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Fall Mid-West Toyota RV Rally will be Oct. 6-9, 2016 in Illinois


Tika

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Announcing the Fall Mid-West Toyota RV Owners Rally in Illinois -- October 6-9, 2016



This year's Rally will be held at the Blackhawk Valley Campground (RV Park), in Rockford, IL, (two hours west of Chicago).  It looks like there will be several activites in the area that weekend that are worth checking out.


The dates are October 6-9, 2016, (Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday).
 

Reservations are now open -- Please call us to hold your spot! 

This RV Park is holding 11 hook-up sites for us for our Rally.  If you want to camp with us, first call us and we will put you on the list.  Then you must send us payment by check or PayPal for the number of nights you will be with us.  The reservation fee is $26 per night.  The RV park would like us to collect the payments from everyone, and then pay their office all at once.



Yes, it's gonna be fun as always!


Tika and Tom

 '91 Itasca Spirit


626-798-4510, leave a message with our business voicemail and we will call you back.


Now see below for all the details in the complete invitation.
 


- - - - - - - - - -



The Fall Mid-West Toyota RV Rally this year will be held at Blackhawk Valley Campground (RV Park), just south of Rockford, Illinois, and about two hours west of Chicago.  This Rally location quite central for most Mid-West folks.  If that is you, consider yourself invited!  

The Rally dates are Thursday, October 6 to Sunday, October 9, but you can arrive on Friday or even Saturday if you like. 



This weekend in the city of Rockford there are several activities of interest:

-- Tinker Swiss Cottage Historical Museum Private Tour -- Friday afternoon

-- "First Fridays" Downtown Art Festival -- Friday evening

-- Nellie's Barn Sale Antique Fair -- Saturday afternoon

-- Halloween Haunted Pavilion -- Saturday evening 

-- Anderson Japanese Gardens and Lunch -- Sunday mid-day

For more details on each of these events, see the "Links" section below.


In addition we will have our usual Saturday morning "Open House" -- a time to tour each other's RVs, and then Saturday evening we will have our group potluck dinner.


Blackhawk Valley Campground is 7 miles south of the town.  (See the map links below.)  This RV park is reasonably quiet with lots of trees, Wi-Fi near the RV Park office, decent restrooms, and located right on the Kishwaukee River.  The address and phone is: 6540 Valley Trail Rd., Rockford, IL 61109, (815) 874-9767.

The group camping rate is $26.00 per night -- tax included, for water and electric hookups.  Free use of the dump station is included. 

Here is the schedule for the Rally:

Thursday evening at 6 pm we will have a get-aquainted “Community Meal” -- meaning everybody brings their own dinner but we'll all eat together.  

Friday afternoon at 3 pm we have arranged for a private group tour of the Tinker Swiss Cottage Historical Museum in downtown Rockford.  Admission is $8 ($7 for over 62).  (See the link to the Tinker House website below.)  We suggest "car-pooling (RV-pooling)" to town because of limited parking in the downtown area.

For those who wish to stay in town after the tour, there are a variety of activities on Friday evening ("First Fridays" Downtown Art Festival) put on by various merchants.  (See the link to the "First Fridays" website below.) 

Saturday morning at 10 am we will have "Open House" at the RV Park for those that want to tour each other's RVs, and see what owners have done to personalize them.  This is always a highlight of our Rallies.

Saturday afternoon north of town there is an Antique Fair called Nellie's Barn Sale with 55 vendors, for those who like antique-ing.  (See link to website with photos below.)  We will arrange to RV-pool again. 

Saturday night, we have arranged for a location at the RV Park for our potluck dinner at 6 pm.  (We'll eat whatever food shows up!)  Afterwards there will be Halloween festivities provided by the RV Park (i.e. Haunted Pavilion).  We will also light a campfire for marshmallows (weather permitting), so bring firewood if you have it. 



Sunday morning at 9 am we'll have a "How-to" Session for anyone (new to RVing or otherwise), to answer questions about RV operation or maintenance or anything else.  If you have been RVing for a while, come to share your expertise with others. 

Sunday about 10:30 am, we plan to caravan with our RVs to town for lunch at Frescos Restaurant at beautiful Anderson's Japanese Gardens.  Admission to see the gardens is $8 (optional).  (See links to their websites which follow.)

For those who don't have to leave right after lunch, there is the Burpee Natural History Museum, the Discovery Center Museum, and the Rockford Art Museum that are worth visiting in town.  (See links below.)



If all this sounds like lots of fun, please call us to say you are interested and want to be put on the list.  Then send us a Paypal payment or check for the number of nights you will be camping with us.  (Your payment is fully refundable, less $5, up to 7 days in advance.)

As usual we expect about a 10 to 15 Toyota RVs.  The first 11 paid reservations are guaranteed hook-up sites with our group; after that you may be put in a site near us but without hook-ups.

NOTE!  If you wait to call after September 29th, you may not get a site near us either, because they will release any of the 11 sites that are not yet reserved to be available to the general public who are coming for that weekend.



First, please call us now, if you are at all interested in coming, and leave us a message just to say so, even if you can't make your payment just yet.



If you are new to Toyota RV Rallies, don't be shy -- we always have some first-time attendees.  Call us directly (not the RV park) to have your questions answered. 



It's gonna be fun!



Tika (Rally co-ordinator)


626-798-4510

Please leave a message if you get a business voicemail (health center) and I will call you back.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Now for the links section.  Take time to look at each of these:


Google Photo of Blackhawk Valley Campground:  (Our sites are in the trees at the bottom right in the photo.) 

http://tinyurl.com/Blackhawk-Valley-Campground

 

Blackhawk Valley Campground (RV Park) website:

http://www.BlackhawkValleyCampground.com/

 

Map of RV Park:  (Our sites are 56 - 62 and 158 - 161.)

http://www.blackhawkvalleycampground.com/sitemap_new.htm

 

Link to Tinker Swiss Cottage Museum:

http://www.tinkercottage.com

 

"First Fridays" Downtown Festival info:

https://www.gorockford.com/event/first-fridays-art-music-food-and-shopping-in-downtown-rockford/11747/

 

Nellie's Barn Sale Antique Fair info:

https://www.gorockford.com/event/nellies-barn-sale-vintage-extravaganza/12609/

http://nellieskitchenbarnsale.blogspot.com/p/photo-gallery.html

 

Link to Anderson Gardens:

http://www.andersongardens.org

 

Frescos Cafe website:

http://www.frescorockford.com/index.html

 

Google Map to Anderson Gardens/Frescos Cafe in Rockford from RV Park:

http://tinyurl.com/to-anderson-gardens

 

Burpee Museum of Natural History website:

http://www.burpee.org

 

Discovery Center Museum website:

http://www.discoverycentermuseum.org/

 

Rockford Art Museum website:

http://www.rockfordartmuseum.org/

 

Call us now to get on the list!

Edited by Tika
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An old question that has yet to be answered.  What happens when someone comes that has been banned from the Yahoo-Toyota group (like me, Tika).  Are such people turned away?

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4 minutes ago, jdemaris said:

An old question that has yet to be answered.  What happens when someone comes that has been banned from the Yahoo-Toyota group (like me, Tika).  Are such people turned away?

Not presuming to answer the question but did you call to reserve?  I went to one of these here in MA.  We had a pretty good time and met some nice people.  Tika was a gracious host.  It simply took a couple of phone calls and a paypal payment for us.  Mailing a check is also an option.  Planning on attending or is the question rhetorical?

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I didn't call to reserve. I am just curious how this all works. I don't know Tika.  I was told (and the info may be wrong) that she has something to do with the Yahoo Toyota motorhome Webplace that is linked to from this place. I was banned from that forum for two crimes.  #1 - I called the air-bags in the suspension of my Toyota "air bags."  Silly me!   #2 - a group of "leaders" from the Yahoo place sent me a questionaire asking me to itemize WHY I wanted to be there.  My main contact was a guy who calls himself  "Turtle."  In short, it seems they wanted me to prove my merit.  Subsequently I told them that if I was to be judged  by a bunch of people who acted like school-kids, I did not need to be part of their "elite" group.  Here - at this forum - I've rarely had trouble with anyone. I've had people from this forum come to my house and farm, swapped, sold, and sometimes gave away parts, etc. Mostly good. Only close-to-bad experience I've had here was with Linda when she sent me a private message urging me to leave the forum.  Obviously, I refused.   So, it seems logical - at least to me - to wonder how this works when there is an open invitation to a meet by perhaps someone who bans certain people from user-groups or forums dedicated to Toyota RVs.

Also note - that if I get banned from bringing this up - it is fine with me.   As I've said before - I do not want to be part of any group that bans people for such things.

 

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As far as I know, nobody has ever been 'banned' from here (unless you want to include a rash of spammers a while back). However, you've had this 'beef' with Turtle (and perhaps Tika) for over 2 years now that you keep bringing up on this Forum. AFAIK, neither of them spend any time following what happens here and IF they do they obviously don't chose to answer you.

Full disclosure, I'm a member of the Yahoo group and an occasional poster. I was even put 'on moderation' for a while. :)

As the owner of another Forum I used to be on put it, these Forums and Groups are not democracies, they are 'benign dictatorships'.

JD, please move on. In the nicest possible way, of course. :)

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I am cognizant of the dictatorship thing.  I fully understand someone else who has done the work to create a Webplace and can run it anyway he-she or it wants.  I have no trouble with someone banning someone from their special place.  That being said, when it seems some of the same people come to another place and behave as if "all Toyota RV people are welcome" - it seems just a bit absurd.  If I ever got an answer to my inchoate question, I'd no longer ask it whenever such an "open event" pops up.

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1 minute ago, jdemaris said:

"all Toyota RV people are welcome"

I attempted to PM you but unfortunately it says you are unable to receive personal messages.  Do you have messenger disabled by chance or would just rather not be contacted?

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10 minutes ago, Back East Don said:

I attempted to PM you but unfortunately it says you are unable to receive personal messages.  Do you have messenger disabled by chance or would just rather not be contacted?

I get private messages often from, or on, this forum (if you are asking me). I just got one this morning from a person on this group with the ex-diesel Minicruiser.  I certainly have not blocked or disabled anything.  My direct email is wrenchalot@yahoo.com  if needed.   

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13 minutes ago, Back East Don said:

I attempted to PM you but unfortunately it says you are unable to receive personal messages.  Do you have messenger disabled by chance or would just rather not be contacted?

I just checked my private message box here and there are 42 messages in there, including two from this morning. I see none from you though.  Why it's not working from your end, I have no idea.

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3 minutes ago, jdemaris said:

I just checked my private message box here and there are 42 messages in there, including two from this morning. I see none from you though.  Why it's not working from your end, I have no idea.

attempted again. still not sending for some reason.  Will email.  Edit the address out of the post though.  Web bots scrape these sites for spam.

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Argh! Wish we could make it.

I'm actually flying out of the country for a couple weeks from Chicago on the 6th of October. Bummer.

Edited by cdt5058
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I keep waiting for a midwest rally to be more Midwest than illinois.

" A region of the north-central United States around the Great Lakes and the upper Mississippi Valley. It is generally considered to include Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska. The area is known for its rich farmlands and highly industrialized centers. "

The past 3 have all been wisconsin and illinois...I attended a Wisconsin and the Indiana one that was more than a few years back. Eventually, there should be a michigan, Ohio or minesota etc venue which i may consider traveling to. Illinois is DOA proposition for me however.

 

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  • 2 months later...

Hello All, I started the Mid-West Toyota rallies about 8 years ago since all the rallies were on the east or west coast. The reason the ones I hosted were in Illinois or Wisconsin was that I wanted a rally that one could do on a weekend, since I am not retired and have kids in school, so it had to be under five hours if driving.  I had asked Toyota owners who lived in the Midwest to tell me what city/state they lived in, and then I took that information and came up with a central location in which was under five hours for the most to attend.  That location was NW Illinois.  I held the Midwest rally in Galesburb Illinois five years in a row (3, 7, 11, 15, 17 RVs), then in NE Indiana (23 RVs), then in Wisconsin (12 RVs).  

 

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I always had excellent times at Dennis's rallies. Unfortunately for me any way you slice it and I mean any way its 6 + hours to these locations. I live in south central michigan 10 miles from the turnpike also...so that flunks the 5 hour sniff test for me.

Add in Chicago traffic jams, crime risk, and severe turnpike tax cost of my dual rear wheels its just not gonna happen for me. I would reckon this would also be DOA trip to most folks anywhere in Michigan or Ohio, so for me I will continue to monitor for a closer venue for a rally as I am no where near retire age. If I move soon - West - that could change things. I'm much more agreeable with traveling through Illinois now that my CHL permit is recognized and honored there in my vehicle also thanks to the courts.

 

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22 hours ago, Totem said:

I always had excellent times at Dennis's rallies. Unfortunately for me any way you slice it and I mean any way its 6 + hours to these locations. I live in south central michigan 10 miles from the turnpike also...so that flunks the 5 hour sniff test for me.

Add in Chicago traffic jams, crime risk, and severe turnpike tax cost of my dual rear wheels its just not gonna happen for me. I would reckon this would also be DOA trip to most folks anywhere in Michigan or Ohio, so for me I will continue to monitor for a closer venue for a rally as I am no where near retire age. If I move soon - West - that could change things. I'm much more agreeable with traveling through Illinois now that my CHL permit is recognized and honored there in my vehicle also thanks to the courts.

 

Excuse my ignorance but what is a CHL permit?

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16 hours ago, bufbooth said:

Totem, double check the Illinois Reciprocity, the last time I checked Illinois did not honor Michigan nor Indiana.

they were forced to - in the vehicle. leave the vehicle with it and you are in violation.

 

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On 10/3/2016 at 7:52 AM, Totem said:

I always had excellent times at Dennis's rallies. Unfortunately for me any way you slice it and I mean any way its 6 + hours to these locations. I live in south central michigan 10 miles from the turnpike also...so that flunks the 5 hour sniff test for me.

Add in Chicago traffic jams, crime risk, and severe turnpike tax cost of my dual rear wheels its just not gonna happen for me. I would reckon this would also be DOA trip to most folks anywhere in Michigan or Ohio, so for me I will continue to monitor for a closer venue for a rally as I am no where near retire age. If I move soon - West - that could change things. I'm much more agreeable with traveling through Illinois now that my CHL permit is recognized and honored there in my vehicle also thanks to the courts.

 

Same for me in Durango CO...closest rally is Quartzite...in the desert in January. Dont know what the draw is for that place. Waiting for one by Grand Canyon or Arches NP...at least there is stuff to see there!

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Mid-West Rally was a lot of fun. 13 Toyhomes (9 Winnie/Itascas, 3 Sea Breezes, 1 Sunrader). The Blackhawk Valley campground was one of the best campgrounds, certainly much better than last year (no trains).

The local Winnie dealer brought by a pricey Dodge based camper - $80K on special. 280 horse engine.

The people made it a good time - quite the collection of characters.

 

IMG_5004.JPG

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