Hi Les,
Sorry for the slow response, we just today returned from Hi-Lo camping at Payette Lake and McCall, here in Idaho.
The rally was a lot of fun and a big success. Except for my wife (Jeanne) and I (the only Idaho members), the other members of the Rocky Mountain Hi-Lo Club are from Colorado. We joined this group a number of years ago, because they are very active and plan for rallies at really good locations; also because they are, geographically, the closest Club to our home. Over the years we've also found they are a great group of folks, and have become good friends.
Jeanne and I volunteered as "Wagon Masters," for the Coeur d'Alene Rally and pretty much set the whole thing up. We had 13 rigs attending, and most had never been to that part of Idaho, or had not previously stayed in the area long enough to explore. Some attending viewed this as their BIG trip of the summer and included the rally as part of an extended trip throughout the Northwest. The rally lasted five days and included a dinner cruise on Lake Coeur d'Alene, tours of the Farragut Naval Training Center Museum, Sand Point, Cataldo Mission, Silver Mountain, old Wallace, the Buck Knife factory in Post Falls, and Spokane. A few members ventured around the lake and visited St. Maries and other points around there, including hot spots for garnet collecting. The owners of Blackwell Island RV Resort were terrific, giving us a thorough briefing of sightseeing and preferred restaurant stops in the area, and providing our group with exclusive use of the community room the entire time we were there. I'll provide some pictures in the next post.
Our Hi-Lo Club, because almost all members live along the I-25 corridor in central Colorado, locate most of the rallies in Colorado. Every year they typically plan for one long range rally. Several years back, it was to Glacier National park, two years ago it was to the Island Park area of eastern Idaho, and of course, Coeur d'Alene this year. For next year there is some discussion of a trip to Mackinaw Island, Michigan, as two of our members were raised in MI, one in the UP, and the other in the LP. That would be the longest trip the Club will have ever made.
If we plan another trip in the Northwest, I'll certainly post advanced notice in this forum. If you were to join the Club, we would probably be interested in planning a long range rally in your area, at some point.
If you are interested in joining the Rocky Mountain Hi-Lo Club, or perhaps helping to start a Pacific Northwest Branch of the Club, let me know and I'll provide current contact info.
Thanks for asking,
Jim