[From the Ontario District's newsletter, The Trillium, issue 59-03, July - September, 2005 , Waldo Redekop, editor.]

An Economic Alternative

By Chuck Alexander, Ontario District Executive Vice President

For some time, I have heard the complaint that going to an International Convention was just too expensive. Well, at one time, I too was a member of this group. However, an experience attending the Montreal International Convention in 2003 has put a new light on the subject.

That’s when several of us decided to take our vacation trailers to Montreal to stay in a park located in the northwest part of Montreal. We were but 20 minutes from the headquarters hotel via the local commuter train system which cost us less than three dollars a trip.

While unable to attend Louisville last year like some of our Montreal cohorts, my wife and I did some investigating on-line and decided to haul our trailer out to Salt Lake City this summer. As the trip was going to be over 3,000 km, we decided that we would holiday and sightsee our way out to Utah by not driving more than 500 km. a day. That way, we would be in our park in the early afternoon and could enjoy the amenities that each offered as well as learning about the area. As a member of both the KOA and the Good Sam Club, I was able to plan our trip, book accommodations and find what each area offered to the traveller. All this was done on line. I should point out that being a member of the KOA and GSC is inexpensive costing around $10 a year, but as a member it provided us discounts of up to 15 percent on many fees.

Our trip took us through Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming and into Utah, allowing us to see and learn much about the local history. The scenery in many places was very beautiful.We got to see the rolling hills of Iowa learning that 90 percent of the state was involved in agriculture. We found Dyersville where the Field of Dreams movie was shot  and Ottumwa, where Radar O’Reilly of M.A.S.H. called home.

Nebraska is renowned for its NCAA football team and we certainly learned very quickly why they’re called the Cornhuskers as field after field was filled with six-foot-high corn stalks as far as the eye could see.

Wyoming had flat lands with grazing cattle and elk along with corrals of horses. You knew that you were in cowboy country.

Our KOA park in SLC was but a mile-and-a-half from the LDS Conference Center and was well within walking distance. However, due to the heat (it reached 42 on a couple of occasions) we drove to a central location where we parked for the whole day at a cost of three dollars and used the local free tram service to get to the various hotels involved in the convention. It was evident that we were not the only members of the BHS staying at the park as each night following an event, there was a steady stream of traffic returning to the KOA.

As you can imagine, the excursion to Salt Lake City was one that we will remember fondly. My wife already has a scrapbook of our whole trip. But here is the point of this story, the cost for our accommodations going out totaled $157 for seven nights and $180 for eight days coming home. Our stay at the local KOA in SLC was but $254 for 12 nights.

Our cost for gasoline was $525 going to SLC and $375 coming home (the difference being the climb going out and down hill coming home). We also took advantage of the cheaper ethanol gas coming home. Our total expense was less than the cost of two airline tickets.

Why not consider doing the same for Indianapolis next year? There are several Good Sam parks in the area as well as two KOAs and needless to say, a trip to Denver in 2007 is a must.

Whatever the case, you’ll get to see the country up close and personal while enjoying the fellowship of other Barbershoppers doing the same while attending the International Convention.  k