Editor’s Note: Brandon and Janet Hensley are members of LTV’s sponsored content team, The Leisure Explorers. Do you own a Leisure Travel Van and enjoy writing? Learn more about joining the team.
LTV Traveler Clubs
Janet and I recently attended our first Leisure Travel Vans Travelers Club Rally, and I’m convinced every LTV owner should join their local club and attend a Rally at least once in their RV lives.
First off, let me explain what the LTV Travelers Clubs are. While not operated or sponsored directly by LTV, these are LTV-supported groups of people that create clubs according to their geographic location.
There is an LTV Travelers Club near you!
Each Travelers Club has a club leader that coordinates the events, rallies, and activities for their particular group. These are planned and coordinated very well and from our experience, these activities were so helpful as we had technical information to learn, food and fellowship to enjoy, and got to see all kinds of other LTVs.
The US has 12 regional clubs and Canada has four as well as an FMCA club, so plenty of LTV owners in your area to join!
Join & Attend a Rally for your Area
We live in Dallas and have property in Colorado, so we belong to the Travelers Clubs in those regions (Texoma and Rocky Mountain). We plan to attend one of our home area rallies soon but have already had the privilege of joining The Flamingles, Florida’s Travelers Club Spring Rally.
Let me tell you, it was a blast! From our time with these wonderful people, I’m convinced you are doing yourself, and your RV experience, a disservice if you don’t join a group and attend a rally.
Five Benefits of Joining a Club
Here are five takeaways we got from joining our fellow Leisure Travel Van enthusiasts for a weekend of fellowship and fun.
1. The Community
From the moment we arrived at Grand Oaks Resort in Weirsdale, FL, we were greeted by several friendly and welcoming Flamingles. The resort that hosted the event, Grand Oaks, is an amazing RV resort within a working horse farm and the perfect venue for a gathering.
Horses were abundant on this working horse farm
The first night was dinner and cocktails with the group where we met and mingled with the 80 or so attendees. Having enthusiasm and passion for the same thing amongst a group of people makes it so easy to strike up a conversation.
Fellowship with other Leisure Travel Van owners is priceless
From doctors and retired airline pilots to nuclear engineers, there are so many amazing people in the LTV community and it’s so enthralling to hear about their life journey and what led them to the Leisure Travel Van life.
2. The Education
The event planners arranged for several educational talks, including a panel about lithium batteries and the freedom they give you which I also had the privilege to speak on.
The first talk was interviewing a Leisure Travel Van dealer representative and Flamingle member who talked about how to fix various issues as well as taking questions from the group about issues they were experiencing.
I even got an answer for the small leak I had behind my city water inlet that I was able to fix myself. Before this talk, I would have hired a mobile tech or taken the LTV to my dealer for the fix. It was so simple, and I’m glad I could do this easy repair myself.
One of the education events held at the Flamingles Rally in central Florida
There was also a lesson on how to install a “smart shunt” in your battery setup and how to get all the pertinent information about your battery state of charge.
Flamingle member Gary Oster also weighed in on the benefits of education. He added that the time spent in these education discussions is extremely helpful because not only can you learn about the errors other owners have made while making repairs on the road but also about providers and products that don’t measure up to standards LTV owners require.
Getting all the info you can about how your LTV works and empowering you to do more DIY fixes is absolutely priceless.
3. The Inspiration
With just about every floor plan, year, and color combination of Leisure Travel Vans in one place, you get to see all of the upgrades, renovations, and modifications people have made to their LTVs.
With the coach tours, you get to walk in and tour all the other floorplans and see what people have added (or taken away) in their rigs.
Interested in changing floorplans in the future? Well, this gives you the opportunity to see just about every floorplan and see what floats your boat!
Just about every model and floorplan is represented at an LTV Club Rally.
Also, a bonus to Rallies is seeing the camp chairs, roll-up camp tables, and grills in action. It’s much better to see these things to avoid the trial and error of ordering and just hoping for the best.
4. Going Places You’ve Never Been
Our travels in the Leisure Travel Van always seem to take us West but, by joining the Flamingles in Florida we had the opportunity to go the opposite direction, which I doubt we would have ever done on our own time.
Janet and I never would have experienced this amazing RV park on a working horse ranch in Central Florida if not for the LTV Rally. (Photo courtesy of Brian Duffy)
We took our time and stayed in Louisiana and Alabama on our way East. Again, we would have never headed in this direction without joining a Travelers Club.
Be sure to give yourself time to get off the interstate and explore the small towns (or cities) along the way. We passed through some of the most charming little towns in Alabama that were teeming with Azaleas.
The Azaleas were blooming in Alabama!
The more the merrier seems to be the thought process with the Travelers Clubs, so join more than one and go somewhere outside your normal travel routine.
5. Forming New Friendships
Within the first 24 hours, we formed some incredible friendships. We met people with amazing backgrounds and awesome stories. Our new friends Gary and Melissa even invited us to mooch dock anytime at their Florida home which is just steps from a white sand beach!
Meeting people with the same interests isn’t always an easy thing to do, but by attending a rally you are guaranteed to meet Leisure Travel Van owners that share the same like-mindedness and passions that you have.
Meeting people from all walks of life who share your travel passions is amazing.
I think mingling with folks from different parts of the country, with different backgrounds and occupations, is probably one of the most enriching things that an LTV Rally brings you.
I can’t express enough how this is a fantastic way to enjoy your LTV in a whole new way.
Be sure to check out the travel club in your area.
US Travelers Clubs
- The Evergreen Club serves WA, OR, ID, and Western MT
- The Southwest LTV Roadrunners serving AZ, CA, NV
- Rocky Mountain LTVers serving CO, NM, UT, WY
- Midwest LTVers serving KS, MN, MT, NE, ND, SD
- Texoma Travelers serving AR, LA, OK, TX
- Heartland LTV’ers serving IL, IA, MO, WI
- Leisurely Great Lakers serving IN, KY, MI, OH, TN, WV
- Southern Leisure Travelers serving AL, GA, MS, TN
- Flamingles serving FL
- Carolina LTV’ers serving NC, SC
- Blue Ridge Leisures serving DE, MD, NJ, PA, VA
- Great North East Travelers serving CT, ME, MA, NH, NY, RI, VT
- FMCA International Travel Club serves FMCA members in US & Canada
Canadian Travelers Clubs
- The Western Sunsetters serving AB, BC, MB, SK
- Ontario Sun Risers serving ON
- LTV Québec serving QC
- The Maritime Leisures serving NB, NS, PE
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