Here’s what the Great Lakers chapter of RVing Women was up to in 2011 and earlier:
Completed 2011 events
April 11 luncheon: Seven Great Lakers and new friends gathered at Uno Chicago Grill in Bay City, MI, for a lunch organized by Rachel Brett Harley. See posting of February 24, 2011 for more details.
April 28-May 1: A joint rally of the Ohio River Valley and Great Lakers chapters at Sauder Village Campground, Archbold, OH and hosted by Tammy Haley, Tammy Hanson, Harriet Miller, and Monica Wehrle. See blog posting of January 2, 2011 for details.
May 6-8: Holland Tulip Festival, Holland, MI. Great Lakers had a weekend filled with tulips and fun hosted by Pat Bubel, Sandy Gauntlett, and Nancy Wurm. See blog posting of November 8, 2010, February 15, 2011, and May 24, 2011 for more details.
June 10-12: Asparagus Festival–Hart, MI. Great Lakers stayed at the City of Hart‘s John Gurney Park during the National Asparagus Festival. Hosts were Joy Bondy and Skye King. See blog postings of February 15, 2011 and June 9, 2011 for details.
July 14-17: “Tip of the Mitt” Rally, Mackinaw City, MI at Tee Pee Campground on Lake Huron. Activities included Mackinac Island tour and Historic Mill Creek Discovery Park and Adventure Tour. Hosts were René Gray, Pat Reader, Gayle Bennett, and Karen Lentz. See blog postings of January 4, 2011, July 4, 2011, and July 11, 2011 for details.
August 19-21: Indiana Dunes State Park, Chesterton, IN. Planned activities were hiking and nature trails and Lake Michigan beaches. Hosts were Carole Goodwin and Renee Demar. See blog posting of February 28, 2011 for more details.
September 9-11: Lakeside Park Camp, Cedar Springs, MI. Activities included fishing, kayaking, golf, and, of course, eating. We finalized preparations for the National RVW Convention and stayed up to midnight watching University of Michigan beat Notre Dame 35 to 31 (go Blue!) on big-screen TV. See host Rachel’s write up by clicking here.
October 12-16: RVing Women’s 2011 Convention, Goshen, IN. And a great time was had by all 
. Great Lakers chapter members outdid themselves with hundreds of hours to make this a fantastic convention.
Saturday, November 5 luncheon: Thanks to Rachel Brett Harley spearheading this, 14 Great Lakers gathered at Uno Chicago Grill in Bay City, MI. The weather was fantastic and we all agreed this is a terrific place to meet. The food is good and they even have a separate gluten-free menu.
Wednesday, December 7 luncheon: About 14 Great Lakers met at the Box Bar in Plymouth, MI. Several new members joined us and Joy and Skye gave everyone a bag of homemade cookies. The Box Bar gives us a room to ourselves making it a great location.
Completed 2010 events
June 11-13: Detroit-Greenfield RV Park gathering was organized by Grace Haddad. See blog posting on March 17, 2010 for details of plans prior to the event, and/or June 18, 2010 posting for report of the event.
July 15-18: “Anatomy of a Murder” Rally in Ispheming, Michigan (in Upper Peninsula near Marquette) was organized by Rachel Brett Harley. See blog postings of November 20, 2009 and June 18, 2010 for details of plans prior to event, and posting on July 20, 2010 to view television and front-page news coverage. Also click on the categories “July 2010″ or “News”. Sixty-four women from 12 states had a blast immersed in the story behind the murder, book, and movie “Anatomy of a Murder” and just enjoying each others company.
August 13-15: Silver Creek RV Park in Mears, Michigan (north of Muskegon). We enjoyed time together with 10 women, 4 dogs, 3 cats, and 5 visitors. Activities included swimming in Silver Lake and Lake Michigan, dune buggy ride, breakfast at Nancy’s and dinner at Walker’s in Hart. Hosted by Nancy Wurm and Gayle Bennett. See blog posting on June 7, 2010 for details before event. Click on August 2010 for information on our doings.
September 10-12, 2010: Double R Ranch in Belding, Michigan (near Grand Rapids). Despite some rain, Great Lakers planned 2011 rallies and even had some fun. See blog posting on March 17, 2010 for details before event. Hosted by Denise, Shirley, Rene, and Pat.
September 30 – October 2: Michigan’s Proud Lake Recreation Area near Milford MI (Oakland County). A low-key camping trip dampened by rain. Not sure if Great Lakers took park in the planned kayaking the Huron River and campfires. Look at the MI DNR site for info, fees, etc. People were invited to just stop in to visit starting at 4 p.m. each day if they couldn’t bring their rig. See blog posting on September 20, 2010 for details. Hosted by Joy and Skye.
October 23: A dozen Great Lakers enjoyed lunch at the Box Bar in Plymouth, MI, at 12:30 p.m. See blog posting of October 12, 2010 for details before event, and of October 25, 2010 for after the event.
October 26-29: The RVing Women’s 2010 National Convention was held at Viewpoint RV Resort in Mesa, AZ. Great Lakers’ Secretary/Treasurer Shirley MacMahan participated and came back with stories and ideas for our chapter’s contributions to the 2011 RVW national convention in Goshen, Indiana.
December 4: 16 Great Lakers gathered for lunch at Sindbad’s Restaurant in Detroit. See blog posting of November 6, 2010, and December 5, 2010, for details.
I read an article in the Mining Journal about RVing Women. I am interested in information of the organization.
Thank you.
Darlene LeAnnais
Hi Darlene. RVIng Women (RVW) is an international organization of 2500 women who enjoy RVing. We come from diverse backgrounds and of all ages with most in 50s to 70s. We are organized into geographic chapters with the one you read about in the paper this chapter, the Great Lakers. There are also chapters for solo travelers and full timers. You don’t need to own a RV to belong (I joined before I bought mine) but need to be 18 or older. You can belong to more than one chapter and we often go to the rallies of other chapters. As you read, we had 64 women from 12 states come to our Ispheming rally organized by Rachel! We were thrilled. You found our chapter’s blog and the RVW website is http://www.rvingwomen.org. Do come to one of our events this year like our next one August 13-15 in Mears, MI. We’d love to meet you, and thanks for commenting on our blog. Let me know if you want us to contact you, too. Karen Vigmostad.
Hey Karen–just had a few extra minutes and have been enjoying reading most of the sections in the blog. In re the Belding, MI rally–we were informed by the camp manager that members could not bring their own horses, but had to use the ones available at the campground. Sorry! Perhaps we should poll our members to see how many have horses and would be interested in an event at a CG that allows horses, I know there are a few that are reasonably close to home. Shirley