When Paul Pinard first decided to join the Good Sam Club he was interested in their discounts for camping with his recreation vehicle (RV). But as he looked further into the Club, he discovered that they have a lot to offer RV owners. After being a member for so many years now he’s been rewarded with a lifetime membership, Pinard and a group of Sam Club members have created a local branch of the club for the Boundary, British Columbia region.

Since the Kettle River covers the region, Pinard’s group decided on the name Kettle River Ramblers. Their first meeting was on held Nov. 26, 2009. They organized their rules and bylaws and got the chapter going. Then they invited all Good Sam members in the area to get together on Jan. 24. Sixteen rigs, mostly from Midway and Grand Forks, come out for that meeting. “We’re hoping that people from Greenwood, Rock Creek will join as we grow and get better known,” said Pinard. Their goal is to bring the group up to 30 members.

On Mar. 7 the club had a planning meeting to discuss options for activities for the year. Chapters get together to design an annual plan for members for camping and attending different events. The plan can include short and long trips to different areas, and opportunities to attend the larger Samborees across the continent. There’s no obligation to attend the events, and no minimum number for the trip to be a go either.

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Amy and Rod Burkert hopped in their tricked-out Winnebago this weekend and set out with their two best friends in search of the country’s best vacation spots – for people with pets.

The couple’s traveling companions are Ty, a 5-year-old Shar-Pei, and Buster, a 2-year-old German shepherd. And trying to find hotels to accommodate them and their dogs on a fishing trip to Canada two years ago led to a new career path and way of life for the Foster Township couple.

“We sat down that July and started to make travel plans and determined we needed to stay in seven different hotels on our circular road trip. It took me two full days to find the seven hotels we would stay in because of the way the Web sites were,” Amy said.

Web sites that advertised hotels as “pet friendly” didn’t necessarily indicate if they charged extra for pets, if there were weight or breed restrictions or if they allowed two dogs in one room.

“I kept saying to Rod, ‘This is crazy. People aren’t going to take the time to do this. They’ll just take their pet to a kennel because it’s just not easy enough to plan a trip with their pets.’ So, we got home, looked at other Web sites, did more research on what was out there for pet friendliness and we just decided we were going to make it easier for people to travel with their pets,” Amy said.

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