"Mid-Atlantic" M&G 2013???

[HappyCampers]

As some of you may be aware the large annual Meet and Greet has been held at Buttonwood Camground in Central Pennsylvania for six years now. The site was chosen for a middle ground, and is located in the heart of "Sunline Home Territory". The number of attendees has been slowly shrinking the last three years, for several reasons, I believe. We all know fuel is getting rather expensive, and we all have to plan our yearly trips keeping that in mind.

Anyway; in the past Buttonwood has been very accommodating to our group. Allowing the use of the group area, providing us with the tent, group rates, and holding sites (to a predetermined date) for members to make reservations. That being said; some members have found out the hard way, they are no longer willing to "block off" a group of sites for us to reserve. I was told that our group was taking too long to make reservations, the number of attendees had fallen, and they were concerned that they would end up having empty sites during the busy Summer season. Tom brought this up last year right before we were getting ready to leave on Monday afternoon. As far as I was told our group was not being singled out, just a "victim" of policy change. I'm not knocking Buttonwood or its staff, just presenting the facts.

So......the big question is.....What do we do now, if anything? I know there has been some interest shown in the past (even before the "changes") in changing the location of the M&G every once in awhile. I'm looking for input from everyone who would care to give it, I work for you. Past attendees, present attendees, or those who would like to attend. This is a pretty close knit group that has no problem sharing opinions with one another, so let's try.

Question #1
Should we change location?

Question #2
If yes, is Central Pennsylvania a good "Middle of the road" location?

Question #3
If not Central Pennsylvania, where?

I encourage you to tell me what you think. If you feel uncomfortable posting your opinions directly to the thread, PM them to me. I look forward to hearing lots of opinions.

Your M&G Coordinator,
Lowell

[264SRinPA]

We say stay at Buttonwood. I think they are very accommodating to our group. I doubt you will find any other campground that will provide a large tent, tables, chairs, and a fire ring for a large group. Many people enjoy doing the river trip, and having the campground on the river is very convenient. Not to mention they have boat rentals and provide shuttles, at times for no charge to members of our group that have their own boats. I understand their position of not holding sites. It costs them money to provide activities on weekends, so why would they want to take the chance of not filling their sites. A lot of our group know they will be coming the following year, so why wait so long to make reservations. Make the reservation and cancel at a later date if you change your mind. Maybe we should talk to Dennis and Nancy and and make a cut off something like September and only for a set number of sites.

[suebobby]

Last year was the first time we attended the M&G at Buttonwood. Although the campground was very nice and we enjoyed being there, It was the club members that made it memorable. We made our reservations the day we left and are looking forward to being there again. We would vote to keep it at Buttonwood, we can walk an extra few hundred yards for our "get-togethers" if they can't promise a block of sites. We, of course, will be happy to go along with the majority after the votes are tallied.

[Poppy & Nana]

Question #1
Should we change location?

I for one would love to see the location changed....more North in PA - but I may just be a bit selfish.....Leo & I attended Buttonwood M&G for 2 years and the 7-8 hour drive and the cost of fuel has made it very difficult for us to return.


Question #2
If yes, is Central Pennsylvania a good "Middle of the road" location?
See #1 above

Question #3
If not Central Pennsylvania, where?
See #1 above

Furthermore, I know that Leo & I paid a shuttle fee to transport us with the kyacks for the river trip - I do believe it was $10.00 per person. In addition, I believe the ca,ping rate is a bit high - and I'm sorry but mid-June is not in the busy summer season.....this is still off season (kids are still in school and ready to take exams)....

This is just my 2 cents worth!

[Tweety]

We would also like a change of pace but think geographically Buttonwood is in about the right area. With people coming from as far south as Richmond, VA, the central Pennsylvania area seems like a good location. Looking at the locations of other Meet & Greets we have 2 in New York, 1 western Maryland, and 1 Michigan. If we move I don't think we should go too far north, and should find a campground with easy highway access. I agree that Buttonwood has gotten expensive.

[Sunline Fan]

Originally Posted by Poppy & Nana

Question #1
Should we change location?

[COLOR=blue]I for one would love to see the location changed....more North in PA - but I may just be a bit selfish.....Leo & I attended Buttonwood M&G for 2 years and the 7-8 hour drive and the cost of fuel has made it very difficult for us to return.

I hear you here!! And to do the drive like that, you really have to spend a long weekend, it's just too much for Friday-Sunday.

Originally Posted by Poppy & Nana

and I'm sorry but mid-June is not in the busy summer season.....this is still off season (kids are still in school and ready to take exams)....

The RV industry does consider it in season. Typically it's Memorial Day-Labor Day.

[EMD_Driver]

Last year, A couple of weeks after Buttonwood, we went to our diesel rally at Twin Grove CG. They held sites for us until January 10th, 2011. They were really nice hosts and we had a great time there! It's not that far from Harrisburg and is a *bit* farther north. If we do decide to change the CG for 2013, I highly recommend this CG! Here is a thread about the CG, from the diesel forum we are members of.. The rally host went there and took tons of pics. He also listed the nearby attractions.. It's a good read.

Here's a map, with the CG location marked. It's really close to I-81

[Tweety]

Good choice Gary. We like that campground! There's a GREAT biking / hiking trail that goes to the Lebanon Reservoir nearby. Swatara State Park is across the street with the Swatara Creek. I'm not sure if it's kayakable but that could be investigated. The pool is beautiful. All around just a really nice place VERY professionally run And super easy access from a major highway. Just checked google maps, and this campground would be an hour less travel from Old Forge, NY.

[Trailblazer]

For us it is the people and not the location of the M&G.

Yes we would like to see a more central PA location. For us it is between a 7 and 8 hour drive depending on the wait at the border and whatever construction and traffic we hit on the way. We really have to take a vacation on the Friday and leave early on Sunday in order make this event.

[rebellious78]

The only issue we have is the date of the event. It always lands on our work weekend. We have only got to attend 1 Buttonwood M&G in 2009 due to this. So in order for us to attend we would have to use 48 vac hours. Usually if we work our work weeks right we can only use 24 vac hours and get 7 days off. But of course that has to be a non working weekend week. ( yes our schedules are confusing!)
Other than that...we loved the location.

[suebobby]

After looking at Twin Grove's website it looks like a great place too.

[Irishcamper]

We don't mind Buttonwood, we've become familiar with it, they take care of us and there is just enough to do for a kickback weekend enjoying times with our Sunline friends. I do prefer sites that are shaded though.

We have no problem going back there, we just did not know the timeline for having to book for the following year. If we don't get in at an upper site and return there next year we will for certain get our reservations early.

I suppose we would go to a different place as well if that's the way the group leans towards.


Dave & Sue
Northumberland, PA
2007 SR195

[Mellow Yellow]

We just got our Sunline, so we've yet to go to a M&G. I must admit, even though we want to get to know you all, we could only justify travel from VT to Buttonwood as Tom's dear Air Force buddy, who is not well, lives nearby with his family. We get together each year in NY State (non-camping) and this seemed like a good fit. We could meet many members and also spend time with the buddy and his wife at their home.

We dilly-dallied and ended up in a site on the river. It is not a big deal to us to be out of the main group as long as the sites are good. We love to walk and will check out the other Sunlines and meet other SOC members at the upper sites!

If gas prices keep going up, it may be that any trip of this nature is out of the question another year.

[2 Wheelers]

It really is all about our Sunline Friends. We would be happy to move to Twin Grove. It would great to have a change of scenery.

[2beagles]

Here's what the reviews say about Twin Grove on campgroundreviews.com:

RV Park Reviews :: Pine Grove, Pennsylvania ( PA ) - RV Parks and Campground Reviews

Based on the reviews, I'd go there no problem!

[awellis3]

Harrisburg, Pa., is about the edge of our one-day travel range. I think we may be the southernmost of our "active" membership. There have been a few other posters south of the Mason-Dixon Line, but none has joined in the M&G discussions.

Teach

[Tweety]

Once you are at Harrisburg, the new campground being discussed (Pine Grove Resort) is closer than Buttonwood (according to googlemaps)

[hiller64]

HI everyone

The Twin Grove Campground looks like a great site for a rally. I agree with Dave and Debbie it more about the Sunline Family than the CG.

[Tweety]

Thought I'd bump this up since we're in a more active camping season now, and more people are on the forum. The more opinions we get the better!

[nasa42a]

Folks.....

Though we'll miss the M&G this year, and altho we think Buttonwood is a great campground......we agree that the M&G is all about the SOC family, after all.


Frank