District X Report - 2010/06
As your District X vice president, I believe it is part of my job to get to know our district, our clubs, and our members as best I possibly can. Because of that, and in response to requests from members and clubs, I decided to take my first official trip through parts of the district. This article summarizes that first trip and what I learned along the way.
Trip overview
I left home on March 10, 2010, and traveled for several weeks, visiting clubs and attending events across Central California, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and San Diego. Highlights include:
- Spent a couple of days in Central California attending one event.
- Spent a week in Las Vegas.
- Spent another week in the Los Angeles/San Diego area.
- Visited about 20 clubs in total.
- Attended the RCX show in Pomona, California.
- Put more than 2,000 miles on my motor home.
Hearing firsthand from members made the trip well worth the mileage. With more than 400 clubs in our district, I still have many more to visit.
Clubs and AVP support
To be an efficient traveler, I coordinated with several hard-working associate vice presidents (AVPs) who helped plan club visits in their areas:
- Greg Clemensen (Las Vegas) — scheduled eight club visits, arranging days and times. Although weather affected the schedule, I visited every club he had planned.
- Jerry Neuberger (San Diego) — took me to every club in the San Diego area, from Torrey Pines down to Chula Vista, right on the Mexican border. I was surprised when he said, "You know that's Tijuana right there, don't you?"
- Tim Attaway — I realized one field was his home field and that it was that close to Mexico.
- Bill Malvey — I met Bill at a glider event where he was flying, and the following day he took me to several clubs in the Los Angeles area.
I don’t have room here to elaborate on every club or member I met, but the AVPs made a big difference in allowing me to reach many local groups.
Flying and equipment
Although I usually travel with an airplane trailer full of aircraft, for this trip I decided to take smaller electric models to make travel easier. I took eight models in total.
- I flew at several of the clubs I visited, sometimes more than once.
- My first flying day in Los Angeles was with the Santa Fe Dam Modelers — a welcome, relaxing day after a long week in Las Vegas.
- Several members generously offered airplanes to fly, especially my good friend Jim Feldman. Thanks, Jim!
Newsletter, website, and next steps
A fuller description of the trip will appear in the District X newsletter coming out May 1. Please e-mail me or visit the district website at www.AMA10.org to find the newsletter and other updates.
AVP/webmaster Jon Wilson and I are making a number of changes to the website to improve access to information.
I will be meeting members in other parts of our district as soon as I can, because I know these visits are important to you, the membership.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
