Tag: walking

Club News from November Meeting

First – did you get our most recent newsletter by email? Club members get the full newsletter emailed directly to them, hot off the press, errr, computer desktop!  See it here:  November – December 2019 Newsletter

Our annual Pie Walk is coming up this Saturday, November 9th, from 9 a.m. to noon (off the trail by 3 p.m.) at Countryside Community Church at 13130 Faith Plaza, Omaha, NE (132nd and Pacific).  $2 for Fun Walkers, $3 for book stampers.  Oh – and be sure to bring a pie to share! Extra pies donated go to New Visions, a homeless shelter in Council Bluffs.  (Hint: refrigerated pies don’t transport well after the walk, but we love to sample them after walking!). 

Later this month, club members will have the opportunity to vote for our 2019 “Walker of the Year”, for our 2020 slate of officers and for an amendment to our bylaws.  “WOTY” nominees are listed in the newsletter and Club President Lee sent out an email this morning about officers and the proposed amendment.  Voting will be by electronic ballot, mail (for those without email access) and by paper ballot at our December 2nd meeting for those who have not already voted.

Our club is still planning to make an outing of the Le Mars, Iowa Seasonal Walk – see the Le Mars, Iowa December 7th outing announcement for all of the details.  Thank you to club members Denene Turner and Sandy Spaulding for putting this together! Maybe they deserve an extra scoop of that great Blue Bunny Ice Cream while on the 5k/10k walk?  

Club News from October Meeting

We had a very busy club meeting on Monday night!

Upcoming Walks and Meetings:

  • Our December 7th bus trip to Le Mars, Iowa is cancelled – but NOT the walk! Club members are still invited to carpool to Le Mars to walk and enjoy the Winter Wonderland festivities. When carpool details and meeting times are finalized, they will be published here and on Facebook and sent by Trail Mail and email.  The original deposits for the bus trip will be returned by mail shortly.
  • Saturday, November 2nd morning– Lincoln Volkssport Club’s annual Autumn Walk through Wyuka Cemetery and surrounding neighborhoods.  Registration times 8:45 a.m. to 11 a.m., off the trail by 12:45 p.m.  Group 10k walk at 9:30 – email netrailblazers@gmail.com if you’d like to lead a group 5k walk.  $3 for AVA/IVV Credit, Fun Walkers are free.  Registration will take place at the City Impact Building, 1035 N. 33rd Street, Lincoln, NE 68503.
  • Sunday, November 3rd – 2 p.m. – Workers’ Walk for the Pie Walk, at Countryside Community Church, 13130 Faith Plaza, Omaha, NE 68144.  No bathrooms available at start.  Route is two 5k loops.  Event Workers are invited to walk at this time and to help test the map and directions.
  • Monday, November 4th  – 7 p.m.– Club Meeting at Morning Star Lutheran Church (lower level – Preschool Entrance), 331 S. 85th Avenue, Omaha, NE at 7:00 p.m.  
  • Saturday, November 9th morning – Pie Walk.  See address above for Countryside Community Church, a member of the Tri-Faith Initiative at 132nd & Pacific Streets.  Bring a pie to share and another to donate to a local homeless shelter!  Register from 9 a.m. to noon, off the trail by 3 p.m.  $2 Fun Walkers, $3 AVA/IVV Credit.
  • All 2020 One-Day Walks, Year Rounds and Seasonals have been adopted! New volunteers will be paired up with seasoned Trailmasters soon.  Check out our preliminary calendar, here.

Other Business:

  • We welcome Diana Webb to the position of Speakers’ Chairman.  Ann Drebot has served in that position for many, many years and will be helping Diana with the transition. If you know of any interesting speakers, please email the club at netrailblazers@gmail.com for Diana to research.
  • Our club needs to find a Secretary for the 2020 club year.  Time is of the essence to step forward! Our Board meetings are held before the club meetings; meeting time is limited to that first Monday of the month.  Can you help? Email us at netrailblazers@gmail.com.
  • Our newsletter editor, Julie Brown, is coming back for the November-December 2019 edition! Please have articles to her by mid-October.
  • Final call for “Walker of the Year” nominations!  These are sent to Julie Brown and are needed by mid-October.  She has already received nominations for three different people! Our club is blessed with talent and energy – thank you!

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.

Happy new year of walking!

It’s a brand new year, with brand new opportunities for walking for fun, fitness and friendship! We’re still putting the final touches on our 2019 brochure of walking events, but we want you to get these dates on your calendar now:

  • January 19th – Annual Meeting and Dinner (previously announced in https://www.nebraskatrailblazers.com/2019-annual-meeting-announcement/)
  • January 26th – Westroads Mall Meet and Eat, starting at 8:30 a.m., 5k or 10k option – all inside! Meet at the interior space between Dick’s and Penney’s, pay your $3 if walking for credit (stamping books) or $2 if not, walk and then eat together at Panera Bread in the mall.
  • March 2nd – Annual Soup Walk – Children’s Square,
     N 6th St & Ave. E, Council Bluffs, IA 51502 starting at 9 a.m. Register anytime between 9 and noon, off the trail by 3 p.m. Group Walk starting at 9:30. Bring 2 cans of soup (chicken or beef broth based) – one for the pot and one for the Food Pantry. Cost is $3 if walking for credit (stamping books) or $2 if not .

We’ve got the latest newsletter for you here, below, with lots to see from last year and a description of what’s coming up for next year. Have a great new year and we would love to see you soon!

NWFT Jan-Feb 2019 Newsletter

Eclipse Events updates

  1. Package registrations are closed. Any remaining t-shirts and patches will be available on a first-come-first-served basis at the Raffle/Sales Table at the walks.  The brochure and registration form on the website has been updated. Supplies for walks are limited – reserve your eclipse glasses, glowsticks, etc. by mailing in your registrations so that they are RECEIVED by August 8th.  Walk-ins after that date are welcome to walk (or swim), but are not guaranteed eclipse glasses, etc.
  2. The Meet and Greet on Friday, August 18th, has been moved to St. Mary’s Cathedral Parish Hall, 112 S. Cedar St. Grand Island, NE 68801.  The event is open ONLY to those pre-registered by August 8th (see above).
  3. Meet and Greet registrants have been asked how they want their first name to appear on the name tag and for an interesting fact or tidbit about themselves for a mixer at the Meet and Greet.  Prizes for the top 3 winners will be available!
  4. NEW WALK ADDED!  After the Meet and Greet ends at 7 p.m., we’ll be walking Historic Downtown Grand Island in 5k and 10k small groups.  Bring your books to be stamped. Information on Special Programs available has been included in the updated brochure.
  5. The Sunflower Sod Stompers have sanctioned 3 additional swim events during the 4-day weekend – and have scheduled them so that you can walk, then cool off by swimming. What a great way to multitask during a multi-event weekend!  The location of those events is the pool at the Candlewood Suites. All the information on the Sunflower Sod Stompers’ Eclipse Swim Events is contained in this  printable flyer.  Be sure to bring your own towel and to observe all motel guidelines; swimming is at your own risk.
  6. Getting confused with everything that you need to know? Don’t worry – we’ll have “Need to Know” sheets for each day. Here’s Friday’s “Need to Know” sheet.  Let us know if you have any questions.

June is busting out all over!

Club Website – 1st Place Award

Club Logo – 2nd place award

 

 

 

 

 

First there was the 2017 Biennial Convention to follow, as maybe a dozen club members headed west to Billings, Montana via the Crazy Horse Monument Walk on June 3rd and then headed back via Cody, Wyoming on the 10th and 11th.  Our club website was voted #1 and our club logo #2 at the convention. Thanks to everyone who keeps our club out there in the public eye!

Our club meeting on June 5th will have to last us until the next meeting on Monday, September 11th, where a great program speaker is on deck. (More details when the speaker is confirmed!).

Then 19 members and Meetup friends ventured out onto the trail at Wehrspann Lake the day after hurricane force winds and two tornadoes knocked trees onto the trail and onto our members’ yards and houses! Wow – they must really love to walk! Or maybe it was the Cracker Barrel brunch that followed?

Our Eclipse Committee has been working, working, working! Over 100 people have signed up for events on each of Saturday, Sunday and Monday. More information to come in a separate post about changes to our planned events and places – plus a brand, new event! Also, one of our neighboring clubs to the south, the Sunflower Sod Stompers, are reserving use of a hotel swimming pool so that they can offer Swim Events in between our walking events.  Keep an eye out for more information, to be posted here and on Facebook.

Our next club event will take place July 8th at the Mallory Kountze Planetarium inside of the Durham Science Building on the UNO Campus. The program “What’s Up” will feature summer skies and what we might see at the Star Party in August. The program starts at 6:30 p.m., lasts for about an hour, and costs only $4. That leaves you with enough money for ice cream after the show!

 

May 2017 news

Our NWFT May-June 2017 Newsletter is available now.  If you want the full version, consider becoming a club member.   Club members get reminder emails of upcoming events, discounts and more.  Check out these 26 people having a great time at our April “Meet and Eat” in Ashland, Nebraska.

April 2017 Meet and Eat

 

 

 

 

 

Page 7 of the newsletter lists a lot of area walks from SD, MN, NE, KS and MO, hosted by our club and a number of other great clubs.  Did you know that every single one of those walks qualifies for the “Doin’ the Louisiana Purchase” program, even if that special program isn’t specifically listed?

 

 

Our regular club meeting on May 1st at 7 p.m. in the lower level of Morning Star Lutheran Church, 331 S 85th Ave, Omaha, NE 68114, will feature a talk on keeping seniors moving.  Don’t forget that if you’re coming from the south on 84th Street, that 84th is closed from Pacific north to Methodist Hospital (Dodge Street) and you can NOT get to the church that way! Use an alternate route.

Our Workers’ Walk for the May 13th “Florence Days Walk” in the Omaha neighborhood of Florence will take place on Sunday, May 7th at 2 p.m.

Finally, remember that Eclipse package registrations, as well as t-shirt and patch orders, close on May 25th.  If you’re just coming out on Monday, August 21st, please go ahead and register for just that walk.  We’d hate to run out of eclipse-viewing glasses!

Late March/early April 2017 Updates

What a busy month! It’s hard to keep up with all our club members – they’re always on the move!

Saturday, March 25th is our next “Meet and Eat” for either a 5k walk or a 10k walk. Meet at the north end of the Gallup Parking lot (off Ferer Plaza) by 10 a.m. – be ready to walk by 10:15.  Lunch this time will be at the Old Mattress Factory, at 13th and Cass Streets.

The next day, Sunday March 26th, the Workers’ Walk for the April 1st “I Spy Walk” will start at Madonna Rehab Hospital near the unnamed outdoor shopping mall, 17500 Burke Street.  Walkers will start promptly at 2 p.m., so arrive early with exact change in hand to sign the paperwork and pay.  $1.50 for fun walkers, $3.00 for credit walkers.

The formal “I Spy Walk” will be held the next Saturday, April 1st, from 9 to 12, off the trail by 3 p.m.  Same prices as above. If you’re able to walk with new walkers at 9:30, great! We’d love to have you come set the pace and offer some words of friendship.

The regular monthly meeting at Morningstar Lutheran Church on Monday, April 3rd, will feature a presentation on the summer sky. If the sky is clear, we’ll go out and look up.  The meeting starts promptly at 7.

For those of you looking at our Eclipse Events August 18 – 21, good news! The Stuhr Museum has worked out a deal with us, so we’re passing on the savings. The package cost is now $25, rather than $30, and the actual Eclipse Walk is now $5, rather than $10. Those who have already pre-registered and paid will be offered a refund onsite.  We’ve found a couple of rooms, so let us know if you’re interested – first come, first served!