time we were at Palm Desert in the rain and still had a good time, but this weather was testimony to the allure of the desert for so many. It made those of us seeking cool rooms to play Jokers and Marbles look a little addicted, but you gotta do what you gotta do! And many attendees took up the chal-lenge of learning this neat game as taught by expert Billie Simmons and entering a tournament which was won by Betty Brand, who has had a little practice, but the runner-up was Julia Kasch, who was a first time player! Even Roundupmaster Dave deGraffenreid went to the finals after one practice game. The rest of us got bad cards, don't you know.
And right here is a good time to rave about the de-Graffenreids handling of all the logistics in planning such a successful roundup. All of this was their idea and hardwork. And while Dave is also known as "The Margarita Master", Donna can sing a mean karaoke! Our heartfelt thanks go out to them for a job superbly done.
The FOOD was really good! Duane Simmons and Zay Brand slaved over the stove on two occasions serving up BBQ tri-tip with the trimmings and brisket sandwiches that were deep down good.
We also had catered Mexican and Italian dinners. Special vegetarian diets were also provided. The breakfasts were varied and healthy with pancakes, French toast, eggs and sausages available on different days. Pat Cerrina and Ed Stahl were seen working their fool heads off, and Donna deGraffenreid was a Wonder Woman throughout the entire week. Some extra thanks should go to Jean Reeves who made coffee every morning, Russ Ellis who coordinated the tours, Freddi Condos for the fitness walks, Rod and Lee Walling for two of the breakfasts and Frank Sullivan and Ed Reeves for the other breakfasts.
Those "Ice Cream Socials" we were treated to no doubt swelled the ranks, so those who had the gump-tion followed the intrepid Freddi Condos for that famous 7:00 am brisk walk for the physically fit and wannabes. The crisp morning air and pleasant companionship drew a crowd of the faithful as always. At least they were quiet and not singing "Sound Off" as they passed my coach! Some even followed breakfast with "Water Aerobics" at the beautiful park pool. It's all up to you!
Two wonderful optional tours were offered complete with bus transportation. You could have gone to the Palm Springs Air Museum and seen 26 historic aircraft on display. This is one of the largest collections of flying World War II combat aircraft. You could even get into a B-17 and chat with a belly gunner who flew them during the war. Or you could have gone to The Living Desert Wildlife and Botanical Park. This park includes an African village in addition to native and exotic animals from the world's deserts as well as beautiful botanical gardens. Can you believe some happy campers actually chose to canvass the local specialty shops? Boy, did I find some great buys!
We even had super entertainment! Ina Tee, the Outrageous Humorist regaled us with RV humor and snappy songs. She made backing up, dumping and taking showers sound very funny.
We were able to enjoy live music by "Touch of Class", a dynamic duo who serenaded us and provided music to dance to after dinner. They were very good! And karaoke night revealed some great and not so great singers in our midst. The good ones included but were not limited to Kerry Tandy, Dave Lopez and Bob Hooten. Freddi Condos knocked our socks off with her "Fever" and "Unchained Melody."
You had to be there to believe the "Who Wants to Make a Million Errors" game Dave deGraffenreid scripted. It had all the tension of that other TV game while Western Staters pitted their GMC knowledge against those killer questions about the roundup and GMCing. Dave was a dead ringer Regis! Joanne Henandez won the big prize: a 1980's RV antenna with a picture of a GMC on the box. Way to go, Joanne!
We had two afternoons of open coaches so you could go checkout all the nifty coaches among us. The ideas we come up with! Whether touring an all-original Palm Beach, an extended Eleganza or a renovated Transmode, your eyes would have been popping! But there's no place like your home coach.
The seminars were up to their high quality of infor-mation. Check out how Emory Stora, our Technical Vice President reviews the topics on bearings, 12 volts, interior decoration, Onans, GMC height adjustment, wheel alignment and more. The women also enjoyed a Mary Kay makeup make-over seminar, a hands-on cooking demonstration featuring Hungarian Paprikas and chicken enchiladas, learned how to drive and operate the GMC and enjoyed various discussion topics in Pick Your Corner. Ask the Experts answered questions from the audience in case there was some-thing you wanted to know and weren't afraid to ask. Our non-technical representative Nancy Pettit did a great job of lining up all those seminars along with Emery Stora.
And last but certainly
not least, we all experienced wonderful fellowship with old friends,
made some new ones and laughed with anyone and everyone! When
we said "Happy Trails" to each other at the all-to-soon
end of the roundup, some plans were made to see each other before
the next roundup. We met some wonderful first timers: Cal &
Roberta Terry, Reseda, CA - John & Anne Bush, Sunol,
CA - Dwight & Virginia Bare, Mesa, AZ - Fred &
Ruth Leitch, La Grande, OR - Dick & Carmela Elsley,
Thousand Oaks, CA - Jeff White, Tustin, CA - Steve &
Nancy Ferguson, Spring Valley, CA - Jim & Anita White,
Wakonda, SD - Merry Samson, Rogue River, OR - Bob Nerrie,
Redwood City, CA - Peter & Eleanor Robinson, Pacific
Grove, CA.
Hope to see YOU in Mariposa in the fall!
From Nancy
Once again, thanks
to our roundupmasters, Dave and Donna deGraffenreid, we enjoyed
a great rally. It seemed like we always had plenty to do and we
thank our many volunteers for their help: the magical team of
Hooten and Newton preparing Dorothy's Chicken Enchiladas; Mary
Botts (who volunteered by e-mail no less!) helping with my Hungarian
Chicken Paprikas; Audrey Rowe, Jeanne Reeves, and Freddi Condos
who volunteered their faces for new make-up; our resident experts
Irene Davis, Dege Lowry, Marilyn Rowland & Judy Cherry in
the panel discussion; and certainly last but not least, Billie
Simmons leading the Jokers and Marbles tournament! I hope I didn't
miss anyone.
I'm assured that our fall rally is packed full of fun
and activities. When we have a few minutes (or hours),
I'm sure we'll get together for more Jokers and
Marbles. Let me see, where did I put that nice spongy
seat cushion for those nice hard chairs?
See you in the fall.
From Dallas Jensen
I had been looking for some 80 degree temps since January. I started in Florida and worked my way west. Everywhere I went the temps were below normal and rainfall was above normal until 3/16/01 when I arrived two days early at the GMC Western States Spring Rally at the Emerald Desert Golf & RV Park at Palm Desert, CA. Here I found everything I had been looking for, including good food. I ate too much again! It happens every time. Now I have to go on a starvation diet to get back to my 150 Lbs. I didn't partake of the golf because about 60 years ago I played 9 holes of golf with my one armed brother and he won, and I decided that golf was not my game. I did take the bus trip to the WW2 Aircraft museum and enjoyed it very much. I was disappointed not seeing my WW2 plane, the PBY Catalina flying boat. I spent 18 months in the Southwest Pacific servicing them. The seminars were interesting, I never fail to learn something new, I got in an argument with the tech rep from Timken Bearing about greasing wheel bearings. I have probably greased more wheel bearings on aircraft, trucks, cars, motorhomes and industrial equipment than he has seen. We all have our opinions, as far as I'm concerned, part of what he said was BS.
I made some new
friends, we can all use more of them. One of them had just acquired
a GMC and recognized me from my web page and knew that I bum home
grown fruit from friends and relatives, he asked me if I needed
more fruit, I told him I could use some. I ended up with a bag
each of grapefruit, oranges, the largest lemons I have ever seen
and tangerines. I had to give much of it away to my other friends.
Like I say, you can't have too many friends. I'm looking forward
to the fall rally.
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