POG 9 Buckhorn Lake Kerrville

[garyde]

One of the reasons we had suggested different rally locations each year was to allow people from different regions the opportunity to attend a rally for the first time. That is why FMCA rotates their annual conventions around the country. It allows the group to grow and for new members to check it out.
In any organization like this, there are many retired members. They are the core group of the membership typically. But, we cannot sustain and grow POG without new members.
My bus is built to drive the miles, so travel isn't the issue. It really is about inclusive planning. Maybe POG is not large enough for two rally's a year . But because of that, many people can not attend.
It would be great to have a spring or summer rally sometime in the Mountain or western region.

[Coloradobus]

Your right Gary,

We narrowly missed the OKC rally because of another rally engagement planned way in advance. We had to leave OKC early to make it to Ft Collins, Co on time.. We will have to miss the Kerrville Rally since it falls almost on the same dates (Oct 5-10) as our Airstream rally in Gallup.
A wandering venue is what the WBCCI (The main Airstream Club) does once a year for the big International Rally. Here are locations recently & always held June 28th-July 4th
2003- Vermont
2004-Lansing Michigan
2005-springfield, Missouri
2006-Salem, Oregon
2007-Perry, Georgia
2008-Bozeman, Mt
2009-Madison, Wisc
2010- Gillette wyo. Coming next

You get the idea. I am just making a suggestion like you have made,Gary. Our coaches were built to roll. There are plenty of nice locations in the middle of the country and on the end coasts.
Door County, Wisc.
Leelanau Pennisula Michigan-Traverse City
Petoskey Mich has a wonderful RV resort
Flathead Lake Montana
Ft Collins,co KOA- we've held several airstream rallies there, and after OKC, we drove the bus as an undercover airstream
Danforth Bay, New Hampshire is a huge lovely resort.
Scarborugh, Me, Bar Harbour Camping Resort, right in Skiffy's backyard-We could come to him instead.
Oak Plantation Rv Resort, Charleston, South Carolina.

Heck, Marathon is having a rally at Ft Wilderness, Disney, Fla
American Way RV Park, Albuquerque
Our options were huge, but Kerrville is 2010.

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

Your right Gary, Chris and I LOVE a Road Trip.!!

We narrowly missed the OKC rally because of another rally engagement planned way in advance. We had to leave OKC early to make it to Ft Collins, Co on time.. We will have to miss the Kerrville Rally since it falls almost on the same dates (Oct 5-10) as our Airstream rally in Gallup.
A wandering venue is what the WBCCI (The main Airstream Club) does once a year for the big International Rally. this idea draws new faces to the rally each year as well as the veteran rally goers. Here are locations recently & always held June 28th-July 4th
2003- Vermont
2004-Lansing Michigan
2005-springfield, Missouri
2006-Salem, Oregon
2007-Perry, Georgia
2008-Bozeman, Mt
2009-Madison, Wisc
2010- Gillette wyo. Coming next

You get the idea. I am just making a suggestion like you have made. Our coaches were built to roll. There are plenty of nice locations in the middle of the country and on the end coasts. None of the below listed locations require additional O2. Some of these locations we mentioned at OKC, but a Kerrville mindset was entrenched.
1)Door County, Wisc.
2)Leelanau Pennisula Michigan-Traverse City
3)Petoskey Mich has a wonderful RV resort
4)Flathead Lake Montana
5)Ft Collins,co KOA- we've held several airstream rallies there, and after OKC, we drove the bus as an undercover airstream
6)Danforth Bay, New Hampshire is a huge lovely resort.
7)Scarborugh, Me, Bar Harbour Camping Resort, right in Skiffy's backyard-We could come to him instead.
8)Oak Plantation Rv Resort, Charleston, South Carolina.
9)American Way Rv park, Albuqureque
Heck, Marathon is having a rally at Ft Wilderness, Disney, Fla

Our options are huge! Kerrville 2010!.

Jim's list is very appealing, I think it would be appropriate and wise to set dates and a couple tentative locations right now for 2011.

My vote for Maine or New Hampshire for a lobster fest, Spring or Fall 2011.






.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

We were doing two POG rallies a year. For whatever reason that was reduced to one.

We currently do "unofficial" mini rallies whenever the mood strikes us. All it takes to have a rally is for anyone, anywhere post that we should have a get together someplace and folks will sign on and show up.

The difference is in rally content. Mini rallies often do not have a structured agenda, whereas the Skiffer planned rallies will have not only an agenda, but display coaches and some suppliers participating. That appeared to be the biggest reason to have a large centrally located rally each year because the converters and suppliers cannot justify the cost of attending multiple rallies.

Maybe we should revisit the concept of multiple rallies, even if it means we forego having some converter participation and fewer coaches. Our buses are made to travel and exercising them is good for them. The number of places we could go to is endless and I for one would welcome the opportunity to go anywhere. BTW, time is as important to me as it is to others, but I think if we know far enough in advance we can adjust our schedule.

[Jerry Winchester]

I guess for the new guys and for the old guys who can't seem to remember crap, let's go over this from our previous threads and rally meetings.

When we did multiple rallies in all kinds of areas, the attendance was low to poor (especially the ones that were way west and north) and there was little technical help or converter interest.

Nobody wanted to do a summer rally; too many folks on vacation, kids to deal with, RV park demand was great and the central part of the country could be hot. Way hot.

SO after lots of gnashing of teeth and hang wringing, we settled on trying to do one large gathering a year in a place central enough for the majority of the folks to attend. If you truly balanced this by geography, the center of the POG world would be somewhere in Arkansas or northern Louisiana.

But the alternative thought was to encourage folks to get together as they saw fit (AirVenture, Oysterfest, Fat Beagle, etc) and then try to really build some excitement around a large annual bash that would get good participation from the POG folks as well as the converters / suppliers / sponsors. While I see everyone's piss getting hot for something "new", what is really being suggested is the "old" way we did it from the beginning and experience says there is not enough support for two big sponsored rallies a year. Especially in this economy.

Lastly, if you think planning for, arranging and hosting a large annual rally is a layup, I would suggest you wade off into it with your eyes wide open. Now if you want to just all show up and camp together, then there is not much required. In fact, I would encourage a NOOB rally that is similar to POG 1 with just first timers there cuz I think until folks actually experience this, it is unlikely that we won't have this same conversation annually.

JDUB

[Jon Wehrenberg]

For the NOOBs that want to learn, and for old folks that want to go to rallies, there is no reason for a spontaneous gathering of POG members to not have a little bit of an agenda.

Oysterfest has no agenda, and when I have gone I wanted it that way because all I wanted to do was eat an oyster or two. But there is no reason why a small gathering like that cannot have some technical content. All it takes is someone to express and interest and others to join in to lead a discussion or a seminar.

This group has developed a substantial depth of knowledge and I think it would be a rare gathering that did not have people willing and capable of helping new owners learn or understand some of the systems or devices on the coaches.

Jerry is correct in that putting together a 60 to 80 coach rally is not a walk in the park. The effort that takes place behind the scenes is extensive so unless someone is willing to undertake that task for mini rallies they are going to be mostly unstructured, with no agendas and no schedules.

[truk4u]

The idea of two major rally's didn't work, we tried it and at the time the general consensus was to move toward mini's with one big one annually. It's not as easy as you may think to find a place with the best central location that can handle 60 - 80 buses that are power hogs as well as have the meeting facility, catering capabilities and surrounding fun places to suit everyone.

I think we create enough mini rallys that should fill everyone's needs at getting together over the year and then head to the Annual Rally if you can make it. The NOOB's shouldn't have any problem hooking up with plenty of Poggers during the year. As an example, here's a few mini's in the works and it's only January:

Las Vegas in February
Port St Lucie, FL in February
Mobile, AL in March
Oshkosh, WI in July
Bar Harbour, ME this summer

Also, I haven't been to a mini rally yet that didn't turn into some form of maintenance, wrench turning, fixing, discussing bus issues, tool buying and helping others with problems. These are great places for Noob's and I hope to meet many of you.

[phorner]

Tom and Jon's comments are right on.

I would encourage anyone new to POG to take advantage of a mini-rally.

Although they tend to be primarily focused on socializing, there are ample opportunities to have some questions answered and even an occasional wrench turned.

In fact, I'm saving all my maintenance 'till Truk lands in PSL

[Loc]

Truk,

Don't forget two more:

1) Fat Beagle 4-Wheeling - Durango Colorado - Alpen Rose - 1st week of August - driving the 4WD trails around Ouray, Silverton and Telluride; and
2) 4th Annual Fat Beagle - Buckhorn - Labor Day weekend

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Having dealt with most of the complexities of our coaches and been involved in maintaining one without sending it to Prevost or a converter I know there are three major areas a new owner should understand. I am not talking about acquiring skill levels necessary to turn the wrenches necessarily, but enough knowledge to enable the owner to manage the repairs and not become a victim of outrageous prices.

The three are the brake system, the suspension system and the electrical systems (house and bus).

There are other things to learn, but within the three areas above will be the items most often in need of maintenance and repair, or which have the greatest potential to allow someone to vacuum the Benjamins from your wallet.

In one or two hours for each a person can have a relatively good understanding of each system and at least have a clue about how to handle the various repairs or maintenance items.

If newbies are going to a mini-rally those are the topics they should seek to understand from the "veterans".