Category: Events

News for 2020

Happy New Year of Walking!  Get your calendar out – besides a great slate of regular walks this year, our club is involved in two very special events:

  1. The “20 Iowa Parks in 2020” walking program, which runs from May 1st – October 15th of this year; and
  2. “Blazin’ Trails and Tellin’ Tales”, the North Central Regional Roundup, to be hosted by our club from October 2 – 4, 2020.

We’ve got LOTS of information about these two events on our website, so be sure to click on the links to learn more.

Our news-packed newsletter for January and February 2020, in stunning color, is available here:  Jan/Feb 2020 Newsletter  But you won’t see the name of our 2019 “Walker of the Year” in it – you’ll have to attend our Annual Dinner and Meeting to find out!

WALKS, WALKS AND MORE WALKS!

  • Walnut Creek 6k and 11k walk – Saturday, September 21st – 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. registration at the lower level of the American Legion at 230 W. Lincoln Street in Papillion, Nebraska. The 6k walk goes through Papillion and the 11k walk takes you out to Walnut Creek Lake.  Cost is $2 for Fun Walkers and $3 for AVA/IVV Credit Walkers. Walk at your own pace, but please return by 2 p.m.
  • Arrowhead Park 5k and 10k walk – Saturday, October 5th – 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. registration at Breezy Lodge inside of Arrowhead Park in Neola, Iowa. Google says the address is 29357 310th St, Neola, IA 51559. Follow the paved park road around the lake to the lodge on the right at the top of the hill.  The 10k walk consists of two 5k loops in the hilly woods of Neola. An alternate 5k route stays on park roads.  Hiking sticks and long pants recommended.  Cost is $2 for Fun Walkers and $3 for AVA/IVV Credit Walkers; park entrance fee of $3 is waived for walkers on that day.  A pulled pork sandwich lunch will be available for $5, plus pop for $1.
  • Le Mars, Iowa Winter Wonderland – Saturday, December 7th. Bus leaving from Council Bluffs area around 10:30 a.m. and back 10 p.m. We’ll take part in the 5k and 10k seasonal walk, watch the parade and join in the festivities. Need at least 25 participants for trip to take place. Nonrefundable cost $40 per person; $10 discount for club members. Meals and walk fee of $3 not included. Limited to first 30 paid participants. (If bus company cancels due to inclement weather, payments will be refunded.) Payment must be postmarked by October 1st and sent to: NWFT, P.O. Box 8147, Omaha, NE 68108.
  • AVA’s “Starting Point” printed book lists nearly 2,000 year round and seasonal walks across the United States. The book costs $20 and must be ordered by September 27th. Send payment to NWFT, as above.

Walking Season Returns!

Now that the weather is starting to turn, it’s time to give those walking shoes a check-up.   Are they ready for another great set of walks this fall?

Our latest newsletter is full of information about upcoming meetings and walks – check it out here:  NWFT Sept – Oct 2019 Newsletter.

Our next club meeting is Monday night, September 9th at 7 p.m. at Morning Star Lutheran Church at 331 S. 85th Avenue. Our speaker will have you on your feet!

Our next walk is Saturday morning, September 21st, at the American Legion at 330 W. Lincoln in Papillion, NE. The 10k route takes you to Walnut Creek Lake. Start times are from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. Fees are $2 for Fun Walkers and $3 for AVA/IVV credit walkers.

And of course, we’ve got a number of Year Round Events  waiting for you anytime – year round!

See you on the trail!

Shelby Year Round Event Closing August 3rd

A view of the Start Point from the trail`
A view of the Start Point from the trail

The hosting business for our Year Round Event in Shelby, Iowa is closing its doors in August.  The Corn Crib was a good host and served some great food!

Our club will say farewell to this walk on the morning of Saturday, August 3rd.  At 8 a.m., we’ll hold a Meet and Eat.  Groups of 5k and 10k walkers will head out and return for a late breakfast or early lunch together.  $2 for Fun Walkers, $3 for AVA/IVV credit (book stampers).  Exact change is always appreciated!

After the walk, the Walk Box will be removed from the premises.  So if you’ve been planning to walk this beautiful walk, take advantage of the group walk on August 3rd or during the promised break in hot weather coming up soon.

Year Round Events Site Updated

Thank you to the eagle-eyed observer who came to our walk today and pointed out that the links to our list of Year Round Events at https://www.nebraskatrailblazers.com/calendar-of-events/our-year-round-and-other-area-clubs-events/ weren’t working. The links were fixed and are working as of today. Please note that our links are to a 3rd-party site and that those links may change without our knowledge.

To report problems, please email netrailblazers@gmail.com. We don’t want anyone missing out!

WALKING OPPORTUNITIES OUTSIDE OUR AREA

At our April club meeting, we talked about local and regional walking opportunities. Here is a map of upcoming One-Day Events in the North Central Region and a map of Spring Walking Weekends in the South Central Region. Locations shown on the maps may not be precise. Clicking on an icon will take you to walk details posted on www.ava.org, showing dates, times and exact directions to the walks.

North Central Region Traditional Events – remainder of 2019

South Central Region Spring Walks – from flyers sent to our club

March – April 2019 Newsletter

Our March-April 2019 newsletter is now available in edited form. (Remember that Club Members get the full version, hot off the presses!) Our thanks to Sandy Spaulding for stepping into Footsteps‘ editor Julie Brown’s shoes for this issue!

Donated soup

Our annual Soup Walk was postponed a week – from March 2nd to March 9th, because of forecasted adverse weather. Well, it looks like the warm-up we were hoping for is going to be delayed. So, how do we cope? With the 3 W’s and plenty of hot soup!

What are the 3 W’s? It’s how to dress for exercise in cold weather!

  • Wicking – base layer should move body moisture away from the body. Think a lightweight wool, silk or a synthetic fabric – not cotton, which traps moisture.
  • Warmth – next layer should help to retain heat. Think sweaters, fleece, down, heavier wool.
  • Weather – the outside layer should repel moisture and stop wind. It should also be breathable, to allow body moisture to evaporate, rather than be trapped inside and chilling you.

A quick Google search “layering clothes for cold weather” gives lots of examples and tips. One good search result is from Mountain Warehouse, which provides text, pictures and a video.

And the Walker of the year award goes to . . .

Lee Frantz (right) receives the 2018 Walker of the Year Award

Our annual meeting and dinner was held Saturday, January 19th at Valentino’s Pizza south of 108th and L Streets in Omaha. The 2019 Officers were installed and the Walker of the Year award was given to Lee Frantz, club president in 2017 and recently installed as president for 2019.

From l to r: Jill Champley, Lee Frantz, Jeanne Miller, Tricia Abel

Just a reminder that our next club activity is our January 26th Meet and Eat (details here: https://www.nebraskatrailblazers.com/happy-new-year-of-walking/.   Club members can use the Westroads Mall Walk as part of their 2019 Incentive Program (details here: https://www.nebraskatrailblazers.com/announcing-our-2019-walker-incentive-program/

NWFT 2019 Walk booklet – just released!

EDIT January 8, 2019: Pie Walk date has been corrected in the booklet to be November 9th, rather than November 2nd.

Our 2019 Walk Booklet has just been released! Click on the link below to open it for viewing or for downloading as an Adobe Acrobat file (PDF format).

NWFT 2019 Walk Booklet

In order to print the booklet as it was designed, you’ll need a duplex printer. Open the booklet in Adobe Acrobat. Choose “Print”. Choose “Print on both sides of paper” and then “Flip on short edge”. See below for a screenshot of how this was done on a sample printer.


We’ll be adding more information on upcoming “Meet and Eats” as those walks are adopted and then scheduled, but the next one is coming up at Westroads Mall on Saturday, January 26th at 8:30. More information is available at https://www.nebraskatrailblazers.com/happy-new-year-of-walking/

Be sure to SAVE THE DATE for our Winter 2019 Spectacular, scheduled for Saturday, December 7th. We’ll be sure to let you know when and where!