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116 Days… As I write this, it has been almost 4 months or 2784 hours or 116 days
since we parked our Airstream after returning from Florida back in March. However you calculate it, it has been a long time. This is the second longest period of time since we got our Airstream three years ago that we have not traveled somewhere in our silver home. But in a few days that is going to change, we are heading out camping again next week. I wonder, will we remember how to pack for a trip? What will we forget,? You know we are going to pull to the campground and remember something we forgot (hopefully it was not important). Will it feel like being new Airstreamers again? Speaking of new Airstreamers, Justin Humphreys , VP of Airstream sales, told the leadership team at the IBT meeting last month that Airstream saw an 30% increase in sales in May over their previous highest sales month and June sales are running 50% higher than May. Of the people purchasing new Airstreams 40-50% are first time RV buyers! Justin asked for the Airstream Clubs’ help in welcoming the new owners to the Airstream Lifestyle. These first time buyers are finding out what we have known for a long time. That RV travel is a great way to vacation safely. You travel with your own bed, kitchen, and bathroom, you can con-trol who you travel with, and there is no better place to social distance then a campground. So next week we are camping again. We are starting out cautiously with mid-week reservations at local state parks starting at Sampson State Park on Seneca Lake. I know that some of you have already been out and others are waiting for the right time. Everyone needs to do this at their own pace. Maybe we will see some of the new Airstreamers while we are camping. If we do, we will share with them the value of joining the Wally Byam Airstream Club. It is a great way to meet new people with like-minded interest in RV life and learn about their new Airstream. So where have you been camping this summer? What plans do you have in the coming weeks? Please share your summer adventures on our Facebook group page and with our editor to be published in our newsletter. In this summer of cancelled rallies, it’s important that we still find ways to stay in touch and share our stories. It also helpful to hear others’ experiences in this new normal. We plan to share our travel plans on the club’s Facebook group place, and hopefully we will see some of you out there with us. Wherever you go, please travel safely and represent the Air-stream lifestyle to the new Airstreamers.
Randy & Diane 30876
Volume 19, Issue 6 THE GRAPEVINE—July 2020
In this issue…..
• The President’s Corner
• 2020 Officers
• 2020 Calendar of Events
• Cancellations
• Positions still open
• September Get-
Together ???
• See You Down The Road
• New Member Welcome
• DEC/NYS Camping up-
date
• Region 2 Update
• NYFLAC Fall Business
Meeting
• Potpourri Pages
• Airstream for Sale
• Join NYFLAC Facebook
The Grapevine
NEWSLETTER of the
NY FINGER LAKES AIRSTREAM CLUB
The Grapevine
The Grapevine will be pub-lished at least 8 times/year (Feb/March, April, May, June/July, Aug, Sept, Oct, Nov) or as needed. Newsletter Editor is Liz Kirk. Deadline: The 10th of each month of publication. Next deadline is August 10th.
The President’s Corner
THE GRAPEVINE—July 2020
Page 2
.
President: Randy Hill [email protected] 585-820-0061 1st V.P.: Gary Russo [email protected] 585-967-6636 2nd VP: OPEN & recruiting Treasurer: Ted Smith
[email protected] Recording Secretary: OPEN & recruiting Directors: Nancy Hussar (1 yr.) John Dona (2 yrs.) Jim Gillio (3 yrs.) Membership Chair: Donna Smith
[email protected] 315-649-2954 cell 315-408-1805
Directory: Liz Kirk
[email protected] Caravan Leader: Ray Wagner
Safety Czar: John Hussar [email protected]
Webmaster: Liz Kirk
[email protected] Sunshine: Ann Jackob
Editor: Liz Kirk [email protected]
NY Finger Lakes Airstream Club 2019-2020 Officers and
Committee Members
NYFLAC EVENTS CALENDAR
What a year it has been (or hasn’t been!!)
Regrettably, the following rallies have been cancelled…….. Hickory Park Rally, Owego, NY August 14-16—under an
abundance of caution it has been decided to postpone the Hickories Park Rally until next year
Sugar Creek National Rally, Sugar Creek, OH
Another 1st …...we have no events to share as of this publication
NYFLAC is still looking for volunteers to fill open positions in our club leadership. We currently have vacancies for 2nd VP and Recording Secretary. We also have openings for club Directors’ positions. Airstream Clubs around the world are made up of volunteers like you and I. This is a great way to get started in club leadership. Anyone interested in helping our club grow, please contact Randy Hill at [email protected] for additional information.
Page 3
THE GRAPEVINE—July 2020
Who Wants to Get-Together in September?
We all know that it’s been extremely challenging as an organization to plan safe and appropri-ate experiences for our membership. I have been in contact with Pine Creek Campground in Newfield, NY about hosting a “get-together” at their location. I hesitate to label it a rally as we will would not have any of the typical rally events. But there’s still plenty to do! If enjoying being out of the house and in the fine company of our Airstream homes isn’t enough there’s always golfing, biking, hiking, wineries, campfires and happy hours!! Pine Creek Campground is a lovely, private campground just outside of Ithaca. In 2017 the Region 2 Rally was held here and several of our group have camped here in the past. Pine Creek has LOTS of sites available after Labor Day weekend and would welcome our group. Before moving forward with planning I need to get an idea of how many people would consider attending a get-together in Ithaca in September.
How many people would be in a NYFLAC get-together in September??
If you are REMOTELY interested send an email directly to
[email protected] expressing your interest and preferred dates (weekdays or weekends). Please reply by July 30th. Expressing interest IS NOT a commitment to attend!!!!! • No organized group activities. • No sharing of food or potluck meals. • Happy hour or get-acquainted meetings held outdoors with 6 ft
separation. • No use of lodge. • No goodie bags, gifts, or table decorations. • No out-of-state attendees. • If you plan an activity you may open it to others at your discretion. (i.e. meet at a winery but
take separate cars or plan a hike in the area, arrange a tee time for golf) If you have any questions, comments, or concerns please feel free to reach out to me directly at [email protected] or 585-766-8157. (FYI—If you call you will get my professional work message. Ignore that and just leave a mes-sage. It’s my personal cell phone as well.) Travel often and travel well,
Liz Kirk
THE GRAPEVINE—July 2020
Page 4
Were the last few weeks hot and humid enough for you? It was tropical here in Webster NY! So, we started to become night owls hoping it would be cooler in the evening. We pulled our telescope out and did some planet gazing. Around 10:30 the Moon came out and at 11:00 we were able to see Jupiter and 4 of its moons. Saturn come out too late for us. Last year in late August we saw Saturn and were able to make out the rings. This year I was able to set up the camera on the telescope and took this photo of the Moon. As the evenings in June and July progressed, the Moon became Full, and finally the Buck Moon appeared. It was so bright that seeing any other stars or planets was difficult. After 2 years I finally figured out how to set the telescope to track an object. I spent 1 hour on the phone with the manufacturer to diagnose the problem. I thought it was a software issue but, of course, it was operator error. I needed to choose Standard or Daylight savings time. How was I to know the choice was buried in the menu section?!?! This now allows me to track and take long exposure times of objects in the sky. I bought a new remote cable release and a new light pollution filter for the camera. The light pollution from the city and the suburbs is always a problem. I hope they come in before we leave for the Adirondacks. Right now, we are getting ready for our Adirondack 2-week getaway. We normally try to find 2‑3 mountain trails to hike and look for a great photo or two to add to our scrapbook. I don’t see a problem from that aspect. When we return, I should have a full memory card of photos from this trip. I was talking to friends two weeks ago who go to the Adirondacks early in the season before the black flies come out and they ran into a shortage of food at the local stores. Seems people from NYC came up in droves early (leaving NYC due to the pandemic) and quickly depleted the small Mom and Pop grocery stores in the area. Just a word to the wise if you travel up North. I was online yesterday looking at the DEC camping restrictions at the park. I’ve included them in a separate article for your information (see next page) as many people are doing a short getaway in the NYS Park system.
Safe Travels Down the Road Gary Russo
See You Down the Road……. Gary Russo, 1st Vice President
Let’s roll out the Welcome mat to our newest NYFLAC member
Larry Hayden
North Creek, NY
THE GRAPEVINE—July 2020
Page 5
DEC and NY State Park Camping Rules and Guidelines
“In order to provide the safest environment for our New York State Park patrons and staff, we have developed the following guidelines to begin our re-opening. Please read carefully: • As part of the Covid-19 guidelines, and for the courtesy of other visitors and our staff, face masks
must be worn when outside of your campsite area and all patrons shall practice social distancing. • Only registered campers will be allowed in the campground areas, no day visitors will be
permitted. • In order to practice social distancing, we may need to move you to an alternate site in certain
areas/loops. • Cabin, Cottage and Yurt stays are being limited to 5-day maximum stays in order to sufficiently
clean between reservations. Bring your own linens, cookware and silverware. In order to assist us with enhanced cleaning of the accommodations, Check-in time is now 5 p.m. and Check-out time is 10 a.m.
• There may be limited shower and/or restroom facilities and they may be closed periodically to al-low for enhanced cleaning. We ask that all campers be patient while our staff makes your stay as pleasant and safe as possible.
• Certain amenities may not be available. • State Park Police and operations staff will be patrolling campgrounds to ensure compliance with
social distancing and crowd control measures. • Please cancel your reservation if you answer “Yes” to any of these questions below. You will be
screened upon check-in. If you answer yes to any of the above questions, you will not be permit-ted to camp. All who need to cancel will receive a full refund.
1. Have you, or anyone in your residence, come into close contact (within 6 feet) with someone who has a suspected or confirmed COVID – 19 diagnosis in the past 14 days either at home or at work? Yes or No 2. Have you or anyone in your residence had a fever (greater than 100.4 F or 38.0 C OR symptoms of lower respiratory illness listed below* in the past 14 days? Yes or No 3. Are you or anyone in your residence currently experiencing a fever (greater than 100.4 F or 38.0 C) OR symptoms of lower respiratory illness listed below? Yes or No
Shortness of Breath (new or worsening) Troubled Breathing (new or worsening) Fever Chills Muscle Pain (new or worsening) Headache (new or worsening) Sore Throat (new or worsening) New Loss of Taste New Loss of Smell
Anyone who does not adhere to this guidance will be requested to leave the facility and will not re-ceive a refund. For more information, please contact your facility directly. We thank you for your understanding and patience during this time. New York State Parks looks forward to welcoming you and your fellow campers back.”
THE GRAPEVINE—July 2020
Page 6
Region 2 News—July 2020
Hello Airstreamers, Who knew words from a car commercial of several years ago, with the young voice saying "zoom zoom" when the new sporty car models flew past, would become part of our present vocabulary and so heavily occupy our conversations and time! Well, after the almost 15 hours of Zoom video meetings and webinars I attended, spread out over four days, I'm here to bear witness to the fact that the "zoom zoom" is here to stay. Those Zoom meetings were conducted in lieu of the two (2) Region Officers Forums and the two (2) IBT meetings that were supposed to happen in Loveland, CO at this time. Hats off to the staff at HQ, our IT Committee and the Executive Committee for all of their efforts to make these meet-ings and the installation of the new IBT officers a success. It was a great accomplishment and all the meetings were well attended! All three (3) of the Constitutional Amendments passed. There were a total of 5,597 votes cast from 94 of the 106 local clubs
The 2020-2021 Slate of Officers and Members of the Nominating Committee were approved as submitted. At the IBT meeting, Incoming President Andy Selking named Immed. Past President Mona Heath as Chair of the Nominating Commit-tee. The Budget Committee presented a balanced budget that included a Dues Increase of $10 per year. Both the Budget and the Dues Increase Motion were approved. The increase in dues was openly discussed at the Region Officers Forum prior to the IBT meeting and at the IBT meeting itself. There was a Powerpoint presentation and several versions of a budget were presented for review at our Forum. This is the first dues increase to the membership in 10 years and will ensure that the Club is able to meet budgetary demands going forward. There will be information in the upcoming Blue Beret to sup-port the decision. I was concerned at first. After review of the documentation provided, listening to the proposals and asking questions, I voted YES to the increase in dues. I believe it is in the best interests of the Club and its membership. I spoke again, several times, during the meetings of the importance of increasing member benefits. Other Officers, including members of the Executive Committee, are now echoing that and I believe we're on track to see tangible improvements coming in the months and years ahead. I will keep pushing. Online Registration for the 2021 International Rally to be held in Lebanon, TN will open on August 5, 2020. Watch for more information in the upcoming Blue Beret. I will have the date on my calendar and will send out reminders to you all as we get closer to that date. Both of the IBT meetings and the Region Officers Forums were streamed LIVE on the Club's YouTube Channel and can be found here. Proposed budgets and the PowerPoint are also available there in the meeting of Thursday, June 25th. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCM0W7edcbNd07Hehq2qyQmw The Installation of Officers was also streamed LIVE, recorded and available through the same link.
One of the most interesting parts of the meetings was listening to Justin Humphries, VP of Sales for Airstream, Inc., provid-ed a lengthy update. You can listen to it in the Executive Meeting of Wednesday, June 24th. After the initial downturn, sales are exploding! Industry wide, the towables are rebounding much faster than the big Class A coaches. This bodes well for Airstream and our Airstream Club! Our HQ reported a surge in new members as well after falling during the early period of COVID. It has been a difficult year but the future looks bright!
Continued on page 7……..
#1-Qualification of Members For 5428 Against 169 Abstain 0
#2-Delegates Meeting For 5399 Against 198 Abstain 0
#3-Changing wording from Unit(s) to Local Club(s) For 5408 Against 124 Abstain 65
THE GRAPEVINE—July 2020
Page 7
Region 2 News—July 2020 Continued from page 5
Just as in our Region, other Regions of the Club are reporting mixed results in schedules of upcoming rallies. While many events have cancelled, there are still many events on the calendars but caution was still the common theme. Check the schedule of events often for updates and keep an eye on the State guidelines. The name changes for our Pennsylvania Airstream Club and the Ontario Canada Airstream Club were memorialized (they had been approved by the Executive Committee prior) and the new logo and flag for the New York Fin-ger Lakes Airstream Club was approved. My thanks and congratulations, again, to those clubs and their leaders! There will be a new MODEL Constitution and Bylaws available online that contain updates as approved at these meet-ings. Our local clubs may incorporate those changes into their CBL documents now but are NOT required to send them in for approval now. You may wait until it is time for your 5 year review of your club documents to do that. Any questions, let me know. It was with great pleasure that I introduced the names of both RJ Marquette and Gary Russo as our Region's new VPs. I expressed my gratitude to them for volunteering. I also expressed my thanks to all our Region Officers and Chairs who have supported me and our great Region 2 this past year. I think that covers it for now. If I come across something in my notes that I missed including here, I will let you know. As always, reach out if you have questions. Zoom Zoom, Airstreamers...see you down the road. One way or another! Rich Short #1512
To Gary Russo for becoming the new
Region 2 2nd Vice-President
NYFLAC Quarterly Business Meeting
Normally during the summer rallies club officers and the executive board get the chance to discuss club business. As so many of our rallies have been canceled this summer, I am thinking of scheduling a virtual business meeting this fall to discuss 2021 rallies, club officers and installa-tions. Please share with me (Randy) any topics you would like to discuss at the meeting.
THE GRAPEVINE—June 2020
Page 8
2011 Airstream Sport 22’ For Sale Large bed across the front with custom mattress and topper. Easy to tow. 7” narrower that the normal Airstream body and light weight 4,500 lbs. loaded….within capacity of Ford Flex. This model is no longer produced by Airstream. Includes: tire pressure monitor, surge protector, folding bike and Nes-presso machine, etc. (Can outfit with linen and dishes if you are a newbie and can use the stuff.) Asking $25,000 up until the end of September. Late September/early October we have an appointment scheduled at Airstream for 27 point inspection, seal check, brake check, repack bearings and all minor repairs. Price will be $30,000 after Airstream appointment. Offering first to NY Finger Lakes Air-stream Club before posting publicly. Trailer is in Cazenovia, NY. Contact: Robbie Lewis Cell: 617-304-8675
Our Facebook Group is Private and can NOT be viewed by anyone who is not a member of our group. The only thing the public can view is our name. All member requests must be approved before joining.
To become a NYFLAC Facebook you must be a Facebook user. Search for New York Finger Lakes Airstream Club or go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/1472017733005344/ and ask to join. You'll need to provide your BIG RED numbers. I’m usually able to respond within 1 day (unless I’m in the AS in an area without cellular or internet service).
