LURAY VA
JOINT RALLY DOGWOOD AND PENN COACHMEN
Spacious Skies Campground
AUGUST 10-14, 2026,
Was a lot of fun with a variety of things to see and do.
There was something for everyone. Sunday was “early bird” arrival. Several folks came in and about 8 of us braved the heat to listen to Luray’s Singing Tower, a 1937 Stone carillon tower with 47 bells.
Monday was arrival day for most. 32 RVs and 62 folks attended. …
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Click here to see the Photo Album
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| 1996 ~ FRVA Dogwood Chapter ~ 2026 |
Hello Dogwood Family,
We hope that all is well with you and that you are enjoying your summer. Here’s the summary for the 30th Anniversary Rally. If you missed it, you missed a great rally.
The rally was held at Rockahock Campground in Lanexa, VA July 23-26, 2026. The campground facilities were great and campground owners and management provided us with outstanding customer service, as did the onsite restaurant - the Split Chick Grill. Both facilities provided us with several items to use as gifts for our Friday evening raffle. A very positive review was posted on their website.
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| Dogwood 30th Anniversary Rally |
We had 46 attendees at the rally including: Bob Weithofer, (FRVA VP) and wife Pat, new members Steve Raileanu (EAMA Central Region VP) and wife Jeanette, along with Berkley Alexander, (EAMA Treasurer) and wife Karen, Steve and Judy Czarsty, (Dogwood Founders) and Carol Warthan (a long time Dogwood member), and new members Mike and Coreen Gelber and Mark and Nancy Lague. Welcome to Dogwood new members. We sincerely hope that we made you feel welcome to Dogwood.
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| Ed, Denise, Rick, & Jack |
The rally kicked off on Thursday evening with a social hour and pizza and salad for dinner. After dinner we had a campfire provided by the Tilmans and were then entertained by the Dogwood Bluegrass band featuring Ed Herbert, Rick and Denise Davis, and Jack Warren. A very enjoyable evening was had by all. Thank you Tilmans and our very own Dogwood band.
Friday morning, we had a delicious potluck breakfast with lots of goodies provided by attendees. No one left hungry. Thank you, attendees, for a great meal.
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| Jim, Ed, & Mike |
Friday evening, we had a summer cookout with burgers, hot dogs, and all the trimmings, along with fruit and desert. Yummy.
After dinner we had several raffles and gave away $300.00 along with enough nice gifts for everyone. Gifts included a beautiful afghan donated by Susan Buelow, and a beautiful quilt donated by Connie Tilman.
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| Robi |
And after that, we were entertained by none other than our own Robi Robison with a Karaoke show. Yes, Robi definitely has some hidden talents. Great show with lots of clapping and singing. Thank you very much Robi.
Saturday morning, a delicious breakfast was provided by the rally hosts. As usual, no one left hungry. Following breakfast, a business meeting was conducted by President Ed Herbert. Minutes will be published.
Saturday evening, we had a delicious Pork BBQ dinner provided by our hosts, and two beautifully decorated cakes for dessert.
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| Dave & Bob |
And after dinner Bob Weithofer (FRVA VP) presented Dave Meyer with the Robert L. Richter Award, an FRVA award to honor individuals who excel at managing chapter newsletters, publications, and member communications. And Dave certainly excels in his position as our VP of Communications. Congratulations Dave for a job very well done...
Steve Raileanu (EAMA Central Region VP) also presented a 30th Anniversary Certificate and a check for $150.00 from FRVA to President Ed Herbert to commemorate the 30th anniversary of our chapter. Congratulations Dogwood, and thanks to all of our members who make Dogwood the great chapter that it is!
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| Ed & Steve |
After the presentations, we had the pleasure of viewing the 30th Anniversary video produced by Paul Cummings. This is the third video Paul has produced for Dogwood, and they have all been great, and this one was no exception. It was a great show with lots of great memories of 30 years of Dogwood history. Thank you very much Paul. A Dogwood trivia followed the video with awards for the correct answers.
Sunday morning , we had our final breakfast of the rally, and most members said their farewells. Numerous members stayed over Sunday, so we gathered for a final dinner on Sunday evening with plenty of leftovers.
We sincerely hope that all who attended the rally had a wonderful time and look forward to seeing you at a Dogwood rally in the near future.
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| 1996 ~~ 2026 |
And many thanks to all the hosts and to those who assisted in making this rally a great success.
Regards and Safe travels.
Your Hosts,
Jim and Susan Buelow
Paul Cummings
Ed and Jean Herbert
Dave and Nanette Meyer
Doug and Mary Ann Owen
Jack and Mary Warren
Here are links to the Rally Photo Album and Videos
Jul - Dogwood's 30th Anniversary Rally
Dogwood's 30th Anniversary Video 2026
Dogwood Sing-Along - City of New Orleans
Dogwood Sing-Along - Jail House Now
BTW – We now have Dogwood Tote Bags commemorating our 30th Anniversary… They turned out really nice! Watch for them to be advertised on the blog. Here’s a sneak peek at what they look like 🙂
What a hoot! Three really good days of music, fun, food, and festivities. We got up each morning, dined a delicious brunch, gathered our chairs and bodies, and ambled over to the wooded stage area. There we flopped down and heard some of the best live music one could want to hear. Each night, dinners "just appeared" - Dogwood folks know how to throw a party.
Most to the fourteen bands were local, and while none were “big-time radio”, they were as professional and entertaining as any group I’ve ever seen. The skills those players had still amazes me – how can they move their fingers that fast across the neck of the instrument (guitar, mandolin, banjo, dobro, fiddle, etc)? And how can those voices hit the notes they hit? The music was great; the a-cappella songs ("How great thou art...") were uplifting.
So we had ten Dogwood families for about eighteen folks and a dog. We fit right in with the 90+ other RVers and 100+ walk-ins; our camping site allowed us to hear the music without having to walk very far. The Manager and Hostess, Ms. Billy Sue Goff, checked in with us every morning as we dished up brunch and the drink-of-the-day. The days gave us good weather and the evenings were downright chilly, although that didn’t stop the late-night jamming that started after the bands quit. Lots of pictures and videos were taken and I suspect they will show up on our blog site with this write-up.
So next year, prepare for another Music Festival in early May; Dogwood has a reserved spot already and the bands are awaiting our return!
Ed & Jean
Click here to see the Photo Album
We met on Wednesday, March 11, 2026, at Texas Roadhouse in Clermont, FL.
Thanks to Connie and Ed Tilman for setting it up and making the arrangements.
Good Food and Good Friends! We had a wonderful time!
Click here to see the Photo Album
Christmas Rally 2025 Summary
The Christmas Rally was a huge success!! Why? Because we all got together and we ate too much, laughed too hard and hugged too tight!! But that is how we Dogwooders Roll!
We had a group come in on Wednesday, so we went to a delicious restaurant on the lake and had a great time!! Thursday everyone brought delicious appetizers to share, which was a great kick start to the Rally! Friday morning we woke up to an inch of snow on the ground, but it did not put a damper on the fun!! Friday night an Italian dinner was provided by the hosts, followed by a Raffle drawing, and a fun game of Left, Right and Center!!
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| Eggs By Berkley |
Saturday morning a full breakfast was provided by the hosts including Berkley’s famous eggs to order! Followed by a business meeting.
Saturday the hosts provided a ham dinner, followed by Connie Tilman officiating our traditional Yankee Gift Exchange. A lot of laughter and memories were made.
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| Connie - Time for Yankee Swap |
We wrapped up our Rally with a continental breakfast Sunday morning.
We had a great team work together to provide the Rally: The Hills, Kuikens and Warrens!
It was a lot of fun pulling it together, now it’s someone else's turn.
Looking forward to next year!!
Your Hosts,
Rob & Donna
Henry & Patty
Jack & Mary
Click here for the Rally Photo Album
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| Christmas Rally - 2025 |
Hello Dogwood! The GEAR 2025 was a pretty big thing! The Eastern Area hosted approximately 360+ families and I think all Eastern Area Chapters were accounted for. The Tenneys and the Kupperts rolled in on Sunday; Jean and I, along with Jim & Susan Buelow, and Paul Cummings rolled in on Monday. Other Dogwood folks included the Greenwoods, Alexanders, Mahanes, Bucklews, Britzs and Cipas. So we had a good representation, and the Penn Coachmen were there also.
This campground is/was HUGE – 800+ sites or houses. We definitely needed the golf cart to get around. Our campsites were all on concrete pads with full hookups. Well-tended is an appropriate term – everything seemed to be neat, organized and in its place. So we would go back anytime.
Wilt Greenwood hosted a terrific seafood dinner at Wahoo’s Fish House on Tuesday evening and we (Dogwood) had a gathering at our site on Thursday evening. The party was fun and it was great seeing everyone together, but, man, It was WINDY! The next day I was able to get a few hours out on the beach – for the most part the day time weather was beautiful and lots of folks and fishermen were out on the beach. There was a slew of horseback riders out there as well.
So the rally went off pretty well – about a dozen vendors and some excellent evening entertainment. The seminars were good too; we only had two rooms for seminars, but it worked out. At the Chapter Fair we (Terry, Jean, Dell, Jim, Susan, Paul & me) talked to many, many folks and gave out lots of our Dogwood Flyers. It was interesting to note that several other chapters followed our lead in having flyers (tri-folds) printed for handouts at this event!
The Saturday morning Business Meeting was brief – several new officers were voted in including our new Central Region (that’s us) Vice President – Steven Raileanu. The budget was presented, and the big topic of discussion was over how to use electronic voting in future FRVA elections. Nearly everyone was in favor of electronic voting, and FRVA HQ is looking into this – no timeline or dates of action for now.
Dave Fowler and his crew did an excellent job putting on this rally. Two things to note for us – 1) December is our business and planning meeting, so think of some places You would like to go and bring them to the meeting, and 2) The Perry Rally is occurring in March and the Eastern Area is the host. Please let me know if you want to volunteer at Perry.
Click Here for a video by Paul Cummings
Safe Travels –
Ed
Ed Herbert, President
To all who attended the rally, thanks for a great time! This rally was hosted by Richard & Elli Bonewitz and Berkley & Karen Alexander. We had 8 campers.
The rally kicked off Thursday night with social hour and a dinner of lobster at the campground.
On Sunday the 31st a full breakfast was provided with bacon, eggs cooked to order, biscuits & gravy and oh yea, some healthy fruit. A free day to visit the countryside and shops. Then onto the evening meal of lobster.
We ate at several of the local restaurants for clam chowder and other local food and visited the local baker for apple fritters.
The campground facilities and sites were good, level and easy to navigate.
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| Lobster Fest Rally in Maine - 2025 |
On behalf of your Hosts, we want to sincerely thank all of you for attending this rally, and special thanks to all those who assisted us during the rally with setup, cleanup and other necessities.
Your Rally Hosts,
Richard & Elli Bonewitz and Berkley & Karen Alexander
Click here to see the Rally Photo Album
Hello Dogwood friends. To all who attended the rally, thanks for a great time! This rally was hosted by Terry & Dell Tenney and Patty and Henry Kuiken. We had 21 campers and some local members joined us for a total of 27 people for dinner on Saturday night.
The rally started kicked off Thursday night with social hour.
On Friday we started with a continental breakfast. Nineteen members attended the 3:00 show of NOAH at the Sight & Sound Theatre. It was a really good outing and enjoyable. Afterwards many of us traveled to Shady Maple Smorgasbord for an evening meal. PS.. we all got the senior discount. 😀
On Saturday a full breakfast was provided with bacon, eggs cooked to order, biscuits & gravy and oh yea, some healthy fruit. A free afternoon to visit the Amish country side or shops. (I heard Sketchers 👟 had a busy day with lots of customers). Then onto the evening meal and games afterwards.
Sunday came and time for the rally to close but not before the continental breakfast.
The campground facilities and sites were good, level and easy to navigate. The rally room was large and easily accommodated us.
On behalf of your Hosts, we want to sincerely thank all of you for attending this rally, and special thanks to all those who assisted us during the rally with setup, cleanup and other necessities.
Dell Tenney
Click here to see the Rally Photo Album
Good evening Dogwood! If you weren’t there, you missed a great luncheon at the VFW Lodge in Mechanicsville this past weekend. We had 25 folks participate and it was really good seeing everyone, including some that we had missed for nearly a year. The setting was very pleasant and the lunch fare was lasagna, drinks (non-alcoholic), salad, bread, and dessert. The setup staff included one of our past Dogwood presidents – Mr. Buck Buchanan and his wife, Linda, along with the managers Cassie and Stephanie. We also had a surprise guest - one of Dogwood’s previous club members – Ms. Carol Warthan and her friend, Gene. It was good seeing Carol again.
Folks started arriving just after noon and we stayed together until around 2:30. Sue Sohles spoke briefly to the group about organizing a trip up to Galax in late July 2026 for the Virginia Bar-Be-Que festival “Smoke on the Mountain” – That will no doubt go on our planning schedule at the Christmas Rally in December.
In summary, it was an easy get-together for the club and a great luncheon. I think we need to do this every summer…..
Ed
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| 2025 Luncheon at the VFW (Greenwoods not pictured) |
What views! I cannot imagine what it will look like during the fall foliage!
We all arrived on the 7th, got set up and had our social to discuss the rest of our time there. We also all had stories of the travels there! Each of the recommended routes had some twists and turns not conducive to larger units – however, we did find a route out so new it’s not even on GPS mapping – that future visitors can take without concern. Shown below.
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| Richard & Denise Davis |
All days were free for roaming and each evening we met for dinner. We dodged raindrops, sometimes a deluge but the real highlight was Richard & Denise Davis playing for us for 2 nights while there.
We thank all who ventured that far out in the hills – and for those who want to go in the future – you will want to go 460W to Vansants – take about 3 miles on 83, to the new 460 – also called Southern Gap highway – to 80 into the park – I’m told soon the bridge will be open and it will be a 4 lane divided highway the entire route to 80.
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| 2025 Breaks Interstate Park Rally |
Respectfully submitted,
Your Hosts
Lynn & Wayne
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| The Rally was Purrrfect! 😊 |
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| North Landing Beach in Virginia Beach |
The Dogwood Rally at North Landing Beach Campground in Virginia Beach, VA was held Thursday June 5th – Sunday June 8th, 2025. On behalf of your hosts, the Buelows, Robisons, and Meyers, we want to thank everyone who came and helped make the rally a great time. We enjoyed the weekend and hope you did too!
We had 11 coaches, and 21 members attend the rally. Mary Lou had signed up but unfortunately wasn’t able to join us – and we missed you!
The campground staff was friendly, helpful, and welcomed us with open arms. We had the free use of a very nice rally room from Wed afternoon through Sunday’s breakfast.
We did have a rough start to the rally though. Dave and Nanette’s fridge was on the fritz again, so they had a small dorm-sized fridge in their coach and hauled rally goodies in a cooler and was able to move it all into the rally room fridge upon arrival. I wish I could tell you that was the worst of it, but nope. On the way driving to the rally, Meyers and Buelows were traveling together, with Dave in the lead. On the interstate, there was what we believe, a road rage incident between 2 other cars, when they stopped short, half in the road and half on the shoulder, causing Dave to hit the brakes hard. Jim also had to brake hard. Unfortunately, Susan was up checking the AC and fell hurting her shoulder. After arriving at the campground, followed by a trip to the ER, we learned that she had fractured her shoulder in multiple places. But she was a trooper and determined to stay at the rally for the weekend, joining us for all meals and gatherings. And does it surprise anyone to know she figured out how to crochet with her left arm in a sling? Nope – didn’t think so!
The rally kicked off on Thursday afternoon with happy hour and heavy hors d’oeuvres at the rally room. It was great to socialize with everyone, and we got to meet our newest members, Don & Sandi DeLagrange. And they fit right in like they had been members for years! The weather was great, so later we enjoyed a campfire at the Meyer’s site.
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| Sandi |
Later we all met back at the rally room for happy hour followed by a delicious BBQ dinner with salads and desert provided by the hosts.
After dinner we handed out prizes to the putt-putt winners:
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| 2025 NLB Putt-Putt Winners |
Hole-in-One on the 9th hole: Clairevon received a NLB t-shirt.
2nd Place with a score of 20: Robi & Dale received a $15 DQ gift card.
1st Place with a score of 19: Jack and Mary received a campground hat and visor, plus a $15 DQ gift card.
(The campground items were generously donated by the campground)
After that, we were treated to a fun game of trivia courtesy of Jean and Ed. Forty, yes 40, grueling questions that had most of us scratching our heads, saying “Oh, we should know this!” If memory serves, the Meyers and Robisons tied for high score, but like a kid’s participation sport everyone was rewarded with $100,000 and Pay-Day candy bars. Then came round 2 – 20 more questions on old TV commercial tag lines. The Meyers won that round, but wait, more candy bars were handed out to all! It was a lot of fun – thanks to Jean and Ed.
Another campfire was enjoyed, this time at the Mahanes’ site. (Just watch out for the chairs with puddles in the seat! Dave!)
Saturday morning started off with a full breakfast complete with eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits & gravy, and fruit, all provided by the hosts in the rally room. After breakfast we took a couple group pictures and then a chapter meeting led by our President, Ed Herbert. Minutes from the meeting will be posted to the Blog at a later date. Everyone enjoyed a relaxing afternoon with friends and I heard that some visited the ice cream shop again!
We had happy hour again with pictures from the weekend playing on the big screen TV and a table full of crocheted slippers up for grabs. The hosts served up a wonderful ham dinner along with a salad, au gratin potatoes, a corn casserole and, if you still had room, desert.
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| Clairevon |
After dinner was our 50/25/25 raffle and a special donation. The big winner on the raffle was Steve Mahanes. Judy actually won the 2nd drawing, but graciously donated it back. Draws 2 and 3 ended with winners - the Buelows and Alexanders. The donation I mentioned was won by Clairevon and turned out to be a beautiful afghan made by Susan Buelow. And can you believe it? A third campfire in as many nights, this one too at the Mahanes’ site.
Sunday concluded the rally with a continental breakfast in the rally room with leftovers, fruit, juice and a delicious coffee cake made by Nanette.
By The Way - Does anyone have a picture of George hooking up his towed in the pouring rain? LOL!
We sincerely hope you all had a wonderful time at the rally! And again, thank you all for coming.
Your Hosts, the Buelows, Robisons, and Meyers
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| 2025 NLB Rally |
Click here to see the Rally Photo Album
Mr. B’s Spring Music Spectacular – a fun time for all!
We had ten RVs on site this year; there were about 90 RVs registered for the festival, but we were the largest group according to Ms. Billie Sue Goff – the manager. We kicked it off Wednesday evening with a potluck supper followed by music from the Dogwood Bluegrass Band. This little group consists of Rick & Denise Davis (on guitar, mandolin & banjo), Jack Warren (on guitar) and me (on Dobro). Note that the band is still accepting new members if you are interested. Our band played bluegrass, gospel, country/western and some other music that we’re not real sure about. We probably should practice a little more….
Anyway, Thursday morning started off with Tequila Sunrises and a big brunch. Music began at noon and ran all day until 9:30 that night. Many thanks to Steve & Sue Sohles for dinner that evening. The band played again that night until 10:30 or thereabouts. I guess we did Okay – nobody booed us and nothing got thrown at us.
Friday was another great day with morning cocktails and a big brunch, followed by music from noon until 9:30. Thanks to Jim and Sue Buelow and Paul Cummings for dinner brats and chicken wings that night!
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| Click on the photo for the video |
This was really fun and the music was pretty good. Even if you don’t like bluegrass, consider joining us – sit up close to the stage and watch (with wonder) the skills of the players and pickers, and listen to the harmonies of their voices. Some of those songs will touch your soul! I can hardly wait until next year!
Your Hosts,
Ed & Jean Herbert
Click here to see the Rally Photo Album
