FOR YOUR INFORMATION

A GREAT BIG THANK YOU

The September Rally at Hellman’s, in honor of our 15th anniversary, was a huge success, thanks to the hard work of many, many people! Duane & Irene put in a lot of man hours as well as many organizational hours to put it all together….and they had great help with John and Pam Meier and Al and Ellen Lukes as host assistants. Our hats off to you for a job well done! And to Bill Sommers for delivering and returning all the chairs and tables; to Jerry Hopfauf and John Meier as parking attendants and to Gene & Karen Grimm as Sheriff and Deputy Sheriff! And to everyone else who pitched in where needed to make things run so smoothly! And we can’t forget Capital RV for the use of a golf cart for the weekend! That sure came in handy!! THANKS to you all.

UPDATED DIRECTORY

Come next spring, we will have a new updated color directory! Darel Harington graciously took pictures of everyone at the September Rally and Becky Sommers got all the updated information. So, the plan is to have new pages when we get together next spring. For those who haven’t had their new photos taken and updated their information, this will be an ongoing process until we get everyone done!

CARBERRY RALLY

The fall rally for the Canadian Northern Lights was held in Carberry, MB on September 3-6 at the Carberry Fairgrounds. The parking was wonderful for the 20 coaches that were there. We had plenty of electricity for those who wanted it and the facilities were excellent with a great kitchen and eating space. We had good weather the whole weekend, a little wind, but warm temps. The wind whipped up quite the dust off a gravel road but maybe helped keep the bugs away! We toured a starch factory, the Hutterite Colony, some golfed, pot luck suppers and a steak supper at the golf club. A silent auction was held Sunday night along with a 50/50 draw. This was the big fund raiser for the year. Someone managed to “steal” Bill’s bike and it showed up on the auction table Saturday morning. It was a big draw item for the club and we thought we had it rigged so he would get it back, but Ken Johnson won it (fixed again!) and the fight was on!!! Of course, none of this was on the up and up! After breakfast on Monday morning we headed back to Bismarck to get ready for our rally at Hellman’s on Thursday.

Submitted by Becky Sommers

This will be the last Newsletter for this year … and do we have news! We had a very successful 15th anniversary party … you can read about that elsewhere in this publication! I also want to thank everyone who has helped me in this new position as editor. I am open to any suggestions for improvement and if you have anything that you would like included in the Newsletter, please let me know. Sending it by e-mail works well for me —grandmagj@ndsupernet.com If you don’t have e-mail, send it to me at PO Box 189, Mott, ND 58646. Thanks. mg

15th ANNIVERSARY RALLY AT HELLMANS—SEPTEMBER

Thursday, September 10th was our first day of celebration! We enjoyed our famous “soup” and then our very own band provided us with an evening of entertainment, followed by a bonfire for those who stayed up late! Shortly after we all got settled in our coaches, mother nature put on quite a show — lightning, thunder, strong winds, rain and even some hail! But Friday morning the sun was out and we had a beautiful day! We enjoyed a breakfast of hot oatmeal, toast and home made caramel rolls, thanks to John Ringland! Videos of past rallies were shown and what fun that was! After lunch on our own we were entertained by the Hat Lady! Each of us ended up wearing a “hat” before the show was over! Al Lukes then gave us a presentation on his recent trip to China, which was most interesting and educational. Thanks, Al! And, oh, the ethnic food potluck — what a great variety of wondrously delicious foods! This group knows how to cook!! Earl Setterlund entertained us for an hour and then our very own band (we need to get a name for them!) was back on stage for our listening and dancing pleasure! After a breakfast of eggs, ham, toast and coffee on Saturday morning, we held our business meeting — all in our blue shirts. Darel has put a photo on the website of the group — be sure to check it out. Then individual photos were taken for our new updated directory — a lovely morning for photos! A quick lunch on our own and we were ready for some Bingo! Al Lukes had obtained many, many prizes, so nearly everyone had a chance to win! It seemed some were “luckier” than others and won several times. Vic Schwahn then provided some wonderful, lively music on his accordion — another chance to dance! And after Happy Hour (free wine!) we were all ready to sit down and enjoy the catered meal — it was out of this world! Then Becky Sommers and Doris & Moby Dick presented an interesting history of the past 15 years of the Ramblin’ NoDaks—followed by a piece of Anniversary Cake! No one went hungry at this rally! Now it was time for Bill Franke to provide some comedy for the group. And the evening was topped off with the Emter Family Button Accordion players — and more dancing! As Chester would say, “we danced ‘til our feet just smoked!” And our fun-filled weekend is winding down — Sunday morning after breakfast, we had a very nice Worship Service with our band providing music and Marvin Leer providing the message. And then it was time to say good-bye! Memories of the weekend can be found on the website!!

National Vice President

Midwest Area in attendance

Al Talbott and his wife, Dory, from Springfield, Illinois were in attendance at our September Rally. Al brought greetings from headquarters and stated that they were happy to help us celebrate our 15th Anniversary. They are a delightful couple and seemed to enjoy their time with the Ramblin’ NoDaks!

Al presented President Dale Darras with a certificate of appreciation and then he encouraged us to sign up new members!!

A Note from Our National Director

Dear Fellow Members,

At our September Rally we were very honored and pleased to have as special guests “National Vice President Midwest Area” Al Talbott and his wife, Dory. We soon found out what nice, friendly, outgoing people they are. Unfortunately, they represent the very same group, MAC, that we as a Chapter elected to withdraw from several years ago. The Representative(s) that caused some problems at that time have moved on, and I think it is time for us to move ahead, too. As some of you heard Marvin Leer say at the rally, “It is time to bury the hatchet and move on.” There is no way our Chapter, or for that matter, the State of North Dakota, can ever expect to be given any consideration for participation in any future National events if we don’t belong as participating members in our own area.

I would like to propose to all of you members to reconsider this situation and give it another chance. Now with new leadership it is worth a try. The next “Midwest Area Rally” will be held in Elkhorn, Wisconsin, June 9-12, 2010. It sure would be good if we had a representative from the Ramblin’ NoDaks at that rally.

Duane Hellman, your National Representative

Membership List

Included with this Newsletter is a new membership list. Becky has worked hard to keep all the information current — but she needs our help! So, please look over the list and if you have changed your address, e-mail address or phone number, please let her know….

e-mail her at bsommers@bis.midco.net or

snail mail her at 2214 Harding Ave, Bismarck, ND 58501

RALLY PLANS FOR 2010

(as of 10-5-09)

April 29, 30 } Leier and Fritz

May 1,2 } Valley City

June 3-13 Harold & Judy Boe—ROLLING RALLY

Meet at Boes June 3. Plans are to go

to Duluth, MN

July 8-11 Wettlaufers and Gunters—Bottineau

Combined Rally

August 5-8 Sommers—Bowling Alley— Mandan

September 9-12 Silvers and Sommers—Aberdeen