American Buggy Association

ABA meets the first Thursday of selected months at a local restaurant in the San Fernando Valley or Simi Valley. Starting at 6:30 PM. See schedule for meeting dates. Applicant attendance requirements are two meetings and two outings. Yearly membership dues of $55 are payable every January, this includes $30 for CORVA membership. 

Highlights for Feburary 2005

  Meeting  Thursday, Frb. 3 @ Carrow's Chatsworth, starting at 6:30pm

  Glamis Sat., Sun Feb. 26, 27  

  Garage Sale Sat. Mar. 5 (Bring junk / STUFF)  

  Dumont Dunes cleanup Sat, March 12 

  Oceano Dunes (Pismo) Fri. - Sun., March 19, 20 

  Next Meeting  Thursday, April 7 

Health & Welfare

Eliot and Kim Fisher gave birth to Emma Rose Fisher at 9:00 AM, Sunday November 28, 2004.
She weighed 7 lbs 13 oz and was 19 1/2 inches long at birth.

 

Rick Fisher has cancer and is getting chemo and is doing  GREAT! 

 

 

 

 

 

Last Meeting Minutes November 4

Meeting Called to order at 7:22pm 11/4/2004 at Carrow's Restaurant 
Guests Present: None
Applicants Present: None
Previous Minutes: Read by Scott Swanson. Unanimously approved.
Treasurers Report: ABA has $2125.29 as of today. 
Correspondence: None.

Committee Reports

Newspaper: see the WEB site. 
ABA Store: Scott will be picking up the Store from Rob.
Equipment: No change
Health and Welfare: Eliot and Kim Fisher are expecting in December
CORVA Rep: Not Present.
Historian: Wayne still has a photo album for scanning.

Old Business: 

Plaques need to be ordered.
Christmas Party is reserved for Dec. 4th (MARK YOUR CALANDERS), Emails and flyers will be sent out.

Wayne Berg has purchased 80 of the 100 soccer cones for use at Dumont and other events, 20 more are still to be purchased (bought Wal-Mart out).

New Business: 

A verbal vote was held for the officer elections and all nominees were unanimously approved. 

    2005 ABA Officers 

President: Scott Swanson
Vice President: Eliot Fisher
Secretary: Jill Berg
Treasurer: Wayne Berg
Guidance Committee: Terry Work, Raul Ayala, David Swanson, John Oldham, and Eric Pifer

The ABA store will be ordering Shirts, Hats & Jackets .

Meeting was adjourned at 7:47pm

Respectfully submitted
Scott Swanson for Jill Berg, ABA Secretary

November Outing report         

Dumont Dunes :

This 2004 Thanksgiving Dumont Dunes Outing earned it's place as being one of the best outings of the year but also the most EXTREME. The ABA'ers and friends experienced extreme cold weather to fair, pleasent skies to nasty, strong winds. Luckily, the pleasant weather occured the day prior, day of and the day after Thanksgiving Day. On Tuesday night, the Baker Thermometer read 29 degrees at midnight and per the gas station clerk, it was consistently that cold during the day prior too. The extreme cold weather brought snow to the Death Valley region the weekend prior, just ask Terry Work, which covered the dunes a day or two. This left us avid duners extreme wet dune - driving conditions to endure. The Dunes were very rough and actually got smoother as the weekend went on.

The ABA enjoyed the traditional Slalom races for Adults and Kids. All had fun and enjoyed seeing everyone compete. The Raffel and Desert social was a great success although Scott Swanson forgot the Raffel tickets. Upps! Lots of gifts and cash prizes were raffeled off to young and old with Brian Philips and Bob Swanson manning the Poker card - Super Bowl style raffel draw.

Greats thanks to all that helped and joined together to spend a pleasant Thanksgiving weekend at Dumont Dunes with the ABA Organization. 

Attendees:
Rick & Mary Jane Bates
Steve & Pam Bates and Family
Mike & Christine Bates and Family
Dave & Chris Bates and Family
Gerry & Elizabeth Bates and Family
John & Karen Roberson and Family
Scott & Natalia Swanson and Family
Bob & Chad Swanson & Friends
Mitch & Kristy Fisher
Ray & Liana Fazedin and Family
Brian & Sandy Philips and Family
And All other friends and families of members which I can't recall thier names!
  
Report By: Scott Swanson

December Party Reports         

Adults Holiday Party :

The Holiday Party was another Great ABA success. The food was good and the band too. Awards were given to the ABA officers. The man of the year award was given to Scott Swanson and the Woman of the Year award was given to Judy Fisher. There were many raffle prizes and two $100.00 money trees. See all the Pictures

Report By: Wayne Berg

Kids Christmas Party :

  
The party was held at Chuck-E-Cheese's, The kids had a lot of fun. Santa came with presents for each of the kids and candy canes for all. 

See all the Pictures

Report By: Wayne Berg

 

January Outing report

TRUCKHAVEN X Challenge Poker Run

If we built it, would they come? It had had been raining for three weeks in southern California. The deserts were now swamps. People had been calling, "Will you have the event?" We put on the web site, "Rain or Shine". The weather was supposed to clear up Wednesday, so we were optimistic. Steve Santa and I had to head for Truckhaven Monday to start marking the course. I packed the motor home in the rain and we headed out.

We got there after dark and waited until morning to cross the wash. The mud was slippery on the hill and the plateau but we made it. The sun had come out Tuesday morning and the rest of the week was perfect. All the washes had been swept clean and the damp sand was fast. There was some mud in the canyons that we figured would add to the fun. The worst place we found was in the small mud arch canyon. We both almost got stuck getting through.

In ten years of pathfinding for this event, I have gotten pretty familiar with it. I almost know my way around. Back in the day we were lost most of the time. Now of course I have a GPS in my Jeep with all the landmarks waypointed. Still, finding a route that is different every year and meets our criteria is quite challenging. To add interest we reverse the rotation every year. This year we proceeded counter-clockwise. My usual cohort and main marker, Geoff Teare, was missing his first event because of job demands. Steve Santa volunteered for the task fortunately and we did half the trail Tuesday.

That night a few more friends including Terry Work, Joe McGinniss, Rick Bates and Tom Paris joined us. We did the second half Wednesday. Thursday we tested the red course and added the green routes. Friday is reserved for final testing and adjustments. Many of the checkpoint workers pre-run the course Friday and the feedback was good. At fifteen miles, the course was a little shorter than past ones and the hard sand made for fast driving but I still felt it was technical enough but not too difficult.

We opened registration Friday evening and here is where the spouses really work. Judy Fisher, Mary Jane Bates, Linda McGinniss, Judi Santa and others worked most of the time. Cindy Teare sold the event t-shirts. Although pre-registration had been good, Friday volume was low and I was worried. This event is the largest fund-raiser CORVA sponsors and had to succeed. Had the rain scared off too many people?

Saturday morning start was efficient and the first group were gone in an hour. This too was disconcerting because it usually takes two hours to get everybody out. My orange hair is still popular and people often remember me that way. Then something exciting happened. People kept coming in. Apparently they decided not to try the mud after dark and waited until Saturday morning. Since the start is open until 11 am, this is a good idea and lightens traffic significantly.

Ultimately we had nearly three hundred registered vehicles. This number was probably affected by the rain, but is about the same as last year. We had the CORVA raffle Honda on site and sold tickets for it and gave away tickets to new members as a promotion.

We had a great selection of raffle prizes, many collected by Faith Work. Her husband Terry has been our Master of Ceremonies for years and did his usual great job with the crowd. Terry and Faith also organize the kid's games on Sunday that drew quite a crowd. We also tried a GPS game on Sunday. We set out 26 markers and randomly assigned five to each player to find by co-ordinates only. Unfortunately there were errors in the transcribing and most of the players wandered in vain. Two players got good locations and returned in two hours. Everybody was a good sport about it and we will try again next year. 

This year's event was definitely a financial success and a crowd pleaser. I want to thank the many volunteers who helped on the trail, at the checkpoints, registration and the start line. This would be impossible without them.

As a head's-up, we are planning to have next year's event one week later on January 21, 2006. This will avoid some other event conflicts and give you more time after the holidays

 

Report by Rick Fisher

February Meeting

Meeting February 3, 2004      Thursday

Agenda: Garage Sale, Outtings.

The meeting will start at 6:30pm, at Carrow's Restaurant Chatsworth,

located at 20557 Devonshire Street Chatsworth.

February Outings       

Glamis Dunes:

We will be camping between wash #13,14

Lots of runs

Raffle

Poker run 

March Outings       

Garage Sale :

Do your Spring Cleaning and bring your junk to the sale March 5. 

It will be held at the Bergs house. Stuff can be dropped off early.

any questions or need directions Email Wayne wayne@abaoffroad.org 

Dumont Dunes cleanup:

    The Friends of Dumont Dunes are sponsoring a clean-up,

    March 12, 2005, 8:00AM to Noon
    Free Lunch and Prize Drawing, From 11:30AM to 1:30PM

Oceano Dunes (Pismo) :

March 19 & 20

This outing is looking like there will be a good turnout.

We will be camped just before Mile post 4.

Lots of runs and great fun.

 

Tide Table for Oceano Dunes

March 17 Thu. 2005

2:23:16 AM     4.42 Feet     High
10:53:16 AM   0.45 Feet     Low
7:09:08 PM     3.33 Feet      High
9:48:57 PM     3.21 Feet      Low

March 18 Fri. 2005

3:47:16 AM     4.28 Feet    High
12:02:43 PM   0.27 Feet     Low
7:41:05 PM     3.55 Feet     High
11:35:49 PM   3.07 Feet     Low

March 19 Sat. 2005

5:09:12 AM     4.37 Feet     High
12:54:11 PM    0.07 Feet     Low
8:04:34 PM     3.7 Feet        High

March 20 Sun. 2005

12:33:04 AM   2.76 Feet     Low
6:10:56 AM     4.59 Feet     High
1:33:46 PM     -0.1 Feet      Low
8:25:04 PM     3.83 Feet     High

Next Meeting April 7, 2005      Thursday

The meeting will be at Carrow's Restaurant Chatsworth, located at 20557 Devonshire Street Chatsworth.

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