Stuff....we all have it

Stuff…

Sometimes valuable, sometimes not

Tends to Multiply Over the Years

Undoubtedly disposable

For whatever reason though

Find one’s self hoarding it!

YOU’VE GOT IT, I’VE GOT IT. STUFF…

Over the years, and decades we seem to watch it multiply before our very eyes.  I know I personally have the best of intentions NOT to accumulate more of it…and yet there it is in our closets, storage cupboards, garage(s), outbuildings…It seems wherever we have square footage, we can find a treasure to park there. Well, I use “we” figuratively speaking. Jeff is the ultimate “If I don’t use it, I don’t need it “ kind of guy.  In the area of “STUFF” we are definitely opposites.

In July of this year, I offloaded 37 boxes and bags from the house! I packed up pickup loads and hauled it off. I know me—if it wasn’t gone I’d be out there dragging “special stuff” back in my home piece by piece again! So, I acknowledge I have a love affair with “stuff.” Everything has a memory, a reason why it’s OK for me to hang on to it. 

Having sorted through my mother’s estate—her lifetime accumulation of treasures (well treasures to her)-- I now know where I get this “compulsion for stuff.”  That woman loved stuff…it understandably came from her young married days when my dad and mom often said “They didn’t have two cents to rub together.” When she got to where she COULD pick small things up just because she liked them, not just necessities, she DID. Mostly collectibles, old dishes (for which she had a very good eye, I might add, and she had SEVEN sets of china we unearthed), towels, and bedding…that woman had storage tubs of towels! The estate sale is this weekend. God Help Us Offload it and then have the will power to immediately gift the rest to Goodwill lest we see the sentimental value of holding on to Mom’s “Stuff!”

Well, mom and her stuff has inspired me…to simplify and declutter my life. I’m shifting into a gear that my hubby wishes I would have found some time ago.  I’m in a de-stuffing phase.  I’ve just begun the journey into this foreign, frightening world. I am such a memory collector, family pictures/homework/coloring pages/school work/family Anything and Everything collector I find certain “OFF LIMIT” areas of my life already being tagged as De-stuffing Free Zones. Can’t touch this, or this, or this….

I’m reminded that my motorcoaching friends live an unfettered life, most of them free from stuff. If it doesn’t fit and have a use, it doesn’t travel with them… The kids got it, they disposed of it, and they’re off enjoying their unfettered life. They seem quite content with their de-cluttered, de-stuffed lives.

They inspire me to give it a whirl.  We’ll see how I fare!

Country Coach, Entrepreneurship, and a Rebounding Community

Country Coach, entrepreneurship, and a rebounding community

Country Coach Corporation (CCC) and specifically owner and CEO Ron Lee has a dream—no, not a dream, a goal, a vision—to resume building the Country Coach brand motorcoach. Country Coach Corporation opened in January, 2011 offering full coach service, parts manufacturing, consignment sales and a robust little CC logoed apparel and aftermarket items shop. Ron owns all the Intellectual Property of the former Country Coach, LLC (including the trademarked brand names, engineering prints and schematics, fiberglass molds and build sheets). Many tenured Country Coach employees left adrift in the wake of Country Coach, LLC’s bankruptcy were proud to put their shoulders to the wheel and help build the momentum of a new fledgling company with a vision to build Country Coach motorcoaches again. The new company began offering technical support for Country Coach owners calling in with service issues and parts searches. Most were happy to pay the consulting fee that funds the technical advisors they get at the other end of the phone when they call for help. All in all, over the past 18 months Country Coach Corporation has seemed a little like “the little engine that could” as the community, the Country Coach motorcoach owners across the country and the former CC, LLC employees and current CCC employees all watched and cheered the new company on…What a real win-win situation it will be when the “new breed” of Country Coach motorcoaches roll onto First Avenue in Junction City, OR. At a recent Country Coach Friends Incorporated Club Rally (a new international chapter of FMCA formed for the enjoyment of Country Coach owners and other brand motorcoach owners), Ron Lee and his COO David Diamond spoke about financing they have high expectations will come through soon, that will allow the “next steps” toward their dream of Country Coach motorcoaches again being built. Keep apprised of their development at www.countrycoach.com. To learn more about this vibrant fast growing independent club, visit www.countrycoachfriendsincorporated .com

The original Country Coach (originally Country Campers) was born out of an entrepreneur’s vision and pioneer’s spirit (Bob Lee’s, that is) in 1973,  Building lines including the models Country Camper, Max, Mystique, Tribute, Inspire, Allure, Intrigue, Magna, Affinity, Lexa, Concept, Rhapsody, and Country Coach Prevost Conversion, the company was a leader in the industry in terms of motorcoach innovation, design, craftsmanship, livability, and safety attributes. Its dealer network was nationwide, and every single coach was built in Junction City in the southern Willamette valley (with the exception of the ill-fated Mystique, which was built at then sister company National RV). Bob Lee was inducted into the RV/MH Hall of Fame, in recognition to his pioneer spirit, decades of service to develop the RV industry, and his cutting edge innovations Country Coach brought to the Recreation Vehicle industry. In 1996, National RV Holdings Inc. acquired the company. Eleven years later in February of 2007, Country Coach was purchased by a consortium headed by Riley Investment Management LLC. Bob Lee (and his son in law Pat Mason) now own and operate the Oregon Motorcoach Center, a full service and renovation business in Eugene Oregon, located just a few minutes from where he formerly built coaches. See www.oregonmotorcoachcenter.com for more information on this company. Just three years later in February 2010, Country Coach, LLC, the company that built the World’s Finest Motorcoaches, fell victim to the downturned economy (and its resulting freeze on credit to consumers and dealers) and was forced into bankruptcy and was liquidated. Today, however, loyal Country Coachers are found parked at national and state parks or in the finest luxury destination resorts (and even overnight in the local Wal-Mart lot), and all points between as they enjoy the adventures to be found from the cockpit of a Country Coach. In fact, some will have nothing else, and it has created a profitable market niche for dealers concentrating on marketing pre-owned Country Coach motorcoaches.

Premier RV Services in Junction City, OR is one such business. Gary Obermire and Louie Courtemanche (like myself) are die-hard Country Coach fans. Like me I sometimes think they have CC motor oil in their blood. Long time Country Coach employees and avid promoters of the brand when the defunct company was in business, they too have an entrepreneur’s spirit. When their highly esteemed Country Coach, LLC failed, Premier RV Services was founded to fill the need for qualified service available to CCers….service you could trust by some of the best of the best Country Coach technicians. Knowing your beautiful Country Coach inside out as they and their staff did, they knew their longtime Country Coach owner friends would appreciate a service center specializing in Country Coach but welcoming all brands of motorhomes in for service and complete or partial renovations.  Premier recognized the deep loyalty there is to the Country Coach brand, and so they also opened a Pre-owned Coach Division where RVers could still purchase a hand-selected, well-maintained Country Coach brand motorcoach. Premier offers an indoor secure storage for your coach when its not being enjoyed, too, within buildings situated on 26+ acres of the former Country Coach, LLC campus. For a look at the largest inventory of preowned Country Coach motorcoaches in the U.S., or to learn about their other services, visit www.premierrvservices.com.

As you return to Junction City, Oregon and the Lane County area, you quickly appreciate the signs of a rebounding community. Dutch Brothers and Nina's coffee shops are thriving, as are local eateries, and other area businesses like Guaranty RV Center and Sound Sensations and Innovative Coachworks. There are many private individuals and small businesses in the area who cater to the RV owner, too. Be it cabinetry shops dedicated to the hand crafted cabinetry services Country Coachers became used to and demand in their upgrades and renovations (Davis Cabinets and Carr Industries are two of them) to Countryside Interiors, Millie’s Draperies, HItchPro & Tow, NW RV Supply and more, motorcoachers find a full support network in Lane County when they come back to Junction City and the surrounding area for leisure time. Yes, indeed, entrepreneurship is alive and well in Junction City OR and the RV industry's momentum is building! It’s a great place to visit, a beautiful area to tour and without doubt the name Country Coach is still well-loved and RV businesses continue to significantly contribute to the well-being of this community.

Transitions, Changes, and Stuff that Makes You Stronger

Have ya noticed that life is just a series of transitions? One is never standing still. Sometimes we’re moving forward (hopefully most of the time) and sometimes, we’re not.

Talk about changes and transitions…There’ve been quite a few in my professional life within the RV industry.

I was cleaning out boxes closing out my mom’s home last night and found a Fanning Family Christmas letter from 1998. It reported on the children and the home and on our jobs. About Country Coach I wrote: “Country Coach was cited as one of 100 Fast Moving Companies in Forbes magazine this year. I guess that means I have job securityJ”   Well, move and shake and design and build and market and sell we did…then we struggled and improvised and sought solutions and finally Country Coach LLC closed in bankruptcy 11 years after that 1998 Christmas letter. Many long term employees like myself felt like a family member had passed—there was a great attachment to that company and its products that left a void in our lives with its passing.

But transitions are often a good thing in one’s personal life, forcing us to evolve, change and become something new, different, even better. Since the day after Thanksgiving 2009 when my boss called me to say the bankruptcy court has chosen to pull the plug on the attempt to reorganize Country Coach, I know I’ve certainly changed. My rose glasses allowing me to believe that no matter the situation, a coach as solid and well built and beautifully designed as a Country Coach will always have its place in the industry are gone. Economics and circumstances and ‘stuff’ can and will cause the fall of any company, even wonderful companies like the one Bob Lee founded. And it certainly wasn’t alone…the industry downturn took out MANY companies in the RV sector over the past several years.

The businesses that survived have had to reinvent themselves and creatively repackage their services, streamlining their business plans to meet market demands of today’s recreation enthusiast. They’ve come out the other side stronger in many cases, albeit leaner.

And many individuals within the industry who were displaced when companies such as Country Coach LLC failed, have launched brand new enterprises. There is Premier RV Services for instance (www.PremierRVServices.com). It opened its doors after CC, LLC closed. It’s owned and staffed by former Country Coach employees who saw a market niche that needed filled offering pre-owned highline motorcoach sales, full RV service & renovations, and indoor coach storage. It even utilized multiple buildings left standing vacant by the CC, LLC bankruptcy. Premier RV Services is one of many businesses operating in Junction City Oregon which keep people returning “home” to the south Willamette valley for their motorcoach service needs. I’m very proud to be affiliated with the Premier group and love seeing many of my motorcoaching friends when they’re in town. Oregon Motorcoach Center, Guaranty RV, Country Coach Corporation (which may one day build new Country Coaches again!), Davis Cabinets, Innovative Coachworks, Countryside Interiors, Advanced Satellite, DLH Design, Carr Industries, these are but a few of the other RV Businesses in the Junction City Oregon community who like Premier are moving on, and going strong. These businesses are prospering in the industry’s New Normal and each offers valuable services to motorcoach owners, while providing a good living for their families, and giving a needed injection of revenue back into a small  community where all Country Coach motorcoaches were originally built.

And there are hundreds of Country Coach cheerleaders such as myself who continue in our professional lives within this great industry. We hold fond memories for “the way we were” but greater enthusiasm for what we and this local RV industry are becoming.

The challenge is to keep your running shoes laced tightly and to boldly lead the charge in a reinvented, exciting RV industry here in the Southern Willamette Valley.

I enjoy working in a service center/dealership that “feels” like my former Country Coach home (and in fact is located on 26 acres of the former Country Coach Inc campus). I enjoy promoting a fast growing Motorcoaching Club comprised of the world’s friendliest motorcoach owners (www.countrycoachfriendsincorporated.com) and I also serve on the Oregon RV Alliance executive board to encourage RVers to spend their leisure time in our beautiful area of the country. The RV industry is alive and well in Lane County, Oregon, and many old friends are still right here hard at work within this great community.

Transitions, Changes, and Stuff …I’m rolling with it and moving forward…these are exciting times!

Rally Times are the BEST of Times!

The Second Annual Country Coach Friendship Rally is in full swing. What a great group has gathered to have fun together for four busy days at River Bend Resort in Harrisburg, just a couple miles from where all Country Coach motorcoaches were originally built in Junction City Oregon.

Today is another full day of touring three major service providers located minutes from the rally site--all of which offer outstanding care and attention to highline motorcoaches and other RVs. There will be a catered meal at Country Coach Corporation, a service center, parts resource and consignment sales business located on many acres of the former Country Coach, LLC campus). Ron Lee, owner, has contracted the extremely popular rally caterer Bambino's to present the luncheon to rally guests; then it's across the driveway to Premier RV Services (also a full service and coach renovations business co-owned by former upper management staff of the former Country Coach, LLC Gary Obermire and Susan Graham). Premier is located on 26 acres of the former Country Coach, LLC campus and offers hand selected pre-owned coaches for sale (the largest inventory of Country Coaches in the U.S.) . Premier has several acres of indoor secured heated storage for RVs, boats and autos, too. Here is where the club will be recognized on its First Anniversary since its formation with 40 member coaches last year at the First Annual Country Coach Friendship Rally. The club is now numbering over 170 members strong....and growing! The rally agenda finishes the afternoon at Bob Lee's facility, Oregon Motorcoach Center on Airport Road in Eugene. It's always a delight to visit "Camp Oregon Motorcoach." Country Coach (then Country Campers) founders Bob and Terry Lee and family will be on hand to spend this special time at Oregon Motorcoach Center with rally attendees.

The night tonight finishes up with an outdoor chicken barbecue reminiscent of the days when the Lee Family including patriarch Bob Lee were at the grills cooking chicken for the attendees. VIPs Gary Obermire of Premier RV Services, Ron Lee of CCC, and Pat Mason (Bob's son-in-law) of Oregon Motorcoach Center will don their aprons and "get their grill on..." 

Friday will be another full day of rally fun, and motorcoachers favorite entertainers Bernie & Red that evening; followed by a Saturday morning Club meeting. Then the group bids their goodbyes until they rejoin at the Fall Fun Rally in Petoskey Michigan in September http//www.CountryCoachFriendsIncorporated.com. What a fun loving club, and one of the fastest growing international chapters of Family Motor Coach Association! Membership is open to owners of all brands of motorcoaches and their rallies are among the finest available to motorcoach owners!

I enjoy a great affiliation with CCFI -- doing anything and everything I think of to get the word out to motorcoaching enthusiasts about Country Coach Friends Incorporated--the world's friendliest club!

-- Gotta Run as Rally Times are not only the BEST of Times, they are the Busiest of Times!

Until Next Time,
Sherry

Unparalleled Exterior Paint Solutions

Premier RV Services in Junction City, OR Provides Unparalleled Exterior Paint Solutions for Today’s Motorcoachers

Before Country Coach, LLC closed its doors in 2009 it was famous for its beautiful motorcoach exteriors and industry leading painted graphics. In fact, the company was the trend setter throughout the industry in terms of what you could expect to see in the next model year on other manufacturers’ coach exteriors. The application process for each and every motorcoach exterior was painstakingly detailed and uncompromising in attention to flawless exterior perfection in the end product. Using only premium Sikkens brand paint and employing the industry’s finest paint artisans, each and every motorcoach that rolled onto First Avenue was a head-turner. That remains true even today as Country Coaches continue to turn heads as they travel the highways and pull into RV resorts across the nation.

  These days, when it’s time to touch up that exterior paint, or to do some exterior coach repairs, you can still find the same uncompromising attention given to your paint project as when your coach was originally built at Premier RV Services. Employing the best of the best and using the world’s finest materials, be it full body exterior paint, minor collision paint repair, or perhaps minor fiberglass door damage that requires fiberglass repair work, you can get that project handled at Premier. The same industry leading Sikkens brand paint that was used during the Country Coach motorcoach original paint application process is still the base coat and clear coat paint of choice at Premier. 

About Premier’s paint specialists: In 1989, Steve Gottschling began a journey down a career path that would span over two decades of painting excellence in the field of motorcoach paint services.  It was in 1989 that Gottschling accepted a position with Country Coach in the company’s paint department. His areas of expertise quickly developed and spanned everything from painting selected parts to full body paint. Gottschling remained with Country Coach until late 2009, when Country Coach, LLC closed its doors permanently. These days you’ll find Steve at work at Premier, along with Julio Patino, who had also honed his craft within the Country Coach, LLC paint department for 15 years.  Today at Premier they bring a combined 35+ years experience in specialized paint techniques. When you bring your exterior paint/repair project to Premier RV Services, you can be assured your motorcoach exterior will receive unparalleled quality care and attention.

Specializing in Country Coach, all brands are welcome. See Premier RV Services for all your Service, Pre-owned Motorcoach Sales, and Indoor Storage needs. Premier RV Services, 325 East First Avenue, Junction City, Oregon.  Phone: 541-998-2640. Online: www.PremierRVServices.com.

Saying it, Doesn't Make It So!

 I can say, “I’m a duck!” and I can honestly believe it. But featherless I remain and the Oregon rain hasn’t yet significantly webbed my feet. …A duck I am not, and it wouldn’t be wise of me to step off a roof and attempt to migrate.

I think it’s like that with most things. Saying something, even marketing ones self as something, doesn't make it so.

Take Integrity, for instance. It’s a word freely used in the marketplace.

“Trust your motorcoach to X-Y-Z, a business founded on integrity. Or join a club that claims the same thing." Some organizations are simply basing their claim of “integrity” on their longevity.  Although noteworthy to state "...established in 1985" (or whatever), we all know It takes more than years on a calendar to earn repeat business or admiration within an industry. It's who you are today, right now, under current management, and how you take care of your customers that will decide who you will be tomorrow.

My dad always said, Let your Walk be your witness, not your Talk. I have found a few organizations that stand head and shoulders above the masses when it comes to integrity in business practices.

Junction City Local Aid is one of those. The community service organization has a strong infrastructure, a diverse Board of Directors, a business plan based on sound practices and have implemented processes to ensure that they are good stewards of the resources they are able to accrue and share with those in need. I’ve always had a special place in my heart for Junction City Local Aid, but a few years ago they did something that really made a lasting imression on me.

I was working with Country Coach, LLC at the time (Christmas 2008 I believe it was). For several years, at that time, Country Coach had held an employee food drive/fundraising event around the holiday season to benefit this worthy cause. Country Coach employees were proud of the hefty injection those food drives brought to the Junction City Local Aid’s annual budget! Well in 2008, as talk began about preparing for the Food Drive/Fundraiser, the top management at CC decided to forego the fund-raising/company monetary match funds donation and instead, they offered the opportunity for JC Local Aid to choose one particularly needy family and the Company would shower them with a special holiday. The organization declined. JCLA said, how could they fairly choose? What makes one of their client families’ needs greater than another’s? Although they appreciated the thought, they couldn’t in all fairness choose one client over all the others who also had great needs in their lives. I was duly impressed. Yes, CC did go on to bless a community family in need with a gifting of items and money that year (found the family through the local school as I recall), but I so respected Junction City Local Aid’s display of Integrity in not choosing one client over another. 

Last year when it was time to choose a charitable cause for the upcoming motorcoach rally I was helping coordinate, and food banks were suggested, I was so glad to see Junction City Local Aid benefit from that rally. Country Coach Friends Inc raised over $4,000 for Junction City Local Aid at their 60-coach Friendship Rally, in fact, and another $4,000 for God’s Storehouse too! What a worthwhile investment for all who have given charitable contributions to this organization. http://www.jclocalaid.org/

Speaking of Country Coach Friends Incorporated, it's another organization that is earning a reputation for its integrity and transparency in business practices, and its dedication to being the best they can be at what they are—a motorcoach social club founded on friendship and dedicated to providing world class motorcoach experiences and benefits for their members!

What a pleasure it has been to watch them grow over the past year as they’ve tripled in membership!  With founding bylaws based upon a tried and true template provided by Family Motor Coach Association (another stellar RV club which I've personally thoroughly enjoyed working with in my various industry related professional positions), they formed a club with a strong infrastructure, led by a board of directors with representation from across the nation, and have implemented fiduciary transparency and business practices that ensure all who join this motorcoachers social club will be proud of their affiliation with CCFI for decades to come. And they’re one of the Friendliest Motorcoach Clubs in America, without doubt!  Learn more at www.countrycoachfriendsincorporated.com

These are just two organizations I admire.  We all know one when we see one, an organization based on integrity…and it’s who we want to invest our time and our discretionary monies in, too, isn’t it?

Nope I’m not a duck (nor a beaver;), and that’s OK…However I am committed to being a woman of integrity. My words, my actions and those footprints walked out every day in my professional life are what I hope will mirror the attributes of my most admired organizations like the two listed here, as well as the attributes I most admire in my peers and associates.

So today I am reminded that when it comes to service businesses or RV clubs or any type of organization really…Take the high road and people will come!

Nope I'm not a Duck......but thanks to Oregon's liquid sunshine  I sometimes feel like I must be growing webbed feet!  

Motorcoachers Information Pipeline….A Whole New Level of Keeping in Touch!

Let’s keep in touch. We say that nearly every day to someone don’t we? To friends and acquaintances, family members and business associates…When it comes to Keepin’ In Touch, there is nothing like that Motorcoachers Information Pipeline.

It’s really an electronic pony express of sorts, this Motorcoachers Pipeline, but oh-so-much-swifter. Someone in Florida can have eye surgery, and he’ll be blessed with dozens of well-wishes from across the nation the next day. Someone tells someone who tells someone who posts an email to a group of friends…

I was working at my part time job at Premier RV Services this past week, and had a call from a dear friend whose hubby had been in a vehicle mishap. Long time RVing friends were at the hospital visiting and checking up on him immediately. The luxury resort where they own property sent an eblast to resort friends to send prayers for a speedy recovery for their friend. It’s just motorcoach owners’ nature to “gather round” and support each other when trials come.

When you need a friend, you can count on the motorcoachers you’ve befriended while parked next to each other at rallies or in resorts nationwide to be among the first to offer help. I will always remember the condolences and support that came flooding in from motorcoachers nationwide when my mother passed away this past June. Somehow friends from Virginia to Florida, Texas to Oregon all knew and many sent their hugs and support via email and calls.

And what fun to share the fun stuff with your friends too. Like the fun of receiving new “grandchildren pictures” from friends like Bud and Anne Falk on the east coast, or pictures of their mom’s 95^th birthday from a motorcoaching friend in Texas. It helps keep us connected, and sharing the joys and trials of each other’s lives. 

This immediate connection to friends worldwide through phone calls, emails and texts, posting to online forums or discussion boards, etc.all keep the connection intact between fellow recreation enthusiasts wherever our travels may find us.

Rallies are a Perfect way to Keep In Touch! Vibrant clubs like Country Coach Friends Incorporated or Family Motor Coach Association do an excellent job of keeping us connected through several events each year where we can look forward to reconnecting for several days at wonderful locations across the nation! Like the Country Coach FriendshipRally in July in Harrisburg Oregon. Just a few openings remain for that rally, but what an opportunity to reconnect with old friends, RV-related business friends who will be there supporting the rally experience, and to make New Friends! Or, the Fall Rally in Petosky Michigan. What a fun time for friends who are among the 40 motorcoaches gathering to enjoy a beautiful luxury resort in the Great Lakes region of the nation.

Of couse the BEST means of  Keepin’ In Touch will always be Face to Face.

On Thursday of this past week, Sharon and Ron Brandt walked in and surprised me at work. These motorcoaching friends were getting a tire sensor installed on their new tow car and decided to walk down the street to see me. I was able to catch up on their busy past couple of months, get their report on a couple rallies they’d attended one in Tucson in March and then another “wonderful rally” with Rocky Mountain Country Coachers…What fun for me to just enjoy reconnecting with a great couple from Nevada. When folks come home to the south Willamette Valley to get their service work done, have renovations completed on their coach, or to purchase new tow cars, aftermarket items, tires, batteries, or other equipment it is a great treat for me to visit with some of the Friendliest people on the planet.

Remember to stop by Premier RV Services, Tuesday through Thursday, at 325 East First Avenue in Junction City whenever you get to town…I’d love to see you and catch up on your travels and news since the last time we met at a rally…Or give me a call on my cell at 541-521-1093 if you pass through our area on a day I’m not scheduled to be at Premier

Let’s Keep In Touch!