[encantotom]

This is an information only thread from Newellgurus and you will not be able to reply or post to it. To keep posting about the rally, go to the other thread.

BLACK HILLS MINI RALLY JUNE 22-29

We are set for our rally. We wanted to get this out so people can make their reservations. Below are the details from The Elkhorn Ridge RV Resort. We will compile a list of things to see and do over the next few months and post that as well. Our crossover dates when we would like everyone to be there is the last 4 days (June 25-29), however almost everyone so far will be there the entire week. The Black Hills is a very beautiful area and the people are great so we know you will all have a great time. We look forward to meeting you all. No requirement to have a Newell Coach.

Our get togethers are very casual with potluck dinners, tours of each others coaches, informal tech sessions on how to fix things and how things work as well as we might even actually fix something on someones coach...that has been known to happen. Bring any spare parts you want to trade, barter, give away or sell.

We err on the side of not being very organized so we can each do what we want. Many of us have attended 2 previous mini-rallys like this and they were an incredible amount of fun.

We will likely have at least one formal potluck.

There is no fee and you just cover your own expenses at the RV park etc.

20189 US Hwy 85 · Spearfish, SD 57783 · 605.722.1800 · 877.722.1800 · http://www.elkhornridgervresort.com

Todd Flickema will be the primary contact for the Newell Gurus Rally at the RV park. He is Flick on our forum. Todd arranged our rally with the park and he is from South Dakota. Each member of the group will make their own reservations.

RV SITE 52.50/night + tax = $56.97

A 10% discount is provided for guests who have AAA, Good Sam, military, or education cards.
Cancellation policy for group reservations is as follows:
Deposits will be refunded for cancellations 60 days prior to the event.

Elkhorn Ridge Resort has a variety of amenities your group may wish to enjoy. There is a full sized heated swimming pool, kiddies pool, 2 hot tubs, lighted basketball and tennis courts, volleyball, and horseshoe pits.

We have 2 shower houses, which include laundry facilities.
The entire Resort is paved, and the RV sites each have full hook up.
If you would like to reserve the Pool Shelter and Gazebo area for an evening you may do so at no charge.

We have a full-service Liquor Store, grocery, and gift shop. Propane fill up is available Monday – Friday from 9:00 – 4:00.

If your group would like to have a pie social we have delicious fruit pies that we will bake on site. Just let us know how many, and we will make sure you have a tasty dessert or lunch snack.

Newell Gurus Attendees with reservations to date: (as of May 20)

If i misspelled anyones name or left anyone out, please let me know

1) Todd and Dawn Flickema (Flick)
2) Tom and Darlene McCloud (encantotom)
3) Michael and Georgia Day (Fulltiming)
4) Ron Skeen & Matt Russo (ron skeen) (Express1)
5) Jeff and Pam Reganall (RegaNewell)
6) Reganall - inlaws
7) Forest and Cindy Olivier (Folivier)
8) Chester Stone & Jan (Chester Stone)
9) Steve and Suzy Bare (rheavn)
10) Clarke and Elaine Hockwald (Whatsnewell)
11) Steve Magown (smagown)
12 David and Denise Zonker
13) Richard and Rhonda Entrekin (Richard)
14) John and Vicki Clark Newell Coach (Johnc)
15) Jeff and Lynn Shoop (LynnJeff)
16) Bill Johnson (Bikestuff)
17) Ashley and Linda Pardue (ashley)
18) Bill and Heather Appel (roadappels)
19) Peter Haggins (hagcam)
20) Jimmy Webb (Ozark Guy)
21) Wayne Williams
22) James and Carol Brooks (homeonwheels)
23) Rudy and Carolyn Legett (Trainer)
24) Larry & Hedy Brachfeld (lbrachfe)
25) Chappell and Mary Jordan (qci)
26) Tony and Drenda Moseley (Tmflyer)
27) Dean and Ruth Patterson (texas2dean)

Regards,

Clarke

[encantotom]

Hello everyone.

We will have some updates for you in detail soon on the rally. a few of the things that are planned are

Sat 22nd. reception as you come in at Tom and Darlenes coach. there will be goodies and welcome gifts
there will also be a signup sheet for a variety of activities.

1. Seminars/tech sessions. there are the possibility of an aquahot one (which is discussed on a another post), one on HVAC, one on air suspensions, John Clark from Newell is going to do a session for us and there may be a few more impromptu ones.

2. coach inspections. whoever wants to have their coach looked at can sign up. intent is for as many of us as want to, to look over whoever signs up coach, looking for any potential issues or offering advice on how things work etc.

3. open house. for those that want to, have two nights where half have their coaches open for others to drop by and look inside and for the other half to be those that drop by. then alternate the next night

4. two scheduled potluck dinners. michael has promised to give his history of newell presentation.

5. impromptu potlucks

6. of course we usually help each other with any coach problems they might be having

7. we will be offering a rally tshirt that is really really cool. i will have them made once people say what they want and commit to buy. (i will only have enough made for those that commit to them as i dont want to be left holding the proverbial bag of shirts). a picture and cost will be posted soon. they will be sold at cost.

8. there will also be some custom hand etched glassware with the new NewellGurus Logo (which I will post very soon) that is killer cool, that can be ordered and i will pick it up in oklahoma on the way to spearfish. pictures and prices will be sent soon as well. same thing, will sell at cost.

9. some really nice baseball caps with NewellGurus Logo on as well.

10. parts swapping. bring your spare parts or other coach things to trade and swap or give away.

Not making any money, just having some nice trinkets if people want them.

of course there is all the sightseeing and fun festivities. we will also be informal and will change things as we want too.

Todd is putting together a list of sightseeing activities as well.

so, lots to come soon on the rally.

tom

[encantotom]

Newell Gurus Spearfish Rally Information and Request

Hello Gurus,

I wanted to give you an update on our activities that we have tentatively planned.

First, for those of you that are attending the Rally I wanted to thank you for planning on attending. For those of you who cannot be there, we will miss you and hope you can attend the next one. We started out just thinking there would be a few of us getting together and it has grown to over 20 coaches so far. Todd Flickema has done a lot of leg work on things and it is much appreciated.

Ok.....now for some plans (that could change since we are quite casual)

Darlene and I will be hosting a welcome reception at our coach on Saturday as you arrive. Come on over and register and pick up your stuff and sign up for what activities you are interested in.

We will have 2 organized potluck dinners. There will be a signup sheet at our place as you register.

The first will be Sunday night. The second will be Friday Nite. (subject to change) They will be held at the Ramada. We are going to have Michael Day do his History of Newell Coach presentation at one of them.

We will also have on Monday and Tuesday (days could change) nights Coach Open Houses. For those that are interested we will have half of the coaches open for walk thru's (feel free to have refreshments at your coach if you want) with the other half the next night. That way those that are not hosting can tour through the coaches. Totally optional, as is everything.

We will have a number of seminars/workshops, this could grow or shrink based demand or others offering.

1. Rudy Legett will be doing a seminar on Aquahot. He is a factory authorized Aquahot serviceman and will share his experiences with us.

Rudy has offered his help for any of us that want to do things ourselves. for those of you that dont want to do that, then as he puts it....he can be bought. rumor has it that Roger Burke may pop by and the two of them school us in aquahot....then we would have the two best aquahot guys around....

2. John Clark from the Newell factory will be attending and has offered to do a seminar on Electrical, Lubricants, Tires, and Preventative Maintenance

3. Richard Entrekin will be doing two seminars. The first is on HVAC. The second is on air suspensions.

If anyone is interested in a group coach inspection we will have a signup sheet for whoever wants it and who wants to help do it. This can be fun and help each other.

In our 2 other rally's we also had a lot of spontaneous fixing of stuff. I am sure that will happen as well.

Wow, that is a lot of info. I hope it doesn't scare you off. We will be really informal and you can participate in whatever you want or not.

There are lots of things to do around Spearfish.

Darlene and I will be there on Friday nite to get settled in early.

There will be some momento's available and I will need to get commitments from each of you if you would like to purchase any of them so we can order them and get them done before we leave. I will cover the initial cost but will need to get that money back from you guys. (hey I am retired and no paycheck anymore)

We will have Gray Newell Gurus Elkhorn Ridge T-Shirts for sale. Cost will be in the $10 range each and xxl and xxxl 2 dollars more. I will not make any money on them. The representative picture is below. They will be screen printed shirts. Thanks to Jeff Binion for doing the logo. They will be 6 oz nice tshirts.

I am also planning on having Newell Gurus baseball caps with the new logo that Jeff also did for us. The hats will be nice ones that are black and will be embroidered. Estimated cost is also $10-12. The Newell Gurus Below is a mock up. The actual logo will be a bit smaller. This was just one Darlene did a rough mock up of.

In addition there will be offered by order (and I plan on picking them up from Jeff on the way) custom hand made Newell Guru etched glass coffee mugs or root beer mugs. They are clear glass and hand etched by Jeff. He is offering them at a very reasonable price. I will just need to know how many if any, that each of you would like. The pictures are below. They are awesome.

Handled Rootbeer Mug $8.50 ea 25 oz
Handled Coffee Mug $7.50 ea 13 oz

The etching is deep hand carving...not laser or other type surface decor

Both are heavy USA made glass.

There will also be some special gifts that are handmade by Darlene and then a special surprise from one of our Gurus Members.

There will be some door prizes that were kindly donated by GoodSam/Woodalls.

The Rally team (Todd, Clarke and I along with Dawn, Elaine and Darlene) are looking forward to seeing all of you.

If you want any of the items above I need to know quickly. For those attending the rally I will bring them with me and will stop in Oklahoma to see Jeff and pick up any of the mugs that people ordered.

I will need to have the shirt and Mug orders by Friday May 17th

Please email me at [email protected] or private message me quickly as I have to get them made before I leave at the end of May. For shirts I have to order 24 as a minimum. If I dont get orders for 24 I likely won't make them. This is no money making activity. I don't want to be stuck with things I can't use for Darlene and I. I will pay for them initially and then you can pay me at the rally.

Please let me know........... By May 17th.

How many Rally T shirts and what sizes.    

How many 25 oz root beer mugs    

How many 13 oz Coffee mugs    

How many Newell Gurus baseball caps (the logo will be smaller than the mockup in the picture).    

If any of you that are not attending the rally want any of this stuff let me know and I can send it to you if you cover shipping.

Thank you again for being our friends,

The Rally planners, Todd, Clarke and Tom

[encantotom]

An update on the spearfish get together gear.

i had to place the final order on the shirts today, so they are locked down. darlene and i are leaving the end of this month so we needed to have them done next week.

i had a few extra made so there might be a few more if new requests come in.

the mugs were very popular and they are being made this week and next. there might be a chance for more orders if they come this week.

the hats i had to have made in a larger quantity than the requests so there will be plenty of them if anyone wants them. the mugs and caps are generic newell gurus logo and not specific to the rally.

the list of attendees continues to grow and we are close to 25 coaches now. much bigger than any of us expected and that is great. we still want to keep it as informal as possible so the loose agenda that is in a previous post is still the plan.

contact clarke, todd or myself if you have any questions.

regards,

tom

[whatsnewell]

Was talking with Tom last night......this started with Todd Flickema and I talking about meeting in the Black Hills this summer right after he purchased his 1984 Newell. We never expected this kind of response. Really looking forward to reacquainting with old Newell friends, and making many new ones!

[encantotom]

it is just a little less than 4 weeks till we gather in Spearfish. We have 25 coaches and families signed up to be there (with one perhaps with a conflict...which means i hope they can still come) and 2 more that are considering it yet. so we should have at least 25 coaches of all kinds. It is great that a few of our Wanderlodge, Prevost, Foretravel and others are joining us to. It is more about the friendships than the coaches.

If anyone else is considering going, please make your reservations at the rv park.

all of the gear that you have said you wanted, darlene and i will pick up and bring with us. many of you have asked about paying me now and i would rather just have you pay for it when you pick it up in spearfish.

the coach inspections, open houses, tech sessions and potlucks will be finalized as we go.

we are really looking forward to seeing all of you. if any of you have any questions, be sure to call, email or pm me, clarke or todd.

regards,

tom

[encantotom]

Hi everyone.

We have now picked up all the rally gear. Shirts, Caps, and the mugs. I have to say I think you all will be very happy with them. the mugs we picked up from jeff yesterday are stunningly nice and high quality. the shirts are cool and the hats are as cool.

i have gotten some requests for exact schedules on activities once we are in spearfish. to be honest, we are just not that organized or structured. we will set timetables as we go. we will for sure have a welcome reception at our coach on saturday as you arrive and "check in" with us. please do come by and check in so we know you are there and we will start sign up sheets for the guru related things.

We also have some welcome surprises for you

we are super excited to meet you all and really looking forward to it.

thanks again to jeff (sundance) for designing our logo and the rally logo and for handmaking the mugs.

l8r

tom and darlene

[encantotom]

hi all,

i wanted to make some clarifications on the rally.

1. everything is really casual. meaning we likely wont put out timetables in advance. and they are subject to change. i am no rally planner and we just want to have fun and hang out.

2. Newell Coach is not sponsoring or doing the rally. John Clarke is attending with his wife in one of the factory coaches and will do a casual seminar, but they are not there to work on things (unless john just helps us out as a friend)

3. Coach inspections i refer to are just us looking at each others coaches. meaning if someone is interested, we will try to do it. we will ask attendees to help each other in doing that. it is not a newell coach sponsored thing. the purpose is just to have another set of eyes looking at things.

4. we will have fun, and expect you to as well. please be patient with us on things as we are not professional rally organizers. just folks who like to hang out with like minded people.

the theme here is to remind everyone this is just a fun get together with different activities to help each other.

see ya there!

tom

[whatsnewell]

Amen, Tom.....that is the charm of our informal mini rallies......and that is why there is no cost except the cost or your individual site. It was ownership of a Newell that brought us all together, but friendship in the end is what keeps us coming back. This will be our 3rd mini rally. Our typical attendance has been about 10-12 coaches at the prior two rallies.....this one has exceeded all of our expectations by several miles. Originally it was just going to be Todd Flickema (plus family) and Elaine and I meeting in Spearfish. Frankly, that is how the other two mini rallies started out. Of course, it has grown way beyond that, and we are looking so much forward to meeting our old friends, and making new friends. That is what this is all about.

See you in 12 days!

[encantotom]

I have re-opened this thread so people can ask questions about the rally.

happy tuesday!

tom