Well, it's now official....I am now the new WebMaster. Al Wilson has passed the baton to me and is on his way back north of the border as we write this. My goals are quite simple:
1. Try not to break anything!
2. Keep the website running and in good order.
3. Update and refresh areas where needed.
4. Breathe some new life into the Forums!
5. Provide an open line of communication for suggestions on how to improve and expand OUR website capabilities.

Al has left me some pretty large shoes to fill as I follow in his footsteps....I sincerely appreciate the vote of confidence that he and Ken Barker have given me with this new role. Let's have some fun together!

Houston, we have a PROBLEM!

It seems that somewhere in the last year or so a software misconfiguration has found its' way into the underlying Forums software. I discovered it initially a couple months ago when I attempted to make a new Classified listing to help Meghan Ryan advertise Charlie's coach for sale after he passed....and I couldn't do it!

So far, finding a solution has eluded me and beyond that, I'm finding my role as President has taken up the better part of any "spare" moments I might dedicate to website maintenance.....are there any Joomla experts in the audience? If so, please use the "Contact Us" form on the main page to get back to me.....this Forum line of communication is broken.....

So, for the VERY few who actually sign in and check the Forum, I can now report that it is repaired and fully functional!!!!  Let's use this tool for increased exchange of valuable information and community to its' fullest....

Good to know that you have been able to fix the forum and the ability to renew on-line. I had hopped on after sending you the most recent e-mail to see if there was a newsletter that I might have missed for Spring 2024. I could not find it in the list. Any news on your heath that I can share with our men's group? If so, send me an e-mail rather than posting on the forum....
Did I tell you about our most recent coach - 2012 Itasca Sunstar 30T. We have has 3 outings so far (2 local and 1 to Ohio). It is loaded and ready to travel to Myrtle Beach on Saturday for just 2 nights. Next week we are scheduled fo have the brakes checked before the next trip to Tennessee for 5 days for family reunion mid-June.

Hi Tim,

I've been busy with some travel and some tending to helping my good friend, Bob, with his post surgical recovery process....plus updating his Pseudo Trek (Flair) with LiFePo4 200AH, Solar (800W) and Inverter (2000W pure sine).  Bob and I go waaaay back to age 8 when we first met....his participation and activity with the RV world was severely impacted last year by three emergency vascular bypass surgeries to his left leg which were unsuccessful in the end.  He underwent a successful amputation above the knee in January (missing our annual Quartzsite outing) and got his prosthesis in early April following a lengthy recovery.  In late April we executed the "carrot on a stick" incentive to get back out and active by caravanning together from his home in Vancouver, WA up to Hoodsport. WA for a NWTFC rally.  Last month he and I drove up to Kent, WA to buy his new-to-him next toad, a 2001 Chevy Tracker 4WD w/automatic transmission to replace his Jeep 5 speed (the clutch pedal and entry hight were now an issue....).  Later this month we will be attending the NWTFC 20th Anniversary rally in McMinnville together.

As to the Spring Safari Trails issue, it has been delayed due to some health/family issues which have adversely affected our new Editor, so it appears that our Summer issue or possibly our Fall issue may be when we see our next release as a result.....lot's of moving pieces!

In further news concerning the Website, I've managed to overcome one more challenge to keeping it going by finding a work-around for the underlying conflict with updating the supporting PHP version which pulls the whole thing together....previously the highest I could get was PHP v7.4 which was at end of life and no longer receiving security updates.  Attempting to upgrade to PHP v 8.1 caused "issues"...now resolved with a baseline configuration change.  OK, that's quite enough GEEK SPEAK!  Let's just say that keeping this site up and running smoothly has required a LOT more geek research than I had time for while President, but now I seem to be making some progress.

This is a combination test posting and update to the info posted above....

I am saddened to report that my good friend, Bob Edwards, who I mentioned above has passed away following treatment for a recurring lung cancer issue. He finished his chemo and radiation in mid-late November of 2024 and just before Thanksgiving he lay down for an afternoon nap and didn't wake up. If you ever had the pleasure to spend time with him, you would know how difficult his passing has been. The good news (I have to dig pretty deeply into the weed patch to find this strawberry!) is that Bob and I got to spend the past 6 years reunited following a 40 year break where we had lost contact with one-another.....and that time reunited came about as a result of my lightning strike in August of 2018 while enroute to Shawnee OK for the 30th anniversary rally. If you managed to make Quartzsite this past January, you would have seen Bob's Pseudo Trek (Flair) there and had an opportunity to meet his daughter Christine and her husband Josh Letts. Josh has followed the pattern that Bob & I have set in the past by making himself available to help with mechanical issues and repairs...and there are several rigs with generators that now work much better as a result.

Since my last posting above, there have been serious medical issues to challenge nearly every member of your Executive Board....and that's where the year has gone with little progress to report on Safari-International events and newsletter publishing. THIS IS NOW CHANGING! At the most recent Board meeting last week the following goals were set: A new editor for the Safari Trails has been found and our next issue will be published in mid-June of this year! We have opened a contract with America's Best Campground in Branson MO to have a central US rally there in mid-May of 2026...more info on BOTH of those topics will be posted using the front page of this website in order to keep all of you up to date. In the meantime, I will be re-populating the Rallies Calendar of Events with cogent Times / Dates / Locations and points of contact for rallies that you can all attend around your local area(s).

I've arranged to spend some one-on-one time with a technical consultant to carve a path forward for our website in response to the need for a full re-write due to our aging and no longer supported website components and software. My first meeting will be later this week as we explore how best to proceed....again, look for further updates on this topic with links on the Home page. Our temporary work-arounds continue to work "OK", but I personally am really tired of how much Russian Bitcoin and Viagra spam continues to pour into my email as webmaster....the anti-spam rules and filters keep getting updated, but it is like a losing game of Whack-A- Mole!

That's about enough for now,, but let me close this post with an assurance that the Safari-International chapter is still alive and on the road to full recovery!