2021 West Coast Rally

[Chad Heiser]

8 hours ago, lockmup68 said:

Full, no bueno.....we are persona non grata apparently. 

 

I have always known Ambassador would be a limiting factor on how many people could attend the WCR, but I didn’t expect that to happen for a few more years.  This is definitely out of the norm for our “little” rally.  It usually takes a couple of months of prodding to get near 30 reservations.  Apparently people have been cooped up for too long and want to get out because we hit 40 reservations in less than a week this year.

Every year people back out for various reasons though, so hopefully a spot will come available.

Edited January 13, 2021 by Chad Heiser

[jenandjon]

If you fill them up again next year then it might be time to find a different place. Ambassador will be hard to beat. Great showers and pool with meeting room.

[Chad Heiser]

19 hours ago, jenandjon said:

If you fill them up again next year then it might be time to find a different place. Ambassador will be hard to beat. Great showers and pool with meeting room.

We’ll see how things go.

[pnw_fireguy]

Waiting list only. Oh well.

[Chad Heiser]

On 1/14/2021 at 8:11 AM, pnw_fireguy said:

Waiting list only. Oh well.

Hopefully you can get in.

[RickS]

will they give us any more site beyond the 41 if they open up?

 

[Chad Heiser]

5 hours ago, RickS said:

will they give us any more site beyond the 41 if they open up?

 

The limit isn’t our allotment of sites, it is total sites in the park that is limiting us.  The park itself is full for the week.

[lappir]

Not that I will be joining, but is there a park within a reasonable distance where a group could car pool to the main event location?  It would be sort of like the folks who come to the National Rally, but stay in a  motel. 

 

Rod

[Chad Heiser]

On 1/15/2021 at 4:25 PM, lappir said:

Not that I will be joining, but is there a park within a reasonable distance where a group could car pool to the main event location?  It would be sort of like the folks who come to the National Rally, but stay in a  motel. 

 

Rod

I did a quick google search and got this list.

https://www.google.com/search?q=campgrounds near caldwell idaho

I have only stayed at Ambassador in that area, so that is the only one I can personally vouch for, but some of the others looked nice.

[dan412]

We made reservations at a near by RV park so I will be driving to the rally every day.

[scubadave]

The next nicest park to Ambassador is Canyon Springs. The sites there are not as long or wide as Ambassador.  There will be a number of rig issues with any park in the Treasure Valley area. The housing market there is probably the hottest in the nation. People can't find places to buy or rent so they are using the RV parks. That's the reason Ambassador is not doing monthly rentals now,  only yearly and maxing shorter stays at 2 weeks. 

Dave 

[Tylerak]

Are there trucks for sale at these? 

[Chad Heiser]

1 hour ago, Tylerak said:

Are there trucks for sale at these? 

We don't specifically have trucks available for sale, but we have had attendees who have had their personal trucks for sale in the past.  There is someone I am talking with who may come to the rally to show trucks he builds to suit customer needs as well.

[Chad Heiser]

It has been a couple weeks since I posted anything about the rally.  I am sitting at my desk working on the schedule and a few other odds and ends for the rally and wanted to put out an update.

As of today (2-21-21) I have 48 registrations for the rally with 96 total people planning to attend.  This will be by far the biggest WCR to date.  Of the 48 registrations, 43 of those are reserved at Ambassador, 4 are reserved at a nearby RV park (which I learned this morning is also now full the week of the rally) and 1 is staying at a local motel.  In addition to these registrations, I have a growing waiting list of people who would like to come if any space opens up at Ambassador.  We have 25 returning registrations and 23 first time registrations for the rally, so it should be a good mix of familiar and new faces for everyone.

The schedule is pretty well done except for the wine tour.  It is the last hold up.  The wine tour company is working to try to accommodate our group, but current restrictions at the wineries due to COVID are putting up some pretty big road blocks.  Right now, the wineries are restricted to no more than 10 people at a time and with a group our size that is a difficult restriction to overcome.  I will keep you posted as I learn more.  The range day is set (although it will be at a different location this year - this is a whole separate story I won't bore you with here) and the Elks Lodge dinner is set up as well.  We have a full schedule of seminars, with some returning presentations from past years - including the ever popular painting party by Angry Easel, and some new presentations for attendees.

The big news, though, is I have been working on putting together a website for the West Coast rally.  It is a work in progress, but I am ready to put it out to the group for your feedback and information.  The URL is hdtwcr.com.  Starting in 2022, I will take all registrations and and other signups through the rally website.  For now it is there for you to get an idea of what the rally is about and see information about past rallies.  Let me know what you think.

If anyone has any specific questions about the rally, I am happy to answer them as well.

See you in June!

[Nwcid]

Awesome work!

[Tahoe Shark]

Great section on Solar installs and resources, Chad. How in the world can you document so much information.

[Chad Heiser]

2 hours ago, Nwcid said:

Awesome work!

Thank you.

9 minutes ago, Tahoe Shark said:

Great section on Solar installs and resources, Chad. How in the world can you document so much information.

Thank you.  I have collecting information for a lot of years.  Now I have somewhere to put it.  😁

[jenandjon]

Jen and I will not be going on the wine tour this year. We had a ball last time but Mother in law is staying home so we dont have anyone to watch the kids. I am looking forward to the shooting rage.

[COFLTravler]

Another year and we can't make it to the Rally....Chad you do such a great job on hosting this growing event - thanks..

I just looked at your awesome website - great job!.....

 

Mark

[Chad Heiser]

8 hours ago, COFLTravler said:

Another year and we can't make it to the Rally....Chad you do such a great job on hosting this growing event - thanks..

I just looked at your awesome website - great job!.....

 

Mark

Thank you.

9 hours ago, jenandjon said:

Jen and I will not be going on the wine tour this year. We had a ball last time but Mother in law is staying home so we dont have anyone to watch the kids. I am looking forward to the shooting rage.

I'm hoping the wine tour will sort itself out.  We will see what happens.

[dlcarsonak]

Chad

    Good web site. Very easy to pay-up for everything, also. We are just waiting on the calendar. See you soon. 

[Chad Heiser]

21 hours ago, dlcarsonak said:

Chad

    Good web site. Very easy to pay-up for everything, also. We are just waiting on the calendar. See you soon. 

Thank you.  I should be posting the schedule to the website this weekend. Everything is set except the wine/brewery tour stuff.  Once I have that sorted out, the schedule will be updated to reflect it.

[Chad Heiser]

The rally schedule has been posted on the home page to the rally website. 

Thank you to those attendees who have volunteered to give presentations.  I am looking forward to them. 

I am still working on the wine/brewery tours.  They are the only thing that hasn't been finalized.  Hopefully it will get worked out satisfactorily for the group. 

Angry Easel is coming back again this year to put on a painting party for the group.  It is always a fun time.  No talent needed, the artist leading the group does an excellent job of guiding you through the process and brings everything necessary for you to create your own work of art.

The Range Day is all set.  We lost our access to the private range we have used the past two years, so we will be headed back to the public range we used the first time we had a range day.  It should be a lot of fun.

The Elks Lodge dinner is back on the schedule this year (thank you David Schonhardt for using your connection as an Elk).  It was a big hit last year.  The price for the dinner is up a bit this year, but we are paying for more services this time, including our own private bar in our banquet room.  The dinner choices are Prime Rib or Salmon with all the fixings and dessert included.  Attendees who wish to participate, please pay for the dinner (along with T-shirts and rally fee) through the link I sent out to everyone individually. 

If you have any questions or did not receive the link to pay, let me know.  Thank you to those who have already payed.  It was a bit of a backwards process this year since I decided to build the website after I made the announcement about the rally.  Next year things will be a little smoother, with everything starting through the website (at I least I hope it will be 🙂.)

See you in June.

[Chad Heiser]

One of the rally attendees reached out to me and asked about where people would be traveling from to attend the rally.  He was interested in possibly caravanning with others if locations and schedules matched up. 

I know people will be coming from all over, but the idea of caravanning to the rally may interest others as well.  If you are so inclined and want to let people know where you will be coming from and your time frame, feel free to post it.  This may give some of you the opportunity to meet up and caravan together.

I will start.  We will be coming from Northern California, leaving Saturday before the rally.  We will be stopping in Winnemucca for the night and arriving at Ambassador on Sunday before the rally.  We already have plans to meet up with another rally goer in Winnemucca and caravan up to Ambassador.

[dlcarsonak]

    We will be leaving Paducah, Texas around the 7 of June and arriving at Ambassador on the 10 of June.

    We will take US-83 to North Platte, NB. and I-80 to Little America, WY. US-30 to Pocatello, ID. then I-84 to Caldwell, ID.

   We do not plan stops. We stop for the night when and where we are. There will be no campgrounds in route.

    Glad to have any and all to caravan. I got a little truck and am slow.