Greetings all WDCUers,
As it has been a couple of months since our last newsletter I hope that everyone had a nice holiday season and are now looking forward to 'streaming along. As I announced in the last newsletter, I have moved from Maryland to Rhode Island where I m continuing to try and find a new home as my family and I remain in temporary quarters. Hopefully with the holidays over we will begin to see some new offerings on the market. Regardless of this plight, many WDCUers have been pitching in to bring us some exciting Rallies as the WDCU continues to march forward.
Last week, 1st VP, John McHugh and Treasurer, Ruth Baldwin, signed the WDCU up for a PayPal account that enables us to accept credit cards for rally fees, etc. PayPal is a service that allows funds to be transfered to anyone with an email address. It has received generally favorable reviews from the press and seems to be a reasonable way for us to accept on line payments, but it may not be for everyone. To use it, you must obtain an account which is free. You are limited to a total of $250 in charges until you validate your account which involves steps to verify that you have a checking account or actually possess the credit card that you use.
PayPal is used extensively by individuals who buy and sell at on line auctions such as e-Bay and by low volume merchants for whom the Mastercard or Visa merchant account fees would be excessive. WDCU falls into the latter category. The service is not free to us. It costs $0.30 for transactions under $15.00 and $0.30 + 2.2% of the transaction for larger amounts, but there are no setup and periodic fees as would be the case for regular merchant accounts. As far as we can determine, this is the least expensive way for us to accept on line payments.
If you sign up for a PayPal account and tell them that you were referred by our treasurer, baldwin@icubed.com and qualify your account for their new member bonus, our account will get a $5.00 credit which will offset the $2-$3 cost of processing the CBR registrations. Since this involves moving $100 into your PayPal account from your checking account, you may or may not want to do this. If enough people use PayPal, we will factor the cost into rally budgets in the future. If only a few use it, we will add a handling charge. We will also consider using the service for WBCCI and unit memberships and renewals.
Our next Rally will be the 2nd Annual Cherry Blossom Rally .
The Rally will start on Thursday, April 5th and end on Sunday, April 8th, 2001. These dates also coincide with the National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington DC. Our 2001 Rally site is WDCU Charter members Clayton & Christi Rogers 140 acre farm in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, which is a central location between Washington DC, Annapolis and Baltimore, Maryland. The Metro is only a short drive away and an ideal way to get into town to visit the many monuments and museums during this very beautiful and busy season. Other points of interest in the nearby area include; Six Flags theme park, Baltimore's National Aquarium and inner harbor, as well as historic Annapolis and the Naval Academy. Outlet shopping is also an easy drive away.
Amenities will include Porta Potties, gray water dumping, limited electricity and trash removal. Water will be available from a spigot source. The Washington Post will be provided during the weekend. Continental breakfasts will be available Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Dinners will include a potluck with hot dogs/hamburgers on Friday and a catered BBQ picnic with all the trimmings for Saturday night. Of course nightly campfires will be held in the middle of our half wagon wheel parking layout (see http://www.airstream.net/images/semicircle.jpg and http://www.airstream.net/images/meeting.jpg for an idea of a half wagon wheel parking Wally style). All WBCCI and vintage Airstreamers are encouraged to join in but there will be a cut off at 50 trailers with initial preference to WDCU members and affiliates.
The cost for the weekend will be $95.00 per trailer for 2 adults, $75 for singles, $20 for each additional adult, and kids are free. The rally fee includes THE BASIC MEAL PACKAGE, rally parking, limited electric and water, and newspaper. This is a bargain price that is being made possible by the generosity of the Rogers as typically camping in and around Washington DC is an expensive endeavor.
REGISTRATION: A registration form can be found on line You may fill out the form and mail it with your check or pay by credit card on line. Through the efforts of 1st Vice President John McHugh we have another first, folks may do the entire registration including payment on-line with your Visa or Mastercard using the PayPal service.
Early registration is advised with a $10.00 increase after March 5th. Once registration is received an information packet with directions will follow. For further information, contact our hosts, Clayton and Christi Rogers (#16040), at 410.798.8754 and csrvinc@aol.com. PS: The weather in April is typically beautiful in our Nations Capitol, we sure hope that you plan to enjoy it with us.
The next Rally will be the 22nd Annual Region 2 Rally in Toronto from May 22-28, 2001. Full details are available including a registration form. This years Rally is being hosted by the Ontario Unit which has the reputation of putting on lively, well planned and fun Rallies with activities for everyone. Since the WDCU has already had get togethers in the US and in the UK during 2000, it is time that we collectively went north and joined in for fun in Canada.
The 2001 VAC Wagon Wheels caravan (WBCCI Caravan N-30-R) is being led by WDCU Treasurer Ruth Baldwin and WDCU 1st VP John McHugh. This years caravan has been titled the George and Mariann Pruitt Memorial Wagon Wheels Caravan 2001. Learn to say "Ya, y’betcha; discover the sources of the "rust belt"; see the birth places of muckrakers and heroes; inspect evidence for pre-Columbian Europeans in the midwest; look for the little town that time (and also Rand-McNally) forgot; and generally have a good time with the caravan leaders, Ruth Baldwin and John McHugh. Spend 10 days (June 15 June 24, 2001) discovering north and west Minnesota with the Vintage Airstream Club. We will rendezvous on the shore of Lake Superior at Two Harbors, MN (June 15-16) where we will explore Minnesota's North Shore. We will then continue on to Chisholm, MN (June 17-18) where we will tour the Soudan Mine, which is a half mile underground. Our next stop is a national forest campground on a beautiful lake in Cass Lake, MN (June 19-20). We then turn south to Sauk Centre, MN (June 21-22), boyhood home of Sinclair Lewis. From here, you can tour the Runestone Museum in Alexandria, bike the Lake Wobegon Trail, or visit Charles Lindbergh’s birthplace. Our final stop will be Pipestone, MN (June 23-24), just 50 miles from Sioux Falls. Here we will tour Pipestone National Monument and observe Native Americans working with the red stone, which is quarried on-site and used for making peace pipes. When we leave Pipestone, we will head for the Empire Mall Shopping Center in Sioux Falls where we will dry camp with other VAC members (June 25) prior to the VAC parade into the International at 2:00 PM on June 26. The Kitty Fee for this 10 day caravan is $295 for two persons ($245 for single, $50 per each extra person). This includes all parking, four dinners per person, a rally plaque, and tours of the Soudan Mine and the Pipestone National Monument. This Caravan is limited to 25 trailers. Talk to us if your trailer is over 25 feet (it may not fit some of the sites). All of our campsites (except the VAC rendezvous) have electric; most have water at the site. Dump stations are available at all locations. To ensure your space, send your deposit check for $75.00 to Ruth Baldwin, 6126 Callery Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15206, 412.361.2654, baldwin@icubed.com. Please let us know how many will be in your party, the length, year, and model of your trailer and your WBCCI number. We also need your address, phone number(s) and your email address, if you have one. Final payments will be due by April 2, 2001.
This leads us to the 2001 WBCCI International Rally that will be held in Sioux Falls, SD from June 26th to July 4th. Last year the WDCU had nine coaches in attendance, let's try and double that this year! Details on the International Rally can be found in each issue of the WBCCI Blue Beret including registration forms.
The second 2001 WDCU Rally and Annual Business Meeting is slated for August 9th to 12th, 2001. This Rally is being hosted by WDCU Charter members Linda and Wayne Moore in their home state of New Hampshire! The Rally will be in the Mount Washington Valley and is being planned as a joint WDCU and Vintage Airstream Club event where this will be a first for the VAC in the granite state. The Rally will be at a commercial campground with full hook-ups and will include 3 continental breakfasts, a potluck dinner and 1 catered meal. The total cost will be $125 with a limitation of 30 coaches.
Linda reports that the following links for available activities in the area: Hiking, Alpine and water slide park, Shopping, Kids stuff, Railroad rides and sunset dinner rides, and other activities in general.
The final 2001 WDCU Rally is our joint Rally hosting the 4th Annual VAC Northeast Gathering for the November 1-4, 2001 extended weekend. This year we are still looking into visiting either the eastern shore of Maryland or Delaware. WDCUers Margaret Natof and her sister Gayle McClelland are planning on hosting it. This Rally will also be the WDCU Installation Rally for the incoming officers for 2002.
So for the most part all our events have been set with several requiring registration in the very near future (CBR, Region 2, Wagon Wheels caravan, International). All our Unit details can always be found at our Unit website while other Region 2 activities may be found on their web site.
Hope to see all our WDCUers in the very near future. Our hosts for each of these events have been working very hard to make each of these events a success. I for one am looking forward to each and everyone of these activities. I am also ready to see this snow melt!
Tom Howarth Editor, The Capitol Times Newsletter
