The Midwest LTVers members gathered for our 2025 Spring Rally June 2 – 6, 2025, at Eagle Cliff Campground near Lanesboro, Minnesota. Lanesboro and Whalan are small towns nestled in the Root River Valley and near the Root River bike trail. The area consists of charming small towns in southeastern Minnesota with nature, art, history, museums, and many activities, and is also known as the “driftless area”. Some of the group stayed through the weekend to attend the Rhubarb Festival in Lanesboro on Saturday, June 7.
We had a total of 50 LTVs, for a total of 96 people who attended the rally. There were many familiar faces; for some of the group, it was their first Midwest LTVers rally. The spring weather was varied with hot weather, rain, wind, and cool in the mornings, and warmed up by the afternoon. The group picnic shelter for the rally was very helpful, especially on the day that it rained.
We started each rally day with breakfast treats, fruit, hard-boiled eggs, tea, and coffee. At the Tuesday morning meeting, Roger Wambheim spoke about RVing in Baja, Mexico, with a caravan in their LTV. Ann and Andy Dudler then spoke about their trip to the Canadian Maritimes and Newfoundland. Other morning talks included LTV modifications, upgrades, solutions, additional information, show and tell, rally updates, the daily schedule, and announcements.
Also, some afternoons included enrichment classes, such as a cooking class, Instant Pot, and convection oven tips and tricks by Anita Reid and Ann Dudler. The cooking class participants even got to make rhubarb crisps and try to cook them in their convection oven during the rally. Rob Westphal and Greg Palmquist answered questions about winterizing, de-winterizing, and decalcifying the Truma. We also had some craft time and the opportunity to make fire starters and rope trivets. Another afternoon talk was with Sam Langham and Pat Reid about their photography skills and how they use their cameras and other photography equipment when they travel. In addition, the afternoons and evenings were filled with bike riding, playing a variety of games, chatting about our travels and plans, and bonfires.
The evening meals included grilled brats, a Mexican Fiesta, a pasta bar, pulled pork, and more. There was plenty of food at the rally!
Wednesday afternoon was a busy schedule. Special guests from Lake Region RV, Mike Kirn, Owner, Curcha, Sales Representative from the Minnesota LTV dealership, and Randy Klassen from Leisure Travel Vans, attended the rally and brought a 2025 LTV for everyone to see. They stayed for lunch and had time to answer some questions and interact with the LTV owners.
Another activity on Wednesday afternoon was the SPAM cooking contest. Seven LTV owners made a SPAM recipe with two cans of SPAM and other ingredients they supplied, and served their dish to the three judges for review and scores. The cooking contestants and judges received a Prepared Hero Fire Blanket for participating, and the winner of the SPAM contest also received a SPAM Cookbook and a Midwest LTVers hat. After the dishes were reviewed and scored, the LTVers were able to taste the SPAM dishes, too.
On Wednesday evening, Lake Region RVs sponsored the evening catered meal of pasta bar, salad, and breadsticks. After the meal, we had a Midwest LTV Club Meeting to provide the LTV owners with information and updates about the club. We also had a drawing so the LTV Owners could receive gifts donated by LTV, other vendors, and Midwest LTVers members.
We were so fortunate to have a great group of volunteers who helped when needed with grilling/cooking, organizing the tables of food, serving food, cleaning up, and anything else we needed help with. Also, we are thankful for our corporate sponsors that donated products for the welcome bags and/or drawing (Peepers, Dude Wipes, Earth Breeze, Liquified, Walex, Unique Camping and Marine, Ford, On the Go, AB Lifestyles, Minnesota RV Tank Cleaning, and Cirkul Water Bottles and flavored sips).
Our “LTV family” grows at each rally. It was a great time with these LTV owners. We hope others will consider joining us at a future Midwest LTVers rally!
Written by: Kelly Westphal
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://leisurevans.com/blog/midwest-ltvers-2025-spring-rally/