As the GMCWS Spring rally hosts, Carol and I encourage everyone to attend the upcoming Spring in Tucson. We will have some fun and, in the process, make the GMC Motorhome community stronger for our efforts.
This rally by GMCMI is longer than our normal four days and will therefore cost more, but it will make the long trip to get there more worthwhile. There is, depending on where you are coming from, plenty to see and do on your way. Some GMCers from the Pacific Northwest are planning a rolling rally in both directions, for example. There are national parks in Arizona and on the way from any direction that are on peoples’ bucket lists, for good reason. There is even one - Saguaro National Park - in Tucson.
We - Carol and I and the GMCWS Board - would like to make the Tucson rally an opportunity to introduce the rest of the GMC world to GMCWS – who we are and what we do. In order to do that and not disappear into the fog of the “joint” convention, we plan to be visible throughout the rally but especially on the third day, Monday, which we are calling “Western GMC Clubs Day”. The “Clubs” are the Pacific Cruisers, the Mountainaires, the 49ers, the Cascaders, the Saguaro Jetset and GMCWS, some of whom plan to use this as one of their official rallies.
We would like GMCWS members to be easily identifiable – shirts, badges, etc. – and participating (volunteering, as usual) in some GMCWS club activities. While I know there will be plenty of opportunities for our members to participate in seminars and other technical discussions on other days, Monday is the day for us to pour it on. We will (with your help, of course) begin at breakfast – cooking and serving sausages, fruit and cream for the waffles provided by GMCMI. At lunch time Carol, Donna Ventura, Ruth Beckman and more volunteers will be hosting the “Feeling Groovy Ladies Luncheon” (70’s theme), while the men have soon-to-be-honorary-member Ken Frey’s chili – he usually needs help. The afternoon activities, tech sessions, etc. will be over by 4 or 4:30 so we can host a “meet and greet” outside at the “Western Clubs” end of the park - did I mention that Westerners will be parking together in the same general area? After the meet and greet we will adjourn to the clubhouse for a light dinner hosted by GMCWS and maybe some of the other clubs. We will be serving ice cream (provided by GMCMI) for dessert, followed by a fun and funny auction with items to be provided by attendees. We hope that everyone brings something to donate – stuff that doesn’t sell at the swap meet on Sunday, for example. As usual, Dave deGraffenreid is heavily involved in the whole program, so you know we will be having fun.
We will post more details on www.gmcws.org as we finalize our plans. Please plan to make the trip and support GMC Western States.