Ontario Sunrisers 2022 Spring Rally

From Tuesday, May 24 through to Friday, May 27, the Ontario Sunrisers LTV Chapter held their Spring Rally at Rideau Acres Campground in Kingston, Ontario. This was the largest Ontario Sunrisers Rally held in the 25 years the chapter has been around. 35 RVs were in attendance, including 14 RVs attending their very first Rally. On Tuesday we arrived and had a check-in process followed by a meet and greet game where participants tried to fill in a question sheet to enter for prize draws.  That evening we had a campfire and needed to keep expanding the circle as people joined and we talked about our RVing experiences.

Since the weather was supposed to be nicer on Wednesday, we had changed our itinerary around making this a very busy day. We started off with coffee and conversation and thanks to a special funding allotment from LTV, we were able to hire a non-profit group, The Rideau Roundtable, to bring their 34’ Voyageur Canoes to the campground so we could have groups paddle on the Rideau Canal (a National Historic Site in Canada) to the Kingston Mills Locks station and back. The guides gave us the history of the area, talked about the flora and fauna, and explained the operation of the locks. We had 2 canoes go out in the morning and another 2 go in the afternoon to give everyone a chance to try this truly unique experience. Following the afternoon tour, Andrea the tour guide gave a detailed talk on the wildlife in the Rideau Canal and more about voyageur history in the area. That evening we had a catered dinner in the campground hall with BBQ chicken kababs, caesar salad, and rice followed by a special 25^th Anniversary cake. After dinner, we stayed in the hall to watch an RV movie called Lost in America.

Thursday morning started off with coffee and conversation followed by taking our group photo. Around 10:30 we started a group hike around the exterior trail of the campground and up to the top of the lookout trail. In the afternoon 5 of us decided to try out frisbee golf for the first time and we got lots of exercise chasing down our frisbees, beware don’t let them fly into the muddy marsh area😉. That evening some people decided to leave early due to the impending rain while others enjoyed another campfire and more conversation.

The rain did come through the evening which made packing up the next morning a bit more difficult. We skipped the Friday morning coffee as it was too wet to set everything up outside. We said our final goodbyes and were happy that everyone seemed to enjoy this largest Ontario Sunrisers rally so far. We have a drone video of our campsites courtesy of Dave Abbey.

Our Fall Rally will be at the end of September in Prince Edward County. Safe travels wherever your LTV takes you.

Written by: Joel Smith