CAStateChapterNews

THE CALIFORNIA GOLDEN AIRES RALLY

(submitted by Bill Conway - Golden Aires President)

The California Golden Aires chapter rally was held from Oct. 14 to Oct 18. It was at the “Springs at Borrego RV Park” which is located in Borrego Springs California. Borrego Springs is located a few miles west of the Salton Sea.

By all accounts from the people who attended the rally, it was a great success. The Golden Aires appreciate the support and attendance of the Newmar family. We had 33 rigs attending. Thirty four rigs had signed up but Gary and Sandy Emerson canceled because Gary had an operation on his eye shortly before the rally; we wish him speedy and complete recovery!!! Some of the attendees were from out-of-state and we especially appreciate their support of our rally.

The desert weather was great all the time we were there. We participated in a number of activities including a girls vs boys beanbag baseball game, the race game, the hand and foot card games and tournament, and the Mexican train game and tournament. We also had the ladies Red Hat function which was coordinated by Ursie Fisher. A few of the people played golf one of the days and there was a crafts class conducted by Karen Peoples where they made a beaded wrist bracelet. The RV park has sites set up so that people interested in geo-caching can do that. Five or six of the men, led by Jim Hagedon, participated.

At the happy hour on the first afternoon we had talks given by two Park Rangers from the adjacent Anza Borrego State Park. They provided information about what you could see in the park and some of the trails that we could drive on as we studied the desert. They also pointed out that they had a Park Visitor Center. The next day a group of people signed up for an off-road ride through the desert badlands in two army-type deuce and a half trucks. Boy that was a rough ride!!! We ended up at a high point overlooking the area which provided a great view of the badlands. At one of the stops we learned about the characteristics of the bushes and trees that were in the area which was very interesting. The rest of the people drove their cars to various places in the area, including trips to Julian in the mountains for a piece of apple pie.

As we do at all our Newmar rallies, we had plenty of great food to eat. On one of the nights we had the traditional potluck dinner and on another night we had BBQ spareribs and beef ribs cooked in the heavy cast-iron Dutch ovens by Dinger Russell and his daughter Ronda Tunnicliff. Of course, there were the greatly appreciated volunteers that help set up and serve and clean up the clubhouse every day.

On the final evening, we had a presentation on astronomy conducted by the astronomer Dennis Mammana who, in addition to other programs he presents in the area and San Diego, writes a column for a San Diego newspaper on the subject. He began the evening by giving a presentation in the clubhouse using slides where he described some of the planets and constellations that we would see later in the evening when we went outside. We then drove a short distance to an area that is called Astronomy Park. Dennis had set up two of his large telescopes on one of the concrete pads. He sighted in on the planet Jupiter with four of its moons and pointed out some characteristics which were interesting. He also sighted on a number of other items and talked about the traditional star formations such as the big dipper, Andromeda, Pegasus, and Sagittarius and the mythology surrounding them. It was a fun evening!!

Finally, on Saturday morning we had the traditional brief breakfast and Hugs and Kisses and Goodbyes. See more photos below.

(to see more photos, click here!)

THE CALIFORNIA GOLDEN AIRES RALLY

Recent Deaths and Illnesses