Christmas Party and a Wonderful Year

 THANKS SUE AND KEN PACE FOR HOSTING !

 IT WAS A GREAT YEAR !!

December Meeting Minutes

Borrego Springs and Yuma

The week started out with a gathering of  Shanty Shaker members for a "pre-rally" in Borrego Springs, organized by Marilyn and David Anderson.

The blue skies, warm weather and desert surroundings were absolutely perfect !  The American Legion was our parking place about 3-4 miles from town.




It was a surprise to see Stan and Mary Baker arrive in their new rig. They will be traveling in style !

The group enjoyed standing in the sunshine on the cool mornings enjoying coffee while the hikers headed out for their daily exercise.

On Wednesday, a group toured the Anza-Borrego State Park Visitor Center and enjoyed a picnic lunch in Christmas Circle, a community park located in the heart of Borrego Springs.

No visit to the Borrego valley is complete without wandering around to explore the metallic sculptures scattered throughout the area. The story of how they came to be is told in the book "The Accidental Artist"  Available here

On Thursday, it was on to Riverfront RV park in Yuma, AZ. 

Here is the scoop as told by Faith Foster, the rally host:

The Traveling Neighborhood

After a nice pre-rally  the neighborhood moved to Yuma, AZ and we took over the Riverfront RV park with 28 rigs 48 people plus guests. Started with hor d’oeuvres at the rigs and  a nice fire.

 Saturday we all went to Lutes Casino for dinner........ 

then a nice walk on Main Street to view the local art work......

Saturday winds prevented the hot air balloons from launching so we sat out side and had our coffee and donuts with lots of conversation. Sunday morning a few balloons launched before the winds started up again.

Borrego hosts, Dave & Marilyn Anderson

The purchase of the year at the Yuma Market Place was chairs and laser light show machines. Dinner in the club house on Saturday, more goodies in the morning then it was time to take our neighborhood back to San Diego. A big thank you for all of the help.  (From Faith F)

We had several new members attend their first rally. We hope and you enjoyed yourself and will be back for more !! 

JJ Kent

Ron and  Karen Montgomery (along with 5 fur babies)

Phil and Dena Pou (thanks for contributing pictures for the blog !)

Steve and Jackie Portz

And it was great to see our new full-timers from the SS, Brian and Barbara Downing ! You can follow their travel journeys HERE

Thanks to David and Marilyn Anderson as well as Faith and Vern Foster for hosting a fun week!!

Rancho Jurupa Rally

Eighteen rigs gathered at Rancho Jurupa Park in Riverside County. What a nice park ! A great time was had by all (despite humidity, gnats, ants, and rain). Thank you to Jim and Sharan Harrison for hosting their first rally and to Ed and Abby Decouteau for assisting. There were several highlights of our time together but the first one was the presentation of the chapter's new banner and sign.

A great big THANKS to Debbie Lupton for leading the charge from the design phase to near final completion. (the CARE patches will be added to streamers to the side and/or bottom of the banner). 

On Wednesday morning several, energetic Shakers walked to the top of a nearby hill. At the top is a cross and a fantastic view. It was a good way to burn off  the previous evenings heavy hor'dourves.

The rest of us prepared for a spontaneous swap meet/auction. We searched through cupboards and basement compartments for those things we thought we needed, but didn't...and hoped someone else wanted it. A few items generated a bidding war and leftover items had to be given away. Don't be surprised if we see some of these "prizes" on the SS raffle table at the monthly meeting. However, the bottom line is that $94.50 was donated to the chapter. 

In the afternoon, 22 members toured the Jensen Alvarado Ranch, a 30-acre site housing the historic ranch built by retired sea captain Cornelius Jensen and his wife Mercedes Alvarado. This historic site affords visitors a peek into the past, depicting Southern California life as it was lived in the 1880’s. Lead by interpreters in period-appropriate attire, demonstrations of tortilla and butter making, adobe brick making, ice cream cranking, scrub board and wringer laundry, weaving, and various farming techniques from the 19th century can be observed.

The group spread out for dinner either in their rigs or at various restaurants in town such as ProAbition, Thai food, or Tio Tacos. Tio's  serves Mexican fare in a funky, unusually decorated space. In the heart of downtown Riverside,  a gentleman called Martin Sanchez has built a shrine out of trash. Recycling is taken to great creative heights. From refuse, he created pyramids, whimsical fountains, and a series of giant wire figures, filled with shells, shoes, toys and other cast offs.  A "must see" place when cruising Riverside.

The rally drew to a end on Thursday evening when we shared a pot of Hobo Soup. For those who have never experienced this before, you missed out. Every one brought a can of soup to the big pot and along with a few other ingredients, added by "soup chef", Janice Huskey, the mixture then simmered together. It was served with sides of salads, crackers, cornbread and freshly baked rye bread then followed by delicious pumpkin pie and ice cream. Yummy !!

 

THANKS AGAIN TO JIM AND SHARAN, ABBY AND ED FOR A FUN RALLY !!!

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Now, for special recognition to a very special man who celebrated his 90th birthday earlier this month....the one and only Clark Paxton !!

Clark, his older sister, and beautiful wife, Betty !

Update from the Downings

Just some news from us as we finish our first whole month of full-timing. We miss the Shanty Shakers so much!

Best wishes to everyone.

Brian and Barbara Downing

Our first month on the road

 Barbara and I sold the house in San Diego and hit the road in our ’99 Rexhall Rexair 36’ Class A on July 24^th. Our first stop was Yuma where we thought we’d try the SKP’s park, not realizing it closes for the summer. After wandering around a little we stayed at Araby Acres for the night then moved on to Congress and stayed at SKP’s North Ranch for several days while the closing completed on the house.

We were headed for Rapid City SD to get registrations and drivers licenses but wanted to avoid Sturgis Bike Week and the week after, so we slowly drove thru AZ, UT and WY visiting all the National Parks and cashing in on our senior passes!!

We’ve been dreaming of going full time for about 10 years and planning our way to making the dream come true. One of my dreams was to find a nice place to camp, meet some fellow RV’ers and sit one beautiful evening with them swapping places to go, camp grounds to stay at and things to do.

On Wednesday that dream came true too! We camped next to Mike and Suzi on one side. Lee and Marylyn on the other side at the Rapid City Elks Lodge 1187. Next to the Elks golf course with lots of big trees and well away from any traffic this is a nice place to stay. Our rig was nicely in the shade and we all pulled up our chairs and drifted into the “Have you ever been to….” “If you’re in that area go see…” conversation that was just so natural for all of us, it felt like we’d been friends for ever.

After a little paperwork problem we got our vehicles registered in SD and our Drivers Licenses. It was so simple! The drivers licenses were handed over after filling out a 1 page form and taking an eye test. The drivers license office opened at 7.30 am and there was NO LINE. Yes just walk in and you got served.

The office for vehicle registrations’ was across town but again no line. No inspections required, no smog. We had registrations done in 30 minutes and the cost for the RV AND the car? Less than $200 TOTAL for tax, tags and registrations. And NO LINE. What a pleasure after San Diego!!

So next we have decided to see Devils Tower and Yellowstone before heading south to Austin TX for the US Formula 1 Grand Prix October 23^rd where we have a camping spot reserved trackside.

We have reservations for the winter in Casa Grande then maybe in the spring we may show up at a SS meeting in San Diego!

If you are bored and desperate you can follow us on our blog 

http://banbrv.blogspot.com/

Have Fun

Brian and Barbara Downing