Club Rallies Offer Educational Opportunities, Friendship and Fun

...and Country Coach Friends Inc is Famous for a

Great All Round Rally Experience Every Time!

Yes, Country Coach Friends Inc rally events always offer great meals, outstanding entertainment and that Pure Fun for which a Country Coach Friends Rally is known...and lots of fellowship, laughs, and time with friends! The consistently "quality rally experience" is something for which this club is become known for!

 

MOTORCOACH RALLIES ARE LEARNING EXPERIENCES TOO!
But did you know that at a CCFI Rally you'll also learn more about your motorcoach, its components systems and aftermarket items? Ask the Experts during a variety of technical seminars your questions regarding particular coach components, systems and aftermarket items. Ask Your Fellow Travelers at owners' roundtable discussions regarding the particular model you drive, as motorcoachers  are often your  best information resource!

Enjoy some crafts, exercise sessions and lifestyle seminars, too.

For instance, at the CCFI Club's 2013 Country Coach Friendship Rally, August 21-25,2013 in Oregon, will feature lots of lifestyle sessions too. This is an annual event in its third year, and this year we return to Linn County Fair & Expo which has LOTS of seminar rooms! So, you can expect everything from yoga and daily bicycle rides, to craft classes, and lifestyle classes like health & fitness on the road, geneology and more...

Vendors Generously Support a CCFI event as well!

Expect dozens of RV-related and Lifestyle-related vendors at the CCFI rally too. RV specific vendors will be offering seminars about your coaches and providing service support for any thing you wish to have addressed during the rally.

Rallies are Member Run! 

As a consultant to the board, I do a quite a bit of rally coordination and planning and scheduling....then as the rally approaches "the pros" step in and "make it happen!" Members volunteer for service on committees like Parking, Registration, Welcome/Information, Decorations, and more...They get involved and get to know their fellow attendees as they work together to make the rally the best one ever! It's a perfect way to maximize your exposure to fellow rallyers and cement lifelong friendships! All in All, you can't go wrong investing your time in a Country Coach Friends Incorporated Rally! 

In 2013 you can see your friends (of all motorcoaching brands) at the following rallies!

CCFI Spring Rally Fun, May 14-19

Buckhorn Lake RV Resort, Kerrville, TX

60 spaces offered! Registrations are now being accepted. Come experience the beautiful Texas Hill Country...cowboys, blue bonnets, and longhorn cattle! And the friendliest community you'll ever visit!

CCFI Friendship Rally August 21-25

Linn County Expo, Albany, OR (tentative)

**New location as we’ve outgrown River Bend Resort in Harrisburg!

Expect this Club Rally to offer a busy busy schedule at a rally reminiscent of  old Class Reunions of the former Country Coach Inc. Company Rallies days, albeit on a smaller scale!

CCFI Fall Fun Rally, October 7-12

Napa County Fairgrounds, Calistoga, CA

Beautiful California wine country awaits...can't wait to see you there.

Enjoy Destination Rallies, too.

Sometimes CCFI chooses a great destination as the focus of the rally. Touring the area and enjoying the sights, attractions and activities is great fun at a destination rally...For example at Petoskey Michigan in 2012, Country Coach Friends parked at the premier Hearthside Grove RV Resort and throughout a busy 5-day rally experience they enjoyed the picturesque sites and scenery of the area. They enjoyed a Mackinaw Trolley Tour, experienced a Sunset Cruise of Lake Michigan, spent a delightful day in Charlevoix and a took a tour of Castle Farms. They loved the day on Mackinac Island with a luncheon at the Grand Hotel. And of course throughout five full days they experienced great meals, entertainment and fun for which a Country Coach Friends Rally is known...lots of fun, laughs, and time with friends!  

The CCFI Club Member Family is growing!

The club has more than quadrupled since forming in June 2011. With membership open to all brands of qualifying motorcoaches, we're looking for larger rally venues so more of us can gather together at CCFI events. Rally locations are being explored for 2014 -- Feel free to Email location ideas to

countrycoachfriendsinc@yahoo.com!

All Motorcoachers Are Welcome!

You need not own a Country Coach to join Country Coach Friends Incorporated or to join its members at rallies nationwide! Learn more at www.CountryCoachFriendsIncorporated.com or call Jerry OConnor at 775-742-4627.

RV Marketer's Thoughts on Lane County Transient Room Taxes

As CCFI’s Consultant to the Board I recently submitted Public Stakeholder Testimony to the Lane County TRT Task Force Meeting

*Here is some of the information regarding Transient Room Taxes as excerpted from a report by Brad Waring, ORVA, www.come2oregon.com

(TRT) Transit Room Taxes are collected by RV Parks from their guests. Oregon law established this tax requiring at least 70 percent of net revenue be used to fund tourism promotion or tourism-related facilities. Lane County collects and distributes millions of dollars each year.

It was a packed room Thursday, October 11 and every attendee did a great job making the case for their piece of the TRT Taxes. The moderator, Mr. Cuyler said he received more than 40 pieces of written testimony. RV related Testimony came in written form from Shannon Nill who responded as an ORVA board member and on behalf of Guaranty RV and the RV Dealers Association(RVDA). Ron Lee of Country Coach Corporation, Mike Brown of Deerwood RV Park, from Myself on behalf of County Coach Friends, and Tom Schneider former Guaranty Salesman and retired RV owner.

Paul and Vickie Williams, owners of Premier RV Resorts, offered hard facts about their TRT collections over the last decade, $300,000.00. Paul broke the ice with a humorous comment about recently becoming a non-profit, like so many of the other Stakeholders who offered testimony. Brad Waring, executive director of Oregon RV Alliance, also spoke in the meeting using an illustrative pie as he lobbied for a portion of TRT taxes being used to market to the RV community.

The TRT Task Force will develop its recommendations to present to the County Commissioners December 5th.

Country Coach Friends Incorporated (www.CountryCoachFriendsIncorporated.com)  is a Big Fan of the south Willamette Valley and the Junction City, Oregon area where all Country Coaches were originally built. We look forward to visiting again soon for more memorable rallies and great times with our many business sponsors of Lane County.

The area is just the BEST spot in the nation for RVing! Travel Lane County has been most supportive of Country Coach events over the years bringing their Van on the Go to rally site (www.eugenecascadescoast.org) and providing key travel information to RVers to enhance their visit to the south Willamette Valley.

Working together, all RV industry professionals can have a part in making sure we all do our part to get the word out that Oregon’s south Willamette Valley is indeed a motorcoachers’ mecca in terms of RV services, dealerships and service centers, not to mention the natural attractions, and just plain FUN things to do!


HERE IS THE LETTER I SUBMITTED:

Bringing RV-owning travelers to Oregon to spend their leisure time is a subject about which I am passionate. For over 18 years I marketed Country Coach and its motorcoaches. As Senior Manager of Marketing at the former Country Coach, LLC I coordinated rallies for up to 400 coach motorcoaches nationwide. Country Coach Friends Inc, (www.countrycoachfriendsincorporated.com) rallies continue to bring thousands of dollars into the communities. The largest one is held annually in the Willamette Valley near where all Country Coaches were built.

The Country Coach Friendship Rally held at River bend Resort in July in Harrisburg raised over $8000 in charitable giving which the Country Coach Friends Club donated to local food banks. The Friendship Rally brought 180 high income RVers to Lane County for several weeks before and after the rally. During their visit they stayed in local campgrounds like Premier RV Resort in Coburg and Deerfield RV Park. Another favorite park is Richardson RV Park at Fern Ridge. While in the area, these rallyers got their engines and furnaces serviced, had paint and bodywork done...They visited area woodworking businesses for cabinetry upgrades. They purchased new tires (in itself a couple thousand dollars single expenditure). They purchased art pieces, home decor, and more as they added new touches to the $300,000 to $1.5 million dollar homes on wheels they choose to drive.  My CCFI Club friends spent time exploring wineries, covered bridges, shopping malls and boutiques eating out at their favorite restaurants during their Lane County visit.

 What a boost to the economy! RV industry professionals like myself (many of whom are  members of Oregon RV Alliance) are dedicated to spreading the message to Motorcoaching friends nationwide to consider spending leisure time and income in Oregon.

If some estimates I have heard that in Lane County 10 percent of all tax monies raised from overnight stays are being garnered from RV Park and campground overnight stays, it seems prudent to devote some of that revenue to marketing endeavors that attract even More RV guests.  One means might be to reach out to all the many RV clubs such as Country Coach Friends Incorporated, telling them about all the Fun that awaits in Oregon!

Lane County is a Great RV Destination-a great place to play. Let's spread the word.

 

Destinations Travel Magazine Goes Glamping on the Oregon Coast

You gotta check out this great tribute to the Oregon Coast and enjoying it from the cockpit of a motorcoach!

Visit guaranty.com/blogs and you'll see a post that reads in part: "...we recently went glamping with Darlene Perrone with “Destinations Travel Magazine.” Now, the word glamping stems from glamorous camping. A self-proclaimed luxe girl, Darlene wasn’t sure she was going to enjoy glamping, mainly because of the camping part. What she found, however, was that after the first night she was completely sold on the RV lifestyle...."
Indeed, recently Guaranty RV Center in Junction City loaned a motorcoach and took a writer from Destinations travel magazine for a drive along the Oregon Coast (not to be confused with Country Coach Destinations magazine). The article at this link is a wonderful affadavit to the wonders of Oregon, and specifically the Oregon Coast--and why indeed its The Place to spend your leisure time! Come home to Oregon--enjoy the coast, the mountains, the valleys...and enjoy it all from the comfort of your beautiful motorcoach!

Destinations Travel Magazine Article

Great Job, Guaranty RV Center, for bringing well deserved attention to the beautiful Oregon Coast and reminding travelers that the Best Way to enjoy America's scenic wonders is from the driver's seat of a motorcoach!

Guaranty RV Center (www.guaranty.com) is a business partner / supporter of Country Coach Friends Incorporated, a Country Coach Owners Club that is near and dear to my heart. Open to owners of all brand motorcoaches, you may learn more about the club at www.countrycoachfriendsincorporated.com

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