Apache Roundup '99 review


Here's where you can read about and see the pictures from the Apache Roundups that took place in 1999. Look like fun? Well, join us for Roundup 2001!!


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Eastern
U.S. Region

Read the reviews & see the pictures!

Midwestern
U.S. Region

Read the reviews & see the pictures!

 


Eastern U.S. Region

The 1st Eastern Region Apache Roundup '99 was held on 7/23-24 at Wanderwood Camping Park, in Summittville, New York. Check out the pictures!!

Jim & Val L.'s 1966 Raven Steve & Jane (plus dogs) and their 1978 Ramada Til & John preparing dinner for the Pot Luck Supper L to R:  Richard (front) and Cathy (rear) Kaltenhauser;

Coordinator Report:

Hi Doug (and everyone else),

The first Eastern Region Apache Roundup '99 went very well. The group was quite small but the interest in meeting other Apache owners sure made up for it. John and Til were there with Til's 1968 Eagle (she is
the original owner!). Rich and Cathy were there with their 1969 Eagle. Steve and Jane had their 1977 Ramada. Tom brought his 1966 Golden Buffalo 'in spirit', along with some very nice custom made Apache Round Up 1999 t-shirts and hats. Val and I had our 1966 Raven. It must have looked like traveling back in time to those that didn't know what was going on. It is wonderful how well these Apaches seem to hold up and 'keep on camping'.

Friday night was spent meeting everyone, sharing stories, and checking out each others campers. The campsite was nice and big, with the main campground quite a ways away. It was like we had our own private place to meet. We all decided to spend Saturday morning doing 'our things' seperately. The pot luck dinner was planned to happen around 6 PM and continue until whenever.

Saturday afternoon around 4:00 or so, it started to get cloudy and thunder and stuff. A little windy, a few spritzes of rain and it was all gone. The break in the heat was welcomed by all.

Everyone was pretty much primed for the pot luck dinner gathering. You could tell, people were cooking up a storm (maybe that is what caused the storm...?). Fresh corn-on-the-cob, homemade perogies, kikovahn
(spelling???), mexican style meatballs, chicken stroganoff (spelling again???), fresh green beans, beef stew, apple pie, fresh fruit cups, rolls....there was enough to feed twice as many people. AND BOY WAS IT GOOD! I think I ate about a hundred pounds worth.

The conversation around the dinner table was wonderful. I have to mention the wonderful collection of hand tied flies (for fishing) that the group presented me with in appreciation for the hard work organizing the gathering. They surely caught me off-guard with that. They surely are a really nice group of people.

After a little cleanup from dinner, we gathered around the campfire for more conversation. Til and Cathy did the honors of making 'smoores' (graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallow) for those that still had
room. Val and I had one piece of "Pennsylvania Blue Oak" left to add some character to the campfire. It was perfect. High, thin clouds, nearly a full moon, a slight breeze, the stars were out in force (including cassiopeia, which was pointed out to all by John). Even the mosquitos took the night off for us to enjoy the evening. Tom and I sacrificed and stayed up until the fire died down to just embers (about 1:30 AM).

Up at 6:00 AM to start packing before the heat of the day dampened the spirits with sweat. I think Kodak and the film processing people will be thinking it is Christmas with all of the films that will be developed. I think I am speaking for everyone that was there when I say that it couldn't have been better. Unless of course, it was only 80F instead of 90F+ during the day.

I know that Val and I would like to get together again with everyone that can make it. There was some talk about possibly doing another get together in the fall on the east coast. Anyone interested should email
me at JRLockard@enter.net WITH SOME SUGGESTIONS ON THE DATES THAT THEY COULD MAKE IT. If there is enough interest, maybe we can do it again yet this year to involve those that couldn't make the July gathering.

Jim and Val Lockard (Eastern Region Apache '99 Coordinators)

Attendant Reports:

Hi Doug!

The Eastern Roundup is history now, and "...a good time was had by all". :-) I'm sure Jim will send you a report. If he doesn't, just ask him for one. Everyone took bunches of photos and you can expect to get deluged with them starting within 3 or 4 days. I was the only one with a nylon dome tent since my canvas is still at Gregory's. Jim had generic " 19_ _ Apache _ _ _ _ _ _ _ " placcards made up which we all took and filled in the blanks. I clipped my " 1966 Apache Golden Buffalo" sign over the 'Coleman' name on the rain fly of my tent & everybody took photos of my 'camper'. :-)

We had a nice 'remote' section of the campground with water & electric hookups, and a showers/restrooms bldg pretty much all to ourselves. The restroom stalls were extremely way too small - the men could not sit on the toilet without sitting sideways, otherwise the knees protruded a good 3 inches or so outside the stall & you couldn't close the door. The showers were 'ok' at best. Otherwise everything else was great. We had a wonderfull pot luck dinner with more food than we knew what to do with, and John Hale, on behalf of all of us, presented Jim Lockard with a small plastic box filled with trout fishing flys :-) as a Thank You for coordinating the event.

I can't wait to get my Buffalo on the road again so I can go to another one!

Tom

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The 2nd Eastern Region Apache Roundup '99 was held on 10/1-3 at Hidden Valley Lake Campground in Kingston NY! 

Coordinator Report:

Hi Doug and all others,
Well, we pulled off another great weekend get together. The size of the group was smaller this time but the spirits and good times made up for it. John and Til returned with their 1968 Eagle; Steve and Jane came
back with their 1977 Ramada (Inn); Tom made it this time with his Golden Buffalo; and we (Jim and Val) made it with the 1966 Raven. There were some stories about being lost due to the detours from the Interstate highway construction and Tom almost had a major loss when his one wheel almost came off. Fortunately all worked out okay.

Everyone arrived on Friday throughout the day. A nice setting in the trees for the campsites. A bunch of catch up stories and a relatively early turn in for us. Saturday started kind of slow as we all 'did our thing' in different directions for a while. The afternoon brought us all back together. Preparations for the pot luck dinner started with Tom, Jane, and I going down to the lake to catch fish for the fish fry to start the dinner. After filling the bucket, we dragged it back to the site to get ready for the next steps. Steve wasn't quite as
optomistic about our ability to catch fish and bought some fillets at the store while he was out. There were perch, blue gills, catfish, and butter fish, all batter dipped and golden brown. Boy were they good.

Well, a great dinner followed the fish fry and the campfire lasted until midnight. We were all a little slow getting up and packing. Except Steve and JANE!!! The dogs didn't understand what sleeping in was for,
so they got started packing earlier than the rest of us. John and Til managed to get closed up just as the showers were starting. Tom and us were just too slow. I had to open ours up when we returned home to dry the canvas out in the garage.

We are working on a JUNE 2000 date for our next get together. Hopefully, we can get more people to be there. Mark you calendars for June 2000 and I'll start pestering people in the spring. That's assuming that Y2K hasn't ended the world as we know it by then :o)

I didn't get pictures, but others did and someone will share as they become available.

Hope to see you again,

Jim Lockard (Eastern Region Apache Coordinator)


Midwest U.S. Region

The 1st Midwest Region Apache Roundup '99 was held on 10/1-3 at the LaSalle - Peru KOA in north-central Illinois.

 1st Midwest Apache Roundup! October, 1999

 '75 Royal with Doug & Heidi  & Ben '75 Ramada with Dennis, Renee, & Sierra  '75 Royal with Harry, Kathleen, & Harry '65 Silver Eagle with Paul & Karen '78 Yuma with Robert & Irene rndup mw5.jpg (54766 bytes) Apache Kids!


Attendant Report:

What a great time! What a great group of folks! 5 Apache campers and 13 people showed up for the 1st ever Midwest Apache Roundup. There were two 1975 Royals, one 1975 Ramada, one 1978 Yuma, and a 1965 Silver Eagle. The four hard-sided Apache's were all green! We set up in a big circle and what a sight it was! Harry and Kathleen arrived from Illinois in their '75 Royal with their son Harry and two wiener dogs. Myself (Doug) and Heidi came from Illinois in the other '75 Royal with our son Ben. Dennis and Rene were from Illinois in their shining '75 Ramada with their daughter Sierra. All the kids were two, and they had a blast together! Ironically, the three families had so much in common it was spooky! Robert and Irene arrived from Michigan in their '78 Yuma with their poodle, and Paul and Karen came from Wisconsin in their '65 "Green Bay Packers" Silver Eagle. Everyone got along wonderfully and the only mishap of the weekend was a bee sting on Heidi's neck (OUCH!) Luckily Irene saved the day with some homeopathic doctoring!

The weather was cool but nice. The fire pit was in the middle of our circle and it sure was good to have a nice warm fire on those cool starry nights. The autumn colors were gorgeous at Starved Rock State Park. We had a little drizzle one morning and, as usually occurs, we had to break camp in a good steady rain on Sunday.   Irene and Robert enlightened us with a nice technique for breaking down in the rain: Lift the stabilizer feet while the camper is still up, then crank the lift up a ways to drain the water off the roof. Take a long-handled squeegee (they used an extension handle) and while the end is lowered, squeegee the water and leaves off the bed end! Reverse this and drop the front a ways to remove the rest of the water and squeegee the other roof end. Voila! When you fold the ends in, there's only a little water to towel off for a nice dry closing. Thank you Robert and Irene!!!

We had a big potluck dinner on Saturday and Harry was presented with an official Apache Roundup baseball hat for his coordinating efforts.  Everyone was so friendly and helpful and it was a very enjoyable campout. We all agreed that there's nothing like Apache camping! We discussed doing it again next year, and we also discussed a National Apache Roundup in or around the Apache birthplace of Lapeer, Michigan. Perhaps in 2004 for the 50th anniversary? This is something we'll definitely have to figure out!!

Thanks for attending everyone, and to those who couldn't make it, hopefully we'll see you next year!!

Camp on!!!

-Doug (Apache Webmaster)

Coordinator Report:

Hey All;

Kathleen, Harry IV & I just wanted to reiterate what Dennis sent and Doug put on the web page. We had a great time and really enjoyed your company at the '99 round-up. Even the weather couldn't dampen the experience. Even today we are still excitedly talking about the event and the great people we met!

I have to say that Apache people are as friendly and hospitable as all the Volkswagen people we have met in the past. I guess that's because the Apache camper and the Apache owners, must have the same karma, charisma, or what ever as the VW and its owners. Look at the enthusiasm when we put up the awning on Dennis & Renee's Ramada, or the impromptu open house. We all went to this event only knowing we had on thing in common, Apache campers. It was really interesting to see that we all had much more in common than we could imagine, kinda spooky at times.

A special thanks to Doug for putting his time and effort into the Apache Camper webpage. His website was the catalyst for this, as well as at least 2 other Apache gatherings. Although small, it is a great start and I am expecting the interest to really boom with the next camping season. I'm sure the first GMC RV event wasn't huge either, but this year they had over 300 at their national meet! There's an Airstream organization, a club for the big custom coaches, maybe and Apache camper owners group? A group of people dedicated to the preservation and enjoyment of the Apache Camper. It could happen, especially with the Apache name back in production. Manufactures LOVE owners groups and clubs.

Dinner was excellent! It is always a special treat when folks put their favorite camp meal out, let alone when it's times 5! If someone asked what we liked best, I would quickly reply....Everything!

We are still in AWE, as well as thank full, that the kids all got along so well. Hope the cool weather didn't cause any sniffles. Harry IV is fine, even after he decided he was going to wear his soaked (still don't know how he got it that wet) stocking hat for the ride home.

Hope to see you all at the '00 (2000, Y2K?) Round up. I just replied to an interested fella in Michigan who said he was up to putting together a Round up there. I'll be there for sure.

Happy Trails!

The Klimeks
Harry III, Kathleen & Harry IV
75 Apache Royal (for now, but looking for a Cimmaron!)


Thanks to all the wonderful folks who volunteered their time and energy to coordinate these Roundups! This first Roundup year was special and exciting. It all happened again in 2000 too! Please check out the Roundup 2000 reviews!


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