The Evergreen Leisures 2024 Spring Rally, a return to Garibaldi, was like a trip home to see old friends.
A major renovation project at the Old Mill Resort meant a smaller, more intimate event this year. There were a mere 60 vans and 130 people, including our fantastic team of sponsors.
As always, LTVers are anxious to start a party, so the rally kicked off with an informal potluck dinner on Wednesday night. With almost half of our vans already on site, the potluck turned into a smorgasbord of dishes to satisfy every taste, from the carnivores at heart to the health-conscious among us, and yes, there was dessert!
Brenda, Beth, Cynthia, and Elaine coordinated registration for our first formal rally on Thursday, answering questions, ensuring everyone had name tags, and helping people make connections. Dinner on Thursday evening was sponsored by Leisure Travel Vans and included pizza and hot wings from Main Street Pizza in Tillamook, plus enough cookies to keep everyone on a sugar high for the weekend.
Friday kicked off with an overabundance of coffee, donuts, and fruit, followed by our people and dog walk (I’m not sure who was exercising whom) and a brand new activity for Evergreen Leisures: gentle yoga with Tanya Rice. While I’m more of a donuts and coffee guy, I must admit yoga was a hit and a definite keeper for future rallies!
Once we had eaten, stretched, and been dragged around the park by our furry friends under our belts, we got down to the serious business of seminars. This year, we were blessed to have SkyMed, AmSolar, Family Motor Coach Association, and Evergreen Leisures’ primary sponsor, Johnson RV, on hand to answer questions and inject a bit of humor.
All the while, our favorite LTV YouTube personality, Dean Corrigal, was roaming amongst the crowd, part-class clown and full-time font of knowledge. Having braved a treacherous airplane ride from Calgary (that second engine really isn’t necessary when you have a Rally to get to), Dean spent Friday and Saturday morning going van-to-van with a fantastic team of Johnson RV techs to field questions and make minor repairs to coaches.
One tale of Dean’s exploits included him jumping up and down on a squeaky floor panel in a Unity while holding his phone out so a technician at Winkler could hear the noise and recommend fixing the issue. If that isn’t dedication to customer satisfaction, we don’t know what it is. Thank you, Dean!
On Friday, Patti Beyer and Jules Nesenblatt introduced another activity to our Evergreens team, which was a gigantic hit: beading. Yes, this author was skeptical, but what was initially scheduled to be a one-hour session turned into at least six throughout the weekend, with some spectacular jewelry pieces emerging from the effort. Now, the introduction of liquid refreshments may have contributed to the enthusiasm. Still, even so, it was incredibly popular, and we hope to repeat the experience at our fall rally at Fidalgo Bay, near Anacortes, Washington.
Saturday morning was a repeat of Friday, except now the crowd knew what to expect, and the seminars were even more lively, the yoga stretchier, and the beading even crazier. The afternoon culminated with open van time, where old hands showed off their innovations, and everyone got to see the latest makes and models coming out of Winkler’s magic factory.
With a major storm, we gathered at Old Mill’s ballroom to enjoy excellent Western BBQ complements of Johnson RV. Two kinds of steak, chicken, baked beans, salads, corn-on-the-cobb, and more cookies. What a feast!
Then came the prizes. Johnson RV had been selling raffle tickets for $750 of accessories throughout the weekend, and one lucky Evergreens attendee was the beneficiary. To top it off, Johnson RV donated the raffle proceeds to Evergreen Leisures to support our future Rallies! Thank you, Johnson RV!
Dan Taylor’s coveted sink covers were next up, and five lucky winners received these gorgeous works of art created by a Master Woodworker. Thank you, Dan! Our masters of ceremony, Neil Nesenblatt and Bob Scheutz, kept everyone entertained as they drew names and distributed the remainder of our gifts before giving the order to “clear the floor.”
It is truly remarkable how fast a motivated group of people can break down tables and chairs when there’s dancin’ to be done. Professional line dance caller Kris Rooke proceeded to instruct, inspire, cajole, and entertain our group for hours.
By the time the dancing was done, the storm was upon us, and our weekend was ending. The beautiful weather we’d enjoyed Wednesday through Saturday morning was over, and the weather wonks were predicting 2.5 inches of rain and 35-mile-per-hour winds for Sunday. So, most of our friends and cohorts opted to pull up stakes and hit the road early Sunday morning after we’d once again filled them with coffee and donuts.
For another successful rally, we all owe special thanks to Shasta, our Old Mill RV host, Cynthia Muskin, our volunteer coordinator, and the marvelous team who made the event go seamlessly. A special thanks goes out to our top volunteers, Yaz and Caroline Yoneda and Ann Nordquist. And finally, thank you to our core planning team, Glynis Williams, Norm and Elaine Thiesen, Randy and Beth Blaisdell, Neil and Jules Nesenblatt, Tim and Patti Beyer, Bob and Brenda Scheutz, Cynthia Muskin, and Phil Hartwig without whom none of this would have been possible.
Please remember to mark your calendars for Evergreen Leisures fall rally at Fidalgo Bay, near Anacortes, Washington, from September 5 – 8, 2024. There is currently a waitlist for the event, but we are almost always able to accommodate those on the waitlist due to last-minute cancellations.
Written by: Glynis Williams
Comments