The "Next" mini-rally - Page 2

folivier · 09-24-2009, 06:14 PM

Santa Fe, about 18 hours for us. I've wanted to visit there also, plus want to see Palo Dura & Big Bend in Texas. Might be able to see all 3 on one trip.
The weather sounds right in my "comfort zone". Any nice campgrounds around there?
One thing we need is a nearby airport since Cindy will probably fly out to meet me.

chockwald · 09-24-2009, 06:19 PM

Forest, there are a number of parks, but this one seems to be the nicest with easy access to downtown:

http://www.trailerranch.com/

Here are some reviews of the park from www.campgroundreviews.com (you'll have to scroll down to the bottom of the page...it's the last one reviewed):

http://www.campgroundreviews.com/regions.../Santa_Fe.html

zcasa · 09-24-2009, 10:16 PM

Hey Forest:

We have traveled down to Santa Fe twice with the Coach and have stayed in the Santa Fe Skies RV Park. Family owned, impeccable club house and facilities and about 15 minutes into old town. It is easy to get to right off the interstate. I would request the Z row. There are only two spots with nice concrete patios, the Coach will sit on gravel. You will have unobstructed views of the mountains surrounding Santa Fe. We traveled by toad to Los Animos(sp) and it is fascinating history up there. Atom Bomb. Second biggest caldron in the world is just 6 miles from Los Animos. Also, Santa Fe has a world class opera. We are not big fans, but those who are, it is a must. Anyways, the other couple of parks that we found were insufficient for us with the Newell. We do wish it was a little closer to town, but we enjoyed anyway.

Best regards,

David

zcasa · 09-24-2009, 10:38 PM

BTW, just read the other posts on this thread. Clarke seems to have found a nice park much closer to town. We would have to see if our larger coaches can get into it. Santa Fe is marvelous. It is the highest elevation State Capitol in the USA. The airport may need a connection through a major gateway like Albuquerque, which is about an hour away drive away to the south. But, the old city and the history around it, like Clarke mentioned are well worth exploring. It will be iffy on the weather, because Denver is 5,250' and we don't plant flowers or turn on the sprinkler systems until after Mother's Day. We will party whenever and wherever it works for the mostest. Pete is spot on that Padre Island won't work in the Spring. Great input and we will avoid a bad time.

Ron Skeen · 09-24-2009, 11:27 PM

We have been stopping at Santa Fe for the last 7 years and alway stay at Santa Fe Skies. This accomadate big rigs and the family that run the park are first class. This is convenently located to all the surrounding points of interest. You can even ride your wild hogs to Madrid. This is my wife favorite place and any time we go west we have to go by Santa Fe.

chockwald · 09-25-2009, 07:08 AM

I've never been to any of the parks in Santa Fe, obviously, so I can only go by the reviews. The Trailer Ranch Rv Park has nothing but 4 and 5 star reviews. It is a 55+ adults only park right in town with free bus service to downtown and old town. Has anyone on the forum been to, or seen this park? I know Ron and Dave have good taste, so I'll have to go with their strong recommendation for Santa Fe Skies. Has anyone been through Santa Fe in April? The 7,000' feet does concern me, but I was hoping it would be better weather since it's much further south than Denver. At any rate, good to see some interest in a location.

***On second thought, a 55 and over park would not work for all of us....some of us are still "young", meaning under 55....LOL. I read a lot of reviews of the Santa Fe Skies Rv Park, and they are just as glowing as Ron and David were, so that's cool for me.

Wally Arntzen · 09-25-2009, 01:13 PM

If your thinking New Mexico, Ruidoso is another special place with facilities available. It's a great little town with a lot of Native American sites in the area, a horse race track, lots of art stuff, casino, ski hill, close to Sky Croft, etc.
Im not sure we can make it but will try. My first choce would be Tiger Run in Colorado.

chockwald · 09-25-2009, 02:36 PM

Hey, Wally....I think we're still going to Tiger Run, but not until the Fall of 2010 (September). This would be in addition to Tiger Run.

tuga · 09-25-2009, 08:58 PM

Tiger Run would be one of my top choices also. I have been to a couple of rallies at Santa Fe Skies and it was nice but I have been there twice!

Ruidoso would also be a good spot; we have never been there!

Jackson Hole, WY would be beautiful, but the only RV park in town is the Virginian and it isn't very nice. Just gravel roads and sites and no community center. We stayed at Coultier Bay RV park but it is too far from Jackson (about 50 miles).

Lake Toxaway, NC is really nice on the east side of the Mississippi. There is an ORA Blue Ridge Mountains; but that may be a little far for the California group.

Traverse Bay RV Resort is really nice. It is on the Michigan pennisula in Traverse City, MI. This would also be a little far from the West coast. Newell Coach has had a rally here and as I understand it folks raved about the climate and the scenery.

Whatever you guys decide; we will try our best to be there!

chockwald · 09-25-2009, 09:57 PM

Based on the time of year we are trying to set this up for (Spring, 2010) we will need go somewhere in the south/southwestern part of the U.S. Distance for some is also an issue. I think New Mexico fits well for most as far as spreading the driving distance pain around. Whether it is Santa Fe, or Ruidoso (both look and sound wonderful) is fine with me as I've been to neither place before.

For a number of us unretired folks here distance and time frames still dominate our vacation decisions. In a couple of years it won't matter anymore for us. I would love to visit some the places Tuga talked about, but for now the distances are too great. I think it's the same for Tom and Darlene, Richard and Rhonda, and others that don't come to mind right now.

I'm down for Santa Fe, or Ruidoso in the Spring....do I hear any "dittos" out there? If we're going to set this up we'll need to start finalizing the RV Park arrangements....it's still far enough off that we shouldn't have a problem, but we'll be inside that 6 month window soon.

ccopel · 09-25-2009, 10:39 PM

Ruidoso is one of our favorite places for skiing right before Christmas. Two years ago I stayed there for a few days during the summer on the way back from Tiger Run. We did not find a great RV Park but did not look too hard either. The RV we had was only 28ft. Now I would be concerned taking our Newell 45ft in the park we were in. I don't remeber the name but it was close to Ruidoso Downs. Does anyone have any knowledge of any other RV parks?

Pete and Debbie
Newell #419

zcasa · 09-25-2009, 11:09 PM

Good information. I've been to Ruidoso Downs a few years back w/o the Coach. Nice area, isolated and pretty. I would vote for Tuga's west of San Antonio place or Santa Fe for the spring. I'll phone Santa Fe next week, when we get out of Canada, and ask them about the weather. Tiger Run in September will be off the charts for all of us. We are now in MI. As Tuga said, the Traverse City, Bay Harbor, Macinawc Island are awesome. The Island is 8 miles around and has the only state highway in the nation that does not allow cars. NO cars on the island at all. So cool. We rode our bikes around the island and had a great lunch. Everyone should see that area once for sure. Glad we stopped by. Now on our way to the NE and hopefully some cool leaves.

encantotom · 09-25-2009, 11:31 PM

i will not go to ruidoso. a year ago we spent two weeks in new mexico and after going to roswell to see the UFO stuff we headed to ruidoso all excited. it is a crowded, hilly place where we stayed one nite and promptly left. from there we went to Cloudcroft and it was the coolest place we have stayed at in the coach. we stayed at a park that was out in the mountains away from the small town and we have acres of green lush grass outside our front door to watch the deer in every morning. we were going to stay a day and ended up staying a full week.

however, in april, there could still be snow at 9000 feet, which is what cloudcroft is.

to be honest i have not had the time to look for places. lets not rush into it as we have some time yet.

tom

Wally Arntzen · 09-26-2009, 03:59 AM

Tuga, I agree with you, places other than the southwest should be considered. There are a lot of Newell owners that are being left out who live up north, on the east coast or southeast that may be very interested in a ralley.
Another place that is fantastic is the Black Hills, but anyplace that is slected is to far for somebody.
Ruidoso was a sugestion and there are some good rv parks in the area, its a shame that some went to less that comfortable parks and feel bad about the entire area. I,ve been there four times and found it to be very interesting, with unlimited options of what to do with your time.
Some of our group like to tour, hike or bike and others just like to sit around and chat about Newell stuff. I think there is to much chat about who can make it and who can't. Pick a place and whoever can get there will, and the others will have to wait for another ralley that works.

Thats the fat guys two cents worth and I'm sticking with it.

It looks like no hurricanes this year so I will be leaving Minnesota in three weeks heading for Tuscon, Arizona for the winter.

HoosierDaddy · 09-26-2009, 12:42 PM

Someday I'd like to meet east of the Mississississippi! but I've got a lot of work to do (and tires to replace) on the Newell before I trust it to go more than 100 miles from home.

prairieschooner · 09-26-2009, 03:38 PM

sounds like more than one rally should be considered. Do you guys really need to go back to Colorado so soon after Creede? I vote for the Black Hills! and we will be coming from the southwest.
have coach and willing to travel.

encantotom · 09-26-2009, 04:57 PM

so, since i have been a naysayer on most things for this one.....

we just did colorado.....

before that we did texas....

we are trying to be central to as many people as possible.

even though black hills SD is a little farther than i would like, it is about the same distance for AZ, OR, TX, IN, LA (state), and a hundred miles farther for Los Angeles.

about 1250 miles for most of us except for anyone more east than Indiana or east of LA (state).

it is 2.5 good days of driving for me, but it is something to conisder.

lets keep coming up with ideas....

tom

chockwald · 09-26-2009, 05:04 PM

Hey Tom.....would that be for the early Fall, or Spring? Might be a little cold in March/April in the Black Hills, but I am definitely down to do that instead of Colorado again. Temp averages in Black hills in April are from low 50's to high 50's (much lower in March), and in September high 60's, low 70's. I would definitely be for Black Hills in September....another place I have not been, and would love to see.

tuga · 09-27-2009, 01:16 AM

I will just throw this out there: we are planning an Alaska trip June 2010 - August 2010. If anyone would like to join us we are meeting a few other coaches in Dawson Creek on June 15th @ Mile 0. Let me know if you would like to join us.

With regard to the rally, we will try to work around whatever you guys decide. We are open to almost anything you come up with for another rally.

folivier · 09-27-2009, 10:33 PM

I kinda like Tom's suggestion: no heat, humidity, mosquitoes
After that I'll go anywhere. I'm up for any location (Cindy will fly in for a week or so). As with any group, some people just won't be able to make it, that's why we need 2 rallies. But is April the best month? It might limit us with snow.