FRVA’s 110th International Convention & RV Expo at Perry, GA (Mar 2025)
Dogwood Summary by Dave Meyer
Click here to see the Rally Photo Album
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| Chiefland Rally - 2025 |
We had a great rally at Southern Leisure Resort in Chiefland FL!!
Had a great turnout, with Tenneys coming down from Maryland and snowbirds from all over Florida!! Tenneys came in on the 3rd so we enjoyed a week with them. Everyone else came on Friday, March 7th.
The Rally began by meeting at Suwannee Bell Landing for an early dinner on Friday. Followed by dessert and coffee at the Kuiken's campfire where we shared a lot of stories and laughs!
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| Steamers in Cedar Key |
Thank you to everyone who came, making this a fun Rally!!
Click here to see the Rally Photo Album
Sincerely,
Your Hosts
Patty & Henry Kuiken
Donna & Rob Hill
Cil & Fairleigh Schoolar
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| David & Jackie Gilbert |
Hello Everyone,
Sadly, we share the news of David's passing.
David and Jackie were past members of Dogwood. Our condolences to Jackie and the Gilbert family. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers for strength and comfort.
Here is the link to his obituary: Click Here
Or copy & paste the URL into your browser.
https://somd.com/announcements/obits/name/23143-David-G-Gilbert.html
Sincerely,
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| Marion Cockrell |
Hello Everyone,
It is with heavy heart that we share the news of Marion's passing.
Our condolences to the Cockrell family. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers for strength and comfort.
Here is the link to her obituary: Click Here
Or copy and paste the URL into your browser.
https://www.curriefuneralhome.net/obituaries/Marion-Anthony-Cockrell?obId=38311184
Subject: GEAR 2025 (November 5-9, 2025)
Hello Dogwood,
The GEAR Rally will be November 5th to 9th at Ocean Lakes Family Campground in Myrtle Beach, SC. The sites will be available from Sunday November 2 until departure on November 9, 2025. You can make your reservations by calling the Ocean Lakes Family Campground directly at 1-800-722-1451. Use the name “2025 FMCA Eastern Area” when making site reservations. This is for site locations only. Registration for GEAR 25 will be separate from the site registration.
... Continue Reading
Tim & Sheila Schwartz
Tim: (540) 226-5263, email TimSchwartz63@msn.com
Sheila: (540) 659-6578, email GMtoHHM@msn.com
Updated 3/3/2025
Second Call for Mr. B’s 2025 Spring Music Spectacular...
Continue Reading, including the Rally Registration Form
(Original Post 1/16/2025)
Hello Dogwood!
This is first call for the upcoming Mr. B’s Bluegrass Spring Music Spectacular on May 1-3, 2025. Like last year, it will be held at Mr. B’s Event Park in Woodford, VA – on the west side of old Route 1 just north of the Ladysmith exit off I-95. Ms. Billie Sue Goff (Event Director and good friend of the club) has set aside 10 spots for us – all together. If more sign up, that’s fine, you just might not be right next door to us. But that’s OK because the campground is easily crossed in minutes from wherever you get parked. The directions and signup sheet will be out on the Dogwood Blog site. We have two families signed so far: us (the Herberts) and the Buelows.
Jean and I are hosting again for the brunch, but we will need a co-host...
Continue Reading, including the Rally Registration Form
Your Hosts
Ed & Jean
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| Southern Leisure in Chiefland FL - 2024 |
Updated on 2/25/2025!!
(Original post 2/14/2025)
Hey Dogwood!! We are planning a 2+ day rally at Southern Leisure in Chiefland, FL!
When? March 7 & 8, but we can extend that depending interest.
Your Hosts are Patty & Henry Kuiken, Donna & Rob Hill, and Cil & Fairleigh Schoolar.
We will plan the usual happy hours and dinners on Friday and Saturday evenings. Depending on interest, we can plan more.
More to follow... Rally Fees are TBD. The sooner we have numbers, the sooner we can make more definite plans.
Please text or call Patty Kuiken at 540-424-8134.
Looking forward to seeing you there!
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| North Landing Beach in Virginia Beach |
Hello Dogwood! It’s time for another Dogwood Rally at North Landing Beach RV Resort in Virginia Beach.
Your Rally Hosts are Jim & Susan Buelow, Robi & Dale Robison, and Dave & Nanette Meyer. We hope to see you there.
The Rally dates are Thursday, June 5th – Sunday, June 8th.
Location:
I spent time this morning wandering through the Dogwood Blogsite, re-reading some stories and looking at the photos – lot of good times there. I’m thinking to myself, we really do have an active, vibrant club! Every Newsletter is chock full of details and we keep up with each other through the stories and personal updates. This month’s newsletter will be no different. So Kudos to our writers and contributors. Also note that since we are part of FMCA’s Eastern Area, the blogsite also has the Eastern Area Newsletters listed as well as the FMCA’s HQ letters, mailings and notices. So many ways to see what’s going on the RV world! Please give us your adventures – they may seem dull to you, but someone in this club is going where you are now (or have been) and would like the latest info on the place/site/adventure.
We have a pretty full rally schedule listed, but please remember that “Pop-ups” are always welcome. If you have a rally in mind, or even a luncheon like what the Tilman’s just did, please get the details to our Rally Master, Dell Tenney.
Travel safe & we’ll see you down the road!
Ed Herbert, President
Treasury balance is $4,217.26 as of 2/14/2025.
REMINDER – Chapter Dues for 2025 are now due. Many of you have already paid – so thanks to all of you!
Dues are $15/coach/year. And remember we have a new Treasurer this year - Please send your Dogwood dues payments to Sonia.
Sonia Kuppert
FMCA Dogwood Chapter Treasurer
6113 Providence Court
Fredericksburg, VA 22407
Sonia Kuppert, Treasurer
FMCA Dogwood Chapter
Greetings Dogwood family from your new Vice President of Membership. I look forward to working with all of you on recruiting and retaining new members for our chapter.
In my first article in our newsletter, I would like to discuss one of the ways we can recruit new members, and that is at FMCA and Area Rally Chapter Fairs. At the chapter fairs, any chapter present at the rally can set up a booth, basically a table. It can be as basic as putting your chapter name on the table, to a more extensive display. In past years, we have set up a beautiful display and have won an award for the past 3 years in addition to gaining new members.
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| Chapter Fair at GEAR 2023 |
At the upcoming FMCA rally in March at Perry, GA, Dell and Terry Tenney will be setting up a booth for Dogwood. The chapter fair is Tuesday afternoon, March 11th, immediately following the Newcomers Orientation. There will be hundreds of newcomers visiting the booths and this is a great opportunity to visit with prospective new members, pass out Dogwood fliers and share information about our great chapter. "Working the crowd" so to speak.
So if you are attending the Perry rally and will be there by Tuesday afternoon, please contact Dell at 240 298-5553 and offer your assistance at the chapter fair. The more members that we have at the fair, the better chance we have of attracting new members. And be sure to wear your Dogwood shirt if you have one. It is a fun time and a great opportunity to support Dogwood and meet new friends. Come on out.
Note that our current membership is 59 member families.
Until next time, have fun and safe travels.
Regards,
Jim Buelow, VP Membership
FMCA Dogwood Chapter
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| Lunch at Dixie Crossroads - Feb 2025 |
Here's what we have coming up! Stay tuned for the latest updates on the Blog.
March 7-8: Southern Leisure Resort in Chiefland FL; Hosts: Kuiken, Schoolar, and Hill
March 12-15: FMCA’s 110th International Rally; Perry GA
April: Open
May 1-4: Mr. B’s Bluegrass Festival in Woodford VA; Hosts: Herbert (seeking co-host)
June 5-8: North Landing Campground, Virginia Beach VA; Hosts: Buelow, Robison, and Meyer
July 7-11: Breaks Interstate Park, near Marion VA; Hosts: Nelson and Brooks
July 16-19: FMCA 111th International Rally; Gillette WY
July: Dogwood Luncheon, date and place TBD; Hosts: Herbert and Kuppert
August 29-Sept 4: Lobster Rally in Booth Bay ME; Hosts: Alexander and Bonewitz
September 11-14: Old Mill Stream Campground in Lancaster PA,; Hosts: Tenney and Kuiken.
We have 30 seats reserved for “Noah” at Sight & Sound Theater on 9/12. Request for tickets will be included on rally registration form. Ticket payment will need to be paid to rally host with rally registration.
October: Open
November 4-8: FMCA Greater Eastern Area Rally (“GEAR”); Myrtle Beach SC
December 4-7: Dogwood Christmas Rally in Lanexa VA at Rochahock Campground; Hosts: Kuiken, Warren, Brooks, Hill
Please see all the Rallies and updated information planned for this year.
Happy Camping,
Dell Tenney, Rally Master
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| Dogwood Officers - 2025-2026 |
I’ve stepped into some really big shoes … worn by Butch Jones when he acted as Safety Chairman and wrote many articles to keep us focused on RVing safety. His last article (part 1, part 2, and then part 3) covered the topic of tires and tire issues for essentially each type of RVing/camping: Motorhomes, 5th Wheels, Class-C’s, Trailers, towed cars, or the trucks/vans/SUVs that do the towing. There was much to consider there, but at the top of the lists for consideration were load capability requirements (e.g., being the correct size) and proper tire inflation. My first contribution for this newsletter stays on the theme of “rubber”, but covers its placement on or throughout the RV, some of which is certainly safety related.
For this article, I’ll focus on windshield wipers. … Continue Reading
THINK
SAFETY
EVERYDAY!
Wishing everyone safe travels.
Hello Dogwood Friends...
In a sad way to start the new year, in January:
💟 Nancy Cummings passed away on January 4, 2025. Please keep Paul & their granddaughter in your continued prayers. A sympathy card was sent and a $50 donation has been made in Nancy’s memory to the American Red Cross California Wild Fires.
💟 Kurt & Sonia Kuppert both lost a brother within a short amount of time in mid-January. A sympathy card was sent. Please keep them and their families in your prayers for strength.
💟 As most of you know from the Blog, David lost his brother Tom after complications from surgery in January. We both want to thank all for your prayers and words of comfort. It was very much appreciated.
In February:
💟 Ed Herbert was supposed to have shoulder replacement surgery, but flu decided it wasn’t time. He’s better now and surgery will be done at a later date. Sent a ’thinking of you’ card.
💟 Steve Sohles had a bout with Covid. Sent him a ’thinking of you’ card as he is finally feeling better.
Thank you to all who reached out to keep me informed of these events. Please continue to let me know whenever you hear of our members being ill, having surgery, losing a loved one (even a pet) or just not doing well for whatever reason at ndmeyer3@icloud.com or text me at 757-813-0828.
