RAMES14:
Wanting to meet up with others that they had forged friendships with online, one couple (
Searchers) urged two other couples (
ToolManRoy and
D&M On The Road) to meet up with them at a campground way up in Northern California.
Work, other commitments and distance was going to keep the three MOC couples from being able to attend the very first MOC Rally held in Indiana in 2004.
It turns out that
Searchers had spent his youth living on the land of the campground while his parents owned and operated it. So when
Searchers said it was a very nice campground, he knew what he was talking about.
They tossed around the possibility of the camping trip and finally decided upon Memorial Day weekend of 2005. That would give the working couples an extra day for travel. One couple lived in Oregon, one couple lived near Mt. Shasta and the other couple lived in the Sacramento Valley.
They decided to call the camping trip a “
Campout”.
A few months before the couples were to meet up, they decided to open it up to the MOC forum so they posted a message about it on the forum. They just knew that no one else would sign up, but what the heck. The original three couples were looking forwards to a nice, relaxing time of good food and good friends.
To make a long story short, this was the beginning of the
Lake Siskiyou MOC rallies. If my memory serves me correctly, we had about 25 members show up for that first “
Campout”.
The rallies continued every year until they outgrew the campground’s facilities and the location was moved to
7 Feathers RV Park in Oregon to accommodate all the MOC members that wanted to attend.
So, my *free & unsolicited* advice to you is, set a date for a camping trip, advertise it here on the MOC,
and they will come. You don't need to worry about organizing anything other than the date & location for this first "
Campout".
At the very least, you’ll have a nice, relaxing trip.