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2019 Comox Rally in the Valley

Vancouver Island, British Columbia, August 2-5, 2019

Wagon Masters: Peter and Beth Sanderson

The rally dates included BC DAY in British Columbia and the whole weekend is a celebration.  This rally was a mix of part rally fun and part joining in with the valley as we celebrated another year of living and working in a very special part of our country.

Our valley is part rural and part urban with a strong rural farm fresh agricultural component, a forestry component, a military component, a retirement community and a 4-season vacation destination.  Cumberland is our inland neighbour historically famous for the coal mining. Courtenay is in the center as a business hub and regional supply center.  Comox has the military (maritime patrol and search and rescue center) and a marine center.  The wagon masters wanted to take the weekend to visit it all in small amounts and give the attendees some exposure to their larger community.

14 rigs gathered at Cape Lazo RV Park.  8 came to the island from south of the border, 1 from Victoria and 5 from our local region.  The long-distance award went to a Trek from Pueblo, Colorado and the closest away was a former Trek owner from a block away.  Nobody wanted to miss the fun.

Attendees:

  • Peter/Beth Sanderson, Courtenay, BC
  • Garry/Lucy Brown, Comox, BC
  • Jay/Lindy Oddleifson, Courtenay, BC
  • Mike/Lynn Ashbridge, Oregon City, Or
  • Bob/Sandi Pinney, Woodinville, WA               
  • Ken/Judy Schindler, Forks, WA
  • Ron Morehouse/Julie Mortimer, Bellingham, WA
  • Judy/Doug Gremmel, Clinton, WA                                                        
  • Keith/Laura Kovacs, Denman Island, BC
  • Carl Kallonsrud/Lois Weaver, Pueblo, Colorado
  • Bill/Barbara McKechnie, Victoria, BC
  • Ron Mahugh/Mary Burchett, Puyallup, WA
  • Roger/Mona Leischner, Bellingham, WA
  • Gerry/Anner VanderJagt, Black Creek, BC

We shared food, stories and laughter.  We toured the rigs and saw renovations and ideas, we got to fix a few problems and we got to bring some new people into the Trek family.

Away from the park we visited the farmer’s market, we toured an old underground coal mining museum, we sampled the product of a fruit winery (not grape), we hung out at a summer festival and we watched the antics of the nautical days.

At the park we competed in a Bocce Ball tournament put on by the park and I am proud to say we had 3 advance to the semifinals.  Ron was eventually crowned the champion for 2019.  To do that he beat out the returning champion from 2018 and 2017.

Life is pretty simple at a Trek Rally and I think we all appreciated that for a short time the world disappeared and we could just sit around a fire and feel comfortable in each others company.

Beth and I enjoyed organizing the rally.  After all the conversation we are already thinking ahead to the next one.  A different idea but the thought of a travelling rally through the wine/orchard country of BC and Washington could be fun.  

  • Past Rally in Canada
  • Winner Ron and other Finalists

Business stuff:

  1. Each Trek booked their own space in the park and were responsible for their own charges.
  2. Scheduled program and local information was given out as each unit registered in the park.
  3. Meals were prepared by the hosts as scheduled and the cost of that was shared equally by the participants.  The amount each person owed was posted on the bulletin board.  
  4. Mike shared the comment of FMCA “get home” policy not applying to older rigs.  Since we are all beyond the direct limits of that program I think we should be actively promoting a buddy list with our club to help whoever is in trouble get home…an action item from the weekend conversation.

Submitted by:

Peter Sanderson

Thanks to Mike A. and Peter S. for submitting pictures and captions.