Wayne & Irene

Hi Ron and Sue and all other Vancouver Island Toy folks You do not need to change your existing bookings. I have taken the liberty of doing that for all of our group members who had already booked in the "old" group area. ISee my pprevious message for your new site number. If anybody who has already booked should need to cancel for any reason ... then you will have to do that for yourself. Otherwise, we'll look forward to seeing everyone ... and hopefully a few more who haven't yet booked ... in the new site area as per my earlier message this afternoon. Cheers, Wayne

Living Forest Reservations ... Changes for the Better Hello to All Campers Bound for Vancouver Island: This afternoon Irene and I drove up to Living Forest to have a first hand look at our Group campsites. We didn't like them nearly as much as the sites we had camped at last year ... sites not in the Group area. The staff there offered us other sites clustered around the other Picnic Shelter they have. If you go to the Living Forest website and look at the sites in the range of #189 to 192 and 201,202 and 214 you will see the area that I'm talking about. I took the liberty of changing everyone's bookings in the Group area to the best sites in this new area. Here is a list of the sites I have booked for each of us. For others who have not yet booked, please inform the staff that you are members of the Toyota motorhome group and ask to be booked into the closest available sites to the ones I have mentioned above. There is a good map of the campsites on the Living Forest website you can refer to for this purpose. Site 201 Irene and Wayne Ananny from Crofton (Vancouver Island) Site 214 Les and Fran Al Molky from Courtenay (Vancouver Island). (Les and Fran are long standing friends of ours who we camp with reguarly. For this weekend I have designated them as "Honourary Toy Campers" even though they have not yet seen the light, and still camp using their fifth wheel trailer. Les and Fran will help us host the meet and greet Friday evening and are looking forward to camping with us. Site 191 and 192 David and Kay from Idaho and their relatives. Site 190 Ron and Sue from Nanaimo Site 189 Andrew Ferguson and family Site 202 Ron Davis and family. Please note the following points. The Group sites we originally booked are much smaller and in the open as compared to these new sites which are beautifully treed and much more spacious. The Group sites did not have cable TV hookups but these new sites all have cable TV as well as full hookups. The new sites are in a much more attractive area of the park and are also a very close walk to a lovely outdoor cafe with a large patio area that overlooks the ocean. Our new area is close to, but not right on the children's playground. The picnic shelter in the new area will easily accomodate 25 or more people on picnic tables. This shelter also has sinks and electric. Immediately beside the shelter area is a lovely firepit with a circular bench around it for cozy campfires. I asked that we keep our group discount for these new sites. The person on duty today will have to check with her boss and will let me know if the discount can be applied to these sites. She informed me that the discount is normally only given to the Group sites. In any case, the small additional fee, if it applies, is well worth the much nicer campsites for our event. If anybody has any questions, please post them here and I will reply as soon as possible.

Still lots of space left in the Group Area for the Vancouver Island get-together on June 24-26. Cheers, Wayne

Great to see interest picking up and some folks already making their reservations. For those coming from off Vancouver Island I would recommend you check the BC Ferries website for sailing times. You will want to take the ferry from Twassen to Duke Point, which is quite close to the Living Forest RV park. (You could take take the ferry to Swartz Bay, but that would involve a drive of about 1.5 hours to Living Forest.) At this time of year the ferries do get quite busy, so plan to arrive AT LEAST an hour before sailing time or give serious consideration to making a reservation (cost is $17.50 but worth it if it saves a long wait til the next ferry if you miss the one you want because you aren't early enough arriving at the terminal.) Also, be sure to come with enough gas so you don't need to buy our over-priced stuff. At $1.25 per litre, you are paying almost $5.00 per US gallon. I will have my car onsite and can provide any emergency transportation that might be required. If someone should need medical care I can get them to the Nanaimo hospital very quickly. Don't forget to consider Blue Cross or similar out of country emergency medical coverage. There is a good grocery store very close to the campground at the intersection of the TransCanada highway and the road you turn down towards Living Forest. I was thinking that we might like to have a Meet and Greet on the Friday evening and perhaps a Pot Luck dinner Saturday evening. Maybe a communal breakfast Sunday morning? Let me know what you think and we'll try to do what everyone would enjoy. I'm really looking forward to meeting some nice folks and seeing some interesting "Toys". Hopefully the weather will cooperate and we'll all have a great time! Cheers, Wayne

It's Time to Think Seriously About Reserving I hope lots of North West North American Toy owners are giving some serious thought now to the Vancouver Island Rally on 24-26 June. It's only a month and a half away now and we all know how the time can get away on us. The Living Forest RV resort is holding 12 sites for us. When you make your booking be sure to tell them you are with the Toyota camper group and they will put you in the group area and give you a 10% discount. Hope to see lots of campers there. I'll be checking with Living Forest regularly and I WILL bug you all again if we don't see some reservations there soon. :-) Cheers to all, Wayne p.s. We just got back from a 5 week trip to Las Vegas and Redding California. The Toyota ran flawlessly. We got new tires in the states (so cheap there!) and a great bathroom vent fan from Max Air.

I recently put a set of Hankook 8 ply tires on my 81 Warrior. I got them for $72 from Discount Tire on the internet. Had them delivered and WalMart installed them for me for around $60 complete. I like the way they drive. I agree that finding 8ply tires in the 185-14 size is difficult and the Hankook's were about the only reasonably priced tire I could find. So far they seem very good.

I just rebuild all my drawers and had a lot of trouble finding the rear plastic piece that fits over the drawer slide. My drawer slide on a 91 Warrior has a triangular cross section. There is a company called AZPartsmaster (google and it comes right up). They shipped me the drawer glides and I'm back in business. Wayne

A Bit More Information I've just made our reservations at Living Forest for the nights of June 24,25 and 26. I spoke to the reservations lady there and told us about our group. She is setting aside 10 sites for us ... and can provide more if needed once the reservations requests start flowing in. Be sure to identify yourselves as members of the Toyota campers group and you will be given a 10% discount on your camping fees. Also, be sure to specify that you want a site in the Group area. Cheers, Wayne & Irene.

Let's Think About Making A Booking Hello Everyone. I was just checking out the Living Forest website and I noticed that people are already starting to book for the June 24-26 weekend. There are still plenty of spaces left in the Group Camping area but they will fill up fairly quickly, so I recommend that we all make a booking ... even if some people aren't 100% sure about being able to make it. You can always cancel later if you need to. I'm going to book today for a site in the Group area for the nights of 24, 25 and 26 June and I invite all interested Toy owners to book soon and put a notice on this board when you do so we can all get an idea as we go along about how many campers we are going to end up with. The group area hasvery nice shelter we can use for get togethers so it's definitely worth booking in that area. I'll notify Living Forest about our event so be sure to mention that you are from the Toyota camper group when you book. I can't promise anything now, but I will ask them if they have a group discount they can give us. Looking forward to meeting lots of Toy owners and having a good time at a beautiful campground. I'll be checking this site frequently to see how many campers we will have for this fun weekend. Cheers to all, Wayne

Hi David ... and everyone else, especially those who might like to take in this event: As of now you can read the messages as well as I and get a sense of the interest in this toy in. I'm planning to ask for some firmer responses by about the beginning/middle of May or so. I'll get in touch with Living Forest in early May and ask them to set aside a block of adjacent campsites for us and I'll give everybody a date by which they must book in this block before I let the campground release the sites that are not spoken for. I've camped there a few times and it's a great site. Large, nicely treed sites, beautiful walking trails, ocean views from many of the sites ... and they even have a nice cafe/patio where they serve pretty good lattes. All sites are full hookups. The campground is only about 2 or 3 minutes off the highway ... and away from a small strip mall with a good grocery store and pancake restaurant ... but you don't hear any traffic noise at all. The city of Nanaimo (75,000 approx) is nearby with some nice tourist attractions and all the usual big box stores, as well as a more charming and historic part of downtown that is fun to browse through. So, I enourage everyone to start making plans and be ready to book if you're interested by early/mid May if possible. Everybody will have to book their own sites directly with Living Forest and I don't see a problem if some people want to come a day or two earlier or later and, likewise, stay a day or two later. Hopefully we'll have at least2 or 3 days when most of the people will be there together. Cheers, Wayne

It looks like that weekend of 25-26 June might be suitable for a few people. Perhaps we could extend the dates and make it a rolling event from the Thursday to the Monday or so, and people could opt into whatever dates work best for them. I really hope to get a lot of replies and indictions of preferred dates well in advance so we can schedule something that works fror the largest number of people possible. Let's keep this conversation going and hope we get lots of interest and participation. Wayne

Hi Ron and Sue Well, it seems that the last week of June 2011 suits some peoples' schedules. I did offer to act as a coordinator for this and I'm still quite happy to do so. I'll send out a message in early May and ask for interest at that point. I plan to ask the Living Forest campground to set aside the appropriate number of sites for such a get-together and then advise everyone to deal directly with the campground to make their individual bookings. Not a lot to do in the meantime. I hope people will look at this reply and go to the "other" Pacific NW rally folder if they are just hearing about this Vancouver Island/June 2011 planned event. Wayne

I agree with the recommendation to use the lowest octance, as long as it's 87 which is what my manual calls for. I never use the 85, and I really don't like to use the ethanol blends if I can avoid them. I haven't kept careful records, but it seems clear that a tankful of the ethanol blend goes much faster than straight gasoline. Unfortunately, it's getting harder and harder to avoid the ethanol blend gas, especially when we're down in the states. I tried a few tanks of high test on a trip across Canada last summer and actually got about 2 MPG worse mileage with it. Wayne

This park does sound nice, but given my 'druthers, I'd prefer somewhere with full hookups. Our holding tanks seem to fill up awfully fast, or maybe our gauge shows them fuller than they are. But it does make me uncomfortable when the levels are "in the red" and it's a major pain to unhook everything and go searching for a sanidump. Cheers to all, Wayne

My wish list for such a rally. In no particular order: Sites that are grassy, treed if possible and a reasonable size. I really don't like places where I feel like I'm in a Walmart parking lot. Full hookups if at all possible. Something interesting to do or see in the local area. On or near water is always nice. Far enough away from busy highways that you don't have a lot of noisy trucks going by all night. A "family" environment where loud partiers are kept under control by campground staff. Clean and well run campground.

Hi to David and all other Toy owners who would like to meet on Vancouver Island: I'll block your dates on my calendar in pencil and await input from others between now and next May or so. I can definitely make those dates work ... heck, I'm retired and can make pretty much ANY dates work. :-) When the date gets closer I'll make a bulk reservation for the appropriate number of sites and we can all talk about some activities we might enjoy: the old standard pot luck dinners, group breakfasts (I make great pancakes) and some time for show and tell for our individual camper enhancements, marshmallow/weiner roasts ... you name it. There are often some very nice activities taking place at the Port Theatre in Nanaimo ... concerts, etc and at the Chemainus Theatre as well. I enourage all to google these two venues and get an idea of what I'm talking about. Also, think about things like medical insurance for outside the US ... and don't forget to fill your tanks with that cheap American gas before you cross the border. :-( Since we live only about 20 minutes away, we'll also take our car to be able to respond to any medical emergencies etc. The last group campout we attended we had to rush a friend to the Nanaimo hospital because he had chest pains ... turned out he just ate too much spicy food, thank goodness. Looking forward to meeting lots of Toy owners in our little piece of paradise. Cheers, Wayne

We live on Vancouver Island and would love to take part in a get together. I might suggest the "Living Forest" campground just south of Nanaimo. Full hookups, large sites in a beautiful, natural setting, trails, ocean access, close access to Nanaimo for shopping etc, and you can't visit the area without having a meal at the Crow and Gate pub, one of the nicest pubs on the Island. I'd be glad to act as a focal point for planning and would look for input from everyone on preferred dates. Cheers, Wayne

We have a 1991 Winnebago Warrior and live on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.

This sounds like a very nice event and the location and weather are appealing for sure. I have to wonder, though, why most of the rallies I read about involve venues with no hookups. I find our limited holding tanks and water tank capacities to be a major negative factor when considering any location without hookups. I hope that future rallies will use campgrounds with full hookups whenever reasonably possible. Wayne.

Hi Tony and Susan: I must apologize for this VERY late reply. For some reason I just didn't see your message on this site until today. Obviously it's long past the time you visited the Island last fall, but we'd love to meet you folks if you plan a return visit in 2009. Send us a message at carnwini@shaw.ca if you make new plans to visit here. Wayne & Irene

We live in British Columbia on Vancouver Island. Last summer we bought a 91 Warrior and would love to meet some other Toy owners in the Northwest. We'll keep an eye on this thread and hope to join some of you on get-togethers in Oregon or elsewhere in this general region. Wayne & Irene