For the past 3 years, timesharing full time meant we had to plan ahead for every week or else we had no place to stay! Therefore, we were afraid to take much risk and try for last minute places, but that has meant that we have lost a lot of the bonus weeks offered by all the exchange companies, particularly for depositing early in Platinum, DAE’s great bonuses, and the Trading Places certificates. Of course, we lost SFX bonuses, RCI one for one’s and II AC weeks over the years – even the few years we have been timesharing, as you all have. Yet, the cost of living in timeshares would be substantially decreased if we were able to take advantage of that. We’re going to try it next year. We are only booked through March 2012 – usually family responsibilities means we can’t book much further out than that anyway, but it is still enough not to take advantage of bonus weeks.
The tougher part of full time timesharing for us has been having to fly so often, back to Seattle to check on Joan’s mother, and/or to Little Rock for Ron’s. Now, her dad was very sick too, 2 hours north of Seattle, so we cared for him a couple of days this week. But the air travel means rearranging and planning even more carefully, especially food items. We seldom eat out: it would simply be too expensive if we acted like we were really "on vacation" –after all, we are just living somewhere else! – hopefully warm, but that has been difficult too this year! – and with Ron’s recent dietary problems, food planning is a lot harder. We just can’t just grab a sandwich, a bowl of cereal, or a quick continental breakfast somewhere on the go, and of course, not an ice cream cone! Yes, Joan packs celery, carrots, fruit, food bars, etc. to carry with us, and she has learned to practice counting down those items carefully.
Travel by air does mean that we need a more structured schedule, but next year, we will start taking some risks and try to plan with more last minute reservations.
Like a lot of you do, too!!
We surprised Ron’s brother Daryl since we had not known for sure, at first, whether or not we could make the party. We came to the church Sunday morning, driving down from Fairfield Bay, and surprised everyone. The party (reception) that afternoon was very very nice and Ron’s mother really enjoyed herself. We left that afternoon for Wyndham Mountain Vista in Branson, on our way to Illinois and the air flight from BMI! (That's the Bloomington, IL airport.)
On the way to Benton, AR (just south of Little Rock), we stopped at Wyndham Fairfield Bay, one of the first Fairfield resorts, in the midst of a large residential area. We had a great condo which overlooked the lake and was very comfortable. We enjoyed our stay there and learned about the services available there: swimming pools, post office, nearby family owned private grocery stores and gas stations, etc. The biggest surprise was the 16-mile stretch of curvy road to the area: no one warned us about that – we thought we would never get there! 
People told us that there were many large windmill farms in the Texas Panhandle, and they were right! Well, of course, it’s soooo windy there. When we went outside while visiting, the wind about blew us down. We had forgotten!
We introduced two new programs that we would like to continue in future Ponies Reunions: Armchair General and NOBC Veterans Round Table.
2. The “NOBC Round Table Discussion” enabled attending NOBC Veterans Steve Shivers and Jim Thompson to speak about their experiences in a moderated Question and Answer format. JT Vogt, interviewed them as he regularly does Veterans, particularly during the annual EEA Airshow at Oshkosh, WI. The presentation was recorded for future release and sharing with the Smithsonian.
The website is www.mustangponies.net
very comfortable and in a good location to explore the area. It is in a northwestern residential area, and much more like being a resident rather than at a resort...,which we like. Beautiful pool area.
