Prevost Owners Group
POG III at Buckhorn a Fantastic Event!

West Coast Pre-Rally Dinner

Jerry & Rae Winchester hosted a pre-rally bash in Houston.

The Prevost Owners Group Rally held at the Buckhorn Lake RV Resort in Kerrville, TX. April 23-28 was a smashing success!
With over 60 coaches in attendance, it was a great event at an outstanding facility. With technical seminars, social events and delicious meals, POG put on
our best rally ever. As usual, it was the contributions of time, effort and yes, cash from members that made POG III such a success. Special thanks go to organizers Ray & Kathy Davis,
Mike & Jean Simmons and Ken & Janet Zittrer. They really pulled the event together and brought out the best in all of us with their careful planning, hard work and and upbeat attitudes.

Folks began arriving even before Monday, April 23, but Day One saw coach after coach pull into the Buckhorn Lake RV Resort and be directed to their sites. Pre-planning allowed the east coast and west coast groups to form caravans and arrive together. It was exciting as old friends and new got together just outside the Buckhorn Office or at registration. Once people parked and registered, it was time to think about the Pot-luck dinner held at the beautiful barn facility at Buckhorn. As usual the food and friendship did not disappoint.  The USA POG Member Map produced by rally organizers was a huge success. It was amazing to see how far the Prevost Owners Group has spread in less than a year and one half.



click to enlarge

Tuesday's breakfast was sponsored by Parliament Coach and shortly thereafter activities began. Jon Wehrenberg presented, "Air Bags, leans & detection", a great technical seminar. Participation was high. In another portion of the conference area , Janet Zittrer, Jean Simmons and Kathy Davis presented a crafts class creating wine glass charms. With an array of different materials and designs the ladies had a great time. A delicious lunch was sponsored by Marathon Coach of Texas and the afternoon saw more seminars with a hands on Corian counter maintenance seminar by Janet and Ken Zittrer. An educational seminar by Ed Raire of Diamond Fusion Glass also supported the afternoon agenda. A great Happy Hour was hosted by the "California Contingent" which was followed by dinner sponsored by the California Coach Company.

Wednesday was an "open" day for POG members. After breakfast sponsored by Buddy Gregg Motorhomes, folks headed in different directions. A motorcycle ride through the "Twisted Sisters" of the Texas Hill Country, a tour of the Mooney Aircraft Plant, golf and more. At 4:30, POG members were treated to a tasting of Texas wines, organized by Ray Davis. Dinner was sponsored by Millennium Luxury Coaches.

POG III Rally attendees were busy again Thursday as a variety of seminars and events took place. Breakfast was sponsored by Parliament Coach and as usual the Buckhorn staff did not disappoint.
A group of the women headed off to Fredericksburg for shopping and a delicious lunch provided by Millennium Luxury Coaches. In the morning, a "Coach Systems Safety and Reliability" seminar was put on my Zimmerman Coach. Lew  & Kathy Poppleton were generous to have their coach used as the model for this informative presentation. Steve D'Antonio, Passage Maker Magazine's Technical Editor and VP of operations for Zimmerman Coach, led the program. After a lunch sponsored by Zimmerman Coach, Zimmerman provided a ladies walk-through of their newly refurbished Z-Machine. The foundation of the Prevost Owners Group is the shared knowledge provided by members to the POG community. Dale Juranek is one member always willing to share and his Windshield Replacement Seminar was a highlight of POG III. Ray Davis worked with guidance and help from Dale to replace a windshield onsite.
 Late afternoon saw a Coach Open House and serious preparations for the Charity Dinner. 

The idea of a charity dinner was suggested by "Mango Mike" Anderson prior to POG II. It was a success in Santa Fe and the event at POG III was over the top! Hand it to everyone who contributed time & labor, food, gifts for the auction and cash to this event.  Organizers and cooks deserve special praise as we had over twice as many folks to cook for than our previous rally. Ian Linn kept the margaritas flowing. Parliament Coach also provided a substantial donation to offset the costs of this charity event. The dinner and auction raised close to $3500.00 for the Hill Country CRISIS Council. Representative Beth Johnson attended the dinner and auction and expressed her gratitude to members. Awards of various forms were passed out on both Thursday (and Friday) evening(s). POG members are always creative in recognizing the achievements and pitfalls of fellow members. After the charity dinner and auction a world class event took place on a field next to the resort. It involved fountains. a light show and music. The choreography was outstanding. Entitled, "Bellagio" This Diet Coke & Mentos extravaganza brought smiles and laughs to all the onlookers. Mike Anderson and Jerry Winchester spent a lot of time and money preparing for this experiment and with support from Tom Chilcote and Dale Juranek pulled it off fantastically.

 Friday Breakfast was sponsored by Explorer RV Insurance Agency who also passed out POG belt buckles and cowboy hats to add to the spirit of the event. A "Ground School" driving class was presented by members Brian Esler and Tuga Gaidry. This informative seminar was well attended by many members. Ted Patterson of Wipe-out Systems demonstrated his products also on Friday morning. Nick Hessler of Centurion Conversion Service  did a fantastic technical seminar on batteries, insulators and invertors. The feedback from his program was very positive. The afternoon saw a round table discussion with some of the industries top technicians. Doug Stolfo of Excalibur Coach, Rick May of Parliament Coach and Nick Hessler of Centurion Conversion Service. Later there were more coaches available for viewing at Open House. Liberty Coach provided social libations for Friday's Open House which lead right into dinner and music also sponsored by Liberty Coach. Prior to dinner, ace photographer Dale Juranek scaled the windmill to photograph the entire group in their rally T-shirts. His Nebraska farm boy heritage insured approval of this perch above the crowd. After dinner there were more awards followed by dancing
The POG III Rally in Kerrville, Texas went by way too fast. Saturday morning's breakfast was sponsored by Beaudry RV and before long folks were heading back home until next time.
The Prevost Owners Group thanks all members and sponsors for their participation and support of this outstanding event! We also thank Buckhorn Lake RV Resort for being outstanding hosts.

Many thanks to Tom Chilcote and Warren Holm for contributing photographs for this story.

We acknowledge support from Foretravel Inc. and Motor Home Specialist for their additional support.

Parliament	Liberty	California Coach	Explorer RV Insurance
Millennium	Excalibur Coach	Panterra Coach