Gail Stacy, President gjstacy@cox.net
Donna J. Hall, Editor dchall002@gmail.com
Notes from President Gail……
Whew, have we had a busy summer! As I shared
in the last newsletter, shortly after we returned from Calgary, I headed down to Guatemala with my daughter and grandson and
4 people from a church in St Paul, MN. What an adventure we had! You will find a separate
article with a few pictures attached. Since I need to give credit for the article, I will do so here, as
this article is being published in our community newsletter. So, here goes, “Reprinted with
permission from the Link magazine, the official notification of the Sun City Community Association, Inc. November 2012.
I returned from
Guatemala to a house that had been flooded 2 days before by a leak in our reverse osmosis system under the kitchen sink.
Dear John was home, but he and the plumber thought they had it under control.
Neither had any idea how extensive it was. We had water under the carpeting through about 80% of
our house. While he was finding a flood repair company I was talking with our insurance company.
By the end of that day, our carpeting had been torn out, the bottom 18 to 20 inches of the interior walls demolished
and our “stuff” had been packed up and moved to our garage. Thank the Lord for our motorhome,
as we put all necessities in there and headed down to LVM Resort (the old Outdoor Resorts on the south end of town)…not
a bad place to be “stuck”.
Five and a half
weeks later, we moved back in to newly rebuilt and repainted walls and all new carpet. But, I will tell
you, I don’t want to do that again. Now that we’ve been through this, I will never agree to
move anywhere! It took a week to get everything put away where it belongs, and that was just the breakables.
The repair guys put all of our furniture, pictures and décor items back in place and unpacked and hung all of
our clothes. Maybe we just have too much “stuff”!
I was so exhausted after all of this and two family invasions
(nice invasions) that I missed the Prado rally.
Before I write to you again, we will have been through the holiday
season. Can you believe it?!
John and I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving,
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and fun times with family and friends!
1st VP/Membership Director
Mary
Langord
marylangord@mac.com
Since my last official
report, we’ve lost three members who have decided not to renew their membership either for health reasons or selling
their Alpine. Added to our “Inactive List” are: Andy & Deb Grooms, Ollie
& Katy Hundelt and Henry & Kathleen Frey. We have extended an invitation that they rejoin our Active
List if and when their conditions change. Meanwhile, they will be missed!
Our official membership as of Oct 29 is 72
active members.
Thanks to everyone
for paying their dues promptly and making my job easy.
It’s my pleasure to welcome our new members:
David & Nicole Guhse of Idyllwild, Ca who joined us during the
Pechanga Rally;,Mike & Donna (DeeDee) Hambarian of Villa Park, Ca.
They joined in October; Bob King of Ojai joined us in September.
I still need pictures for our
directory from the following couples:
Robert & Connie Bowers
Dennis & Vicki Gowey
Bob King
Henry & Tammy Martin
Del Petersen & Verna Lantz
Dave & Jay Shannon
Dennis & Sally Whitman
Also, for all of you
who have pictures on file: IF you would like a more current picture to appear on our upcoming/updated web site, please
scout your archives and send me a picture of your choice. Or take a new picture, say, in front of your coach.
Joel and I will be traveling for the month of November, and travel time equals a lot of free time enroute for me to
update my photos.
Thanks in advance, and I look forward to hearing from all of you!
St. George Week Long Rally
September
11 – 18, 2012
By
Ed Mathews
Alpine SoCal RV Club held our annual weeklong rally in beautiful
St. George Utah, at McArthur’s Temple View RV resort. We had 13 coaches in attendance. 14 were scheduled but Gail
and John Stacy had a last minute cancellation for personal reasons but we were happy to see them for an afternoon
as they made the drive from their home in Las Vegas.
The Rally began on a rainy day on September 11th. The weather
cleared in the afternoon and we had blue skies for the rest of the week.
After all the coaches were settled
in their spaces and an afternoon of relaxation, we met in the resort’s banquet room for social hour and sandwiches from
a local deli. Our wagon master, Dwight Warner, spoke to us about the history of the area, how to
get around St. George, best places to eat, and the many things to see and do in southern Utah. We ended the evening with an
Ice Cream social provided by the resort. Ira McArthur and his children brought in the Ice Cream and toppings and welcomed
us to his park. Dwight informed us that the McArthur family was one of the original settlers of
St. George.
Dwight
arranged for us to tour a couple of local businesses. First Renaissance Granite, simple arrangement here since Dwight
owns it! Everyone was very impressed with the state of the art machinery that cuts the granite to specifications
taken by photography. While all the women were envious of the granite being sculpted, the men were busy holding on to their
wallets.
The
second business we toured was PDI. PDI specializes in performance enhancements for diesel engines. They
also create Show trucks with beautiful paint jobs, custom interiors, and lots of chrome. They have created a pink Peterbilt
truck that is being raffled with the proceeds going to Breast cancer research. PDI’s owner Jerid Withworth has patented
innovations for increasing performance and power.
Each morning we gathered in the
meeting site for coffee and continental breakfast to begin our day’s adventures.
Trips were taken to Zion National
Park, Bryce National Park, Kolab Canyon, Best Friends Animal Sanctuary and many more beautiful places in Southern Utah. We
visited Museums and Historical sites in St George and in the area surrounding it. Mac and Ann
McDougal traveled to Bryce Canyon and spent the night there so they could see the sunrise. They said the sunrise
was spectacular, and if anybody wants to know anything about Hoodoos just ask Mac, he would be glad
to tell you about them!
We attended Tuacahn Red Rock Amphitheater and saw the musical Aladdin.
Anne,
Trudy, Phil, Tony, Ann, Mike, Jerry & Mac
One
evening after having Margaritas we gathered in the banquet room and had a pizza party, and on the last evening we had a delicious
catered Dutch Oven Dinner.
We welcomed prospective members, David and Stilla Hobden
from Colorado Springs, as well as old friends from ACA, Ricky and Cathy Broussard from Houston Texas.
By all accounts
it was a great rally enjoyed by all in attendance.
Editor’s note: Anne McDougal
has posted pictures from both of our recent rallies to Shutterfly, if you’d like to see all of these just email
her (mcdanne@gmail.com) and she will give you the link.
She took some really nice pictures and well worth taking a look at. Thanks Anne.
Did
you know there is a”Playground
for Grownups” in Wightwood, Ca.? Navitat Canopy Adventurers’ treetop tours take
you well beyond tree climbing! The course includes several zip lines and some hiking and rappelling as well as three sky bridges.
The first two zip lines help you find your groove before you fly through the 7,500-foot-long course via another eight hair-raising
zip lines. The most extreme zip is a 1,500-foor monster that whisks riders up to 50 mph!
The thrill of zooming above the treetops easily trumps the moderate acrophobia you might feel up there!
The playground is open April through November. Go to navitat.com
or call 855-628-4828 for more information and reservations.
2nd
VP/Rally Director
Stephanie Archer aka Mother Hen
saarcher@cox.net
“Mother Hen”
here. As Rally Director, it is my responsibility to help wagon masters spread their wings when hosting
rallies so they feel confident and comfortable with the process and have fun! It is also my responsibility
to henpeck members who have never hosted a rally to spread THEIR wings and give it a try. We need wagon
masters for two Spring and two Fall rallies in 2014; during the months of February, March, and/or April, September, October
and/or early November. To get you thinking about possible places to hold a rally, I’ll be emailing
a list of rally destinations and things to do near those destinations after the first of the year. I’ll
also include several documents which will help you with the process of planning a rally. Hosting a rally
is a great way to get to know your fellow club members. Yes, it is a certain amount of work.
But it is also a lot of fun!
Before I talk about
the rallies we have scheduled for 2013 and 2014 (yes, our week long rally for 2014 is already being planned), I’d like
to cluck, cluck, cluck big “THANK YOUs” to Dwight & Ros Warner, Ed &
Donna Mathews and Jack & Linda Giddens for hosting our
week long rally in St. George, UT and to Frank & Marcia Morrell and Joel & Mary
Langord for hosting our Halloween Bash rally in Chino. Neither heat, nor rain, nor flooding,
nor wind, nor hip replacement surgery kept these wagon masters from hosting great rallies. Mother Hen is
very proud of her little chickadees.
I’m excited about the rallies planned for 2013. With the
exception of the FMCA regional rally in Indio, all 2013 rallies will be held at RV parks new to Alpine SoCal.
Get your 2013 calendars out and mark these dates:
January 9 – 13 is FMCA’s regional rally at the Riverside County Fairgrounds in Indio.
We will be caravanning into the site on Tuesday, January 8 from the west parking lot of the Fantasy Springs Casino.
Gail Stacy is organizing the caravan. Please let her know if you plan
to caravan with the group so she can keep you informed of the final details of the caravan.
February 13 – 18 is the Western Pyrotechnic Association’s
Winter Blast fireworks extravaganza in Lake Havasu City, AZ. It is 4 nights of firework displays (Thursday
– Sunday). Saturday’s and Sunday’s show are each over 2 hours long. Jim and
I love fireworks. So we’ve decided to hold a “spot rally” for this event.
We’ve chosen the “spot,” the rodeo grounds at SARA Park in Lake Havasu City, AZ to dry camp.
If you would like to join us, reserve a camping spot via the Havasu Friends of the Fair website (www.havasufof.com). Pay for
four nights camping ($100 total), mention Alpine SoCal, and the campground host will make sure we get parked
together. Please let me know when you make a reservation. If we have enough coaches
attending, we will buy an additional site to use as a gathering place. A flyer with more details will be
emailed to you soon.
St. Patrick’s
Day weekend, March 15 – 18, 2013, we will gather at Mission Bay RV Resort in San Diego (www.missionbayrvresort.com) for a corned beef and cabbage
feast. Sea World, Old Town San Diego, Seaport Village, Coronado Island and the San Diego harbor are points
of interest. Tris & Carolyn Swan and Rick & Judy Fisher are hosting this
rally.
Ann
Fleming has something
up her sleeve regarding an April or May rally in Central California. I’ll let you
know more details after they’ve been firmed up.
September 5 – 12 we will hold our week long rally in southwestern Colorado at Bayfield Riverside
RV Park (www.pineriverrvcamp.com ), 20 miles southeast of Durango.
Possible activities include a guided tour of the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde National Park, a train ride from Durango
to Silverton on the narrow gauge railroad, a tour of the narrow gauge train yard, a guided off road drive in the area above
Silverton, watching a melodrama at the historic Strater Hotel in Durango. Bob & Connie
Bowers, Jim & June Cheshire and Jim and Stephanie Archer are hosting this rally.
Mid-October, Mac
& Anne McDougal and Sandy & Debi Johnson are hosting a rally at Golden Shores RV Resort (www.goldenshoresrv.com) in Long Beach, CA.
This RV resort is located within walking distance of the Aquarium of the Pacific and many great restaurants; near the
boat launch for trips to Catalina Island; within easy driving distance to the shops at Ports o’ Call and to the Queen
Mary.
Our week long rally
in 2014, yes we DO plan ahead, will be held at the Napa Valley Expo RV Park (www.napavalleyexpo.com/f-rvs.html) in Napa, CA from May
21 – 28. This location is a great place from which to visit Napa and Sonoma wineries, San
Francisco (rather than drive, ride a ferry from Vallejo to SF), Oakland and Sacramento. Bill
& Patti Figge and Phil & Trudy Binley are hosting this rally.
I hope you’re excited about the rallies
we have planned. Registration forms will be emailed to you at least two months prior to each rally date
and will be posted on both our Alpine SoCal website and the ACA website. Sign up early to be sure you have
a spot reserved.
ALPINE
SOCAL HALLOWEEN BASH
October 23 – 28, 2012
By Marcia Morrell
A year’s planning and it’s all
over……but I think a great time was had by all. We chose Prado Regional Park in Chino, CA
as a place where we could have a ‘gathering spot’ and a campfire to encourage lots of visiting time amongst our
members and it worked – well it almost did not thanks to the Santa Ana winds one night and morning but then the weather
Gods looked down upon us and said, forget these winds you people will carry-on outdoors as planned.
We had our pizza party on Thursday night with
a Board meeting preceding it and a general meeting right after then fun around the campfire thanks to everyone who brought
firewood. Friday morning we had Mary Langord’s now famous “omelet’s
in a bag, She worked hard cutting up all the ‘fixins’ ahead of time and she and Joel had this
down to a science. Along with those omelet’s we had Joel’s famous
Bloody Mary’s…….they were perfect. The omelets were wonderful and everyone enjoyed. Then
it was off to the John Force Facilities for a tour for this fascinating facility. Lots of John’s
“Funny Cars”, dragsters, etc. were there for up close and personal inspection – everything racing!
This is actually a working facility where they work on the cars. Very interesting. Thanks
to Dave Fernandez for arranging this wonderful tour. Others visited the Air Museum
and or went shopping.
Friday night we
had our wonderful hors d’ hoerve night and that’s when we had to rent the room from the park so we could be indoors
– the winds were pretty strong. The food from everyone was awesome, as usual, and it was heard from
several of the men that the hors d’hoerves the ladies prepared were enjoyed as much as any of the dinners we have and
they always come away full. Everyone pitched in setting up tables and chairs and some stayed to play games
after we ate. Next morning ‘just in case’ we kept the room for our continental breakfast and
then the winds had disappeared and we were back outside.
Saturday was a pretty busy day – continental breakfast
and then the Nixon Library Tour was at 10:30 a.m. and 15 attended a docent guided tour. If you have never
been to this library you need to go. The actual birthplace of President Nixon still sits on the original
location on the property. We toured this home (built from a “kit” by his father), went aboard
the helicopter used for the President, saw lots and lots of memorabilia. A real trip down memory lane.
When everyone got
back, Chad Kaa (a friend of ours) came to set up his margarita ‘show’. Chad represents a ‘spirit’
company and he brought all the equipment for a “hands on” margarita class. I squeezed over
100 limes, (thank goodness for Vivian’s electric juicer), we had the tequila and agave nectar
and the ‘produce’ to make either a cilantro, jalapeno, cucumber drink or a strawberry, kiwi one. It
was great seeing everyone do their own thing and it was quite an activity. Then about 7 people got busy
carving their pumpkins while about that many tried to Linda Giddens and Mike Collins
making margaritas parade their dogs in their costumes. Some of the pups were far more cooperative
than others but they were all cute and each participant got a doggy treat bag. Saturday night the prizes were awarded for
the doggies and the pumpkins carvers.
Dogs:
Calmest Dog - Mike Collins, most feminine Mary Langord's - most
well behaved Donna Hamburian (she had mechanical dog). (sorry we didn’t get any pictures of the dogs.)
If someone else got some pics please send them to me and I’ll include them in the next Matterhorn.
Mike Collins
least amt of work!,, 3rd Ramona Escamilla, 2nd Joel Langord, 1st Mike Hamburian
Before we knew
it 5pm rolled around and our BBQ caterers (two young ladies) showed up to set up their grill and served an absolutely wonderful
dinner including bbq brisket, chicken, beans, salads, rolls, etc. The aroma of bbq made all of us pretty
hungry.
We had ice cream
and cookies after dinner and then more great friendship around a wonderful campfire.
Sunday morning another continental breakfast
and then about half of us hit the road with full stomachs and hopefully great memories of another fun Alpine SoCal rally.
The other half stayed one more night at that beautiful park before heading in different directions.
I personally have
many many thank YOU’S to EVERYONE who pitched in and helped and did what I could not do. I still
feel badly that circumstances prevented me from doing my ‘job’. Mary and Joel Langord
are great co-hosts and worked very hard and a special thanks to my husband Frank who had to do the
work for us both.
Editor’s
note: Marcia had hip replacement surgery less than two weeks prior to this rally – she is
such a trouper!
We have a great
group here – and now we have added the Hamburians to our Alpine family. We are very fortunate
to be able to gather together every few months and rekindle these friendships.
Mary’s Musings
By Mary Langord
The Recipe for a successful and fun-filled rally follows:
Mix as many Alpine
members as possible in a large open-air space.
Add equal amounts of planning and flexibility, stir until well combined.
Stir gently to
keep activities moving and
Add a mixture of
good food, a few “happy hour” get-togethers, and lots of time to relax for visiting with friends.
Sit back and watch
the marvelous results of all ingredients doing their part to make a most “delicious dish”, i.e. a Great Alpine
SoCal Rally.
Rally
Breakfast Omelets.
Assemble and prep
all ingredients that members may want in their omelet such as diced cooked bacon, cooked sausage, diced cooked ham, diced
onions, diced peppers, assorted shredded cheeses. This task is best done at home prior to the rally and
sealed in Food-Saver containers, or Zip-Lock bags.
On the morning of Rally Breakfast:
Have “Cajun Cooker” large propane stove and preferably
two very large pots filled with water kept rapidly boiling... (Secret is to keep water at a rolling boil)
6 Dozen Extra Large
Eggs –whipped well. Add Salt & pepper to lightly season.
Add 1 Cup of Pancake Mix into 1 ½ or
2 cups of water, mixing well to remove any lumps.
Whip water mixture into the eggs, mixing very well.
----Have members put their names in permanent
marker onto a quart-size Zip Lock Bag.
They then add ingredients
of choice into their signed bag, ending at the cooking table where ½ cup of egg mixture is carefully added to the bag.
Remove excess air from bag and SEAL Securely.
Plop 6 to 8 bags into boiling water at a time, and let boil 8 to 9 minutes. (use
a timer) Bags should be added all at one time to make timing easier, which is why two pots work well to
keep things moving along.
Serves 36 to 38
with two-egg omelets.
If
preparing less than 6 dozen eggs, obviously adjust Pancake Mix and water accordingly.
“When cooking for a large crowd, a silent
prayer for success is also helpful!”
Looking
for a new Matterhorn Editor-
We are still looking for
someone to takeover putting this newsletter together four times a year. Please let Gail or myself know
if you’d be willing to do this. Thanks, dj
What do these four members have in common?
Answer at the end!
ALPINE SOCAL OFFICERS 2012-2013
Please refer to your Membership Roster for
additional info
Presiden
Gail Stacy
1st
Vice President, Membership Director Mary
Langord
2nd
Vice President, Rally Director Stephanie
Archer
Treasurer
Rick Fisher
Secretary
Michele Collins
Nat’l
Director FMCA
Carolyn Swan
Alt
Nat’l Director FMCA
Joel Langord
Board
Members with no voting privileges
Newsletter
Editor
Donna (dj) Hall
Webmaster
Dave Fernandez
Alpine
SoCal website: www.alpinesocal.com
Your Board would
like to hear from you. Your ideas, suggestions and/or comments are important. So don’t hesitate to
contact any of us. Also, we’d like to say THANK YOU for your support.
Editor’s note:
Dave Fernandez has been hard at work getting his internet service/computer back up and running.
His whole system crashed recently! He didn’t have time to write up the “Gearhead”
article but promises to have one ready for the next issue. If you have any suggestions for subject matter
for him, please send him an email. Or if YOU have a subject you’d like to write about PLEASE send
it to me.
As usual, remember
we want this newsletter to be informative as well as entertaining, so send me your suggestions/articles.
Answer to what each of these ladies have in
common:
All
of their mothers gave them the same first name; all own Alpine Coaches, all are members of Alpine SoCal and all are ladies!
They are: Donna Mathews, Donna (dj) Hall, Donna (DD) Hamburian and Donna Fernandez.
Here are some miscellaneous
pictures from the last two rally’s.
At the Painted Pony Restaurant,
St. George, Ut. Jerry & Tony Smith; Mike & Ann Fleming; Trudy Greenlaw & Phil Binley; MacMcDougal
Happy
Hour =St.George Rally
Trudy Greenlaw, MacMcDougal, Roz Warner, Donna Mathews
Breakfast
at Prado Regional Park, Note the wind blowing!
Some of the Funny Car “shells”
at the John Force Racing Facility
The “staff” of the Alpine SoCal Matterhorn
(Editor, that’s me, dj; Proof-Reader, that’s Gail and contributing
writers, that’s you) would like to wish all of you
HAPPY
HOLIDAYS and HAPPY NEW YEAR and
above all – good health and safe travels.
On
a Mission
Building Bridges Part of Guatemala Expedition
To
learn about partnering with a church in a foreign country, I joined a delegation to Guatemala. It was an
unforgettable adventure. My only regret is that I waited until I was 70 years old to do it!
We
arrived by long boat to Playita Cerro Alto, Guatemala, a remote village of seven families who, two years ago, made a home
for themselves on a hill above a river. These are Mayan people who have slowly begun to return to Guatemala
following the signing of a peace treaty in 1996 after 30 years of civil war.
The village had just built a church. The Guatemala church
Bishop traveling with us cut the ribbon to dedicate the structure. The day was a great event for
families to attend. They are wonderful people, who warmly welcomed us. We are the first people from outside
of Guatemala to ever visit them. There was one small boy, who kept approaching me from behind to touch
my blond hair! A teenage boy tried out his few English words with me, and the children swarmed around the
two teen boys who accompanied us and loved having their pictures taken.
Settling in, we made our way to their primitive homes, fashioned
with planks wedged between upright posts at the corners, corrugated metal roofs and dirt floors. There
was no running water – women and girls carry water jugs from a stream every morning, and villagers collect rain water.
One privy serves everyone, and two small generators provide minimal electricity. We slept on beds
of boards covered by thin blankets that were tough on my old body. We ate what everyone ate – corn
tortillas and black beans prepared various ways, along with eggs laid by their chickens. One night, we
had a bit of chicken and squash in broth, with tortillas. Another time we ate rice with canned tuna mixed
in. The rice and tuna were supplied by us and would not normally be part of the village diet. Serving chicken
to us was a way to honor us as guests. Families eat chicken about once a month because the fowl are needed
for their eggs. Villagers grow corn and beans, selling what they cannot use. Today,
they are trying their hand at growing tea. The next stop was a larger, less primitive village where homes
were a mix of wood, cement blocks and stucco. The village had electricity and water pumped from a well.
Church members there each had their own outdoor privy – no running water, but a system that allowed them to recycle
solid waste.
A
lot of time in both villages was devoted to the children, with coloring books, crafts to do and games to play.
We performed puppet shows and taught them new songs. We gave gifts to the adults to thank them for
their hospitality. Our team leader, who spoke fluent Spanish, had been to Guatemala 12 times.
She helped tremendously with communication.
In all, the trip lasted 10 days that I will never forget.
