The Midwest LTVers Travelers Club members gathered for our 2024 Fall Boondocking Rally at an apple orchard farm September 23 – 27, 2024, near Silver Lake, Minnesota. Silver Lake is a small town in central Minnesota west of the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area. The rally focused on enjoying the farm activities, which included picking apples, making apple cider, and learning about their LTV and boondocking. For many of the group, this was their first time boondocking and for four nights in a row.
We had a total of 40 LTVs, which was 78 people that attended the rally. There were many familiar faces; for some in the group, it was their first Midwest LTVers rally. The Fall weather was great, with sunny days, cool mornings, and the weather warming up by the afternoon. The LTV owners boondocked all around the 11-acre farm. We had access to the renovated barn on the farm, which served as our event center for meetings, meals, and many activities.
After the first evening meal, we started the rally with a welcome and presentation of the history of the Alfadale Farm by Kathy Palmquist, co-leader of the Midwest LTV Club, and her brother, Bob Nunvar, owner of Alfadale Farms. There was also a boondocking presentation and tips for the LTV owners.
We started each rally day with breakfast treats, fruit, hard-boiled eggs, and hot beverages. We shared more boondocking tips, LTV modifications, solutions, information, show and tell, rally updates, the daily schedule, and announcements at the morning meetings. One of the rally’s highlights was having a State of Charge presentation and question and answer time with two representatives from LTV Winkler, Brian Hiebert, and Randy Wiebe, Customer Service and Warranty Representatives. They stayed through the day to interact and support the LTV owners with their questions and needs. Some afternoon sessions included winterization, de-winterization, LTV maintenance and questions, convection oven training, wood carving demonstration, helping the farmer with farm projects, line dancing, and making and eating apple crisps.
The farm was near the Luce Line bike trail, so many of the group biked on the trail during the afternoons and went to the local winery near the trail for lunch. Another afternoon activity included making fire starters with toilet paper rolls, dryer lint, wood shavings, and wax paper. A group of LTV owners installed new horns on their LTVs with assistance from one of the members, Rob Kleinhans. On Thursday, September 26, the group spent the day picking apples, making apple cider, and tasting apples with caramel and other toppings.
The evening meals included grilled brats, hamburgers, sweet corn, a baked potato bar, and a catered meal of hot dishes and salads from a local restaurant. Lake Region RVs from Ramsey, Minnesota, sponsored and financially supported the catered meal. There was plenty of food at the rally!
In the evenings, we included time to play various card and board games, bean bags, bonfires, and chat about our travels and plans. On Wednesday evening, we had a Midwest LTVers Club Meeting to provide the LTV owners with information and updates about the club. Also, we had a drawing so the LTV owners could receive gifts donated by LTV, other vendors, and Midwest LTV members.
A big thank you to all the sponsors of our rally. Additional sponsorships included products from Dude Wipes, Cirkul water bottles, flavored sips for each person, Liquified RV Toilet black tank treatments, Walex drop-ins, and Elemonates gray tank deodorizer. A big thank you to LTV for the financial support of the rally and for sending two Customer Service and Warranty Representatives.
We were so fortunate to have a great group of volunteers who helped when needed with grilling, organizing the food tables, serving food, cleaning up, and anything else we needed help with.
Our “LTV family” has continued to grow at each rally. It was a great time with these LTV owners. We hope others will consider joining us at a future Midwest LTVers rally!
Written by: Kelly Westphal
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