Message from the President

Hello everyone! (See Past Post: Dues or Due)

Andy has asked me to contact everyone regarding the FMCA Rally in Redmond,
Oregon, in mid August.

As of today, the following people (along with Joe & I and Andy & Kathie)
have volunteered to operate the Handicap & Activity Golf Cart Service at the
Rally, driving people to and from venues:


Bruce & Joan Morin

Wayne & Joan Hardie,
Drew & Sherry Ralph
Reg & Dorene Gustafson
Cary & Merrilee White
Cec & Karin Hamilton
Bob & Jan Orr
Russ & Carol McAvella
Vern & Audrey Hauge
Ian & Sandy Tarves
Dick & Marion Lutener
Dick & Jo Padget
Wayne & Sandy Quesnel

Would the above people please reconfirm that you will be coming to the Rally
(please contact Andy at akcbalogh@telus.net). If there are any other people
who would like to join our "Bumper Car Brigade" please contact Andy BEFORE
March 24th. Andy will be going to Redmond at the beginning of April to
attend a planning meeting and he needs to know FOR SURE how many volunteers
are coming to the Rally. As a reminder, if you plan to attend the Rally,
please DO NOT send in your registration until Andy finds out how we go about
registering as a group. As volunteers at this Rally, we will also be
parking together in the "Volunteer Section" which is close to the main fair
grounds. Volunteers will have to be in Redmond by August 10th and leave
August 17th.

Do-Si-Do and DUES are Due.

It's that time of year again - time to pay your Dues!
Many of you have already paid your dues for 2007, but if you have not paid
them, please send your $10.00 cheque (made payable to Vancouver Islanders)
to me at 3382 Hatley Drive, Victoria, B.C. V9C 1W3 as our Treasurer, Sandy,
is away. Remember, dues must be paid by the first Rally of the year.

Cheers!

Stella Blogg,
Secretary,
Vancouver Islanders

Any previous blog entry WRT Fall Rally went in, in error and has been removed. Gary

NOTE - NOTE - NOTE

From: Secretary, Stella Blogg

Hello everyone!

President Andy has requested that I contact everyone regarding a couple of
items:

First, if anyone reads the "Motor Home" Magazine, recent issues have
featured a full page ad for "The Rally - All Roads Lead to Redmond", July
19 - 22, 2007. Please note this is NOT the FMCA International Rally but
one hosted by the Good Sam Club. The FMCA International Rally will be held
August 13 - 17, 2007.

Secondly, if you are planning to attend the Rally in August, Andy has
requested that you DO NOT send in your registration forms until he hears
from the Volunteer Committee as to how we all register so we can all park
together - the rally dates, again, are August 13 - 17 with the volunteers
arriving on August 10 - 11.

Thanks a lot and we'll keep you posted!!

Sincerely,
Stella Blogg,
Secretary,
Vancouver Islanders

Roving Rally Report & Pics

Roving Rally
September, 2006

Our roving rally started on Thursday, September 21st at Arbutus Meadows, just east of Parksville with 13 coaches camping overnight. We parked in a large field and had to dodge the “meadow muffins” from the horses. Luckily, they didn’t smell! The weather was beautifully sunny, but windy. At 6:00 we enjoyed dinner and dessert (and a few drinks for those who wished) at the Rocking Horse Pub. Kathie and Andy Balogh joined us for dinner and managed to talk a few people into attending the Redmond Northwest Regional Rally next August. Our members will be volunteering to transport disabled attendees back and forth to various venues using golf carts. Good work Andy in getting us a choice job!


Friday morning twelve coaches headed to Port Hardy. Hauges were unable to continue with us as they were getting ready to head out on a cruise to Fort Lauderdale (poor them!!). Several of us offered to trade places with them, but they weren’t interested.


We had a beautiful day for traveling up Island. At Port Hardy we had the Rotary Pavilion at Stories Beach booked for the weekend. It is a lovely spot on a picturesque bay with a nice sandy beach and wooded area and a huge grassy area with picnic tables and fire pits. The pavilion had a small room with sink and power and a large cemented covered area. We easily parked in a spacious, level lot beside the grassy field. Everyone had a spectacular water view.

We had asked members to bring a “little bit” of firewood and, like a pot luck dinner, had more than enough. We were able to keep the fires going continually and certainly found out who the pyromaniacs are! It was sure nice to be able to have a campfire in the evenings and roast marshmallows. Nobody seemed eager to eat marshmallows from Cary’s special roasting stick.

Friday we enjoyed another wine and cheese happy hour. A few even managed to have some dinner afterwards. Saturday many ventured out to see Port Hardy, Winter Harbour, Alert Bay and surrounding areas. The weather, once about 2 kms from the beach, was gorgeous. Unfortunately, the sea fog hung around until mid afternoon at Stories Beach. Saturday evening we enjoyed another happy hour and a Spaghetti dinner with dessert.

At noon on Sunday we had a fabulous pot luck dinner so that those who had to get home could travel on a full stomach. As usual, the food was varied and wonderful and there was way too much. Leftovers served us well later that evening.

That night, those with firewood were getting a little panicky that they might have to lug their wood home again, so we had two “little” fires going and someone lit the huge barbeque grill that is a permanent structure beside the pavilion. It took our wood by the wheelbarrow load, but Oscar was still packing logs from the beach and trying to get them into the pit. Even with all of the fires going, we still left a donation of wood and kindling.

On Monday Wayne and Joan Hardy gave us all a special gift of either salmon or halibut donated by Corey Hayes Fishing. Corey runs a fishing charter business out of Port Hardy. We certainly appreciate his generous gift and would encourage anyone interested in charter fishing to check out Corey Hayes Fishing.

After saying our goodbyes, our roving rally ended with most units heading over to the free dump and potable water stations. The weather for the trip home could not have been better.

Thanks to the Bowdens and Coopers we have another site for a future rally. We joined them at Kitty Coleman Provincial Park near Merville for Monday night. This park has fabulous, level spots right on the beach for $10.00 per unit per night.

We would like to thank everyone who pitched in to make another rally such a success.

Cary and Merrilee White
Rally Hosts

FMCA North West Meeting Update

Vancouver Islanders North West Meeting Update

I wanted to pass along some information in regards to the meeting that was held in Toppenish Washington, 6th to 8th September 2006 at the Yakama Nation RV Resort.

It was an enjoyable visit with some old friends and many more new ones from all the chapters in the Northwest Area. The Annual meeting was held on the 6th in an air – conditioned tent, thank god, as the daytime temp reached 33’c, and stayed there all week. Thank goodness for the evening’s as it did cool down to around 15’c. As all meetings go politics did rear its head, but from what I was told, it was one of the calmer meetings in recent years. We went through the past minutes, committee reports, and discussed long term plans to use the Linn County Fairgrounds (Albany OR) as a regular rally site for the Northwest Area Rallies. Since the National Convention is in Redmond next year, the NW area elections will be held sooner, i.e. April 07 instead of August 07.

One of the updates that did come up at the meeting was how the vote went at the National Convention in Charlotte. The good news was that all the dreaded proposals put forth failed at the convention, the removal of the governing board was defeated, along with term limits for the National Director and removal of the position of Alternate National Director. The only new point which was somewhat controversial was that if the National Director or Alternate cannot attend a National meeting, a chapter must now designate a delegate three weeks in advance, if they wish, rather than just a few days beforehand. All other house keeping duties to the policies and procedures were passed, no major effect to the chapters. All in all this was good news as all chapters will continue to have their say in how FMCA is run.

At our last rally I spoke to you all about the upcoming Redmond Rally in August 07. I mentioned how we, the Northwest were hosting and they would be looking for some volunteers. There are many venues which need to be covered off. As I said, I would try to find something easy on the legs if we could find enough members that were interested. I put the Vancouver Islanders down for looking after the Handicap & Activity Golf Cart Service. The Roaming Catholics Chapter has also agreed to help out in this task.
I did this only after some of you volunteered to go to the National Convention next year.
As you can see, we would be looking after driving people around in Golf carts, taking them to and picking them up from venues at the Rally. Pretty laid back I’d say. There are of course other needs so if you think this one might not be challenging enough, let me know, as you can volunteer for many items.
So…..I’ll be looking for people that are interested in doing this. You would have to be in Redmond, Oregon on the 10th August 2007 and leave the 17th August. Volunteers park together and closer to the main fair grounds. More details to follow. If you are interested, please e-mail me as I would like to start a tentative list. Firm commitment is required by 5th April 07 for the next NW Area planning meeting which I will be attending in Redmond.

See you up Island for the roving rally, or sooner. For those of you that have started your travels………….Drive and be SAFE

Andy