Oct 16-20 BULL HEAD CITY, AZ
We gathered at the Rotary Park in Bullhead City where the ‘big city’ conveniences were very welcome: mail, laundry, Wal-Mart, checking out new kayak equipment at Helen’s shop, and some getting their annual flu shot. Many participated in the good food and night life across the river at Laughlin. We had two good days of kayaking on the Colorado - one from Rotary Park to the Avi Casino where we enjoyed lunch and gambling and the other down Casino Row to our camp site at Rotary Park. The weather was perfect for this location and activities. A donation Bullhead City of $462.00 was collected for parking fees.

Oct 20-26 GOLDEN SHORES, AZ
We gathered on the shore of Topock Marsh Wildlife Refuge for the third stop on the WARM tour. The new location, 5-Mile Landing Campground turned out to be great fun, and Warren managed to park everyone in just the right spot with limited space for so many rigs. The campground manager said she’d never seen so many rigs in the dry camp area. The wind blew mightily for the first few days but the WINers still managed a ladder-golf tournament, musical jamming and game playing in the recreation room, hikes and geo-caching as well as the annual outing to Oatman to feed the wild burrows and have lunch. Once the wind quit we kayaked the marsh and did the Topock Gorge run, led by Ernie. The gang took over Hooch’s River Grill in Golden Shores for a night of dancing. The 5-Mile Landing Campground crew put on a chicken/steak kabob bar-b-que for us, including sodas and a keg of beer as a thank you for coming to their campground. The next night, June organized a weenie roast with all the trimmings, including cake and pie and ice cream- good thing we got a lot of exercise! Thanks to all who helped make this a memorable gathering.

Oct 26-30 LAKE HAVASU CITY, AZ
This gathering was held in two places, Craggy Wash and Prospectors RV Park 6 miles away. The majority enjoyed pool, spa, Rec room, etc. The gracious new owners invited "The Wash" people for a day of fun. We topped that off with paint on tattoos. We hiked, had a 4-wheel trip, biked a 7-mile trail, took a boat trip and enjoyed the casino, milled around town and just caught up with things. The "Wash" people kicked back and enjoyed beautiful mountains and quiet setting and ended with a pancake and bacon breakfast in the desert.

Oct 30-Nov 6 PARKER, AZ
Oct 31st, Bob took six WINers kayaking on the Bill Williams Wildlife refuge for bird watching, while Vicki, Joey and Joanne decorated the Community Center for the Halloween party. Joe, Bill and Tom went golfing. The Halloween party was a smashing success with Sharie winning 1st prize for best costume. WINers kayaked from the dam back to camp one day. Chuck led 8 WINers on a long, exhausting, fun hike. A few WINers golfed on Sat. In the evening many WINers danced the night away at the Blue Water Casino. On Sunday, we took over the Desert Bar and danced to a great band. On Mon we kayaked from camp to the Blue Water Casino for lunch and gambling. We had cake and ice cream at Circle.

Nov 6-12 Twenty nine Palms, cA
This little no-host gathering was about food, drink and relaxation. The 29 Palms Elks Lodge provided most of that. Beautiful Joshua Tree NP was explored. Intrepid golfers golfed 9 holes and were watered on the 6th(?!)

Nov 6-13 PALO VERDE, CA
Thirty rigs joined together at the Palo Verde function, and we were able to squeeze into that tiny spot, all but two had front row sites overlooking the marsh. Kayaking was done as a group on several occasions. One trip was made at dawn and many birds were spotted. Bob, a birder extraordinaire, led that expedition. We were able to put our kayaks within 15 feet of our Circle and several went out on lone expeditions. We took a trip on the Colorado itself, and the truck, being used to do some portaging, got stick in the mud, but was rescued without too much difficulty. Chuck led a hike, and we went dancing at the "Lagoon Saloon". The ladies were entranced by one old local duffer who danced with them using a cane! Pizza night was after everyone demanded a call to Blythe to the local pizza company to order pizzas. No phone service was available, so we drove in to order, waited for pickup, and drove the 12 large pizzas back to the campground, where we made it exactly on schedule! I was shocked to see every member of the group sitting around the circle with plates and forks at the ready as we drove up! Pete showed us his photos of the Green River canoe trip and, the following night, projected a movie with his new digital projector, on the side of his rig! It was like Saturday Night at the Movies! The Sunday before Veteran’s Day in the town of Cibola, a few private individuals threw a BBQ, free of charge, and those of us still here went. The food was good, most of us brought some sort of dish, and the ribs and chicken "Rich" provided was free, although he was tipped enough to pay for next year’s food. Bob mentioned before we left Parker that the Palo Verde location sometimes provided some nice sunrises ( we were all facing east). One morning the sun came up shining on the clouds that appeared a brightly illuminated red crushed velvet, for the single most beautiful sunrise this host had ever seen.

Nov 12-18 MARTINEZ LAKE, CA
The first day being a moving day saw only an evening activity. Fisher’s Landing invited us to a potluck that evening which was special, as a local fellow/fisherman does a big catfish cook a couple of times a year. Yummy. The second day was a kayak trip from Martinez Lake to Squaw Lake below Senator Wash Dam. The 8 1/2 mile trip follows mostly down the Channels on the California side with side trips into small, scenic backwater lakes. Day three we hiked into the hills and washes a few miles north of Martinez Lake. In the afternoon people who were going on the 3-day kayak trip organized their gear. Thursday, the three-day kayakers tied in with other WINers and camped at the rockpit north of the VFW at 0800 for the long shuttle to the put-in south of Palo Verde. Ten adventurous WINers ( 5 men, 5 women) made the 34 mile trip under near ideal conditions, serenaded at night by howling coyotes and braying burrows. Meanwhile the remaining people at the gathering kayaked, hiked and just hung out. Saturday night most went to the prime rib dinner at the local restaurant. Tasted great after three days on the river.

Nov 12-18 DESERT HOT SPRINGS, CA
We stayed at the Elks Lodge and what a great bunch of Elks! We had use of their beautiful patio including colored lighting for our Hugs & Mugs, Circle and pot luck, the Elks served up the fish dinner and breakfast. Off to the Palm Springs Follies. The older gals were kicking high! We all wished we could be that agile. Next the Air Museum where we saw the exact airplane that our own Ted had worked on a few years ago. The Living Desert was next and toured the animal then saw the great RR in action. Of course the giant windmills were investigated and to our surprise they cost one million dollars each and mostly owned by big companies such as GE, Detroit Edison and Shell Oil. We couldn’t get to the street fair fast enough, good food, music, booths and massages. We ended the night having dinner with some former WINers and a hot tub gathering. We played golf on 2 of the most beautiful courses. Our host won the Elks drawing and treated us all to a Pizza party the last night.

Nov 18-25 BORREGO SPRINGS, CA
One hundred eight WINers gathered for Thanksgiving dinner at Peg Leg’s Monument.　Throughout the week we hiked, biked, 4-wheeled and traveled to Julian for apple pie.　We watched the sun set and the full moon rise over the Borrego badlands from Font’s Point. On our walk in Palm Canyon we were treated to a large herd of borregos (big-horn sheep) and even got to see them butt heads as mating season was under way.　We danced at the American Legion and in the dust of the desert.　A special treat was the portable stage and sound system supplied by Ron. In addition to Ron, the stage showcased the talents of many of our other WINers including our president, Sharon.　 Pete saw to it that we stayed connected　to the larger world by supplying internet access and also treated us to movies and slide shows projected onto the side of his rig in the evenings. A dozen different turkey soups were consumed on Saturday and we finished with an ice cream social on Sunday complete with hot fudge and lots of other toppings.

Nov 24 CELEBRATION OF DOROTHY’S LIFE
We celebrated Dorothy’s life by sharing fond memories of our beloved founder. The many amusing and up-beat stories about Dorothy gave newcomers a real feeling for her character and personality. We closed the celebration by releasing a flock of bright balloons embedded with our special messages to her followed by a finger food buffet. The buffet and balloons were paid for by donations collected during the Jan. Quartzsite gathering..

Dec 2-9 SAN DIEGO, CA
Silver Strand State Park is a great place to park and enjoy the ocean. Not even an evacuation alert due to in coming storm high waves stopped us from enjoying the Silver Strand, Mission Bay and its kayak shops, the Green Flash...AND the green flash!, biking to Coronado, taking the ferry over to San Diego, an evening potluuck around a beach campfire, the San Diego Zoo, watchig the surfers and huge waves at La Jolla and Sunset Cliffs, learning about the Dead Sea Scrolls, lunch at the Prado at Balboa Park, the Horton Plaza, Darlene’s soup, the beautiful Coronado-and making a to-do list for the next year’s Silver Strand.

Dec12-19 QUARTZSITE, AZ
Several prospective and new members showed up for this gathering. We danced at the Yacht Club and Silly Al’s, ate fish dinner at the Quail Trail, where the waitress remembered the names of all 20 attending. She named each of us at the end of the meal. Two trips were made to Silly Al’s for pizza, 18 the first time and thirty-one 2 days later when we overwhelmed the kitchen! Jim hosted a movie matinee showing The Art of Living TV Show featuring WINers in Quartzsite last Feb and Bagpipe Bob’s Halloween Party film. Following our 2nd Silly Al’s pizza run, we joined in on their karaoke night. Maniac Mike was brave enough to be the first entertainer. We discovered that he sang a little off key and his rhythm was pretty lousy, but by the end of the evening all agreed his was the best performance of all! Of course the WINers closed the karaoke session when we all joined together to sing "We are Family". We hiked to Palm Canyon and Chuck led three other hikes in the area. Al led a fifth hike. John provided his ladder golf set and we learned that playing in high winds is quite a challenge. Our host, Paul, started every circle with a joke or story, but it was not until the last 3 days that others started contributing to the humor. The last Circle had 3 minutes of business followed by a full hour of jokes and lots of laughter.

Dec 20-Jan 2 YUMA, AZ
We enjoyed warm days and cool nights at the VFW. We want to thank the VFW for their warm welcome and hospitality. Besides morning hikes, spirited discussions ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous around the evening campfire, events included: (1) a visit to the Center of the Earth and Algogones; (2) Kayaking on Mittry Lake, where Chuck provided some beginner lessons before the group went out; (3) 24 of us toured of the Yuma Territorial Prison Museum followed by lunch at Lutes Casino; the large number allowed us a discount on the admission fee; (4) an ATV ride with a hot dog lunch cooked outdoors; (5) a visit to the Yuma Crossing Museum with a hike along the trail to view the river with interesting stopping points; (6) Christmas Eve gathering around the fire with more spirited conversation, finger food and a people’s performance; (7) New Year’s Eve gathering in the VFW due to cold winds, where we entertained both ourselves and many of the VFW members with a people’s performance; when the band took a break, Randy, our host, presented the VFW with a well-received $328 donation; then Bagpipe Bob played a march, where all marched behind him; then Amazing Grace which many sang along to; followed by an Irish jig where two members danced a passable jig; and lastly, he played another march where most followed him around in circles on the dance floor. Dancing lessons, provided by Dancing Judy, were taken by 29 people, with more men than women this time. We covered the 2-step, waltz, lindy (or jitterbug) and cha cha. And for practice, many of our group along with those taking the lessons, went out to a number of local RV Parks, to the VFW, and to a couple of bars for dancing. We all want to thank our host, Randy, who was recruited 2 days before the event started and did a wonderful job. Besides keeping the Window of Welcome open as needed and observing well when the group was closing that window, he kept us together, informed and entertained. Thanks, Randy, for doing such a good job!