Forum flags and spontaneous introductions

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BikerFlex&HappyJen

BikerFlex&HappyJen

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Joined
Mar 25, 2017
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Just curious, I know some of you have met by having organized rally?s. Our curiousity is, how many have a forum flag displayed on their camper and unexpectedly ran into another fellow rvforum?er? Would love to hear any awesome stories about spontaneous introductions. We are planning on getting our flag soon and wondered if we would actually ever run into anybody.  ;D
 
My flag has been in the front window whenever stopped since February with the same results as SeilerBird.

Will have it displayed at the Passport Rally in Lebanon, TN next week.

Tom
 
For 15 or so years we displayed our forum affiliation, at times showing a flag, a sign board with our name + RVFORUM.NET, and even a sticker on the front of the coach.  In all that time, probably 3-4 people noticed.  Oddly, I've had more people notice my wifi hotspot (SSID=RVROAMER") and come looking for me. 
 
I have had a few people notice my flag that I hang in the front window and ask about it. No one that said they were a forum member already though.
 
We always fly our RV Forum flag at rallies, primarily so that other RV Forum members will know we're part of the group.  We tell new people to look for the flag on one of our coaches.  Years ago we had a yellow baseball style cap with the old RV Forum logo and I met a couple of people spontaneously because they recognized it.  One of those people was Bernie Dobrin and we were at an FMCA rally.  Perhaps being at face level helped because you're looking at people's faces while you're walking and a cap kind of fits into the field of vision, whereas you have to make a conscious effort to look at flags when you're walking or driving.

Along the same line of thought, one time in Newfoundland we stopped at a shopping center to park for the night.  At some point a Newfie came driving toward us and drove around the coach a couple of times.  He finally jumped out of his car and came to the door.  He noticed our California license plate, said he had lived there once in the past, and just wanted to say hello and welcome us to Newfoundland.  We thought that was rather nice of him.

ArdraF
 
We met Jerry and Arlene Ray because of their forum flag.  We were all at a campground in Sacramento.  It led to a long friendship.

Jeannine
 
[quote author=ArdraF]Years ago we had a yellow baseball style cap with the old RV Forum logo...[/quote]
Aye Ardra, I donated the last remaining yellow cap as a raffle prize at QZ. Bob Buchannan was the winner. Nowadays folks can order caps in any color with the new logo - see here.

Here's Lou's old cap.

... one time in Newfoundland ... He finally jumped out of his car and came to the door.  He noticed our California license plate ... and just wanted to say hello and welcome us to Newfoundland
Click to expand...
Chris had the same experience while sitting in the Suburban waiting for me at a Canadian Tyre store in New Brunswick; Several folks came up to say hello after spotting our plates. What wonderful, friendly people.
 

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Interesting! Hubby is so excited to start our adventures and we think it would be wonderful to run into other members along the way. Planning on getting our flag soon. We will definitely be on the lookout for flags.

Maybe I can talk him into attending ralleys down the road when we get into our groove with traveling. Learning as much as we can and gleaning all the advice we can from you great folks here.
 
[quote author=BikerFlex&HappyJe]Maybe I can talk him into attending ralleys down the road when we get into our groove with traveling.[/quote]

As many of us have found, meeting other forum members especially at rallies (where you meet a lot of folks in one place), leads to a lot of new friendships, many of them long-lasting.
 
Agree with Tom - and it's not just long-term friendships either!  The people who attend our rallies tend to be really nice and helpful people.  It's not unusual to see a group of guys up on a roof changing a TV installation or maybe adding a solar panel.  Or perhaps helping fix a generator, fix a furnace, troubleshoot a battery problem, change lights or whatever.  I can almost guarantee that a newbie will learn more from fellow-rally attendees than he/she will by reading all the manuals in the world.  For example, our January rally in Quartzsite AZ usually has anywhere from 30-50 rigs and many of us have been RVers for 20, 30 and even 40 years so that's a LOT of real-world experience to draw upon!

Here's an example of what I mean.  About ten years ago we were at a Monaco rally and there was a really nice couple next to us who had been RVing for a few years but had never been to a rally or known many other RVers.  At some point during the week he exclaimed "I've learned more about RVs from Jerry in the last three days than I've learned in all the years we've been RVing."  There are a lot of people in the RV Forum who are more than willing to share their expertise which is why we've been around for so many years.

Please do come to our rallies.  Look for our flags and fly your own!

ArdraF
 
Oh ArdraF, I was just telling hubby today I want to try to attend Quartzsite next year! Hope we can make that one. With some time to plan, it is possible. That would be a great opportunity for us to learn from everyone and hopefully make some amazing friendships with fellow rvers. We have a few more years before we will be fully active rvers on a more long term basis, but that doesn?t mean we can?t get our toes in the water. Once the dates are posted we may have some newbie questions on what to do to get signed up, where to go etc.
 
Just for your advance thinking, the Quartzsite rally is typically a 10-day stretch with starting dates from roughly mid-January to end dates in late January. In the Rallies forum there is a locked post about last year's rally that includes links to the forum site, visitor's guide and more.

As to sign up, while it isn't required to actually sign up, the only sign up available is to post to the QZ Rally Reply Topic for that year, and it's just to let us know you're coming.
 
The RVForum rally is set up around the Quartzsite RV show which is 19-27 January next year. Come for all or part or stay before or afterwards longer. The desert is full of wonders. We intend on staying at least two weeks, and we might stay longer. Hard to beat the $40/2 weeks cost that includes access to a dump station, water, and trash collection.
 
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