GENERAL UPDATE for 6-May - Gillette, WY Rally

jbeletti

Well-known member
The following email was sent out today to all Heartland Owners Club Members:

Hello Heartland Owners Club Members,

We have 139 rigs already signed up for the 2012 North American Heartland Owners Rally in Gillette, WY this June 14-17. For those of you who are still thinking about joining us, there's still room and still time to register. Follow this link to register: www.regonline.com/2012gillette

If you're already registered for this rally and know now that you won't be able to make it, you need to cancel your registration not later than May 15 in order to receive a 90% refund. Cancellations after May 15 will result in no refund as commitments I've made on your behalf cannot be unmade.

If you're not attending the Gillette rally, you may stop reading at this point and I thank you for indulging me thus far. Maybe we'll see you in Goshen, IN in 2013!

UPDATES FOR THOSE ATTENDING THE GILLETTE RALLY

In recent days, I've sent out a flurry of notices via email, about the Gillette rally. I've also been placing the content of those notices, in the relevant thread in the Gillette rally sub-forum.

It's been brought to my attention that some rally attendees are not receiving these rally notices via email. I've done some checking and found there could be a few reasons why. Primary among those reasons is some email providers may be blocking emails from RegOnline.com as spam. RegOnline, the web-based software we use to manage the registrations for this rally, also allows us to easily communicate by email to all rally attendees. When we use the RegOnline email functionality to communicate to event attendees, the emails may look like bulk email to some email providers and are blocked as spam. Also, the Reply-To email address in the emails I send out through RegOnline is my Heartland RVs email address. This creates a domain mismatch in the email headers. Since my email address domain is heartlandrvs.com and RegOnline's email server domain is regonline.com, some email providers treat this mismatch as potential spam - thus, some people do not receive the emails.

In an effort to "get the word out", I will continue to post the content of these emails on the forum, in the Gillette Rally sub-forum, within discrete threads (Service, Golf Carts, Site Assignments etc.)

And with this email to you today (being sent to you through other means, outside of RegOnline), I plan to help get you right up to speed on this rally. So here goes...


SUMMARY UPDATE:
The rally is on track and we are very excited about having our first big rally further west. Catering is all set. Entertainment is locked in. Heartland is preparing a service team to provide minor service work at the rally. Stalkups RV is all set to have several show coaches on hand for attendees to walk through and see what's new. An RV weighing service is in place. A coal mine tour is setup and is already sold-out. A handful of interesting vendors are lined up to sell products indoors at the Heartland Marketplace. Seminar speakers are still being worked out. Leisure Time Activities are still being planned. We're less than 2 weeks away from assigning camp site numbers. We're in the process of creating the check-in and parking processes. We're looking at door prizes now. So, a lot of work is already completed and a fair amount of work continues.


DETAILED UPDATES:
Below are descriptions and hyperlinks to reports, forum threads and posts to more detailed versions of specific rally elements. Feel free to follow the links to do a deeper dive into the details.

Need to cancel or revise your registration?
Follow the link below to make any change to your registration, such as: Cancellation, Arrival Date, Golf Cart Rental, Mine Tour (sold-out), Shirt Size, Rig Info and more.
https://www.regonline.com/register/login.aspx?EventId=1034473


Got a Mobile Device?
Read this email from your phone or tablet and follow the link below to go to the Mobile Site for the rally. You can also edit your registration from the mobile site. You'll be asked for the email address you used to sign up for the rally as well as the password you used for your rally registration.
https://www.regonline.com/register/m/?eventid=1034473


Want to arrive early?
We've strongly recommended that all rally attendees arrive not later than Wednesday, June 13. The reasons are that Thursday, June 14, day 1 of the rally will be a FULL day of seminars and more. Most will not want to miss anything. Also, Thursday is the FINAL day of rally service work. If you arrive some time during the day on Thursday, we cannot promise that we can get to your submitted and approved service request(s) before the service team packs up Thursday afternoon. A camping fee of $25 per night will be charged for early nights. We will charge the same credit card you initially registered with. If that card is no longer valid, we will contact you for payment. Follow the link below to revise your arrival date in your rally registration.
https://www.regonline.com/register/login.aspx?EventId=1034473


Group Siting
We've received a great many requests for group siting within the campground. This adds a bit more work to the process but we like to please. We've been accepting group siting requests through Chapter Leaders. The latest group siting requests can be seen at the link below. If you want to be sited with one of the groups appearing in the Group Siting Report, please contact your Chapter Leader immediately as site assignments will be made shortly. If you would like to add an additional group, please contact me (jim.beletti@heartlandrvs.com). Group sitings cannot be changed or initiated once the sites have been assigned.
https://www.regonline.com/activereports/smartLink.aspx?eventid=Qk87cCNQE38=&crid=815417


Site Assignments
Wondering what your site number will be? We plan to finalize all site assignments, taking group siting requests into consideration as well, by May 15th. You may wish to periodically check the Rally Attendee Directory at the link below. Group names and actual site assignments will appear in this directory.
https://www.regonline.com/ActiveRep...Report.aspx?rptId=727802&EventId=Qk87cCNQE38=


Rally Service
As we've done at the "Back Home" rallies in Goshen, Indiana, for the first time ever, we are making a solid attempt at providing rally attendees at this "on the road" rally with "Minor Rally Service" on your Heartland coaches. Heartland will be providing a service team of production personnel. This service team will travel to Gillette with a trailer of parts and tools. The parts brought with them will be determined from all approved rally service requests. If you've yet to complete a Minor Rally Service Request, time is running out. Please follow this link to learn more and to find the link to the Minor Rally Service Request form.
//heartlandowners.org/showthread.php/30373

If you've already submitted a Minor Rally Service Request form and you have a question about it, please contact fellow Heartland product owner, Dave Yocum by email at rallyservice@heartlandowners.org. Dave is helping us out by processing all of the service requests, approving what he knows Heartland will do, kicking to Heartland anything he wants us to decide on and working with you to clarify your request(s) or ask you to submit an alternate request if what you initially submitted gets denied as something we just can't do at this rally.


Campsite Hook-ups
All campsites are full hook-up (FHU). Most sites have 50 amp power. We may also use some 30 amp sites if needed. All hook-ups are at the back of the site. This means you will need to have enough power cord, water and sewer hose to reach a couple of feet past the back of your RV. Please plan accordingly.


Golf Cart Rentals
Want to rent a Golf Cart to travel around the Cam-Plex campus and travel from the campground to the rally hall (quarter to third of a mile)? Four through ten day rentals are available at a rate of $35.35 per day. You need to do this not later than May 15 as we need to give our final numbers to the provider. Follow the forum link below to read more about golf cart rentals, then follow the link in that thread to edit your rally registration to add a golf cart rental.
//heartlandowners.org/showthread.php/30713


Campground to Rally Hall
Please be advised that there will not be a shuttle running from the campground to the rally hall (1/4 to 1/2 mile distance). When you travel to the rally hall, consider taking another couple with you to reduce the traffic and amount of trucks going back and forth. If you've rented a golf cart, please consider taking your friends or neighbors on your trips to and from the rally hall. If you travel with bicycles, this is a great chance to get your exercise, riding it to and from the rally hall. And if you're on the fence about renting a golf cart, please see the golf cart rental item above.


Alpha Butte Mine Tour
This past week, we added a mine tour as an option item to this rally. Space was limited to 48 people. This tour sold out in hours. We are now trying to double the space to around 100 by changing to a 50 passenger bus. That said, the stand-by list of 50 slots is also now sold-out. When we confirm the larger bus rental, we will fill the stand-by list and start a new stand-by list. Should we have any tour cancellations, we will fill any open slots from the new stand-by list. Follow the link below to attempt to get on the stand-by list.
https://www.regonline.com/register/login.aspx?EventId=1034473


Rally Agenda
The rally agenda is in outline format at this time. In the next 2 weeks, the agenda will be nearly complete. Follow the link below to download the latest agenda. Check back weekly to see agenda updates. A printed agenda will be included in your rally bags upon check-in at the rally, so you do not need to print this working agenda out.
//heartlandowners.org/rally/2012/2012_agenda.pdf


Entertainment
We now have entertainment in place for all 3 nights (Thursday, Friday & Saturday) of the rally.

Thursday night, after our potluck dinner, we'll go over the rally agenda, have a bit of Q&A and then we'll have a fun time with The Newlywed Game - RV Edition: "Road Tested". This game will be hosted by Howard and Linda Payne of RV-Dreams. Learn more about Howard and Linda and RV-Dreams at their website: http://www.rv-dreams.com

Friday night, after dinner, we'll have our door prize drawings followed with entertainment by Kenny Miller. Kenny is a one man show and does a tribute set to Roy Orbison, Marty Robbins, Elvis Presley, Waylon Jennings, Kenny Rogers and Merle Haggard. We'll be getting 3 or 4 of those tributes. Learn more about Kenny Miller at his website: http://www.kennymiller.us

Saturday night, after dinner, we'll have our grand door prize drawings followed by entertainment by Sarah Getto. Some of you who've been to the larger Good Sam or FMCA rallies, may have heard of or seen Sarah Getto. Sarah perhaps a wide range of music and she has an interesting story. Read about it in her Bio link on her website: http://www.sarahgetto.com


Leisure Time Activities
Many of us have interesting hobbies and activities that we take on the road with us. Leisure Time Activities will highlight some of these. We're recruiting Heartlanders who are interested in sharing with others, in a small classroom setting, what you do on the road. Sessions like this really give others great ideas on what they could do and it gives you an opportunity to showcase your hobbies, crafts and products. Follow this thread to learn more about what will be going on in the Leisure Time Activities area (in the Lobby area of the rally hall).
//heartlandowners.org/showthread.php/30461


Heartland Marketplace
We've invited a number of vendors to be a part of our marketplace and to vend products that may be of interest to you. While the rally begins on Thursday, we've opened up an additional day for the marketplace. The Heartland Marketplace will be inside the rally hall and will be open from 8am to 4pm Wednesday through Friday.


Seminars
There will be two full days of seminars on Thursday and Friday. Several seminars will be put on by our suppliers and will focus on care, use and maintenance of products in our RVs.


RV Weighing
Howard and Linda Payne (RV-Dreams), as an agent for the Recreational Vehicle Safety Education Foundation (RVSEF) will be providing "wheel by wheel" rig weighing service (RV and tow vehicle). This service will be provided June 7 through June 17. See the forum thread below for more information and for the link to sign-up for this service.
//heartlandowners.org/showthread.php/27845


Show Coaches
Our local Heartland dealer, Stalkups RV will be providing several new Heartland show coaches. Show coaches will be open and on display outside our rally hall in the parking lot, Wednesday through Saturday.


New Coach Rebates
As we've been doing for several years running, I will be offering "New Coach Rebates" for any rally attendee who purchases a new Heartland RV during the rally or shortly thereafter. Details may be found on the rebate certificate in your rally bag. So, if timing is good for you to buy from dealer stock or place that order for a custom unit, this is a nice benefit for those who can use it!


Rally Attendee Specials from Suppliers
As we've been happy to have in past years, this year, a couple of our suppliers are putting together some specials for rally attendees. Lippert has given me their specials and I am waiting on Dexter and Mor/ryde. Fliers for rally specials will be in your rally bag. I will also post them on the rally forum in their own thread, once I have all 3 ready to post.


"Heartland Gives Back" Initiative
At this time, we have not received a volunteer to head up a "Heartland Gives Back Initiative". I'm looking for someone who has time to review some information I have on local needs, make some calls in the Gillette area, select an organization that we can benefit and then coordinate our initiative. Have I just described you? Interested parties may contact me by email at jim.beletti@heartlandrvs.com
 
Last edited:

jbeletti

Well-known member
Changes made today to post #1 of this thread:

1. Changed link to Group Siting report from a manually updated PDF to a dynamically updated web report

2. The page that contains the Rig Weighing had a bad link to the Rig Weighing Request form. That link is now fixed.
 
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