Disappointing National Rally Sign UP

[allendp]

It is really disappointing to me as a Texan that at his late date only 32 rigs have signed up to visit our great state for the IRV2 National Rally in July. Of that number only 10 rigs are from states other than Texas. Perhaps it the fuel prices or the summer heat in Texas that are keeping folks away, but it was hot in Sevierville and humid in Branson and the fuel prices were high then and we had over 65 rigs at each of those events.

Folks I am telling you Mitchell RV Park is much better than either of the parks in Sevierville or Branson with a wonderful air-conditioned rally hall for our use all week, beautiful shade trees to park under, a nice lake with breezes blowing on the park all the time, and 3 swimming pools.

I also know that Madame Boomer has worked very hard to plan a fantastic rally for everyone and it is going to be very disappointing
if we have less rigs attend the IRV2 National Rally than we have attend a normal Texas Boomer's Rally. I do hope this is not the new
trend for the best RVing site on the internet.

[allendp]

It is really disappointing to me as a Texan that at his late date only 32 rigs have signed up to visit our great state for the IRV2 National Rally in July. Of that number only 10 rigs are from states other than Texas. Perhaps it the fuel prices or the summer heat in Texas that are keeping folks away, but it was hot in Sevierville and humid in Branson and the fuel prices were high then and we had over 65 rigs at each of those events.

Folks I am telling you Mitchell RV Park is much better than either of the parks in Sevierville or Branson with a wonderful air-conditioned rally hall for our use all week, beautiful shade trees to park under, a nice lake with breezes blowing on the park all the time, and 3 swimming pools.

I also know that Madame Boomer has worked very hard to plan a fantastic rally for everyone and it is going to be very disappointing
if we have less rigs attend the IRV2 National Rally than we have attend a normal Texas Boomer's Rally. I do hope this is not the new
trend for the best RVing site on the internet.

[cb5300]

May be it's the high price of fuel, or the fact that FMCA is holding their rally around the same time, or may be it's just people like me that are planning to come, but just haven't signed up yet...We still plan on coming but with things the way they are at work we may get shot down.

[TXiceman]

I know some folks have said....OMG it will take 200 gallons of fuel to get there and that is $800.00. Problem is it was not a problem ahen the fuel bill was $600.00. They are just looking at the total cost, not the differential cost....$200.00 more.

They would probaly not flench a bit if they had a cruise booked and the company called back and said...oh, the fule is more and we are charging an extra $200.00 to get you to all of the fun you can stand.

Come on folks, the fun will be there and you will enjoy yourselves. You don't want Don and me to have all of the fun.

We are going and enjoy the event.

[JC2]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by allendp:
It is really disappointing to me as a Texan that at his late date only 32 rigs have signed up to visit our great state for the IRV2 National Rally in July. Of that number only 10 rigs are from states other than Texas. Perhaps it the fuel prices or the summer heat in Texas that are keeping folks away, but it was hot in Sevierville and humid in Branson and the fuel prices were high then and we had over 65 rigs at each of those events.

Folks I am telling you Mitchell RV Park is much better than either of the parks in Sevierville or Branson with a wonderful air-conditioned rally hall for our use all week, beautiful shade trees to park under, a nice lake with breezes blowing on the park all the time, and 3 swimming pools.

I also know that Madame Boomer has worked very hard to plan a fantastic rally for everyone and it is going to be very disappointing
if we have less rigs attend the IRV2 National Rally than we have attend a normal Texas Boomer's Rally. I do hope this is not the new
trend for the best RVing site on the internet.

</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I agree with you 100%. Madame Boomer does not disappoint when it comes to organizing rallies. Like alot of others, we are not happy about the fuel prices but adjustments can/have/will be made to offset the fuel price increase. As for the heat, that's why they put AC's in rvs isn't it? We will be coming from Missoura and wouldn't miss it.

[rebelsbeach]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Of that number only 10 rigs are from states other than Texas. Perhaps it the fuel prices </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Seems to me you've answered your own question, whether or not you agree with the answer....

It's something we will ALL have to consider in the future, as diesel fuel in my area reached $4.39 a gallon....
Like it or not, these are tough times for our members.
I certainly can attest to the hard work which Madame Boomer has done to put this rally package together and I don't think there's a member out there who would disagree with me.

If you really think about it, there are certainly more than 22 Texan members of iRV2, so could it be there truly is an issue with respect to fuel costs, when even in your own State the registrations are down?

[doc]

Well, we would like to join you folks in Texas cause there is a lot of fun to be had at these things. However....(isn't there always one of those?) a couple of years ago we were in Pigeon Forge and it was so hot you could hardly breathe..and this was the Tennessee moountains.
I cannot imagine Texas in July.
We missed Branson last year due to a committment in S Dakota. That might have been a bit cooler.
Perhaps we could do a national in the Rockies at maybe 8000 or so feet? This MS that Ms Carol has really kicks her fannie in the heat. We'll be thinking of y'all and all the good food and fun.

[ruppr]

Doc,
Give us a chance, I assure you Perrin TX. will be alot cooler than Pigeon Forge (I was there) ever thought about being cool)! You will not have any heat problems at this National. (I'm San Antonio TX. based)

Best,

[ruppr]

Rebelsbeach,
While I agree with the majority of your post, (read prices of fuel) 22 rigs from Texas is not down for a National Rally, it is up, a bunch!

Best,

[rebelsbeach]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by ruppr:
Rebelsbeach,
While I agree with the majority of your post, (read prices of fuel) 22 rigs from Texas is not down for a National Rally, it is up, a bunch!

Best, </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Bob, you're more than welcome to disagree with my posts but as you may or may not know, Texas is one of our largest States of membership here in iRV2, so large geographically in fact that the Boomers are made up of three regions.
Furthermore, when I searched member profiles with the word "Texas" in them, I came up with 698.
Even with a 90 percent "wiggle" factor for inactive members, 10 percent of 698 is still 69.

Based on your own argument of folks traveling from afar to attend the Rally and the fact it's in your home State, one might believe there to be more than 20 rigs from Texas, IF FUEL PRICES were in fact not a deterrent.

Believe me Sir, as one of the owners of this site I would love for the numbers to be better than they are but I believe we've addressed all the scenarios affecting that from happening so far.

[ktp_guy]

We haven't missed an IRV2 rally since our first one at Nashville. "However....(isn't there always one of those?)", before the 2007 rally, we spent two weeks of vacation in Texas, in Aransas Pass, San Antonio and Boerne. And yeah, we found out about Boerne from Sandy's last stint as wagonmaster. Texas is one of our favorite places to visit! In fact, in the fall of 2008, we are going to the Cowboy Chuckwagon Cookoff, in New Mexico, and we will fit in a few days in Texas on the way.

And there's the rub.

If we had known sooner that the 2008 rally was going to be in Texas, we would have planned some of the other trips differently. Keeping the next year's rally location secret until the end of the currant rally has made it hard on some of us, with limited time off, to plan our trips. We have to applaud the advance notice of the 2009 rally being in Elkhart (even if Elkhart is in our backyard.) Hopefully, rally locations can continue to be announced early enough so we can plan to attend.

And, this summer, we're really going to miss all y'all!

Larry, Sue
Gizmo, Gadget & Bandit

[TXiceman]

Since the fuel prices have gone through the roof and they will go higher, we have slowed down to a consistent 60 mph and it has help. I guess we'll drop to 55 to head to the National rally and the Texas/Oklahoma joint rally.

We'll get there, just a bit slower.

Ken

[DriVer]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by cb5300:
May be it's the high price of fuel, or the fact that FMCA is holding their rally around the same time, </div></BLOCKQUOTE>Another BIG draw is the Winnebago Grand National Rally which is up in Iowa. Incredible as it may seem there may be some 90+ iRV2 attendees at the WIT GNR this July however I can't confirm those numbers.

I have never been to a GNR however this is Winnebago's 50th Anniversary and I'm thinking that this GNR is going to be a special event.

[UFO Pilot]

We would love to join the group and meet some of you nice folks but we will be in Canada for the month of July. Hopefully we can join you on a future rally.