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Evening “Meetings” Resume!
As Seniors Outdoors cannot have in-person meetings for a while, we have resumed our series of evening meetings and presentations in the form of virtual Zoom based webinars. Our plan is to have a Zoom webinar presentation every two months until further notice.
Upcoming SO! Zoom Webinar
Date and time: May 11, 2021, 7:00 PM
Topic: Hang gliding across the western United States
Speaker: Bob Thompson
Presentation summary: Bob Thompson did hang gliding over the western United States for 23 years. He will briefly describe the origin of the term “hang gliding” and the history of the sport. Then he will speak about some of his hang gliding exploits, including some fun sidelights with photos of flying across SW Colorado, Phoenix, Sedona, Flagstaff, AZ, Yosemite National Park, the White Mountains of California, with eagles over the Hopi Reservation, and crossing the Grand Canyon. In the Durango area, he mostly flew off an east-facing site near the Junction Creek overlook with other flights off Smelter Mountain, near Wallace Lake in the Animas Valley, and off Kendall Mountain above Silverton. Bob will conclude with the current status of the hang gliding sport.
Speaker bio: Bob Thompson is a retired Emeritus geology professor who taught Earth Systems in Arizona at Glendale Community College and Arizona State University for 38 years. He is an FAA certified pilot of private aircraft who taught himself to fly hang gliders and was very active in the sport of hang gliding for 23 years. He was a charter member of the U.S. Hang Gliding Association and Arizona Hang Gliding Association and represented much of the western U.S. on the USHGA Board of Directors for 4 years. He owned a hang gliding business, teaching hang gliding and selling and repairing hang gliders. He has earned every rating in hang gliding through Master Pilot and Advanced Instructor, won the Arizona Cross Country Championship 5 years and was runner-up 5 times, setting a U.S. National Record and World Record. He retired with over 3000 hours airborne hang gliding time. Bob has been hiking in the San Juan Mountains for over 50 years and has enjoyed a cabin at Vallecito for the last 30 years.
Email invitations to the webinar will be sent 4-5 days before the webinar, and you will be required to respond to that email invitation in order to attend. Response instructions will be included with that email.
All Seniors Outdoors! Outings and Activities
Cancelled Until Further Notice
SO! Coronavirus Policy – Cancellation of All Future Activities
Given the projected severity of the Coronavirus pandemic, and the enhanced risk to seniors, the Board of Directors of Seniors Outdoors! has concluded that all available steps should be taken to avoid enhanced exposure to our members, even when it requires avoidance of some activities that are very dear to our members. These temporary measures will be revisited and revised as conditions allow.
Board and Committee Meetings: All Board of Director and Committee meetings will be conducted by telephone or Zoom to the extent possible, until further notice.
SO! Outings: The Board recognizes that outdoor activities are particularly important to the health and happiness of our members, and present a lesser risk of exposure than indoor gatherings. Nevertheless, any gathering of members does enhance the risk to some degree. All SO! group outings are currently cancelled.
Members are encouraged to continue their outdoor activities individually or in very small groups, especially on bike rides and local hikes that do not involve car pools. Depending on future risk analysis, the outings schedule will be resumed as soon as we feel it is safe.
The SO! Directors, and all our members, are grateful and appreciative to the leaders and members who contribute their time and efforts to the schedule of outings, meetings and activities. We all look forward to resuming our SO! adventures and social functions. Stay Safe!
Updated: 10/25/2020