December 2006 January 2007

Doug Robertson, 7 Pacini Ave., Pittsburg, CA 94565

(925) 473-0946 Para4T5@comcast.net

OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS OF ESCARABAJO BUGGY CLUB 2007

President: Tod Smith Board of Directors: Diana Mead

Vice President: Rick Mead Bobbie Robertson

Recording Sec: Erin Smith Dale Simon

Treasurer: Dawn Thurston Mike Thurston

Correspondence: Doug Robertson

Rally Master: Tim Warbington

Sadly I report the passing of long time member Ellie Howell on January 9th, 2007. A member of Escarabajo Buggy Club for over 35 years she will be missed by many who have come to know her over the years. Her services were attended by many club members at Oakmont Memorial Park with a celebration of life afterwards at her home.

Presidents Corner: Tod Smith President

Happy New Year everyone !

The buggy club events that my family and I attended over the holidays were awesome. Many new friendships were created along with a lot of great memories.
This year my family and several other families in the club, thought that we would attempt to recreate the great times we've had when our club put on the Virginia City rally only this time a little smaller and closer by having an event at Frank Raines.
My wife spoke to the County and to a CORVA rep ( for assistance ) today and as long as the county board okays our event, we're good to go for Memorial weekend 2007 May 26-28. We will keep you all posted. Please email us if you have any questions or if you would like to help in any way. tbodsgal@aol.com

Until next time, Tod

January Meeting Notes : Doug Robertson

Minutes were read and approved. We had 3 guests present, Tom and Michelle Gnutzman from Discovery Bay and returning visitor Wayne Buckner. Wayne has applied for membership in the club.

We have received a renewal for our BLM permit for Virginia City. Erin is going to check into it to find what areas it covers. There was some discussion about Cow Mt. but the concensus is there is limited parking areas for the bigger RV's and would probably not work well for the club.

Rick Mead asked if there would be any demand for reflective graphics with the club logo on them for use on trailers, motorhomes and such. He is going to check and see what kind of price he can get for quantity purchase. Most present expressed interest in purchasing if the price was within reason. It was also noted that our guests and prospective new members are in the Tshirt, embroidery business and expressed interest in doing shirts etc. for us in the future. It was discussed that we should check the by-laws to see if it would be feasable to include some sort of perks upon joining the club as in t-shirts, whip flags.

Tod conducted a test to see how many people had club business cards that have the web site on them. Sadly there were alot of failures but it was soon remedied by handing out the updated cards to those that needed them.

Tod also brought up the feasability of having a club fund raiser at Frank Raines Park. There were several ideas for having events that woud be fun and challenging. It was also noted that the Sheriffs Deputies expressed interest in promoting safety in the park and would be willing to help out in an event the would help educate riders and drivers. Tim suggested outside help from Dan Peterson and In-to Dirt to help promote such an event. Tod is going to check for availablity of dates with a target date of Memorial weekend in May.

Bob and Helga Lininger reported on their recent trip across America. Bob reports that he traveled 9864 miles, used 1,349 gallons of fuel to get there and back, spent 207 hours behind the wheel averaging 47.6 mph and 7.3 mpg in their new coach.

Tina Brink is in the hospital spending the rest of her pregnancy with twins and because of complications is being monitored several times a day until her delivery date in February. She has email Tina_Brink@ajg.com or contact Bob or Helga for information on her phone and mailing address.

RALLY MASTER REPORT Roy Haley Rally Master

This months column by Doug Robertson

Thanksgiving at Stonyford. We had a pretty good turnout for Thanksgiving at Stonyford with about 8 families and guests in attendance. Tod managed to secure an area that got us away from all the rowdy crowd and with a little squeezing we managed to get everyone in the area including the late arrival of Dawn Warbingtons brothers in a nice new coach and he managed to grease it into a real tight area without a scratch. We had a pretty steady flow of members and guests early in the week and we managed some real good runs on the trails. The rain moved out on Wednesday leaving beautiful sunny days on Thurs-Sat with the rain moving back in on Sunday which made packing up a soggy ordeal but it was a small price to pay for the 3 days of beautiful weather. I logged over 75 miles on my gps on Friday and Saturday so we did alot of running. As usual the members, especially the ladies, put on a feast with turkey and all the fixin's plus desserts galore. Friday Bobbie made her turkey soup and Anna had her church soup to warm everyone from the chill in the air. Other than a few mechanical woes and one severely bent rim, a blown tranny, most made it without any major destruction to equipment. Timmy Woo started quite a following from the youngsters by creating a ficticious character he called "Franks Mom". A good, possibly great time had by all.

The Annual Christmas Party was a huge success thanks to Dawn Thurston and Bobbie Robertson with approximately 50 members and guests. Dawn managed to keep everyone in suspense by keeping everything a surprise. We had the full spread from Back Forty Texas BBQ with extras added by the girls complete with a dessert bar complete with a chocolate fountain, every kind of dipping treat you could imagine, pies in many flavors. I don't think anyone went away hungry with all the food. We held our white elephant gift exchange and collected a table full of toys for Toys for Tots. Great fun was had by all in the gift exchange with some pretty sly trading going on for the high demand gifts towards the end. Tod Smith presented Awards to Tim Warbington (aka Timmy Woo), the Lorry Noble Award of Merit for all his efforts to make improvements at Frank Raines Park and the Skip Netherton Memorial Good Guy Award went to Doug Robertson for his involvement at the Rubicon Run in assisting in the landing of a Cal-Star medical helicopter to evacuate an injured motorcyclist. (Thank You Diana for the nice intro on the award .)

Danville Dinner Walk. No official report but I was told that there was a fair turnout but members had a hard time getting together as a group but most ended up together towards the end of the evening.

Dumont was attended by a few members. Bill Salmon reports that he spent 3 days by himself in the desert before anyone showed up. Steve Molder reports that he and several members joined up for some great dune running.

Tim discussed dates for the coming years events.....more on this later after dates are firmed up.

Up Coming Events:

Frank Raines park Jan 13-15th

Stonyford Feb 17-19

Regular Club meeting February 7th

CORVA Family Fun Day and Convention Mar 30 -Apr 1, 2007

2007 Schedule of events

January 13-15th Frank Raines Park

February 17-19 Stonyford

C.O.R.V.A. Report . CORVA Family Fun Day and Convention 2007

This years Convention will be held in California City while camping out and will be held starting March 30, 2007 and will continue to April 1st.There will be off-road games and events for all ages, safety seminars by N2Dirt for the kids. Additionally there will be a huge barbeque, music, possible dance, grown up events and events for the kids. For more information check the December issue of Off-Roaders in Action at www.corva.org .

Announcements:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Chris Dudley 1/03, Donna Poe 1/14, Grayson Myers 1/17, Tina Brink 1/29, Phyllis Malato 2/02, Ernie Poe 2/02, Jeanette Brindos 2/04, Shirley Myers 2/04, Gary Dow 2/10, Tim Warbington 2/12, Virginia Campbell 2/13, Bill Salmon 2/24

ANNIVERSARIES Dave & Jamie Hupman 1/23, Rich & Pat Bradhurst 2/11, Gary & Rhonda Mertle 2/22,

Ralph & Harriet Robinson 2/24

Unpaid members as of January. If you have not sent in your renewal by the end of the month you will be dropped from the active members list.

Gieseke, Dave & Janeen Hitchcock, Ty & Tammy

Hossack, Alex & Pat Laird, Jim & Gigi

Miller, John & Chickie Noble, Joyce

Swaim, Mike & Huckaby, Linda Wasley, Dick & Liena

Ward, James

Items for Sale

NOTE : If you want your add renewed next month please email me or I will remove next month!

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited V-8.Fully loaded: leather seats, tow package. Set up for towing behind RV. 106,000 miles, strong engine, real clean. $7,700.00 Contact Bob Lininger @ (925) 689-9267

2003 Southwind 32' motorhome, nicely equipped, low miles, Workhorse chassis, asking $74,500. Call Rick or Diana Mead 925-689-3696

Motorhome for sale - 1988 Bounder, 34 ft. Basement model, 454 Chevy. New fridge, roof A/C, radiator & 90 gal. gas tank. It has 2 roof A/C's, cab A/C,

6.5kw Onan generator, 20 ft. A&E awning, 20" flat tv, towing brake, 75k miles. Serviced and waxed, one owner quality. $9,950 Bill Hamby

925-938-7573

1985 CJ-7 Jeep Rock Crawler with a 1996 EFI 4.0L engine – $14,000 view web page for more info. Ken Swenson 925-285-7609

5^th Wheel tailgate for 88-00 Chevy/GMC $75.00 offer. Doug Robertson 925-473-0946

Please e-mail me if you have anything to put here - It's FREE !