Sweetwater Summit in Bonita, CA April 28 - May 1, 2016

President's Report

I may be repeating myself but we started our new year out with a great January rally at Quartzsite, Az.  Even though this was a no host rally, it turned out to be a very enjoyable time.

The February rally was held at Buelton, Flying Flags RV Resort hosted by the Yanoff's and Escamilla's again a great time was had by all.

Our March rally was hosted by the Chetelat's at Fountain of Youth RV resort in Niland, CA. Unfortunately we were unable to attend but understand a great time was had by all.

April rally was held at Sweetwater Summit County Campground, Bonita, CA.   Thanks to Debbie and Greg Murrell for the quick shift from Oak Creek RV resort (who was unable to accommodate our size of group) to Sweetwater. A special thanks to you two for your quick reaction and a great rally.

All in all our rally schedule has been very successful and on behalf of our group, I want to thank all you for all your hard work.

Steve Smith

MEETING MINUTES

Sweetwater Summit Regional Park

Bonita, CA

April 30, 2016

The meeting was called to order at 6:15 P.M. by President Steve Smith who led us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Members in attendance:  Rich and Linda Strobel, Nick and Ramona Escamilla, Bill and Sandy Vargo, Dennis and Paulette Kotan, Hal and Cookie Ringhand, Jerry and Linda Chetelet, Mac and Nita McAfee, Greg and Debbie Murrell, Walt and Pam Rose and Steve and Mary Lee Smith.

Debbie read the minutes from the last meeting at Buellton.  Nita moved to approve them and it was seconded by Linda S.

Treasurers Report:  We have a balance of $3641.34 in the treasury.  Mary Lee reported that she had talked to the President of the local B of A regarding the future $16. service fee if our balance falls below $3000.  The President said that since we were longtime members if we ever received a service fee that we are to call and they would deduct it from our account.

There are 21 coaches in Rockwood West counting the Vargos and Bill Pruitt.

National Directors Report:  Nick reported he had received the ballot for the National Director of FMCA.

Old Business:  None

Newsletter Report:  Debbie reported that no one had sent her anything.  Please send "Wagon Masters" Report, pictures, etc. to Debbie so she doesn't need to keep reminding everyone.

New Business:  Ramona asked for a show of hands to see how many were interested in a "Rally Destinations" list of sites in S. California, Nevada and Arizona.  She said that she would print some and hand them out to those who wanted one.

Rally Schedule:  The next scheduled rally will be Nov. 10th to Nov. 13th at Santee Lakes hosted by the Kotans.

Dennis made a motion to adjourn the meeting.  The motion was seconded by Linda S.  Meeting adjourned at 6:35 P.M.

April 28-May 1

Sweetwater Summit County Campground, Bonita, CA

Wagonmaster’s Report - Murrells

After almost canceling this rally one week before the scheduled arrival date, we felt everything went pretty well!  For those of you that didn't know, the original campground (booked in first week of February) notified us that they did not have room for so many large motorhomes.  Our first thought was we would have to cancel the rally.  But a friend encouraged us to attempt to find another campground, within 7 days, for 11 rigs.  Luckily, it all came together!

Oh, look!  We are eating!

Our Crafty Leader showing us how to make resin filled bezels.

Anyway, we had a fun time, as always.  The weather made for a damp breakfast one morning after a short spurt of sprinkles but otherwise was good.  The nights were chilly so we went to our coaches soon after the evening meals, since we did not have a room at this campground.  However, we had a good craft session with Linda making resin filled bezels.  Some people went to the Imperial Beach community garage sale and came back with a lot of “good loot”.  The food was good as usual, as yummy things kept coming out of the RVs.  Probably the most attention getting item was the sighting of a rattlesnake in the brush between 2 member’s rigs!

We had such a good turnout of members:  Kotans, MacAfees, Chetelats, Strobels, Escamillas, Roses, Vargos, Ringhands, Smiths, Opteyndts, Murrells and Russ Himmer showed up for the potluck.  

FYI  Several members are meeting between Cody, WY and the east entrance to Yellowstone at the Yellowstone Valley Inn/RV Park June 20-26.  Each member has made their own reservation.  Let the Murrells know if anyone else is interested.

Fountain of Youth March 24-27, 2016

 Wagon master Report

The March 24-27,2016 rally was held at the Fountain of Youth RV resort in Nilanda CA. It was

hosted by Gerry & Linda Chetelat. In attendance were 4 additional rigs, the Vargos, the Kotans,

the Strobels & the Escamillas. The weather was most cooperative; mild temperatures and very

little wind. We visited the local and ever popular Bombay Beach, Salvation Mountain and Slab

City, where Nick spotted a garage sale, well, it kinda looked like one. Alas we did not stop to

check it out.

The evenings of appetizers and the pot luck dinner was as abundant as always. For crafts we

created resin filled bezels that turned out so well, we decided to make them again at the next rally.

We hope everyone had a good time. We parted ways: some of us not for long as the Vargos,

Kotans, Escamillas and ourselves attended the Del Pacifico rally at the Circle K RV Resort in El

Cajon. They are a fun group and enjoyed the time we spent with their club in hopes of a merger.

It was discuss at their meeting and was left at you invite us, we'll invite you decision.Hopefully

they will at some future date join us.


No club meeting was held.

Buelton Rally Feb 26-28

Meeting Minutes

Flying Flags RV Resort

Buellton, CA

Feb. 27, 2016

The meeting was called to order at 10:30 A.M. and the president led us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Members in attendance:  Rich and Linda Stroebel, Dennis and Paulette Kotan, Nick and Ramona Escamilla, Jim and June Cheshire, Henry and Lucille Yanoff and Steve and Mary Lee Smith.

Motion was made by Ramona to approve the minutes from the last meeting and seconded by Lucille.

Treasurers Report:  $3441.34 in the account.  Mary Lee reported that the Bank of America had sent the club a letter stating that a monthly service charge of $16.00 would be charged to the account if the balance falls below $3000. We decided to look into credit unions to see if we could do better although our balance doesn't usually fall below $3000. Paulette made the motion and Lucille seconded it.

Old Business:  Dennis suggested we have an anniversary dinner at a rally paid for by the club like we did last year. He thought we should start doing this annually. Ramona made the motion and Paulette seconded it and it was approved.

National Directors Report:  None

New Business:  Dennis motioned that we reduce the annual dues from $15. to $10.a year starting next year.  Nick seconded and it was approved.

Steve thanked the Yanoffs and Escamillas for putting on the rally and talked about hosting rallies. Chetelets are hosting one over Easter weekend at Fountain of Youth RV Park in Niland, Murrells are doing one in April. The Kotans volunteered to do Santee Lakes in November.  Cheshires said they would look into hosting a rally at Coarsegold next May (2017).  The Christmas party will be in Huntington Beach at both the Escamilla and Smiths houses.

Dennis made a motion to adjourn the meeting.  The motion was seconded by Ramona and the meeting adjourned at 10:45Meeting Minutes

Wagon Master Report

Buellton was a great rally. The weather was ideal. Those attending were: June and Jim Cheshire, Paulette and Dennis Kotan, Mary Lee and Steve Smith, Linda and Rich Strobel, Lucille and Henry Yanoff and Ramona and Nick Escamilla. Thursday night we went to a really nice steak restaurant. Everyone had a terrific meal!

Friday, many day trips were taken around the beautiful countryside. Some great pastries and ice cream were eaten in Solvang. As always, there was a great Happy Hour with food Friday night.

We had a very nice hosted breakfast on Saturday morning. Some people went for a drive to Jalama Beach and most had a Jalama Burger. Yummmm! Others stayed at the park and did a lot of visiting. Saturday night we had a terrific potluck. Afterwards we played the Newlywed Game. Lucille was the Hostess. Everyone had a great time and there were lots of laughs. Paulette and Dennis were the winners and Linda and Rich brought up the rear.

Sunday was a Continental Breakfast. Farewell to all and safe travels. Another successful rally!

Quartzsite Gathering January 2016

      President's Report:   A good time was had by all at the Quartzsite get together!  The Strobels, Yanoffs, Roses, Escamillas, Chetelats, Optendts, Pruetts, Bill's sister Carla and husband Fred, the Juliars, their friends Henrika and Andre and the Smiths joined the fun.  Patty and Jeff Kuchenski visited one night also.  

      We had a campfire every night, good weather, interesting trips to the RV Show, happy hours, a delicious potluck, a very filling trip to Bad Boys for breakfast and a good Mexican dinner at Taco Mio plus lots of camaraderie.

      There was no meeting held at this event.

Rockwood Christmas Party in San Diego 2015

      Our Christmas Party was December 16th at Greg and Debbie's house in San Diego.  The potluck lunch was like a banquet, with so many wonderful dishes.  Paulette even brought her rum balls!  Members in attendance were:  Steve and Marylee Smith, Nick and Ramona Escamilla, Rich and Linda Strobel, Gerry and Linda Chetelat, Dennis and Paulette Kotan, Hal and Cookie Ringhand, Greg and Debbie Murrell and Russ Himmer.

Rockwood West Rally at El Centro October 28 - November 2

Secretary's Minutes

Rio Bend RV and Golf Resort

El Centro, CA

Oct. 31, 2015

Meeting was called to order at 6:25 PM and the Pledge of Allegiance was led by President Steve Smith.

Members present:  Walt and Pam Rose, Gerry and Linda Chetelat, Nick and Ramona Escamilla, Henry and Lucille Yanoff, Mac and Nita McAfee, Bob and Teddie Opteyndt, Rich and Linda Strobel, Greg and Debbie Murrell and Mary Lee Smith.

Steve thanked the Chetelats and the Roses for taking over and hosting the rally for the Ringhands (Cookie continues to have severe back pain).

Treasurers Report: $3149. in the bank.  Motion to accept by Linda Chetelat;  seconded by Linda Strobel.

Motion to approve the minutes from the last meeting was made by Nick, seconded by Linda.

Directors Report:  Nick said there would not be a FMCA rally at Pomona this year.

Old Business:  None

New Business:   Greg and Debbie are hosting the Christmas Party at their home on Dec. 16th-12 noon.

Steve asked for volunteers to host rally's next year.

              January-  Quartzsite Big Tent goes up Jan. 16th-no rally dates or host yet.  Will we go to Lake Alamo after Quartzsite?

              February- Nick said he would think about a place for a February rally.

               March- Bob and Teddie suggested a NASCAR rally at Avondale (near Phoenix) in March.  There is "open camping" starting Monday, March 7th-no reservations but we could go in together and camp together.  $60/rig for the week and $60./tow car for the week.  All kinds of services (grocery store, propane, wood, honeywagon, tram, etc.) are available onsite.

               April-    Rich said he would look into Anza Borrego for an early April rally to see the wildflowers and sculptures at Borrego Springs.

               Lucille and Henry were going to look into Solvang for a rally. Date to be announced.                         

               The Roses suggested a private campground near Potrero. They will look into it and get back to us.

Ramona passed out "Traveler's Emergency Cards" to keep in your wallet to alert someone in an emergency that you have an RV parked in a campground, emergency contacts, or a pet that is in your rig.

Debbie installed the new officers:  President-Steve Smith, Vice President- Rich Strobel, Sec./Treasurer-Mary Lee Smith, National Director-Nick Escamilla, Alternate-Henry Yanoff, Nominating Committee:  Debbie Murrell, Ramona Escamilla, and Nita McAfee.

Mary Lee reminded everyone that the clubs annual dues of $15. are now due.  Also would anyone like to volunteer to go to the FMCA rally in Indio and represent our club?

A motion was made to adjourn by Linda Chetelat and seconded by Ramona.

Wagonmaster Report 

Everyone missed Cookie and Hal at their Rio Bend Rally.We all hope she is feeling better and they

will soon be joining us again. Gerry and I had little to do taking over since the ground work was

already laid by Cookie. We ate not so lightly snacks on Thurs. and of course everyone brought

great food to the heavy appetizers and pot luck the following two days. Pam and Walt, acting as

co-hosts put on an outstanding breakfast on Saturday morning. He can cook for us all, anytime he

wants. It was really great to have them with us again.

We, the girls that is, successfully completed two craft items. A paper strip pumpkin and a tea

light snowman. Lucille, did you and your sister do your pumpkins?? I was quite proud of their

results, as always it was great to all get together. The guys were going to play golf, but the course

at Rio Bend was being re-seeded making it not available to be played. Bill Proett searched out a

course for an unbelievable $10, including cart and clubs. Nick is vowing to give up the game.

Gerry found humor in Bill and Nicks cart refusing to operate after they'd been playing for some

time. Some of the other guys went over to the Salton Sea, and beautiful Bombay Beach to take

photos of birds. The guys also played shuflleboard on concrete lanes. Quite different than the

regulation course at Golden Village RV Park. Some of the ladies spent the afternoon in the

Resorts activity center playing Mexican Train after fast paced rounds of Left, Right, Center.

Our last evening was going to be celebrated at the Rio Bend Cafe; oops, it was closed and not to

open till the following Monday. We took a vote and decided on Costco Pizza for dinner.A good

choice for our last evening together.  Monday morning, in our usual pattern, we left early bidding

all safe travels and" See ya at the Christmas Party".

Photos by Rich Strobel

See how our RVs circled our covered "room"?

Eating

Making pumpkins.

Still making pumpkins.

Club Meeting.  What good listeners!

Rockwood West at Julian, CA May 6-10, 2015

Presidents Message
 

What an exciting week/weekend we had at the KQ Ranch. The weather went from bright sunshine with a light breeze to an almost blizzard and freezing cold and back to a bright sunny day all within 4 days.

Thanks to Mary Lee Smith for all her efforts in making this a really enjoyable outing (in spite of the crazy weather). Thanks to the KQ Ranch for the use of the club house facilities.

Thank you Bob and Teddie for providing a game I finally won at.

And thank you to all you hardy members who braved the weather and made this a very memorable rally:

Chetelet's

Escamilla's

Russ Himmer

McAfee's

Opteyndt's

Strobel's

Smith's

Hope to see everyone at the next rally.

Steve

PS: We still have room for more rally's if someone would like to sponsor one.

Minutes of Rockwood West Club Meeting May 9, 2015

The May meeting of Rockwood West was called by President Steve Smith at 10:00 A.M. at the KQ Ranch clubhouse. Members present were:  Linda and Gerry Chetelet, Teddie and Bob Opteyndt, Ramona and Nick Escamilla, Nita and Mac McAfee, Russ Himmer, Linda and Rich Strobel and Mary Lee Smith.

Old business: none

Report from Assistant Director:  Nick reported that FMCA is in better shape due to the Medi-Vac program being adopted.

Treasurers report:  Mary Lee reported an ending balance of $2660.84 as of April 30, 2015.

New business:  Steve talked about hosting a rally and asked for volunteers.  We only have one rally on our calendar and that is not till the end of   October.  Nick and Ramona volunteered to host one at the end of September.

Rally schedule:                            

 Sept. -                                        Escamillas             place and date not yet announced

 Oct. 29th to Nov. 2nd                Ringhands             Rio Bend RV Park (near Yuma, CA)

 

At 10:15 A.M. Linda Chetelet moved that the meeting be adjourned.  Ramona seconded the motion.

Respectfully submitted,

Mary Lee Smith

Our campsites

Finishing Breakfast

Looking towards Lodge

Wooden Eagle



Friday Dinner

Wagon Masters Report

 

A hearty group of Rockers in 7 coaches met at KQ Ranch in the Cuyamaca Mountains near Julian on Wednesday May 10th.  It was cold and windy so we had our "Happy Hour" at the Ranch Clubhouse which turned out to be our headquarters for the weekend.

After a big breakfast Thursday morning, the ladies made a craft under the direction of our "crafts director", Linda Chetelet.  We had fun painting canvas's with stencils and beautiful paints.  Later a few of us went into Julian to check out the shops and try some apple pie at Moms Pie Shop (YUM!).  As it was cold and rainy we had our "Carnitas Fiesta" dinner in the clubhouse.  We sure did like the cozy fireplace there.

Friday we woke up to snow flurries which got heavier in the late morning covering our cars with about 4" of the white stuff! Buttermilk pancakes on the griddle fortified us for another fun craft-painting coffee mugs provided by our new member, Teddie Opteyndt.  What talented ladies we have in our Rockwood group!  It rained off and on so some of us played Mexican Train dominoes before our potluck dinner.  After dinner the Opteyndt's introduced us to a new game-"Left, Right, Center" which was a lot of fun, except that they lost!  (Will they teach us anymore games?)

After cooking "omelets in the bag" for breakfast on Saturday we had a quick meeting and another craft-bead bracelets with the camps activities director.  It was great that Paulette and Dennis K. visited us that afternoon.  It was the first time we actually could sit outside in our chair circle. Later we all went to Julian for an enjoyable dinner at the Julian Cafe and Bakery.

On Sunday KQ Ranch provided a nice Mothers Day brunch at the clubhouse and after that we said our good-byes. Despite the weather we all decided it was a fun campout!

Mary Lee

 

 All pictures courtesy of Rich Strobel.

 

Grandma Haas' Buttermilk Pancakes (with a pinch of this and that estimated by Mary Lee)

2 and 1/2 T.  melted butter

2 cups buttermilk

2 cups flour

3 eggs

3 T. sugar

1 and 1/4 t. salt

2 t. baking soda

1/2 t. baking powder


The Gang

Mexican Train