The meeting started at 12:15.
Bob Doerr led us in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Father Michael Mahoney gave not our usual Christmas invocation, because we can’t meet together to share food and fun this year. He said, in the spirit of Rotary, we gather and find other ways to experience friendship and generosity this year. We will not be roaming and combing the shopping malls for last-minute Christmas gifts. Nor knocking on neighbors’ doors, wine bottle in hand, to share Christmas cheer. We will find new ways to share love, friendship, and generosity. We will share on Zoom, Facebook, Instagram, and old-fashioned snail mail will get a needed giddy-up. We will pull our cars into driveways to make room for UPS, Amazon, and FedEx trucks as they drop packages even until midnight. Yes, the human spirit is indomitable and kindness and goodness will always find a way. Let us spare a thought for those suffering from COVID and families who are grieving because a loved one will not be with them at Christmas. And a thought that we will all return to a new.
Guests of the Club
Our guests include speakers Tony Barthel and Kim Lockwood, as well as Dave Gallengos, a former member of Burlingame Rotary.
Announcements
- Special shout out to Fritz Brauner, our president-elect nominee.
- Our December holiday party has been rescheduled for June 27 5pm-8pm—save the date. More details are coming this spring when we firm up the plan. Guests will be welcome.
- Happy hour will be Friday @ 5, AND we will be having happy hour next Friday, Christmas day
- Emily Beach announced that Regional Shelter in Place has gone into effect as our ICU capacity has dropped to 12.9%.
- Jim Shypertt had nothing for the Sunshine Report, but encouraged us to have fun, even in these trying times.
- Cheryl Fama gave a community service update. Our Club made a contribution to the Boys and Girls Club for 240 children. The staff will use it to buy appropriate gifts for the children. We will be dropping holiday cards, with $25 Amazon gift cards, in the mail to 245 Title One families in Burlingame School District. Thanks to Cheryl and Bryan Neider for organizing these efforts. And, thanks to Nancy Bush for designing great looking holiday cards.
- Bryan Neider told us about the project we did in collaboration with the Burlingame Library Foundation and Burlingame School District. We donated $1,000 to buy books for Title 1 students to help with their home libraries.
- Bill Tiedeman recognized four Rotarians who have reached Paul Harris +1—Frances Boscacci, Cheryl Fama, Marc Friedman, and Marilyn Orr all will get a super snazzy pin.
Newscast+
For a special holiday surprise, Jennifer Pence and President-Elect Nominee Fritz Brauner surprised us with breakout groups. Groups of three were dynamically created by Zoom. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the breakout rooms and asked for a little more time next time.
Program
Bob Doerr introduced our speaker, Tony Barthel, from StressLess Camping.
Tony told us that driving an RV is the equivalent of experiencing a 4.5 earthquake. And, driving at 50-60 miles per hour (on a calm day) is like a gale-force wind—even worse if driving head-on into the wind! What’s not fun about THAT?!? Well, it turns out that Americans are turning to RVing as the last safe way to see this great land. (Talk to Jennifer Pence! She and Adam have tried it and are planning to give it another go soon.) To give us a sense of the RV market, Tony told us that Thor, the largest RV manufacturer, has $8.9 million in RVs on backorder. There is a lack of stock, because RVs are made in small batches, by hand. Who knew?!?
Both Peggy and Tony Barthel come from camping and RV backgrounds, so it is in their blood. They currently host YouTube videos about the RV lifestyle and their adventures. Tony fell in love with RVs when he saw the RV displays when his parents took him to the LA County Fair as a kid. He bought is first RV when he was 12.
Before Newscast+, Fritz reminded us that today was National Cover Anything in Chocolate Day, so Tony connected this to RVing. He noted that campers love s’mores and recommended Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups for s’mores.
RVs' appeal is that it’s like you take your hotel with you, but it’s your stuff. So, you have all of the creature comforts you want to have. And you can bring pets with you. With an RV, you can stay anywhere you want and go where your hobbies are.
Fun RV Facts:
- The biggest fear of RVs is backing up.
- Despite the shortage of campgrounds, there are tons of places to camp, many of them are free.
- Harvest hosts are off-the-grid farms, vineyards, ranches that offer annual subscriptions to access these facilities.
- Don’t want to buy an RV, no problem. RV rentals, rvshare.com offers Air BnB service for RVs.
- About one million Americans live in RVs. (This made things tricky when COVID with shelter in place orders.)
Thinking of getting an RV? The first question is what size of RV is right for you? Some have trailers with cars. Others have small cars towing small campers. There’s something for everyone—new, vintage, small, large, drivable camper, or tow behind a vehicle.
Want to learn more about RV-ing? You can find Tony and Kim on YouTube if you search for StressLess Camping and at www.stresslesscamping.com.
There was some Q&A, then Emily presented Tony with a PolioPlus certificate for five vaccinations and thanked him for a fantastic presentation.
The meeting was adjourned at 1:27pm.
