NorthEast Region Rally - Montana Owners Club

FredG · 11-06-2004, 08:56 PM

We'd like to get the ball rolling on a regional rally and would like to know what locations other MOC members in the Northeast might be interested in. Here's a couple of ideas to get the ball rolling...

Location:

Lake George area - Beautiful location with a lot of attractions and relatively central for New England states.
Niagara Falls area - Another area of NYS with a few attractions.

Time Frame:
We'd like to aim for June. Jen will definitely be home from work and it will allow those people who want to attend our regional event to also be able to attend the national event in September.

Length:
3 day or 4 day, encompassing a weekend.

Campground Amenities:

We prefer full hookup, but don't mind a site without sewer. But, we'd like to see what everyone else would be interested in.
Pet Friendly. A very large majority of MOC members at the national rally had pets, many had large dogs (including us), so this is a must.

Rally Structure:
Which would everybody prefer?

Free Form - Nothing more than one or two pot luck meals and a campfire or games.
Some events planned - Pre-planned schedule for tours of local attractions

Now, these are only recommendations from us to get the ball rolling, please feel free to throw out other ideas! I know we had several NY, PA, and Canadian members interested in a regional event, which is why we focused more on NY, but we'd like to hear from others from further up New England also.

RVWheels · 11-06-2004, 09:56 PM

Fred and Jen,
It is great to see the Regionals starting to kick in. That is wonderful. I hope you get some lively discussion regarding the get together. Good luck.

RVWheels

Chuck and Carol · 11-07-2004, 09:01 AM

Chuck and I would love to attend this summer. Isn't the Lake George area, very pretty, kinda expensive? If it were toward Canada, maybe some of our Canadian friends would like to join us. Doesn't matter to us one way or the other.
If we can help in any way let us know. Glad you included our furry friends. My big Mike would be upset left at home.

Carol and Chuck

Glenn and Lorraine · 11-07-2004, 01:28 PM

Do it in June and we will be there.

BUT we owned a motel and fishing camp in northern New York and know from experience that you will have to schedule that rally to not include the 3rd weekend in June or later. The 3rd Saturday in June is the opening of bass fishing season and most all accommodations on or near any lake will be FULL. And of course that busy season runs thru July. August would be better for vacancies but August can also be HOT.

Emmel · 11-07-2004, 04:02 PM

Fred&Jen, good to hear you are trying to get something started your way. The Falls area would be a nice area to visit. Hope you can get it setup, never know, if the week, 3or4 days work out, Patti and might join you up there too. We are going to try to set something up around Ohio or Michigan, only it will have to be closer to August or September for ours. Post your dates and site so more of us can try to make it, especially if the MOC Rally is in Reno, most of us midwesterners can't make that in one week.

FredG · 11-07-2004, 08:53 PM

Glenn and Lorraine,
Thanks for the tip! I didn't think of fishing season. I just figured if we set up a location near any major attractions, we would probably want to set it up sometime before school lets out.
Jen's current schedule puts her on her ship for August and September, which is why we were looking at June.

Since you know that area, if everybody leans that way, maybe you can give us some pointers at campgrounds to look at or to avoid.

Steve and Patti,
We will absolutely post the dates and welcome everybody from the other regions. I don't know if any of the fulltimers have thought of this, but it would be kinda cool if some members could attend several regional rallys on their way to the national rally. I can see it now, a BLOG called "Coast to Coast - MOC style".

Carol and Chuck,
I looked at a few RV parks in the Lake George area that have websites and they are a bit on the high side, but getting further away they start getting reasonable. One idea that Jen had was to look at areas a half hour or so away, maybe Saratoga Springs, which is about 25 miles South of Lake George, still within reasonable driving distance to the sights on the lake and closer to Saratoga Raceway, for any gamblers out there

sreigle · 11-08-2004, 02:19 AM

Fred and Jen, we're watching the regional activity and intend to attend whenever we're in the area at the right time or can adjust schedule or routes a little to allow us to attend. Sometimes we'll have commitments that will keep us from attending but we're hoping to attend as many as we can. We appreciate you folks who are grabbing the horns and making these things work.

Montana_2304 · 11-08-2004, 03:56 AM

There is another RV Resort in western New York located between Buffalo and Rochester. This is the website if anyone is interested in checking it out.
www.southwoodsrvresort.com

It's within an hour of many tourist attractions and the rates are extremely reasonable with an area for sixty units with water and electric hookups, clean and modern restrooms and showers, for clubs or group camping.The resort is fairly new with city water also. Just an idea if you're thinking of coming up this far.

Charlie and Sue

snowbunny · 11-08-2004, 05:04 AM

I was just going to suggest somewhere around Albany or Syracuse NY. It's within 300 miles of all of New England, New York, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Toronto, Montreal. I can't imagine driving more than three hundred miles for a regional event. Besides if it's a North East event how far south and west do we have to cover?

I like Lake George and it's closest to me but I do think it may be crowded and somewhat expensive in June. On the other hand, if there are only a dozen or so Montanas almost anywhere could handle us. If there are 50 then it would be a different story!

FredG · 11-08-2004, 08:01 AM

Charlie and Sue,
Thanks for the great link! Southwoods definitely has potential. Do you know what their rates are like and what their pet regulations are? I didn't see that info on their site.
By the way, we're not too far from you, we live in Wayland.

Jim and Diane,
That's one of the reasons Jen and I thought of the Lake George area first. It's a central location with a good number of attractions. Of course, at this point we're just trying to kick things off and get a feeling for what the MOC members in this region would prefer as for location.

Chuck and Carol · 11-08-2004, 11:41 AM

FredG. I looked at their ad in the Woodalls Web Site and there are pet "restrictions." I e-mailed them to find out what that meant. I will let you know if I find out. I did notice on the campground map there was a dog run. Whatever that means.

Carol

rehorner · 11-08-2004, 04:09 PM

I'm in the Boston area and would like to join the Northeast Rally. The upstate NY area seems fine to me. We camped at Lake George Escape this past August (www.lakegeorgeescape.com). It was a nice area - plenty to do, near the lake and other attractions and right off the Northway (I87). It is a little pricey, but most 5 Star rated campgrounds will be. Also wouldn't mind the Niagara Falls area, but would prefer that be either late June or early July when my boys are out of school and we can spend a little more time there (it's about a 10 or 11 hour trip from Boston). Another option is Deer Run in Mechanicville, NY. Lots of pull-throughs. Anyway, please let me know if there's anything I can do to help.

Just148 · 11-08-2004, 06:29 PM

It's great to see so many members getting together for their regional outing. I will attend as many rallys as time permits.

FredG · 11-08-2004, 06:29 PM

Thanks rehorner! Lake George Escape looks like a great place, but a bit expensive. Of course, if everybody decides on the Lake George area, we'll put it on the list to look at. I also looked at the Deer Run RV Resort (http://www.deerrunrv.com). It's the only one I found in a quick search on google. One thing that stuck out is that "Pets are permitted, but strongly discouraged."

Everyone, I have started another thread to act as a poll. Please use that thread to state a location preference and time preference only. I want to keep that thread uncluttered so that I can tally up the responses easily on November 17th. The only reason that I did that is because I am under the impression that there are active poll limits on this forum software, but want to get a good count of potential attendance and location preference.

Of course, feel free to add a location to the list.

rehorner · 11-09-2004, 04:43 PM

I've been to Deer Run many times with my brother and cousin. They both have dogs and have never been questioned or discouraged. Maybe this is a new policy - haven't been there since last year.

As for the price issue, I hope I'm not being too presumptuous, but considering the total cost of a trip like this, is $10 a night (or whatever) going to make or break a particular area?

Anyway, great idea in starting a polling thread. Looking forward to helping make this a successful event!

FredG · 11-09-2004, 06:30 PM

I always prefer 1st hand experience over websites. Many campgrounds don't have the technical ability or time to update them regularly.
As for price, it's something for the group as a whole to consider. When we decide on an area, we'll have to see what campgrounds are available, then that information can be brought to the group for discussion. I personally don't mind paying a bit extra for convenience or better amenities, but with the recent high cost of fuel and the fact that some members may be on a limited income, I can see it being a discussion point.
I have looked online at a few campgrounds in the Lake George area and noticed that once you get about a half hour away, the prices start to drop.

Either way, I'm just going to sit back and see where everybody wants to go. As for us, any of the locations would be fine. I plan on taking 2.5 to 3 weeks off and we'll either start or end with the rally and plan our vacation around that.

sreigle · 11-10-2004, 09:36 AM

You all probably know this already but just in case... Many rv parks will offer or negotiate a discount for groups. It often depends on number of rigs. When we scouted out the Goshen area and talked to probably 20 parks, discounts ranged from a dollar per day to 25%. Pla-Mor gave us 10%.

Baird · 11-12-2004, 12:14 PM

We stayed at Lake George RV Park and Lake George Escape last year and were very impressed with both. RV park has the trolly runnning to everywhere. Both are fantastic resorts. A little pricy but worth every penny

Both are different enough to stay at both to experience the BEST!!!!!
We vote for either of the resorts
Jim & Lorrie baird

BillyRay · 11-12-2004, 12:47 PM

I live in the area...if you plan on August, you are in the middle of horse racing season in Saratoga...very busy, but nice.

kdeiss · 11-12-2004, 03:10 PM

Has any one thought of the Fall like Sept-Oct? We are from the Pittsburgh area spend our summer camping in Erie Pa. Would attend if in the fall and I would think this would be off season

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