Elks

[sandsys]

Plus, if you visit your home club occasionally and spend some time with its members while traveling, when you come off the road you already have a built-in community.

Linda Sand

[Bill w/bus]

Join!

Yeah they feature less expensive camping but the work done by the lodges is great. Stop in have a drink. Meet great people. Learn about the local area. In Beaumont, Texas we learned of a museum about the oil drilling story. Fantastic museum. Animintronics (sp?) was great. Would not have found the museum without the info from the members. Even though you are on the road you have 'friends' to visit with. The lodge in Biloxi MS is directly across from the beach with a OK view from the right spot. 

 

Bill

[Pappy Yokum]

On 6/2/2018 at 7:05 PM, Twotoes said:

 

What motivates me to join or not to join is up to me not for you to decide. I am full time and travel a lot so I am not interested in the activities, dinners or bar at the lodge I will never return to.  I am only interested in the RV parking which is no longer competitive with other parks. 

 

For what you  "are only interested in"  - -  you will obviously be disappointed.

RV parking at Elks lodges - with space available - is/was never intended to be competitive with *any* RV parks! 

Many have *NO* space available.  - *NO* competition, no help for RV parking.

Therefore, *you*  should be motivated  *not*  to join.

 

 

 

 

[bob91yj]

Not a member of an Elk's Lodge, but I m a member of a VFW Post.  I must say that I'm a little disappointed in the predominate question of "what are the Elk's going to do for me to meet my schedule", rather than "what I can I do to contribute to the Elk's mission statement, and enjoy the side benefit of RV access among friends where ever I go".  

I'm just another guy behind a key board, so my opinion doesn't matter diddly squat to anyone, I was just saying is all!😑

 

 

[Kirk W]

On 3/13/2018 at 10:41 AM, SWharton said:

Either way all t he Bofs are not listed.

I just looked at the list of BoF's and I'm wondering which BoF you know that was not listed? I counted 32 of them and the only error I noticed is that the "Workers" are still listed and that group has not been active for a couple of years. 
 

[SWharton]

Kirk,

This is ancient from 3 months ago. I don't remember anymore what one's weren't listed.............

[scouserl41]

9 hours ago, Pappy Yokum said:

 

Therefore, *you*  should be motivated  *not*  to join.

 

 

 

 

Again, ELKs will welcome you. Once you get to be a member it will change you.

It changed us and for the better.

There are lots of motivations for joining, some join because the lodge has a golf course, a motorcycle group, a Boy Scout troop, Shuffleboard, good food, great bar prices. There are so many attractions.

Come and join us.

BnB

 

[Kirk W]

19 minutes ago, SWharton said:

This is ancient from 3 months ago. I don't remember anymore what one's weren't listed.............

There is at least one that is listed which has not existed for a couple of years so I am sending an email to the IT folks about the list and just wanted to be sure. 

[Pappy Yokum]

15 hours ago, scouserl41 said:

Again, ELKs will welcome you. Once you get to be a member it will change you.

It changed us and for the better.

There are lots of motivations for joining, some join because the lodge has a golf course, a motorcycle group, a Boy Scout troop, Shuffleboard, good food, great bar prices. There are so many attractions.

Come and join us.

BnB

 

"Twotoes" - is being honest!  -  He's *not* interested in the "attractions"  you list. 

Quote (again):  "I am only interested in the RV parking which is no longer competitive with other parks".

(IMO) nothing wrong with that - it's his choice/preference.

.

[scouserl41]

Pappy I'm sure you have a point but I'm not seeing it.

Have a great say.

BnB

[Pappy Yokum]

8 hours ago, scouserl41 said:

Pappy I'm sure you have a point but I'm not seeing it.

Have a great say.

BnB

 

(Put your + 2's on )

The point:  (Just sayin' - great or otherwise)

You can lead a horse to water (or to an Elks Lodge, LOL) -  but you can't make him drink. (join).

His right to choose.

And.....thank you!

.

[Twotoes]

Don’t get me wrong. Elks Lodge is a great organization  with many reasons to join but when your are full time and don’t stay in one place very long you don’t get to participate in most of the activities and your only interest is the RV parking. there is not much to motivate one to join when a PA membership will fulfill your needs. 

[SWharton]

There are a lot of Elks Lodges that offer parking where there are no campgrounds.of any sort.

[offroad]

On 6/2/2018 at 10:37 PM, Tcwndsr said:

I joined mostly for the cheap camping but once I learned more about the Elks and what they do I am proud to be a member. Though I am not active in my home Lodge I am confident they are putting my membership fees to good use, especially in helping out our veterans. 

We have camped at some great spots (Oak Island, NC - free dry camping 2 blocks from the ocean!) and try to go in for a drink or meal so we can chat with local members and learn a bit about the area we are visiting.

If given a choice we would stay at an Elks Lodge rather than a Walmart every time.

nice sentiment.  was thinking the same thing.  People get out of it what they can.  If it works for you then do it.

[jrzygrl64]

We have been Elks for about 18 months and have stayed at quite a few.  As someone said above - it’s way better than a Walmart and we love having a place to go in and have a drink and sometimes food, meet locals, etc. We are ALWAYS welcomed and we love that our yearly dues and camping “donations” go to a good cause. 

If anyone does join or is already a member - the absolute best resource of lodges to stay at is the Elks Lodge Members Page on RVillage, with almost 500 lodges listed. 

[scouserl41]

5 hours ago, jrzygrl64 said:

If anyone does join or is already a member - the absolute best resource of lodges to stay at is the Elks Lodge Members Page on RVillage, with almost 500 lodges listed.  

What is generally not known is that the Lodges with camping are listed on the Elks webpage! If you do the find a lodge but use the "advanced search" feature it brings you to a new page. Look to the left side of that page and scroll down a little it will show  "RV Facilities"  click that and you can get a list of all lodges that offer RV spots by state! We use that on our phones all the time when looking for a place to stay.

Of course you can also BUY the Elks RV directory which is a paper version of the listings too.

BnB

[jrzygrl64]

1 hour ago, scouserl41 said:

What is generally not known is that the Lodges with camping are listed on the Elks webpage! If you do the find a lodge but use the "advanced search" feature it brings you to a new page. Look to the left side of that page and scroll down a little it will show  "RV Facilities"  click that and you can get a list of all lodges that offer RV spots by state! We use that on our phones all the time when looking for a place to stay.

Of course you can also BUY the Elks RV directory which is a paper version of the listings too.

BnB

I am aware of these options, but neither is up to date, nor complete. The RVillage page I’m talking about is updated constantly by RVers that stay at these lodges.  There are a lot we’ve stayed at that aren’t listed anywhere in the books or on the official Elks facilities online page, but are available, some with very nice facilities. Some we’ve spoken to say they hadn’t considered listing themselves in the Elks info because they don’t have an official campground or sewer hookups, but they still love to have visitors come stay.  

[SWharton]

We have found that RVtripwizard lists Elks also that you can see along with your trip routing. Very handy...

[SWharton]

I thought we would provide an update to our status. We contacted a local Elks Lodge and explained our situation. Summer thru a small curve into our joining as the committee only meets once a month during the summer. We are staying long enough that this is not impacting us. 

Steps we followed:

1. Submitted application. We tried to do this via the Elks Grand Lodge site and the local Elks never received the application, an application was then emailed to us and we sent it back. Minor delay but there was no impact as to timing.

2. The application was presented and accepted at June Meeting.

3. At July meeting the application will be voted on by the Lodge members.

4. Once approved, we need to attend a 1 hour orientation(video). Our initiation will be at the August meeting.

If you have any plans to pursue this 3 meetings are needed. Most lodges meet twice a month, except in the summer, so keep that in mind.