pdp june, july, august 2011 newsletter
DESCRIPTION
This is the June, July, August edition of the Penn Dutch Pacer Volksmarch Club in Lancaster PATRANSCRIPT
June, July, August 2011
newsletterClub • Lancaster, PaPenn Dutch Pacers Volksmarch
Cont’d on Page 11, column 1
This is one of the editions of thenewsletter that falls between ourscheduled weekend walks and thuswe don’t have a weekend walk tofeature here on the front page. Wedo want to whet your appetite how-ever for things to come. So here’s asmall taste of things to come for therest of 2011.Although you will get the full scoopon our great walk in East Lampeter Township in thenext newsletter we thought we'd remind you to put thedates on the calendar now so that you can be sure tohave plenty of time to ask family and friends to joinyou on this varied and enjoyable, easy walk that ex-plores all sides of East Lampeter Township.The dates are Saturday and Sunday, September 24thand 25th. Hope to see you there.
East Lampeter is Coming
It was brought to our attention a couple ofmonths ago that this newsletter did not havea name per se. We just called it thegeneric PDP Newsletter. So it wassuggested that we move forwardwith a process to formally name thispublication that you find in yourmailbox four times a year.That process began two issuesago when you were invited to offer suggestions for anew name. A few of you did and thus we are asking youto again participate by choosing your favorite from amongthose that were submitted. Drum roll please....Here are your choices for the new name for this newslet-ter, your newsletter:
The Pacer PostFootnotes
The Pacer Pulse
Vote for the Newsletter’s New Name
Cont’d on Page 4 column 3, middle
July means Summer which means hot which also meansthe Penn Dutch Pacers annual Picnic Meeting. For the pastfew years we have held our July meeting the normal 3rdThursday of the month but instead of holding it in our usu-al location in the room at the health campus we venturedoutside to have a meal with each other followed by themeeting. We have been fortunate to be able use the pavil-ion at Warwick Township Municipal Park for at least thepast three years.This year we are shaking things up a whole lot. For manyyears one of the things that we included with our picnicwas a walk (after all we are a walking club, right?), butwhen we switched to the Thursday night meeting/picnicthe walk got left behind. Those of us who have beenaround awhile will re-member picnicking inLititz Springs Parkwhere we walked theLititz YRE prior to thepicnic and then ate andhad elections all in thesame day. (Then theby-laws were changedto have elections inJanuary.)We said we are mixing it up, so for our 2011Walk/Picnic/Meeting here are the details:The date is SUNDAY, July 24th. Please make note thatthis meeting is SUNDAY (not Thursday). Having the pic-nic on the weekend will allow us to have a walk before weeat and have our meeting. We will be meeting at Huffna-gle Park in Quarryville PA at 9:00 AM to 'pre-walk' ourEnola Low Grade Rail Trail walk. Since the developmentof the Enola Low Grade Rail Line into a rail trail is be-coming a reality we have for sometime had a startpointand a trail laid out and ready to go for sometime in 2012(actual dates have yet to be determined). Join us to get thisfirst look at this exceptional rail trail.Once done with the walk we will be gathering back in thepavilion in Huffnagle Park for a picnic lunch approximate-ly at noon. Please bring two selections of food to share.You could bring a salad and a dessert or a casserole and asalad. You get the idea. If you’d like please also bringcopies of your recipe to share with others. We can also
A Special July Walk/Picnic/Meeting
Pavilion in Huffnagle Park
June, July, August 2011 - 2
Mt. Gretna Award &Credit Credit Only Non
Participating TOTALS
5K 3 22 5 30
10K 18 52 19 84
Totals 21 74 19 114
Our walking adventure asplanned in Mt. Gretnawas a glorious walk in awonderful environmenton a trail that allowed ex-ploration of not only Mt.Gretna but also the Clar-ence Shock Park at Gov-
ernor Dick. Most of the walk was on natural surfacesand the climb to Governor Dick required a trail ratingof 3.The trail was walked and measured by our trailmas-ters. The trail was then pre-walked the Sunday beforethe scheduled event and because of the length of timeit took ( a rated 3 walk on a natural trail takes longer)to walk and also the readings of one of the participantspedometers the trailmasters again measured the trailafter the pre-walk to verify that in fact it was a 10kwalk, which it was.So everything that could be done to make this a spec-tacular walk was done in aces. The only thing that wenever have control over is the weather. Ever since theMonday previous to the walk the forecast was forsome rain during the weekend. As the weekend gotcloser the precipitation percentage increased by Fridayto 80% chance for both Saturday and Sunday. It's a nobrainer that when there is a forecast for rain we lose acertain percentage of walkers that may have come oth-er wise and when we have a natural trail that is rated a3 the number of walkers that decide not to make thetrip is greater still.The irony after the fact was that on Saturday the mostrain that we experienced was a mist and althoughthere was some rain over night on Saturday night thetrail on Sunday was perfectly fine and the overcastgave way to some blue sky and we even saw the sun.So, so much for weather forecasts. Those that joinedus to walk in Mt. Gretna gave glowing reviews andenjoyed the great varied trail and all the hard workthat lots of Penn Dutch Pacers put in to making thisanother PDP success. Thanks to everyone who con-tributed in any way. You know who you are, wecouldn't do it without you.
Mt. Gretna Followup
The Mt. Gretna Startpoint at the Mt. Gretna Fire Company was a hit andafforded people a place to gather, talk and eat.
Roy Simmers greets returning walkers at the Finish Tabletowards the end of the walk on Sunday.
The kitchen crew had their own domain at Mt. Gretna and served up widevariety of foodstuffs for the walkers and volunteers alike.
Photo by Phil Allamong
Photo by Phil Allamong
Photo by Phil Allamong
June, July, August 2011 - 3
RENEWED FOOTPRINTSKEEP ON WALKING THE
TRAILS
2012MaryAnn & Edward French
Kitty GlassEdward & Kathy Schoenberger
2014Terry & Charlotte Haugh
Barbara Horst
CLUB MEMBERSACHIEVEMENT AWARDS
KILOMETER MILESTONES
1000 KmDeborah Mundy
6000 KmJohn Coonney
6500 KmWilliam Price, Jr.
7000 KmWilliam Price, Jr.
7500 KmCharles HalseyMuriel Halsey
11,000 KmPaul (Roy) Simmers
CLUB MEMBERSACHIEVEMENT AWARDS
EVENT MILESTONES
75 EventsDeborah Mundy
100 EventsDeborah Mundy
125 EventsDeborah Mundy
475 EventsRuth Price
550 EventsJohn Coonney
650 EventsWilliam Price, Jr.
700 EventsWilliam Price, Jr.
750 EventsCharles HalseyMuriel Halsey
Barry HitchcockWilliam Price, Jr.
900 EventsPaul (Roy) Simmers
Source: The American WandererRecords as of 5/30/2011
Pete Byrne
President’s MessageThis issueof the news-letter issomewhatunique in that inthe time frame that it covers,June, July & August we do nothave any weekend walking eventsscheduled, although as you willread there will be a unique walkingopportunity available in July.Also you will read about our some-what out of the ordinary meetingduring this time frame. Be sure tojoin us if you can it will be fun andget you ready for our 2012 walkingseason. Yes we are working onwalks for 2012 already.One of the perks for working at aPDP event or any AVA sanctionedevent for that matter is that you canobtain a free event credit in yourevent book just for working theevent. PDP is thrilled to pay aParticipation Fee for any workerthat would like an event credit intheir event book for working thewalk. Keep in mind though thatworking the event does not get youany distance credit. To get distancecredit in your book you will need toactually walk the event.We talk constantly in thisnewsletter (almost every issue)about volunteering. One of theproblems that I think we face andwhen I say we I'm including all theAVA member clubs is that potentialvolunteers really don't understandwhat the job that they arevolunteering to do entails. We havein the past given brief descriptionsof the volunteer positions that areavailable within PDP but we havenot provided detailed descriptions.Detailed descriptions I think wouldhelp ease peoples fears and maybewould get us more volunteers.To this end AVA has put togetherthe first of, from what I understand,are to be guides for the many
positions within an AVA affiliatedclub. The first guide to be availableis the Trailmaster Guide andTrailmaster Certification manualwhich has been posted to the AVAwebsite home page www.ava.orgunder the link called Help ForClubs. A copy is also posted underthe Publications-Forms link. Manyhave contributed so much to thisproject. Hardworking Clubvolunteers will know the latestinformation on selecting andmarking event trails. The moreknowledge you have, will surelyhelp the participants have a greattime at your event.We tell you all the time how muchwork our Trailmasters do. If youwant to know exactly what they doread the guide and you will seeexactly what they do. Or if youthink you might want to help withthe trails one day, read the manualand find out what's involved.Thanks to all of you whoconsistently contribute untold hoursto the benefit of everyone whowalks our YRE, Seasonal andweekend events.
June, July, August 2011 - 4
We are constantly looking for waysto make it easier for you to volun-teer your time during our weekendwalking events. And you will bepleased to know that we have de-vised yet another way to make yourdeciding when to volunteer (noticewe didn't say 'if' to volunteer) aseasy as pie.Since any of us can remember vol-unteering your time at a PDP eventmeant adding your name personallyor letting someone, most likely theVolunteer Coordinator (didn't knowwe have one? It's Donna Bashaw
for those who didn't know) addyour name to the Volunteer Sheetthat is always present somewhereon the Start/Finish table during aweekend event. That VolunteerSheet of course is for the NEXTevent. The Volunteer Sheet in-cludes a grid showing two hourtime frames and where (at whatvolunteer position) we need volun-teers for the two days of the event.So, you decide to volunteer at thenext event and you’re at one of ourweekend events you find the Vol-unteer Sheet and you put yourname in one or more of the avail-able time slots that doesn't alreadyhave a name in it. It's easy sinceyou can see instantly what timeslots are full and what slots needvolunteers.Since the Volunteer Sheet is a sin-gle piece of paper it means that
oememberRThursday, June 16th -Regular monthly meeting of thePenn Dutch Pacers in the Diag-nostic Imaging Center - Patient& Family Education ConferenceRoom ••1st Floor LancasterHealth Campus -- 7:00 PM
Sunday, July 24th -Annual Walk/Picnic/Meeting ofthe Penn Dutch Pacers in thepavilion of Huffnagle Park inQuarryville. Meet at the park at9:00 AM to walk the Enola LowGrade Rail Trail walk. Picniclunch at approximately Noonand a short meeting at approxi-mately 1:00 PM
NO MEETING IN AUGUST -There are two months out of theyear that the Penn Dutch Pac-ers do not hold meetings one isin August, the other is in De-cember.
Cont’d from Page 1 • Name the Newsletter . . .
OK so there you go... decide, deliber-ate and then vote. You say how do Ivote? There are several ways. Theeasiest way is to go to the PDP web-site at www.penndutchpacers.org andthen choose the bottom menu optionthat says Vote for New Name. Youwill then be presented with a formthat asks your name and you will seethe three names shown above. Clickthe radio button beside your choiceand click SUBMIT and you’re done.If you'd rather not or can't use thewebsite you can e-mail your choice [email protected] or call 717-786-7118 during regular business hours tolet us know your choice. You willknow which one won by looking atthe masthead of the next edition ofthe newsletter.
someone has to be responsible forit, not only to know where it is butthey also need to keep it up-to-dateand make sure it gets to the actualevent so that those staffing theevent know who is volunteeringand in what positions and at whattime they are volunteering. Sincethe only time anyone who wouldlikely volunteer would see the Vol-unteer Sheet was at events andsometimes at monthly meetings itwasn't really convenient to volun-teer.So what we had come up with orig-
inally to try to make it easier wasan on-line questionnaire which po-tential volunteers filled out to indi-cate that first of all they wereinterested in volunteering and alsowhat day or days, times and posi-tions they would be interested in. Afew (very few) souls chose to fillout the questionnaire. The problemwas that someone then had to fit thepeople that filled out the question-naire into the schedule whichmeans that they then had to be con-tacted so they would know wherethey were in the volunteer sched-ule.So onto the current solution whichwe think will simplify things awhole lot for everyone. Now if yougo to the PDP website atwww.penndutchpacers.org and thenselect the Volunteer Page from the
A New Way to Volunteer
Cont’d on Page 5, column 1
This is what our NEW Volunteer Grid looks like.
June, July, August 2011 - 5
It was a dark anddreary day (I alwayswanted to say that!).Indeed April 5, 2011dawned wet,windy andgloomy, not yourideal VolksWalkday.Julie Geyer, president of the YorkWhite Rose WAnders had notifiedour club that they were planning agroup walk on Tuesday, April 5 at9 AM in Manheim, the site of ourlatest YRE venture. Julie inquiredabout the possibility of having aPenn Dutch Pacer volunteer meetand walk with them on that day.By now you must have guessedwho got the assignment (retiredpeople have loads of free time).On the appointed day, I arrived atthe registration site (Country Inn &Suites on the Manheim Pike) at8:45 AM. At that time the weatherhad gone from bad to worse.Heavy rain and blustery windsmade my entrance into the moteloffice difficult. My thought was,surely these people will not evenshow up today. Who would wantto do a walk under such uglyweather conditions. Much to mysurprise upon entering the motellobby, I was greeted by six enthu-siastic York White Rose Wander-ers They had already registered inthe log book, filled out their startcards and had the cash ready forpayment. They were obviously go-ing to do the walk come "hell orhigh water", which was a definitepossibility. Two more brave soulssoon arrived to join our group.Thus we had now assembled eightadventurous walkers and their "notso fearless" leader.Fate must have smiled upon us that
We are sad to re-port that Brian S.Grumbling, 54, ofLititz, passedaway unexpected-ly on Tuesday,May 11thThe unexpectedpassing of PennDutch Pacer Bri-
an Grumbling, 54, brings to mindthe fact that Brian was an earlycontributor to the development andgrowth of the Penn Dutch Pacers.He was an individual who electednot to sit on the sidelines butjumped in feet first and served asthe club's First Vice President,Trails Committee Chairman andeventually Club President. Brianlisted many achievements inVolkssporting in fact Brian hadrecently achieved a milestone of1050 events. Traveling far andwide to do Volkssporting eventswas never a problem. Most nota-bly, he did volkswalks in all 50states. Brian enjoyed a variety ofhobbies including photography,history, cats, traveling, attendingmusicals and classical music.Thanks for all you did for volkss-porting and most importantly forthe Penn Dutch Pacers. Brian, wewill miss you on the trail.The Penn Dutch Pacers made adonation to the Humane League ofLancaster in Brian's Memory.
"Happiness does notcome from doingeasy work but fromthe afterglow of sat-isfaction that comesafter the achieve-ment of a difficulttask that demandedour best."
-- Theodore Isaac Rubin
menu. Then on the Volunteer Pageclick the link to volunteer for thenext walk. You will be taken to aspreadsheet the we created to lookvery similar to the paper volunteersheet that everyone has been famil-iar with some more than others.As you can see in the graphic withthis article, across the top are theVolunteer Positions, Startpoint,Finish, etc. and down the left sideare two hour time frames starting at8:00 AM, etc. As with the papersign up sheet if the block corre-sponding to the Volunteer Positionand time frame doesn't have a nameand phone number in it we are stilllooking for someone to volunteerfor that position. To add your namesimply click in the appropriateblock and input your name andphone number and tap the ENTERkey. If you are signing up for morethan one time frame click in thenext appropriate box and repeat. Ifyou make a mistake, double click inthe box where you made the mis-take. Make the necessary correc-tions and tap the ENTER key. Thespreadsheet is saved every few sec-onds, but make sure that your addi-tions or changes were saved bychecking the upper right hand cor-ner of the window where it shouldsay saved. If it says SAVE NOWclicking on the icon will save youradditions and changes immediately.That is all there is to it. Not onlywill it make it easier for you to vol-unteer (HINT, HINT) but everyone,the volunteers, the volunteer coor-dinator and the people at the actualevent will be working from thesame information which they canaccess anytime.If you ever have problems with thevolunteer sheets, please [email protected] or call 717-786-7118 for help. And thanks inadvance to all those who volunteer,you are the life blood of the PennDutch Pacers.
Cont’d from Page 4 • A New Way . . . York White Rose WanderersInvade Manheim, Pa.
by Don Young
Cont’d on Page 7, column 1
In Memoriam
June, July, August 2011 - 6
Legend: W=Walk, GW=Guided Walk, GNW=Guided Night Walk, NW=Night Walk, B=Bike, S=SwimSk=Ski, XSki = Cross Country Ski, IS=Ice Skate, RS=Roller Skate, SS=Snowshoe M=Meeting
2011 Atlantic Region Calendar
June 2011Date Type Sponsoring Club Event Location Contact Phone04-05 W Susquehanna Rovers Volksmarch Club Boiling Springs PA (Spring Meadows Park) 717-567-953704-05 W York White Rose Wanderers Gardeners PA (Pine Grove State Park) 717-677-651104-05 W Susquehanna Rover Volksmarch Club Newville PA (VFW Post 6070) 717-567-953704 W Greenbelt Volksmarchers Beltsville MD 301-937-354904 W Loudon Walking & Volksmarch Club Leesburg VA 703-737-217504 W Loudon Walking & Volksmarch Club Sterling VA – National Trails Day 703-737-217511 W Columbia Volksmarch Club Cooksville MD 410-290-651011 W Gator Volksmarch Club Chesapeake VA (Northwest River Park) 757-490-932413 W Northern Virginia Volksmarchers Farifax Station – Evening Walk 703-352-513516 M Penn Dutch Pacer Monthly Membership Meeting, Lancaster Health Campus - @ 7:00 PM 717-786-7118
July 2011Date Type Sponsoring Club Event Location Contact Phone02 W Northern Virginia Volksmarchers Fairfax VA ( Lord of Life Luthern Church) 703-978-203209 W Columbia Volksmarch Club Highland MD (Schooley Mill Park) 410-290-651016 W Annapolis Amblers Severna Park – Summer Walk on B & A Trail 410-960-622621 M Penn Dutch Pacer Monthly Membership Walk/Picnic/ Meeting :: Haffnagle Park Quarryville 717-786-711825 NW Washington DC Area VM Club Alexandria VA (Barret Branch Library in Old Town) 703-765-3128
August 2011Date Type Sponsoring Club Event Location Contact Phone06 W Columbia Volksmarch Club Elkridge MD (Rockburn Branch Park – West Area) 410-290-651020 W Liberty Bell Wanderers New Britain – Lake Galena 215-442-133720 W Great Greenbelt Volksmarchers, Inc. Greenbelt MD (Greenbelt Lake) 301-937-354922 NW Washington DC Area VM Club Alexandria VA (Barrett Bracn Library in Old Town) 703-765-312827 W Piedmont Pacers Hagerstown MD (Augustober Fest Tent) 410-795-7855
September 2011Date Type Sponsoring Club Event Location Contact Phone
10 W Baltimore Walking Club Lutherville MD 410-252-316510 W Washington DC Area VM Club Alexandria VA – Wilson Bridge Walk 703-765-312811 W Freestate Happy Wanderers Laurel MD (Montpelier Arts Center) 301-717-360412 W Northern Virginia Volksmarchers Fairfax Station – Evening Walk 703-644-212915 M Penn Dutch Pacer Monthly Membership Meeting, Lancaster Health Campus - @ 7:00 PM 717-786-711815 NW Gater Volksmarch Club Norfolk VA 757-490-932417 W York White Rose Wanderers East Berlin PA (East Berlin Community Ctr Pavilion) 717-432-219517 W Piedmont Pacers Taneytown MD (Taneytown Elementary School) 410-795-785517 W Northern Virginia Volksmarchers Burke VA – Burke Lake Park 703-644-018918 W Liberty Bell Wanderers New Britain PA (Lake Galena) 215-442-133723 W Marienstadt Wanderers St. Mary's, Elk County 814-834-148024-25 W Penn Dutch Pacer Volksmarch Club Lancaster PA (East Lampeter Community Park) 717-625-353324 GW Liberty Bell Wanderers Philadelphia PA - Steuben Day Parade 215-354-172324 W Marienstadt Wanderers St. Mary's, Elk County 814-834-148024 W Washington DC Area VM Club Alexandria VA (Barrett Branch Library in Old Town) 703-765-312824 W Loudon Walking & Volksmarch Club Lovettsville VA ( Game Protective Association) 703-737-217525 W Marienstadt Wanderers Wilcox, PA 814-834-148026 NW Washington DC Area VM Club Alexandria VA (Barretts Branch Library in Old Town) 703-765-3128
October 2011Date Type Sponsoring Club Event Location Contact Phone01 W Princeton Area Walkers Bordentown NJ 609-259-236501 W Virginia Vagabonds Williamsburg VA 757-766-306501 W Ft. Belvoir Outdoor Rec/DMWR Ft. Belvoir, Alexandria VA (Ocktoberfest Event) 703-805-114301-02 W Piedmont Pacers Frederick MD (Frederick Fairgrounds) 410-795-785501-02 W Ft. Belvoir Outdoor Recreation Ft. Belvoir, Alexandria 703-805-114302 W Annapolis Amblers West Annapolis = Annoplis Octoberfest 410-224-090708 W Germanna Volkssport Association Culpeper VA 540-455-077215 W Lee Lepus Volksverband Powhatan VA (Fighting Creek Park) 804-768-005515 W Great Greenblet Volksmarchers Inc. Greenbelt MD (Shrom Hills Park) 301-937-354915 W Susquehanna Rovers Carlisle Barracks Octoberfest 717-245-365915 W York White Rose Wanderers Hanover PA 717-451-070920 M Penn Dutch Pacer Monthly Membership Meeting, Lancaster Health Campus - @ 7:00 PM 717-786-7118
This calendar is a compilation of the data taken from the Atlantic Region Calendar which was cross referenced withthe AVA Calendar as of 05/20/2011. Since new walks are always being added we would suggested referencing the
AVA calendar for a definitive up to the mintue list of current walking events.
June, July, August 2011 - 7
21-23 W US Freedom Walk Festival Club Arlington VA (Residence Inn By Marriott Arlington Courthouse) 703-209-017422 W Loudon Walking & Volksmarch Club Lucketts/Leesburg VA (Tarara Winery) 703-737-217522 W Virginia Vagabonds Portsmouth VA 757-766-306529 W Piedmont Pacers Mt. Airy MD (Linganore Winery) 301-829-3685
November 2011Date Type Sponsoring Club Event Location Contact Phone01 W Princeton Area Walkers Bordentown, NJ 609-259-236505 W Columbia Valksmarch Club Gaithersburg _ Moonlight Walk 301-926-858005 W Pennisula Pathfinders of Virginia Newport News – Newport News Park 757-890-922011-13 3W York White Rose Wanderers Gettysburg PA (Days Inn Gettysburg) 717-677-651112 S York White Rose Wanderers Gettysburg PA (YWCA if Gettysburg & Adams County) 717-309-608812 W York White Rose Wanderers Ortana PA (Adams County Winery) 717-677-651112 W Seneca Valley Sugarloafers Gaithersburg MD (Seneca Creek Park) 301-926-858015 W Pennisula Pathfinders of Virginia Newport News VA (Newport News Park) 757-890-922017 M Penn Dutch Pacer Monthly Membership Meeting, Lancaster Health Campus - @ 7:00 PM 717-786-711825-26 3W Susquahanna Rovers Hershey Walkfest – Hershey Recreation Center 717-761-1338
December 2011Date Type Sponsoring Club Event Location Contact Phone3 W Washington DC Area VM Club Alexandria VA ( Barrett Branch Library in Old Town) 703-765-31289-10 NW Peninsula Pathfinders of Virginia Williamsburg VA (Clarion Hotel) 757-766-30659-11 S Peninsula Pathfinders of Virginia Williamsburg VA (Clarion Hotel) 757-766-306510 W Annapolis Amblers Eastport- Annaoplis Lights Boat Parade 410-867-751110-11 W Peninsula Pathfinders of Virginia Williamsburg VA (Clarion Hotel) 757-766-306517 NW Germanna Volksport Association Fredericksburg VA 540-455-077230 W Baltimore Walking Club Baltimore – Hampden Lights 410-252-316531 W Gater Volksmarch Club Smithfield VA (Smithfield Station Restaurant) 757-490-932431 2W Freestate Happy Wanderers Columbia MD 410-437-2164
2011 Atlantic Region Calendar, continued
day. Upon arriving at the parking area in downtownManheim, the wind ceased blowing and the rainslowed to a light drizzle. A rain jacket and cap provedto be adequate for the entire walk.Tom Jackson became our leader for the 10k walkersand Julie Geyer lead the 5k group. The 10k walk wasdone at a brisk pace in just over two hours, probablydue to the risk of another severe weather disturbance.Several suggestions were made to correct and clarifythe walk instructions. All the walkers agreed that themap was correct, although a bit difficult to follow.The good news is that no one actually got lost, al-though at least one walker suggested that I should "getlost" immediately!The walk instruction corrections and clarificationswere duly noted and presented to our Manheim YREguru, Trailmaster Barry Weatherholtz. At this writingall corrections have been addressed and the trail re-vised to include the Manheim Covered Bridge as awelcome addition to the walk trail.Thus what began as a walk being done in a weatherdisaster, turned into an enjoyable tour with the YorkWhite Rose Wanderers. The group thanked me for myguidance and patience. I thanked them for their atten-dance and their contributions toward making ourManheim YRE an even more pleasant walking experi-ence.
Cont’d from Page 5 • York White Rose . . .
you might have suspected they became very active inthe club in Colorado and at the same time kept theirmembership with PDP. When we found out that Russand Flo will be attending the Iowa convention it wasonly natural to choose a PDP member who is extreme-ly active and knowledgeable in the politics of AVA.Thus we selected Russ Bechtold as our primary dele-gate and Flo is the backup or secondary PDP delegateto the convention. As has been customary for all PDPdelegates to conventions in the past they will receivethe usual stipend to help offset any expenses they mayhave on PDP's behalf.The convention is coming up shortly and should youas a PDP member have any concerns that you wouldlike Russ to voice or have specific positions that youthink he should consider, please do not hesitate to
Cont’d from Page 9 • Our Convention . . .
of even five walkers at each event will start a reversein the trend which has shoved the Atlantic Region intobeing recognized as the region who has lost the mostparticipants recently. National can not increase thenumber of walkers at each of our events. This falls onthe shoulders of each and every volksmarcher. Goodluck on increasing your clubs participation rate.
Cont’d from Page 11 • Atlantic Region
June, July, August 2011 - 8
When you read the title Cleaning the Trail if you im-mediately thought of someone with a broom makingsure that the trail was free of debris then you have thewrong idea about what we are going to talk abouthere.The cleaning of the trail takes place at the end of ev-
ery walk that the Penn Dutch Pacershave ever had and it basicallyinvolves taking down every-
thing the trailmasterslaboriously put up
prior to the walk.All the signs di-recting you to thestartpoint, all the
water coolers, cardtables, chairs and
candy at the checkpoints and all those ribbonsthat are tied with care and the occasional arrows thatkeep you from getting lost on the trail have to be tak-en down as though they were never there.As with putting up all the ribbons and signs takingthem down takes a lot longer then just doing the walk.Typically once our startpoint closes at 1 PM the trailcleaning crew gets started. Sometimes one person willclean the whole trail but more often then not the taskis split between several individuals. Each person takesa portion of the trail and the clean up goes quicker.During our last walk in Mt. Gretna one person walkedthe portion of the trail that was along the rail trail, an-other person walked the portion of the trail that in-cluded Gov Dick back to the startpoint and the otherperson picked up signs, trail markings and checkpointparaphernalia that could be accessed by car. Thewhole process took three people about 2 hours aftermost everyone else was cleaned up and gone. Whenthey were done no one could tell that the Penn DutchPacers even had an event there which actually is thewhole point of cleaning the trail in the first place.Cleaning the trial is mostly uneventful although therewere a few notable moments during the task at Mt.Gretna. As mentioned previously one person cleanedthe trail that passed the tower on top of Gov Dick andsince as any one who walked the 10k trail knowsthere is a labyrinth of trails covering the top of themountain it was decided that taking along a map ofthe trails in Gov Dick would be a good idea. And as itturned out the map wasn't needed by the person clean-ing trail (since all that cleaning the trail required was
Cleaning the Trailfollowing the ribbons) but it was a help to two runnerswho were on the top of Gov Dick who queried aboutwhere a certain trail ended up.There were many interactions with folks commentingon the ribbons and wondering what they were for. Itwas an excellent opportunity to proselytize aboutvolkssporting. There was a couple walking with twogolden lab puppies who indicated they were fromLancaster that they walked on Gov Dick at least oncea week with their dogs. They inquired about whetherthey could take dogs on Volksmarches.One of the essential pieces of equipment for someonecleaning the trail is some type of bag in which to col-lect all the ribbons and the occasional arrows that kepteveryone on track while they walked the trail. All theperson cleaning the trail, has to do even if they hadn'twalked it previously, as was the case in this instance,is to follow the ribbons and to take them down as yousee them and to try not to miss any.So ribbon after ribbon came down around the towerand down the other side of Gov Dick. Things weregoing well, ribbons were coming down in rapid suc-cession on the down hill leg and then right there in thecenter of the trail lays a cell phone. No one wasaround. It was on Verizon and had a full signal. Sincethere was no way of knowing how long the phone hadbeen laying there it was decided to wait until later toget into contact with the owner and get the phoneback to them. So the phone was added to the bag withthe ribbons.So on with the mission at hand... taking down the rib-bons, that is until the phone that was now at the bot-tom of the bag of ribbons rang. It took a few secondsto realize what that sound was and where it was com-ing from since the ring tone was not a familiar one.Finding the phone meant thrusting a hand into the rib-bon bag and finding the heaviest thing in it. Finallythe phone. It was flipped open and there was a gentle-men on the other end. After explaining that the phonehad been found on one of the trails at Gov Dick anddiscovering that the gentlemen on the other end wasthe son of the lady that it belonged to, the son ex-plained that his mother, had lost it, was still at GovDick and wondered how we could meet up to get itback to her. During the conversation it came up thatthe lady was walking with her husband and two gold-en labs and it was indicated that in fact they had beenseen on the other side of the tower going in the oppo-
Cont’d in the next page
June, July, August 2011 - 9
site direction. Remember that we mentioned earlierthat the person cleaning the trail had not walked thistrail before and was simply following the ribbons totake them down. This fact made it impossible to knowwhere the ribbons were going and where the lady wholost the phone could be met to give her her phoneback.So it was determined that the easiest thing to do wasto wait til tomorrow and call and get an address andsimply drop it in the mail. So the phone goes back inthe ribbon bag and it was back to taking down ribbonsuntil... you guessed it, the phone rang again.This time it was the lady who owned the phone call-ing, we suppose from her husband's phone. A conver-sation similar to the one that was had with her sonensued, again with an explanation that the only thingthat was for sure is that the ribbons ended at the firecompany and that is where the phone would eventual-ly end up. After it was determined that it was futile totry to figure out where she and her husband were inrelation to where the ribbons were being taken downit was decided to meet at the fire company to get herphone back to her.So on with taking down the ribbons. The ribbons ledto a trail that ended on a street in what was a secludedwooded development of homes. The ribbons madeseveral turns on a slightly down hill course throughthe development and came onto a long stretch on astraight street. Intent on taking down the ribbons butat the same also hearing a vehicle that slowed as itapproached, it was soon realized that the car wasslowing to come to a stop right beside where the latestribbon was being detached from it two-day display.Low and behold it was the folks with the two goldenlabs. They knew that the person who had the phonewas taking down the ribbons and figured if they fol-lowed them they'd find their phone, which they did.It was nice to be able to finally hand the phone over toits owner. They drove off happy that they now had thephone they thought they lost and the new knowledgeof volkssporting and hopefully with a very good im-pression of those who enjoy the sport.There were only a few short blocks of ribbons left tilthe Mt. Grenta Fire Co. was in site. One of the otherpeople who walked a portion of the trail was alreadythere and the person who was clearing things by carwas just pulling in. After taking some time to load therest of the things everyone said there goodbye's andthank yous and another great Penn Dutch Pacer walkwas in the history books.
Cont’d from Previous Page .
Every other June the AVA holds a convention. Thisyear it's in Des Moine Iowa. Although the AVA con-vention offers a splendor of great walking opportuni-ties, actual walking is not the sole purpose or maybedepending on how you look at it not even the mainpurpose of the convention.A large portion of the time at the convention is spentin business meetings. These meetings are attended bydelegates from all the eligible clubs in the US andthese delegates have voting privileges. And these del-egates are the ones who represent the views of indi-vidual club to the NEC (National Executive Coluncil).This convention will also be eventful since there areelections for seats on the NEC after the resignationearlier this year of the President and Vice-Presidentfollowing what can only be described as thehiring/firing debacle of the new executive director thatstarted last Fall. Many people feel that the decisionsmade at this AVA convention this year are more cru-cial than ever since the bad stumble with what ap-peared to be an Executive Director that had goodideas for taking the AVA forward. Many feel that theAVA has not had the leadership to take AVA forwardand to find a way to stem the decline of participationand the demise of many clubs.In addition to the leadership issues the club represen-tatives will also be addressing changes to the AVAby-laws. So maybe by now you've asked yourself thequestion, who is the Penn Dutch Pacer delegate to thisyear's convention.The selection process for a delegate started somemonths ago. The first thing we do is to try to find outif there is someone who is a member who is locallyinvolved in the club who is going to the conventionwho is willing to be a delegate. If there is not a mem-ber who is locally active who is going to the conven-tion, which is the case this year, then if the PennDutch Pacers want to be represented at the conventionwe need to look at a PDP member who is not local butis active in volkssporting or designate a person to beour proxy at the meeting which means usually some-one from another club in the Atlantic Region.Those of you who have been active in the Penn DutchPacers for a while know Russ and Flo Bechtold. Be-tween them they probably held every office and didevery job that there was to do for PDP for many yearsuntil they moved to Colorado to be with their daughterwhich has to be approaching a decade ago now. As
Our Convention Representatives
Cont’d on Page 7, column 2, Bottom
June, July, August 2011 - 10
The days of the number only trail rating system arecoming to an end since beginning January 1, 2012 alltrails including YRE and Seasonal Walks will need tobe rated with the NEW two part trail rating system thatis being implemented by all AVA affliliated clubs.The event brochure including the AVA electronic
event listing (Walking Events – Event Details) mustidentify a trail rating for all events except swimming,boating and skating events. In addition, any routeobstacles or special conditions must be explained todescribe the level of difficulty of the event.Although any rating system is somewhat subjectivethe new two-part numerical/alpha rating system willgive event organizers a reliable tool so participantshave an idea about what to expect on a route whetherit is for walking, biking, cross-country skiing, orsnowshoeing. They need to know about majorelevation gains, heavy traffic, narrow road shoulders,construction detours, roaming dogs, cattle guards, andthe like on the route.Also, this is a safety issue since an improperly orunderrated event could have serious consequences forsomeone who is not physically prepared for morestrenuous route conditions.The sponsoring club will decide this rating based onthe scale given below. The Regional Director shouldwork with chartered clubs to achieve uniformity in theassignment of all trail ratings.This new trail rating system will be a change and alearning process for everyone involved inVolksmarching and will take some time to understandand become familiar with.
New AVA Trail/Route Rating SystemWe know that January is sixmonths off but we'd like you toseriously take the time to ponderserving your club, the PennDutch Pacers at a higher level. At
the January2012 meetingelections of officers will be held.We are sure that the position ofPresident will be open since ourby-laws only allow the president toserve two consecutive terms. Otheroffices maybe open if the personsserving in them decide not to runagain.In most cases the people servingyou in elected positions have beendoing so for many years. This is thepresident's second time at a twoterm stint as president. Many of theother officers have simply remainedin place for extended periods oftime or shuffled to other positionsmostly because there aren't other
people that step forward to fill them. We can't sayTHANK YOU often enough or loud enough to thesepeople who have decided that the Penn Dutch Pacersare important enough to make the extra commitmentnecessary to hold a PDP office position.Without qualified, enthusiastic, dedicated individualsto volunteer their time to fill the named positions withthe Penn Dutch Pacers your club which continuallyproduces walks that you enjoy will cease to exist.Don't think it could happen. Think again. At one timeThe Lebanon Baloney Stompers was a thriving clubthat eventually dwindled to just a hand full and thenbasically one person hanging on til the end. They areno more!We don't want to keep sounding like a broken record,but the truth is that unless we can get other people in-volved at the core of PDP and at the same time some-how introduce our sport to new people and get thementhused about it, no matter what happens at the na-tional level, the Penn Dutch Pacers will fade into thesunset and join the list of clubs that have ceased toexist like the Baloney Stompers.None of us want that to happen. With your help wecan make the Penn Dutch Pacers strong for genera-tions to come. Thanks in advance to anyone and ev-eryone who can help.
PDP
Officer Elections January 2012
June, July, August 2011 - 11
Club Off iceHolders
Phil Allamong, President786-7118
George Resh, 1st VP397-1906
Donna Bashaw, 2nd VPVolunteer Coordinator
•••Inge Koenig, Sec
•••Kitty Glass, Treas.
•••Barry Weatherholtz,TM*
•••Don Young, Asst. TM*
•••Membership & Registrar
Pete Byrne393-6700
Special Walking ProgramsBob Coonney
•••Sales
Marv Albert653-8989
PublicityRose & Mary Angeline
•••Historian
Chris Resh397-1906
WebmeisterPhil Allamong
•••YRE Coordinator
Bob Gast393-8083
KSVA PresidentJoan Lampart215-529-5686
[email protected]*Trailmaster
The folks listed below arethe people that have
stepped forward & give theirtime & talents to make PDP
work for you. Anencouraging word & a ThankYou occasionally is a small
price to pay for what they do.
PENN DUTCH PACERS NEWSLETTERThe PDP Newsletter is published for the membership and friends of PDP and is produced 4 times a year with the intention of keepingeveryone up-to-date with what is happening within the club and also within the world of Volksmarching. We encourage contributionsfrom members and non-members alike. Our deadlines are November 1 for Dec/Jan/Feb edition, February 1 for the Mar/Apr/May
edition, May 1 for the Jun/Jul/Aug edition and August 1 for the Sep/Oct/Nov edition. We prefer that articles for inclusion be submittedvia e-mail either as a Word attachment or as native e-mail. We also accept articles typed or in long hand. All submissions will be
included on a first-come first-included space available basis. Thanks in advance for your submissions.
Editor...........................................................................................Phil Allamong
Contributors : Pete Byrne, George Resh, Don Young, Sherry & Phil Allamong
Vibrant and colorful raspberry vinaigrette is a great choice toserve on a nutty or fruity salad. Toss a handful of cranberries,pine nuts or walnuts on your salad along with raspberry vinai-grette salad dressing for a sweet treat.Ingredients: * 1/2 cup raspberries, fresh or frozen * 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar * 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar * 2 tsp sugar * 1 tbsp dijon mustard * 1/4 cup vegetable oil
Preparation:Add all ingredients, except oil to a blender or food pro-cessor and puree until smooth. Slowly add oil untilwell combined.
Keep in mind that you can try exchanging the raspberries forany fresh fruits that are available during the season. Experiment there isnothing better than homemade salad dressing to make your salad somethingspecial.
Easy Raspberry Vinaigrette
share favorite recipes in future issues of the newsletter.You will also need to bring your plates, utensils, cups andserving utensils for your food contributions. Drinks alongwith Dogs by Don and/or Weiners by Wetherholtz (we’re
not quite sure who yet) will be provided.There is electricity in the pavilion ifyou need electricity for a crock pot,electric fry pan, roaster, etc. There arealso two rather new charcoal grilles
that border the pavilion, if you care touse them. Obviously you would need to
bring charcoal and charcoal lighter if you planto use the grilles.Once lunch is over we will hold our July meet-
ing at about 1:00 PM in the pavilion. The meetingshouldn't be too long so you will have the rest of yourSunday free. All times provided except the 9:00 AM startfor the walk are approximate since we will attempt to gowith the flow for the rest day.Our picnic like all our meetingsare open to all our members andinterested parties and this isyour personal invitation toattend our walk/picnic/meetingeven if you don’t regularlyattend our other meetings. Please come andjoin us for this casual walk/picnic/meeting.
Cont’d from Page 1 • Jul;y Walk/Picnic/Meeting …
If you had reviewed the AVAparticipation report for 2008 –2010 that was sent out earlieryou might have noticed thistrend. In 2008, the AtlanticRegion had 32,214participants. In 2010, we had28,843 participants. That is adecrease of 7,371 walkersbetween these two years. AVAnationally had 9,649 lessparticipants. That means that76% of the reduction ofwalkers nationally were fromthe Atlantic Region.
I know that since I assumedthe office of AtlanticRegional Director thatmany individuals haveinformed me that their
clubs average participationhas dropped by 15 to 50
walkers per event. We need tomake a conscientious effort toreach out to the public andinform them of our events. Weneed to have all eventsadvertised in local newspapersand radio stations, fliers postedon the windows of every storein town, personally inviteeverybody we know to cometo our event, go to our friendshome to pick them up and takethem to the walk, and insureall former walkers know weare having a walk. A slow gain
Dramatic Decreasein Atlantic Region
Walkersfrom Sam Tollett
Atlantic Region Director
Cont’d on Page 7, column 2, bottom
June, July, August 2011 - 12
Penn Dutch Pacers Volksmarch Club, Inc.PO Box 7445Lancaster PA 17604-7445Time Dated Material -- Please Deliver Immediately
Contents•East Lampeter is Coming•Vote for the Newsletter’s New Name•A Special July Walk/Picnic/Meeting^ page 1•Mt. Gretna Followup^ Page 2•President’s Message•Members & Milestones^ Page 3•A New Way to Volunteer•Dates to Remember^ Page 4•Wanderers Invade Manheim•In Memoriam^ page 5•Atlantic Region Calendar^ page 6•Atlantic Region Calendar^ Page 7•Cleaning the Trail^ Page 8•Our Convention Representatives^ Page 9•New AVA Trail/Route Rating System•Officer Elections January 2012^ Page 10•Dramatic Decrease in AR Walkers^ Page 11
Check us out at www.penndutchpacers.org
PresortedStandard
U.S. PostagePaid
Lancaster, PAPermit No. 58
Return Service Requested!
MEMBERSHIP APPLICATIONFAMILY NAME _______________________ FIRST NAME ____________________ SPOUSE _____________________
ADDRESS ________________________________ CITY ________________________ ST ____ ZIP ________________
TELEPHONE (___)____-______ CHILDREN’S NAMES ____________________________________________________
E-MAIL ADDRESS (Please) _________________________________________________________________________
I hereby make application for membership in, and agree to conform to the bylaws or any amendment thereof in the PENN DUTCH PACERS VOLKSMARCHCLUB, INC., and with the rules and regulations of the AVA in the IVV and in application I certify the above.
DATE _______________ SIGNATURE _________________________________________NEW ___RENEWAL All membership fees are renewable in June.
___$10.00 • 1 year ___ $18.00 • 2 years ___$25.00 • 3 years
CHECKS TO: PENN DUTCH PACERS VOLKSMARCH CLUB, INC. ATTN.: MEMBERSHIP P. O. BOX 7445, LANCASTER, PA. 17604-7445
Check where you would like to help: ___AWARDS TABLE ___REGISTRATION ___TRAIL ___REFRESHMENTS
___PUBLICITY ___CHECKPOINTS ___NEWSLETTER ___WHERE NEEDED
A WHOLE DIFFERENT KIND OF WALK