Walkin' Michigan with
the Historic Pathwalkers
member club of the
American Volkssport Association
06/20/2004
Remarks
Jean Woltjer, President
211 Cambridge
Holland, MI 49423-3057
616-392-2844
We
have a fun walk coming up on June 26 so let’s get those walking shoes out and
get ready to walk. We plan to meet in St Joseph and walk our seasonal
walk. What makes this walk so special
this time is the community art project “Horses on the Beach”. These are painted
carousel ponies that are on display throughout the downtown and beach area.
There are a total of 53 horses on display!
If that isn’t enough you can always visit Stevensville and take in the
Family Festival, which is going on that weekend. Everything from Arts and
Crafts, Classic Car show, Games and Taste of Stevensville just to name a few of
the activities taking place there. It should be a lot of fun so come and join
us!
The starting point is Fisher-Landis Clothing Co. at 321
State Street where we’ll start at 10:00 a.m.
From I-94 take exit 23 or 27 to Business I-94 to downtown St Joseph From exit 27 turn right on Pleasant St and
from exit 23 turn left on Pleasant St and go one block to State St. Turn left
on State to the store.
Advance Notice of Annual Meeting
The annual business meeting will be held July 31 in Marshall
where we'll have the opportunity to walk one of our historic year 'round walks.
After the walk we plan to have lunch at the Mid Towne Grille followed by our
meeting. We’d like to let them know we’re coming and Wayne has offered to
collect RSVPs. You can email him at jayfield@aol.com
or call him at 616-738-8853. If you
could let him know several days in advance we’d appreciate it. Let’s plan on
starting the walk at 10:00 a.m. and then lunch at approximately 1:00 p.m. The
starting point is at the AmeriHost Inn at 204 Winston Dr. From I-69 exit 36,
Michigan Avenue turn east toward Marshall. Go one-quarter mile to Winston which
is between the Shell Gas Station and Wendy’s.
Turn right to AmeriHost.
Upcoming walks
There will be a scheduled walk in Mason on August 21. For
information, contact Trailmaster Chelane Priller at chelane@cablespeed.com.
CANCELED! There will be a scheduled walk in Grand Ledge on
October 9. For information, contact Trailmaster Chelane Priller at chelane@cablespeed.com. CANCELED
Instead there will be a group walk at our club's year 'round
event in Manistee, MI. on October 9. See August Newsletter for info.
Note:
Check the web for AVA news at http://www.ava.org/avanews.htm
John Pierce walks fiftieth state
John Pierce, treasurer
On April
1, 2004 I started the last part of an adventure that began ten years earlier.
Darrell and Nancy Bratt and I boarded a plane for Little Rock, Arkansas. Nancy
and I both needed to do a volksmarch in Arkansas. Darrell was the designated
driver.
We had to
catch our next flight at 12:30 p.m. the next day. This didn’t leave much time
to get the walk done so we made arrangements to start early. We started the
walk the next morning before the visitor’s center opened. It was a beautiful
sunny spring day. The walk went well,
only missing one turn. We got ourselves back on the route and finished the walk
a little after 10 a.m., stamped our books and headed back to the motel. We
quickly checked out and were off to the airport to return the car and catch our
flight to Houston for the connection to Las Vegas. We didn’t have any time to
spare but we made the flight. Arriving in Houston we hurried across the
airport, changing terminals to barely catch our flight. We nicely got seated
when it was announced that the flight was delayed two hours because of
thunderstorms in Las Vegas. We finally got to Las Vegas to find that Darrell’s
luggage didn’t come with us. We picked up our car and headed out for the hour
drive to Laughlin, Nevada for the Las Vegas High Rollers and Strollers annual three-state
-- California, Arizona and Nevada -- weekend event.
The next
morning, April 3, we found the start point and signed in. Our first walk was
about 20 miles away. We would walk along the Colorado River in California;
Nancy had never walked in California. The walk was an out-and-back on a dirt
service-road. Just across the river was Arizona. After finishing the walk we
headed back to our hotel, The Flamingo, to get our books stamped, grab some
lunch, and rest up for the walk that evening. That night we walked in the city
of Laughlin. This gave both Nancy and me another state to add to our goal of
walking the 50 states.
John
Pierce at the Grand Canyon, Arizona, his fiftieth state.
The next
day we decided to do something special and walk at the Grand Canyon. We got up
early, drove four hours to get to the park and find the start point. It was a
cool sunny day. We walked along the southern rim of the canyon going through
Canyon Village. We made arrangements to meet Darrell at the Village for lunch.
Nancy and I headed out with cameras in hand. Around every bend was something
different to see. There were all the great views of the canyon itself and
wildlife too. We did the out-and-back walk to finish with great joy. This walk
finished my 10-year adventure of doing a 10 kilometer or longer walk in each of
the 50 states. It was such a great place to reach the goal of walking in all 50
states.
Nancy and Darrell Bratt at Grand Canyon, AZ
There are
so many memories from walking the states. I remember my first volksmarch in the
fall of 1990. My father and I walked in Ionia, Michigan. We didn’t really know
what volksmarching was about. We walked for free, not taking any credit for the
walk. In fact, I remember thinking this isn’t all that great. I didn’t do
another volksmarch until 1993 when I got involved with reactivating the club. I
remember that walk, too. I did it on an empty stomach and didn’t take any
water. I was very uncomfortable about half way through the walk. I finished the
walk and got my first stamp. I still wasn’t really hooked but I'd bought the
book so figured I needed to at least do the ten events. Over the next year I
did a few more walks. Then while in Alabama with Chet and Jean Schneider we
decided to do the walk in New Orleans, Louisiana. This walk was my all time
favorite and I was hooked on volksmarching. The New Orleans walk started in the
French Quarter. We started the walk at 11:00 a.m. when the start point opened.
As we walked through the French Quarter we got to watch it come to life as it
woke up. There were so many things to see that day. I hope to get back and do
the New Orleans walk again some day.
There have
been several walks along the way that I hope to do again. Washington D.C.
monument walk is on that list. I have done the walk twice and hope to get back
soon to do it again. I walked Washington D.C. with Harold and Anna Hartman and
my farther the first time. I will always remember that hurricane Fran had just
gone through and we had to walk around the Tidal Basin. Because of construction
you couldn’t reroute and the tidal basin was over its wall leaving us to walk
in about six inches of water. Oh, how I remember Harold talking about that for
a long time afterwards.
Some of
the other walks on the list to go back to are: Montpelier, Vermont; Montgomery,
Alabama; Concord Massachusetts; Santa Fe, New Mexico; Mt. Rainer National Park,
Washington; Volcano’s National Park, Hawaii; and many more.
Walking
the 50 states has given me many memories and the knowledge of what a great and
beautiful country this is. I have been blessed with making many new friends
along the way.
What shall
the next goal be? Walk the 51 capitols? I can’t say for sure. But I am sure I
will continue to walk and look for those special places that you can only see
when traveling by foot.
Harris Priller and Frances Priller get 10-walk pin
by Chelane
Priller
On April
24, Harris Priller, age 6, completed his tenth volksmarch event while walking with
his mother, Chelane, and other members of the Historic Pathwalkers on their
group walk of the Saugatuck/Douglas year 'round event. It was a pleasant walk,
though Harris would have liked the route to go on the shore of Lake Michigan
for a bit. We enjoyed the company of a new club member who walked with us
for most of the route.
On Sunday,
April 25, I took some of my Girl Scout troop out to the Kalamazoo year 'round
event. Harris came along with his sister, Frances. This walk was Frances'
tenth volksmarch. I need to get these girls out walking more often as
they were really complaining about sore legs starting around the third
kilometer of our six kilometer walk; the event is really 11 kilometers, we just
didn't do all of it. This walk got Harris up to 80 kilometers in his
distance book and Frances up to 76 kilometers in hers. The Kalamazoo walk put
me at 176 kilometers and 20 events.
Frances and Harris both began their Volksmarching careers on a four-kilometer
guided walk of the Lansing year 'round event in March 2003. Historic
Pathwalker Pat Korloch and her dog, Yeltsin, were the guides for Girl Scout
Troop #335 on their first walk. Since then, both kids have walked the
year 'round events in Marshall, Coldwater, South Haven and Kalamazoo and the Mason
scheduled walk in October 2003. Frances has also done the Holland year
'round event.
Both children also have event credits from a special event in Auburn,
Washington, where their grandparents live. Papa Chuck is a member of the Over
the Hill Gang out there. Frances has another Washington year 'round event
in Gig Harbor. Harris' first ten events include an Ohio year 'round event
at Maumee Bay State Park.
The kids are looking forward to working on their 30-event award. We have plans
to walk this summer in Van Wert, Ohio; Tippecanoe, Indiana; Fort Wayne,
Indiana; St. Joseph, Michigan; Leavenworth, Washington; Renton, Washington;
Mason, Michigan; Birmingham, Michigan; and Grand Ledge, Michigan. Then,
of course, there will the unplanned events -- maybe the Greenfield Village year
'round event and other year 'round events in Washington state.
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Seeking walking buddies
by Lee and
Loraine Dummer of Walking Adventures Tours, Oregon City, Oregon
We are so
happy to be returning to your beautiful area in September. We walked your
city two years ago and really enjoyed our time there. We would like to do
your year 'round event # 1067 in Manistee on Wednesday, September 8. If
anyone from your club is available it would be great to have them walk with us.
It is always fun to meet new people and walk with the locals.
Temporary closure of Hoosier Hikers seasonal event in Dowagiac, Michigan
by Robert
Buzolich, president Hoosier Hikers
On May 21 Dowagiac, Michigan suffered severe weather
that resulted in heavy damages to surrounding hardwood forests. As a
consequence, the board of trustees for Southwest Michigan College directed that
its trail system be closed for approximately six weeks, or until the fallen
trees can be removed from the trail. Because there are no alternate routes for
this seasonal volkssporting event, MA2004/1632, this event is temporarily
closed until the SWMC board announces the trail reopening.
July 1 deadline for AVA convention proposals
by Nancy
Stenger
walkvirginia@erols.com
The American Volkssport Association (AVA) is now soliciting presentation
proposals for the 14th Biennial Convention to be held on June 22 - 24,
2005, in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. The theme of the AVA Biennial Convention is
"New Trails, New Friends" through walking for fitness and fun. The
goal is to provide participants the tools to build healthy active clubs and
create quality walking events in their communities to promote a healthy life
style and
family-oriented activities.
Over the past several years we have witnessed a growing concern over the
alarming growth rate of obesity and its related health issues - for both old
and young generations - due to inactivity. Paralleling this growth rate in
obesity and related diseases is the sharp decline in physical activities. We believe
in the importance of reversing this trend by motivating local community
populations to incorporate regular physical activity into their everyday lives.
This does not mean joining an expensive gym or committing to a rigorous
exercise or training routine. It is sufficient to select activities that fit
into one's daily
routine, such as walking.
Walking is the bread and butter of the American Volkssport Association and the
American Volkssport Association is America's best kept secret! In order to increase
physical activity through walking and at the same time introduce local
communities to our association, our non-profit clubs need to learn the skills
necessary to: educate their local community on the benefits of a regular
walking program; publicize their walking events; host premier walking events
which appeal to participants so they return again and again; foster community
partnerships; and develop new club memberships and effective leaders. With such
a win-win situation between a local community's increased physical activity and
the resultant increased participation at a local club's
event, the community will also reap the benefits of our association's
non-profit status where annual monetary contributions are returned to the community by the local walking club to
support local programs.
Under our New Trails, New Friends theme, there are many possibilities for
contributions from a wide variety of participants. To this end, we have created
a set of 5 major tracks: Club Toolbox, Community Partnerships and Programs,
Health and Fitness, Professional Development, and Bring 'n Brag. * Within these
tracks, we will accept proposals to do sessions on a range of topics, most of
which will fall into the following categories: Best Practices, How-tos, Case Studies, Research and Evaluation, and
Overcoming Common Roadblocks.
Applicants may also select among a variety of presentation approaches including
panel discussions, lectures - both long and short - and participatory sessions.
Presentations are 50 minutes in length with two sessions offered in the morning
prior to the convention business meetings. The American Volkssport Association
will provide the following audio visual equipment to presenters: overhead
projector and screen. If a presentation is technology based and technology
dependent the presenter must indicate the required technical equipment.
Those interested in submitting a proposal should complete our presentation
proposal form available on the AVA Convention 2005 web site http://www.2005avaconvention.org/
or in the March AVA Checkpoint. Submissions will be accepted up through
midnight of July 1, 2004 and successful applicants will be notified by July 31,
2004. Presenters then have until August 31, 2004 to submit final presentation
information for inclusion in our national newspaper, The American Wanderer, the
Convention Program booklet and on the AVA Convention 2005 website program
listing.
Presenters have until April 1, 2005 to provide any documentation they would
like to use for handouts during their presentation which we will copy and have
available for your presentation at the assigned time. Presenters will be
notified May 31, 2005 of the final number of registered attendees for their
presentation.
For more information concerning New Trails, New Friends presentations, contact
Diane Evans, Workshop Committee Chair; phone: 703-354-735 or e-mail AVANJ05@yahoo.com.
* Track descriptions:
Club Toolbox: sessions in the Club Toolbox should cover a wide range of topics
designed to help clubs achieve success. Examples: club organization and
operations; club finance; recruitment of officers and volunteers; brochures;
marketing; electronic sanctioning; and web pages.
Community Partnerships and Programs: sessions in Community Partnership and
Programs should provide clubs with the steps and know how to develop
partnerships with national, state, regional and local community
agencies/associations and programs to promote fitness and event participation.
Health and Fitness: the Health and Fitness track could include the latest
information on caring for both the mind and body of today's walker including
nutrition, fitness, warm-ups and flexibility, basics of athletic injury plus
ideas for events as well as materials to include in tip sheets, press releases
and health and fitness expos.
Professional
Development: sessions in the Professional Development track should build
leadership skills and knowledge. Examples: basics of grant writing, avoiding burnout, how to delegate tasks,
effective advocacy, data collection and analysis, customer relations, effective
communications, team development, and general meeting facilitation.
Bring 'n Brag: Bring and Brag offers an opportunity for individuals, clubs and
state associations to show off programs, ideas and concepts that have proved
successful.
Tater Tours for 2004-05
by Mary
Ptacek
Come join Tater
Tours in their travels throughout the United States and Canada! Visit my
web site for more information: www.tatertours.zibys.com
or contact Head Tater Tot Mary Ptacek, 2748 Canarsy Court, Henderson, Nevada
89052, (702) 260-7333.
Tours for 2005: Please e-mail me for more information; dates are approximate.
*
2005 Canadian Convention held in Quebec City, Quebec & More -- May 24 -
June 2
* 2005 AVA Convention held in Cherry Hill, New Jersey & Mid-Atlantic with
NYC and Broadway Shows --June 16 -28
* Southwest National Parks in the Fall; Bryce, Zion, Arches, Grand Canyon
& More -- Sept. 28 - Oct. 11
Traveling Trekkers' Volkssport Club Suggested
Tours/Ideas for 2005
by Jim Jones
jimandnorma87@intertek.net
It has come time once again to actively
solicit and record ideas for suggested tours. We welcome the thoughts of our
members and will take into consideration any suggestions made by members or non-members
who might want to become active participants in Traveling Trekkers and On The
Road Travel sponsored tours. Listed below are those suggestions that we now
have on the books and are considering. We will revise this list as we receive
more ideas. Suggested itineraries and dates may change or be canceled
altogether if sufficient interest and deposits are not generated to warrant
additional work and expenditures. AVA sanctioned events, sightseeing and good
times abound on these tours. 10 years of experience putting together volksmarch
tours makes a difference. These do not include one-day and weekend tours that
are a normal part of our scheduling.
Late June 2005 (8-10 days) -- Short AVA National Convention on the East Coast.
After the convention, we will journey to New England for events in all New
England states plus New York. At this time, plans are to fly in and out of
Baltimore with a chartered coach available for the tour of states. This will be
a good one to capture several states and capitals on one tour. Deposits of
$50.00 per person will be accepted through December 19, 2004. Tour must have a
minimum of 25 deposits by that date or all planning will cease and deposits
will be returned in full. If tour is determined a "Go", deposits are
not refundable.
Early September -- 2 weeks on the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail. We
know the trail, we know the walks, we know the history and can meet or beat any
prices quoted by other companies. We were the first to make a complete
volksmarching tour of the 11 states included in the National Trail. Experience
counts. $100.00 good faith deposits are now being taken for this tour. Deposits
will be taken until October 17. A minimum of 30 deposits are needed for this
tour. If enough deposits are on hand by that date to make the tour a "GO',
we will then proceed with ongoing planning leading up to a final tour flyer,
all arrangements and tour departure date. If enough deposits are not on hand by
that date, the tour will be taken off the planning schedule and all deposits
will be refunded in full.
Mid-October (7-8 days) -- San Francisco, Los Angeles and National Park's Tour.
Take in the marvelous wonders of the famous Coast Highway, Yosemite National
Park, Sequoia National Park and Kings Canyon National Park as we journey from
the beautiful Pacific Ocean to the lands of waterfalls, spectacular scenery and
the huge redwood trees. Deposits of $50.00 per person will be accepted until
December 19, 2004. Tour must have a minimum of 25 deposits by that date or all
planning will cease and deposits will be refunded in full. If tour is
determined a "Go", deposits are not refundable.
Please return this form with your selections to the club at 1404 Vicksburg
Drive, Belleville, Illinois 62221 prior to October 17, 2004. Please make
deposit checks to order of On The Road Travel. Questions? jimandnorma87@intertek.net
Name: ____________________________________________
Address: ___________________________________________
City, State, Zip: ______________________________________
Telephone:
_________________________E-mail:_________________
Share your news
Linda Theil, Editor
If you have any walking information or adventures you'd like to
share with the club, please send them to me at my address above. Also if
neighboring clubs would like us to promo your walks here, please send me the
information. Please share our newsletter with anyone you know who is interested
in walking. Our page is online at http://www.ava.org/clubs/pathwalkers/.