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Jerry & Anna Lee Braunstein
Our joint hobby is travel, both in the RV and internationally. Recent international trips include the eastern Mediterranean and crossing Drake’s Passage to Antarctica. We are also avid walkers and recently did the climb up to the face of the Crazy Horse Memorial in South Dakota. Our son, Jeff earned his Ph.D. in electrical engineering and is a professor at RPI in Troy, New York. Our daughter, Cheryl, is an exhibit developer with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC. She is married to Dave, an entomologist. Jerry is a native San Franciscan and Anna Lee was raised in Denver. We have lived in the Sacramento Valley of California for most of our lives and now reside in Rocklin, a suburb east of Sacramento. This is our second MIM caravan. We did the Canadian Maritimes last year and had a great time touring an area that we had never been to. We did Santa Fe and the Balloon Fiesta with Monaco International in 2005 and are really looking forward to a much more in depth tour of the area this time around. Joann Bush
My past life (besides being married for 42 years and having 2 sons and 3 grandchildren) include being a dietitian, a realtor, raising paint horses and miniature horses, living in the mountains and being a “ski bum” and working in my own business. Since retiring I have become very involved with volunteer work. My Pet Partner, Little Sandy, a five pound Yorkie (I will tell you all the story of her name when I meet you) is a registered Therapy Dog. She and I are a team who visit the elderly in nursing homes, adult day care centers and hospice patients performing Animal Assisted Activities and bringing comfort and joy to many people. She is also great company for me and a wonderful traveling companion. I look forward to making new friends on this New Mexico Caravan. Editor’s Note: Joann and Sandy were the original Tailgunners for the first Land of Enchantment caravan and helped with the planning of the original caravan. When Sandy became ill, they had to back out as tailgunners but did sign up for the 2006 caravan. Unfortunately, Sandy became very ill on the third day of our trip and they had to leave the caravan. We are thrilled that Joann and “Little Sandy” can now join us on this edition - Kim
David & Lois Cohen
In 1983 we switched from motorhomes to boats – much the same thing really . . . except for reefs, waves and hurricanes!! In 2005 we retired from our business of publishing International Law books (where we worked in adjoining offices for 35 years), sold the boat, sold the business and a week later flew to Florida and ordered our first Signature. We drove to Alaska the first year, did the Canadian Maritimes the second year and are doing the southwest this year. Traveling by motorhome is just the best – especially when you are married to the “Queen of OCD”. We have met lots on great people and enjoyed a travel experience NOTHING like our 27’ Travco!
Ed & Betsy Dingledy
Jerry & Marilyn Jenkins
Marilyn and I are
high school sweethearts from a small town in southern Marilyn is a high school teacher and was able to teach for over 22 years after raising two boys. I am an engineer and worked for Exxon Mobil (originally Humble) for over 33 years. Marilyn’s specialty was 10th grade English, and I was mostly involved in the computing area, managing the computing network for the Upstream portion of Exxon’s business for several years. While the boys were growing up, I participated in the Boy Scouts program heavily. I was an Assistant Scout Master, attended Philmont Boy Scout camp twice and was the Advancement Chairman for the Rising Star District for several years. Both boys made the Eagle rank and have made us proud throughout their lives. They are a big part of our life today. We have owned motor
homes since 1981, moving from a tent trailer to our first class C and have owned
3 Marilyn is currently
Secretary of the
Bill & Jayne Lindsay
Joe & Connie Monk
Our home is in Beach City, Texas, which is about 30 minutes east of Houston. We both retired from Exxon Mobil. When we retired, Connie had been marketing jet fuel to the US military and Joe had managed a petroleum refinery.
Jim & Kathy McBride
Our winter face resides in our motorhome, which as you know has wheels, so can be found anywhere between Idaho and Florida. The other half of our family lives in southern Georgia where we have a daughter-in-law, her husband, two grandsons, and two granddaughters. During the winter our major activities are centered around family, recreation, involvement with Habitat-for Humanities as care-a-vanners, and spending three weeks in Fairbanks, Alaska working on the lighting crew at the Ice Alaska-World Championship Ice Competition. We still have not figured out who we want to be when we grow up, so we keep moving until we do. It is my job to photograph everything and Jim’s job to remember how we got everywhere, so we can find our way back when we need. We are Jim and Kathy McBride!
Mitch & Barb Mitchell
Bert & Glenda Pipes
After we retired, we decided to start shopping and educating ourselves to RV living. We saw a FMCA magazine at a dealership and called them to subscribe to their magazine. This was a great help to us. Our daughter and son-in-law moved to Knoxville, TN, and every visit we made, we visited Buddy Gregg's business. We decided to purchase a Monaco. In 2001 we made the leap and are now enjoying the new 2000 Dynasty. We attended our first Monaco Rally and FMCA Rally in Albuquerque, NM and learned we were on the right track to fun retirement. We are members of Monaco International and Monaco's In Motion. Fellow members are fun lovers and three couples have become great travel companions, Herbert and Sophia Taylor from Virginia, Jim and Micki Bybee, and Bob and Dorothy Kroff, both from Portland Oregon. We spent the winter this year in Florida, working part-time at Disney World and discovered why FL has so many snowbirds. We are planning to return this year and enjoy the warm weather and new friends. Celebrating our 50th anniversary in 2007, we treated ourselves to a six-week tour of Ireland and Europe, which was a wonderful trip. Hopefully we can do one to Alaska, Canada, and Mexico with a caravan group. We are looking forward to the Land of Enchantment Adventure this year.
Kim & Shelly Pollock
Our son Jeff is a Senior Director with Oracle living in the Bay area. Last year, we had our first grandson (Carson) and by the time of the caravan, will have a granddaughter as well. If anyone would like to see pictures, let us know! We are currently on our 3rd RV having graduated from tents in 1999 and have been full timing since April of 2002. We spend the winters at our place in Indio, CA and the summers wherever our hearts and pocketbooks take us. Shelly’s hobbies include hiking, writing and traveling and Kim’s hobbies include Jeeping, computers and keeping everything electronic and mechanical operational. Kim is Vice President of the FMCA 4 Wheelers and has developed and is maintaining the numerous websites including Monacos in Motion and Monaco International. We put together and led the Land of Enchantment Caravan two years ago and did not plan on leading it again until our friends and tailgunners, Joe & Connie, convinced us that it was in our best interest to do it again. We are excited about meeting a whole new set of friends and showing you all one of our favorite haunts – Northern New Mexico.
Andrea (Andi) and Steve Sponenberg
We were married in Feb. 1978, and have 2 adult daughters and a son-in-law. The photo was taken at our daughter’s wedding in July 2007 (formal attire is not our norm). Traveling with us is our 10-year-old Yorkie, Bryce. We began camping in tents in the late 1980’s. We quickly progressed through a pop up camper, a trailer, a class C motor home, a gas class A, a 2000 Windsor, a 2005 Windsor, and are now in our dream coach, a 2009 Dynasty. We traveled extensively in the mid 1990’s, during school vacations, with our daughters. These trips included most of the US, including Alaska, and parts of Canada. We even have pictures of Steve wading in the Arctic Ocean at Prudhoe Bay. Now it is time to travel with our peers! In Aug. 2007, we sold our home and became full timers. And yes, we both drive the coach. As active members and officers in several chapters of FMCA, we enjoy planning and hosting rallies, as well as being rally participants. We hope to continue planning and participating for years to come. The itinerary looks great and we are very excited, especially about the Balloon Fiesta. We are looking forward to meeting everyone.
Herb & Sophia Taylor
Herb is originally from Texas and he attend Texas A & M for two years prior to joining the Navy. He subsequently got his BA degree from the University of West Florida graduating Summa Cum Laude. He is a veteran of 29 years in the Navy as a jet pilot. During his Navy career he flew 5400 flight hours and accumulated 900 carrier landings (300 at night) and flew 226 combat missions in Southeast Asia, all without mishap. He commanded Attack squadron 86 flying off the nuclear carrier USS Nimitz and later commanded the supply ship USS Concord. He was the Chief of Staff of the USS Enterprise Carrier Battlegroup at the time of his retirement. Sophia is originally from Washington DC and attended school there prior to her family moving to Virginia Beach, Virginia. Her parents emigrated from Greece and became naturalized citizens and raised a family of 9 children of which Sophia is the youngest. It is in Virginia Beach that Herb and Sophia met and they were married in the Chapel in the Woods aboard the Naval Air Station, Norfolk, VA. Herb and Sophia moved to Maine following Herb's retirement from the Navy and Herb became employed by Bath Iron Works, A General Dynamics Company. Herb was a Director and Program Manager for Bath Iron Works, and retired after 11 1/2 years with them. While there Sophia became involved in Arts and crafts and proved to be very talented in that endeavor. She has made numerous household crafts that adorn our home as well as the homes of our children. While in Maine, Herb and Sophia purchased their first RV in 1994 and have been continuous RVers every since. After retiring from BIW, they moved to Ivor, Virginia and became Snowbirds, residing in Florida during the winters, except for the occasional winter spent out West. They are presently in their 4th Motor Home, their 2007 Monaco Dynasty. They always travel with their beloved Boxer, Heidi.
Dennis & Leta Ward
We are newcomers to M.I.M. Joe and Connie Monk introduced us to the club at the Lancaster Pre-Rally. We live in Clovis California (next to Fresno), which is located in the center of the state. We both grew up here, have been married 47 years, have 3 daughters, 5 grandchildren, and a great grandchild on the way. Of course we enjoy traveling, but have also enjoyed water skiing, snow skiing, fishing, hunting (not Leta), and motorcycles. Leta is a retired hair stylist, and I am a retired professional firefighter. Our favorite trip, so far, has been traveling across the U.S. seeing Yellowstone, the Tetons, Badlands, Niagara Falls, WestPoint, NYC, The Outer Banks of N.C., Gettysburg, etc. We’re looking forward to the N.M. trip, and meeting new friends. |
We
have been married 45 years, have two children, and a Monaco Diplomat to their
credit. Jerry is a semi-retired attorney who still gets into court once in a
while if the mood suits him. He specializes in business litigation and
bankruptcy representing creditors. Anna Lee is a retired special education
teacher who spent 33 years teaching the visually impaired. Since closing his
office, Jerry has taken up a hobby that interested him in his younger years,
woodworking. He has attended several seminars at the College of the Redwoods
School of Fine Woodworking in Ft. Bragg, California and when he not traveling in
the RV, enjoys time in his shop. Anna Lee enjoys reading, writing, and bridge.
My
late husband, Sandy, and I were in the Monaco family since 2000 and a member of
Monaco’s In Motion as well as several other Monaco clubs since then. We were
RV’ers before that with other brands and have owned six Monaco coaches. Until
his illness caused us to move to Denver where our children and grandchildren
live, we were full timers for five years. During that time we visited every
state, parts of Mexico (including the Copper Canyon piggy back train caravan)
and many of the Canadian provinces. Our favorite place was the Maritimes
especially Newfoundland which we visited twice. During those travels we made it
a point to stop at as many National Parks and Monuments, Presidential Homes and
Libraries and other Historic sites as we could. I have continued to travel in
my motor home by myself, as I love the lifestyle as well as the people I meet
along the way. Wherever I go, there is someone I know to stop and visit. This
will be my seventh MIM caravan including the Colorado Caravan, which my husband
and I led in 2002. One of the favorite things we have done was to follow the
entire Lewis and Clark Trail and in 2004 witnessing the launching of the replica
boat celebrating 200 years since they made their historic journey. All of this
travel has enticed me to read and learn more about our country’s history.
Lois
and I started RVing in 1975 with a 1972 27’ Travco. We took our 2 daughters all
over the United States and by 1983 they had been to virtually every one of the
lower 48. It was without a doubt the best of times with our kids. They enjoyed
the Grand Canyon and the Redwoods and the Badlands and a thousand other
spectacular parts of the USA – even if every day did end with “where’s the
pool?”
Ed
and I live full time in our 2004 Monaco Dynasty which we keep part time in
Indio, CA and part time in Florence, OR.. We have been married since 1967 and
we have lived in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Bermuda, Hartsdale, NY and
Glastonbury, CT. Seattle and New York City are home to our two daughters. 
Bill
and Jayne Lindsay met at Jayne's high school graduation party in 1958 and were
married in 1959. We will celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary next year.
Bill graduated from USC as a mechanical engineer and Jayne became a nurse in the
mid 1970s. In the 80s Jayne was a volunteer fireman on an all gal rig in the
mountains of the High Sierras. Bill has always had a love of speed and has
raced dragsters, motorcycles, dune buggies and later got into boating and jet
skiing. At one point we owned a motorcycle dealership in the San Francisco bay
area for 10 years. We love to travel and have spent much time in the South
Pacific. We have been Rving and Jeeping for the last 14 years. Last year we
traveled with Monacos in Motion on one of the last Copper Canyon RV train trips
in Mexico. It was quite an experience. We now live part of the year in No.
Calif. near Grass Valley in the Sierra foothills and Las Cruces, New Mexico when
not traveling. Looking forward to a fun trip in No. New Mexico. 
We
have been members of Monaco International and Monacos in Motion for about six
years. The only MIM caravan that we have been on was the Colorado “Rock
Climbing” Caravan. The New Mexico Caravan is the first time we have been
involved in leading a caravan.
We
share a dual persona. Our summer face resides in North Idaho. We live on Pend d’
Orielle Lake. Half of our family lives nearby where we have a son,
daughter-in-law, and three grandsons. During the summer we occupy ourselves with
family, boating, camping, bicycling, and ATV riding. We have a motorhome, a
bubble tent, and a lake home. We live in all three, as our activities require.
Mitch
and Barb are retired teachers from Minnesota. We have both taught upper
elementary and gifted education, and retired two years ago from middle school
math and social studies. All those kids and our own three kept us busy for many
years. We now have a one-year-old grandson in Florida and a one-year-old
granddaughter in Minnesota to keep us busy.
Bert
and Glenda Pipes are Louisiana bred, farm reared, and settled on a plantation of
Gleda's family that purchased the property in 1843 from the U. S. Government.
We have reared a son and daughter. Malcolm, single, is a patent attorney, and
Tammy, married to Nathan Goodyear MD, OB/GYN, has given us three granddaughters
and one grandson.
Kim
and Shelly have been married for 28 wonderful years and have one son, Jeff.
Shelly is a retired Educational Therapist having spend most of her career
helping people of all ages with learning disabilities to improve their reading
and study skills. Kim graduated as an Engineer but spent his career in the
Information Systems (computers) arena in the consumer products and biotechnology
fields. We both retired in 2002 to continue our adventures in the second half
of our lives.
We
were both born and raised on Long Island, NY, in the suburbs of New York City.
We both attended the State University of NY at Oneonta, which is in upstate NY.
However, we did not meet until we were teaching in the same school in Syosset,
NY. We are now both retired. Steve taught science and Andrea taught Home
Economics and Psychology. 
Hello
All!