Hello to everyone !! I wanted to take a moment to update everybody. As of last week, I am the new Rally Chairman (please wish me luck and I know what I've gotten myself into, LOL ). For those of you who don't know me, I will offer the following short Bio.

Tracy and I bought our Redwood (which she named Tilda, in case we ever refer to her as that and you have a quizzical expression on your face) in October of 2012. We missed the very first Rally in which I believe there were 11 coaches but have been to every Rally since then and in fact I was active in setting up the 3rd one which was the first at Shipshewana South Campground. Over the years we have done many modifications to ours including the MorRyde IS suspension, Disc Brakes, a new pinbox and changing hitches. Have also switched to a Residential frig. I'm semi-retired, have sold my Commercial Sign and Graphics business to my stepson. I'm a licensed Coast Guard Captain and also hold a FAA Private Pilot license, hence the "piperguy". For those of you that fly, I owned a Piper Warrior II up until a couple of years ago.

I've organized similar things before including annual flyouts to Oshkosh for the Annual Airventure Show with groups of planes up to 14 aircraft. If you think arranging and coordinating something on wheels is tough ~ try things that fly that are coming from all over and you need them all together in a 1 hour window ........ Strange part is that I actually enjoy the challenge of making all the parts come together.

In any case, here's some updates:

The actual Rally is Thursday - Sunday July 20-23. A lot of people like to come in for the whole week. I would suggest however, not arriving before Sunday afternoon 7/16 as the Campground is very popular for Rallies and there will undoubtedly be one that is leaving on that day. There will be some structured activities on Tuesday and Wednesday but these have not been determined yet. I have some ideas, but welcome anyone's input. I also welcome any volunteer help.

Ken has set up a separate, members access group for anyone that is involved with Rally Planning and volunteering. It is under the Volunteers section in the forums and is the National Rally one. If you would like to help, please PM me and I will add you for access and we can trade emails, phone number, etc.
I have setup a new, separate email address for myself for anything Rally connected ~ please PM me and I will forward to you if you need it.

Following Jay Caubles's footsteps and lead in creating and presenting a great Rally in 2016 will be tough and challenging. I'm hoping to make 2017 even more memorable. As I said, I welcome all help and ideas.

WE NEED TO HAVE REGISTRATIONS AT THE CAMPGROUND AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. There is a time window we need to have a certain number of coaches coming to hold the reservations that we have.

TO REGISTER FOR THE RALLY YOU MUST DO 2 STEPS ~

First ~ after January 1, call Shipshewana South Campground and make a Reservation. You must call, do not use the email online. When you call, tell them you are making Reservations for the 2017 Redwood Rally.

Second, when we have it up and running, fill out the Registration form available either here or at the link from the Redwood website. This form is not up yet but will be shortly after Jan 1 if not before.

I look forward to a Great Rally, lots of new people, lots of old friends and good times. For those of you who have not been to one, it is best described as a week long block party with lots of good information and fun things to do thrown in.

I have already talked to MorRyde, G&L RV Specialties and Comfort Ride Hitch and all will be returning again this year. More to come !!

Vaughan

Vaugahan

Please may I add our thanks to you and Tracy for taking on this enormous task. Hopefully we will be able to attend, but it's about a 5K mile round trip for us.......we'll just have to see. But thanks again for doing this, I'm sure the rally will be a rousing success because of your leadership.

Good luck Vaughan, i am sure the rally will be best ever....

Thanks for taking on this task...

Joe

Vaughn,

Funny you should mention Oshkosh. Before going to the 2014 rally Gizzi and I went to Oshkosh. It was pretty close to Shipshawanna and we had a blast. We were able to extend our time in the area to make the drive to Indiana better.

I'm wondering if anyone this year would be interested in attending. There was soooo many campers along with the airplanes. We actually wanted the Blue Angels just outside our Redwood right under their flight path. Very fun!

Anyway, Oshkosh is July 24 - 30, 2017. How does that correspond to the dates for the National Rally?

The Rally ends Sunday the 23rd so the timing would be perfect for anyone that want d to go on up to Oshkosh.

Is the rally in July or August?

Actual Rally dates - July 20-23. With events starting on the 18th and 19th for those coming in early.

Cool, that's another very compelling reason to make the journey!

Thanks

Vaughn,

Funny you should mention Oshkosh. Before going to the 2014 rally Gizzi and I went to Oshkosh. It was pretty close to Shipshawanna and we had a blast. We were able to extend our time in the area to make the drive to Indiana better.

I'm wondering if anyone this year would be interested in attending. There was soooo many campers along with the airplanes. We actually wanted the Blue Angels just outside our Redwood right under their flight path. Very fun!

Anyway, Oshkosh is July 24 - 30, 2017. How does that correspond to the dates for the National Rally?

Can you still get reservations to Oshkosh? That's one of those places that gets crowded quick, fast and in a hurry. We would like to at least consider it.

Campsites on the grounds at OSH are strictly first come first serve. When we would fly in and camp with the plane we either planned on being there by Saturday morning before the Monday official start or else we went Wednesday as by then a good portion of the early ones were leaving. If you're into aircraft at all, plan at least 3-4 days. I went for 11 years straight with the plane and the last year I was there in 2012 there were over 10,000 aircraft at OSH and another 2-3000 between Appleton and Fond du Lac. Daily attendance around 160 k people. Largest airshow and airplane gathering in the world and Aviation's biggest block party.

You could try for campground reservations near Oshkosh, but if doing so, do it right after Jan 1 when most start taking reservations. By February there won't be many sites left if any.

Camp Schiller, the vehicle and tent campground on the airport at OSH is huge. It is all drycamping but they have never turned anyone away. Usually about 15-20,000 people camping there.
The overall organization of Airventure is nothing short of amazing. Has to be experienced to be believed and understood.

Was supposed to be Camp Scholler. Hate auto spell

We did the dry camping at OSH with our RW and was fine except when we arrived it was raining so a bit muddy. It is first come first serve and rather a bit of chaos, but none the less found a great spot with fun neighbors.

We had the services truck come by and pump out our grey & black tanks plus fill up our fresh once for I think $20.

I'd like to go again.

Looking forward to attending the rally as a first timer! I have called the campground two times and continue to get a recording that the are closed. is there an alternate phone number?

Sally, Give them a call in a week or 2. Located in Indiana, we have snow and ice right now. They will be there soon. Campground doesn't open until April 15th or so.

Chris