In celebration of the Newmar Kountry Klub’s 40th Anniversary we are featuring a “Then & Now” article. We asked Mike & Carol Lowery to contribute their experiences as previous Region 2 Directors, and we will share ours as current Region 2 Directors.
We (Mike & Carol Lowery) joined the NKK in 1999, our number is 10354L. The first International Rally we attended was in 2000 at Gilette, Wyoming. We’ve attended 12 International Rallies and numerous State/Chapter Rallies. At eight International Rallies, we were on the Parking/Registration Crews. That was a lot of fun and good fellowship.
We were Region 2 Directors for 6 years (2008-2013). The best parts about the Klub are meeting awesome people, life-long friends, and networking about our coaches.
A memorable Region 2 Rally was in 2010 at Glacier National Park. On a Red Tour Bus, members requested the top open for better visibility. However, by the time we reached the summit, it was snowing – we about froze!
One of our “wow” memories was the first rally we hosted as Reg 2 Directors in Gold Beach, Oregon. We were hosting breakfast the first morning. Getting ready that morning, we had an unexpected sewage event in our Mountain Aire which involved throwing away the bathroom carpet, and a thorough cleaning of Mike and the walls! Lesson learned was to make sure to take the time to drain your tanks when needed and don’t wait too long!
We’ve had three Newmar coaches, and our current one is a 30-ft Bay Star. Some of the Special Events we’ve thoroughly enjoyed have been to Puerto Penasco, Mexico; West Yellowstone snowmobiling; the Indianapolis 500 race; the Maritimes/Newfoundland; and as Tail Gunners/Co-Hosts on the 2014 Alaska Caravan. Being in the Klub has allowed us to visit many places that we would not have otherwise gone to. We’ve been as far east and west as you can go!
We could go on and on with good stories,
Mike & Carol Lowery
(Photos Here)
Terry & Terri Roberts Region Directors 2024-Present
We joined the NKK in 2017, our number is 22978, that’s 12,624 members after the Lowery’s joined!
Our First International Rally was in 2019 at the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse, New York. We have attended 4 International Rallies, only 2 as Region Directors.
Our first Region 2 Rally was last year, a joint Rally with Washington State Directors, Ben & Donna Barker. Our second Region 2 Rally and our first as solo rally hosts was in Mount Vernon, Washington and at the time of writing this was yet to be held! Hopefully it was a great success, if not I am sure we learned a lot.
While we are pretty new in the Region Directors role, we are pretty experienced travelers in our 2015 Dutch Star. We have lived fulltime in our coach now for 7½ years and logged just under 100,000 miles. We have been fortunate, to date, to not have been disabled on the road and require a tow. However, we did have a close call that was a WOW moment for the incredibly good timing of one particular mechanical issue. We were traveling from the Fulltimers Rally in Heber City, Utah to the International Rally in Rock Springs, Wyoming. About an hour and a half out of Rock Springs our check engine light came on. We pulled over and looked up the code which indicated a problem with a sensor on the exhaust manifold. We decided to proceed to the International Rally and just as we pulled into the parking lot and got in line to be parked the coach was derated to limp mode. We were able to “limp” and get parked no problem. We said to ourselves WOW were we lucky we didn’t get stuck limping of the interstate and waiting for a tow!
We have had many wonderful, fun experiences traveling in our coach and the majority of those involved a Newmar Rally. We really didn’t know much about the Newmar Kountry Klub when we joined, our first Newmar event was attend the Newmar Gathering in the Desert in Quartzsite where we met Evan & Debbie Hughes, and they explained to us the hierarchy of how the Klub was organized. Fortunately, we also met Burl & Maureen Todd, Secretaries for the Evergreen Aires Chapter there too and we joined the chapter. From that point on we understood what the NKK was truly about, it was like were part of a new family.
UPCOMING REGION 2 EVENTS
July 13 -17, Evergreen Aires Chapter Rally, Eagle Tree RV Park, Poulsbo WA.
August 17-21, Region 2 Rally, Town and Country Motorcoach and RV Resort, Mount Vernon, WA.
September 12-16, Washington State Rally, Stargazer RV Park, Goldendale, WA
September 18-22, Oregon State Rally, Seven Feathers RV Resort, Canyonville, Oregon
SEE THE KLUB CALENDAR ONLINE FOR COMPLETE DETAILS AND CONTACT
INFORMATION.
