Bow, WA

Cascadia RVW - August 2008
Bow, WA

Call it the lazy days of summer. Our August get-together at the Thousand Trails Reserve in Bow, WA, was uncharacteristically laid-back. Dorene Thomas and Christine Taylor were Hi There Girls, but because of a last-minute change in rally location we found ourselves with no Event Captains or Divas for the weekend. Guess what happened... everybody pitched in to help!


Lack of a clubhouse didn't stop our usual Friday night finger food pot luck.

Thanks go to our resident genius, Myrthalyne Thompson, who quickly compiled a U.S. history/geography quiz for the Friday evening entertainment. Teams were organized, and several tie-breaker questions were required before victors were crowned.

With 27 rigs and 40 attendees, our sites were widely dispersed throughout the large campground which made socializing more challenging; and we didn't have exclusive use of the clubhouse for our activities. Fortunately, the nearby casino served as the activity center with quite a few groups of Cascadians seen lunching and playing there in the afternoons.

A group of Cascadians visits the casino for lunch.

We were honored to have Claudia Sherrill visiting from Arizona for the weekend.
Claudia was the first Executive Director hired by RVW. (See sidebar)

A special thanks goes to Anne Mathisen who jumped in to set up the Saturday night potluck after our originally planned space became unavailable. We gathered a variety of outdoor tables and dined alfresco on the patio of the clubhouse Saturday evening. A few members gathered later in the rec room Saturday night to watch Michael Phelps win his eighth gold medal of the Olympic Games.
 

Sandie Robillard's rig christening.

Morning coffee was held at Marne and Elaine's campsite.

Coffee hour on both Saturday and Sunday morning was well attended. Sandie Robillard's rig was christened before we said our farewells.
 

Next month we head west for a clam bake and oyster roast at Hoodsport. Hope to see you there!

Happy Trails!
Jo Schilling, Scribe

Sidebar - Claudia Sherrill

Claudia Sherrill - Executive Director of National RVW 2000-2002.

Claudia Sherrill joined us for the weekend at Bow, WA, in August - a welcome relief, she said, from the Arizona heat. She helped organize the Cascadia chapter when she served as Executive Director of national RVW from 2000 to 2002 and has many good friends in the Northwest whom she visits every summer.

Claudia shepherded the organization during much of the transition from a privately owned entity to a nonprofit group. She was responsible for overall business activities as well as chapter development. She and her partner Joan traveled across much of the nation helping women form and expand local chapters.

After leaving her position with RVW Claudia joined the Daily News-Sun in Sun City West where she serves as features editor.

While writing a piece about them for the newspaper, Claudia became involved with Sweet Adelines International, a women's association devoted to barbershop-style a cappella singing. She is a member of the Voice of the Desert Chapter which took first place for small choruses in the 2008 international competition. The chorus will perform January 25th at the Arizona Broadway Theater in Peoria, AZ.

Seemingly half of the Cascadia chapter plans to spend part of the winter in Arizona. Let's make it an event, and show up to support Claudia's chorus in January!