Great pics Larry!
BSLCA BS... ie.. local chat..
- Thread starter PScottBx
- Start date
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Nice cold pic.. Larry !!
Thanks. There is a new lense under the tree I'm ready to go try out 
We're in TN for the holidays Jason. It was in the teens for a few days this week so we went in the National park to find snow and brought the sleds. Didn't find any snow but the creeks were over flowing flooding some roads and found plenty frozen ice sculptures mother nature left behind. Kids were having sword fights with big ice sickles. 
They're blowing snow on the MTN in Gatlinburg and was up there today ice skating the road up the MTN with 8 of us in the 80 left me wanting those gears 
. A long winding crawl to the top in low gear I'm glad I put the royal purple and new filter before I left. Well its time for SC to stop by. Have a great night and Christmas day ALL
We're in TN for the holidays Jason. It was in the teens for a few days this week so we went in the National park to find snow and brought the sleds. Didn't find any snow but the creeks were over flowing flooding some roads and found plenty frozen ice sculptures mother nature left behind. Kids were having sword fights with big ice sickles. They're blowing snow on the MTN in Gatlinburg and was up there today ice skating the road up the MTN with 8 of us in the 80 left me wanting those gears . A long winding crawl to the top in low gear I'm glad I put the royal purple and new filter before I left. Well its time for SC to stop by. Have a great night and Christmas day ALL 
- Thread starter
- #3,565
Merry Christmas gang
me
me
merry Christmas
to all
to all
Merry Christmas everybody
merry Christmas everyone
long time no chat. hope everyone is having a good and safe holiday season.
i see marty picked up a 100 series
long time no chat. hope everyone is having a good and safe holiday season.
i see marty picked up a 100 series
Hey everyone,
Hope you all had a Very Merry Christmas.
Mine was very cold around -34F for a few days straight, the joys of living in northern Alberta, Canada. Tried to make it down for the Southern Cruiser Crawl again, just wasn't in the cards this year. So instead I am going to be spending New Years in New Orleans. I will be in the area from Dec 30 to Jan 10, not bringing the cruiser this time. Would be great to see some of you guys from the 2007 SCC again. Depending on the weather will either be renting a car or a motorcycle for a few of the days, would like to check out some local trails if anyone is going out and has room for a couple extra passengers. Also interested in some must see / do / taste / try advise for the area, tour guides welcome.
I can be contacted at stbpowersystems@hotmail.com or pm me.
Thanks,
Scott Burgess
1989 BJ74
Rocky Mountain LandCruiser Association
Hope you all had a Very Merry Christmas.
Mine was very cold around -34F for a few days straight, the joys of living in northern Alberta, Canada. Tried to make it down for the Southern Cruiser Crawl again, just wasn't in the cards this year. So instead I am going to be spending New Years in New Orleans. I will be in the area from Dec 30 to Jan 10, not bringing the cruiser this time. Would be great to see some of you guys from the 2007 SCC again. Depending on the weather will either be renting a car or a motorcycle for a few of the days, would like to check out some local trails if anyone is going out and has room for a couple extra passengers. Also interested in some must see / do / taste / try advise for the area, tour guides welcome.
I can be contacted at stbpowersystems@hotmail.com or pm me.
Thanks,
Scott Burgess
1989 BJ74
Rocky Mountain LandCruiser Association
great to hear from ya again. man i def would have made a run south as well with those type of temps. i will shoot ya an email.
dan p
Looking forward to it Dan, was checking out all the members rigs. I like the new 4runner you picked up, also posted a couple pics of my rigs there.
Scott
Scott
Did somebody fart on this pag because it is dead in here. Happy New Year Buds!! 
Geaux tigers!!!!
Happy New Year to all of you! Looking forward to a great 2009.
That was a good game!!
happy new year
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year!
Email from Jeff Zepp
FYI. A email from the newly elected TLCA President Jeff Zepp worth reading on the direction of the TLCA.
My fellow board members,
Thank you for electing me to lead TLCA. We have a rich tradition, and a long
history. We have had difficult challenges in the past, and great successes. We
are facing a challenging year, and we will need everyone’s efforts to be
successful. Several months ago, I had originally intended this plan to outline
how we can grow and become even more successful. That is still our purpose,
however we have been recently confronted with realities which threaten our
existence, and we must move decisively to address these realities.
The reality is, we are in a financial crisis, which if left to the status quo,
will burn through our reserves and leave us broke within a year or less. The
reasons for this crisis are many, but we have been spending more than we make,
and need to reverse that to survive. The obvious solutions are to make more and
spend less, but in order to make good decisions on how to do that, we need to
define our goals, identify strategies to achieve those goals, and execute
tactics to implement the strategies.
Our foremost goal must be to survive. We can not do that if we go broke, so we
must prudently cut spending and improve income.
Second, our goal is to continue to be the world’s foremost club for those
interested in Toyota 4x4s, and to bring those people together in our membership.
Third, we have six purposes and aims in our bylaws, which we must respect and
continue to keep in mind in all our activities.
To achieve these goals, I have a number of strategies to outline. We have had
many tactics over the years, but among the purposes of this plan is to tie those
tactics in with our strategies and goals.
TLCA is an international organization, however USA leadership could do a lot
better at making TLCA an organization which truly reflects that. I believe we
need more advocacy at the elected board level to bring awareness to the needs
and interests of our members, and potential members who live and wheel their
Toyotas outside the USA. I propose a strategy of adding an International
Individual Representative, who will not only fulfill the traditional role of IR
in representing members who are not in a chapter, and helping new chapters
become sanctioned, but in bringing an active voice to the elected board on
issues for our members and chapters outside the USA.
Among these issues are the high cost of shipping printed Toyota Trails outside
the USA. Alan’s E-Zine initiative is an excellent alternative for members and
potential members who live outside the USA but might be dissuaded by the cost of
mailing. Other interests include Land Use challenges our members face in
countries other than the USA.
Clearly, printed media are facing tough times everywhere, and membership in TLCA
is basically a magazine subscription for a majority of our members. The E-Zine
initiative is an important way to us to change with the times. A strategy of
offering membership an electronic copy of Toyota Trails, should they choose,
will offer a way for persons to become or remain members at a lower cost to
them, while enrolling or retaining existing members. I also believe that we need
to continue to offer teaser articles on our web site, free to everyone, and to
offer exclusive content on our web site, only for members. This content would
typically be too long for our printed Trails, but still offer added value for
members only.
Among the reasons for our budget problems are lack of membership renewals. We
have executed a number of tactics over the years, with some success, but spotty
continuity. Some of these tactics have not been followed, and we need to get
them back in place, with zeal. Among them are email reminders, binded in
reminders in their last and/or second to last issue of Trails, and calling each
member personally. While the former two are relatively low cost and low effort,
the latter has a nearly 100% success rate. As a tactic, I will be asking each
IR, our MSVP, and our chapter delegates to be spending quality time on the phone
with our expired members. Not only does this reminder offer a high success rate,
it allows for invaluable feedback from those who would otherwise by shy about
replying to boards, lists and surveys. And most importantly, it demonstrates to
membership that we care about them personally.
We have many opportunities to recruit new members, and renew existing members at
events, especially Open and Rally events. We will need a strategy of using
events to promote TLCA. Each event which is sanctioned will have a chapter
delegate. That chapter delegate is the logical representative of TLCA, and
should be our point person to set up a booth at registration and be responsible
for recruiting new members and renewing existing members. I have done this at
the Rising Sun Rally for years and it’s not only effective, it’s fun. A tactic
to implement this strategy will be to have membership kits available and
distributed to chapter delegates for their events.
In the near term, we may have to cut back on Toyota Trails. Todd has graciously
offered a number of alternatives to cut costs. He has been incredibly
professional in offering these cuts before having them forced on him. I hate
having to do this, but Trails is our biggest expense, and we have no rational
choice but to cut back here for the short term. We have to tread very carefully
here, as Trails is our number one product. If we cut back too much, we will end
up in a death spiral of people letting their memberships lapse because members
will feel that Trails is no longer worth their membership dues. At a minimum, we
need to do this concurrently with offering more value to membership on our web
site, and if we are successful at bringing our top line back up, then we can
bring Trails back to what we have become accustomed to.
In customer service, we need to figure out how to keep our essential processes
fulfilled in a professional and timely way while cutting costs. We can not
afford to pay what we have been paying for our administrative services with our
current income. Among our options are incentivising the position in some way
based on membership, cutting the scope of the duties of the contract while
reducing renumeration and distributing some of the contract tasks among others,
outsourcing duties to a professional organization, some combination or the
above, or other options which might be presented.
In advertising, we need to move our business model and budget from less reliance
on print ads to more reliance to web ads, while maintaining our advertising
income. Our current ad contact is highly incentivized for ad revenue and is
self-sustaining.
We have an important challenge in that our current webmaster has indicated he
will not be renewing when his contract expires at the end of March. In a
strategy of addressing our 21st century presence in communicating with our
membership and in promoting our club though new media, we will need to make sure
our web site is well maintained, and a transition is orderly and seamless.
Clearly, our merchandise sales have been less than we would have wished. As a
strategy to improve our finances, we can do a better in merchandise sales than
we have. Tactics include having proven sellers in stock, making fresh, exciting
merchandise available, making sure order placement and fulfillment is timely and
professional, and making sure our web store stays up and online.
Alliance with other like-minded Toyota 4x4 clubs, organizations and forums is an
essential strategy. We have made strides in that direction, and need to continue
those efforts. Continuing our strategic relationship with Toyota corporate,
their own budget cutbacks not withstanding. They still have a vested interest in
seeing their vehicles promoted, and we have a vested interest in promoting TLCA
to Toyota 4x4 buyers.
We need to continue to support access to wheeling spots throughout our
membership’s geographic areas of interest. This is not just about writing a
check to an umbrella organization, or having a column in Trails, but in
promoting how to roll up your sleeves and make a difference. We need to be
mindful of the different areas of the USA and the world in how we address and
help out.
While chapter membership represents only around 20-25% of membership, chapter
members are the most active in TLCA, and we need to nourish the enthusiasm that
chapter members bring to TLCA. Most of our BOD are chapter members, and you are
the ones we need to help us achieve our goals, by implementing our strategies
and executing the tactics. Most of our ideas come from you, and many of your
ideas have been successful in moving us forward.
This plan is not specific in detail, but is an overview of where I intend to
lead TLCA in the coming year. It is subject to change and revision as
circumstances warrant, and new information becomes available. It’s going to take
a lot of time and effort on all of our part to winch us out of where we are now,
and move us forward to where we need to be. I’m counting on you, and I know we
can do it.
Thanks, and happy cruisin’!
Jeff Zepp
TLCA #4063, TLCA President Elect
FYI. A email from the newly elected TLCA President Jeff Zepp worth reading on the direction of the TLCA.
My fellow board members,
Thank you for electing me to lead TLCA. We have a rich tradition, and a long
history. We have had difficult challenges in the past, and great successes. We
are facing a challenging year, and we will need everyone’s efforts to be
successful. Several months ago, I had originally intended this plan to outline
how we can grow and become even more successful. That is still our purpose,
however we have been recently confronted with realities which threaten our
existence, and we must move decisively to address these realities.
The reality is, we are in a financial crisis, which if left to the status quo,
will burn through our reserves and leave us broke within a year or less. The
reasons for this crisis are many, but we have been spending more than we make,
and need to reverse that to survive. The obvious solutions are to make more and
spend less, but in order to make good decisions on how to do that, we need to
define our goals, identify strategies to achieve those goals, and execute
tactics to implement the strategies.
Our foremost goal must be to survive. We can not do that if we go broke, so we
must prudently cut spending and improve income.
Second, our goal is to continue to be the world’s foremost club for those
interested in Toyota 4x4s, and to bring those people together in our membership.
Third, we have six purposes and aims in our bylaws, which we must respect and
continue to keep in mind in all our activities.
To achieve these goals, I have a number of strategies to outline. We have had
many tactics over the years, but among the purposes of this plan is to tie those
tactics in with our strategies and goals.
TLCA is an international organization, however USA leadership could do a lot
better at making TLCA an organization which truly reflects that. I believe we
need more advocacy at the elected board level to bring awareness to the needs
and interests of our members, and potential members who live and wheel their
Toyotas outside the USA. I propose a strategy of adding an International
Individual Representative, who will not only fulfill the traditional role of IR
in representing members who are not in a chapter, and helping new chapters
become sanctioned, but in bringing an active voice to the elected board on
issues for our members and chapters outside the USA.
Among these issues are the high cost of shipping printed Toyota Trails outside
the USA. Alan’s E-Zine initiative is an excellent alternative for members and
potential members who live outside the USA but might be dissuaded by the cost of
mailing. Other interests include Land Use challenges our members face in
countries other than the USA.
Clearly, printed media are facing tough times everywhere, and membership in TLCA
is basically a magazine subscription for a majority of our members. The E-Zine
initiative is an important way to us to change with the times. A strategy of
offering membership an electronic copy of Toyota Trails, should they choose,
will offer a way for persons to become or remain members at a lower cost to
them, while enrolling or retaining existing members. I also believe that we need
to continue to offer teaser articles on our web site, free to everyone, and to
offer exclusive content on our web site, only for members. This content would
typically be too long for our printed Trails, but still offer added value for
members only.
Among the reasons for our budget problems are lack of membership renewals. We
have executed a number of tactics over the years, with some success, but spotty
continuity. Some of these tactics have not been followed, and we need to get
them back in place, with zeal. Among them are email reminders, binded in
reminders in their last and/or second to last issue of Trails, and calling each
member personally. While the former two are relatively low cost and low effort,
the latter has a nearly 100% success rate. As a tactic, I will be asking each
IR, our MSVP, and our chapter delegates to be spending quality time on the phone
with our expired members. Not only does this reminder offer a high success rate,
it allows for invaluable feedback from those who would otherwise by shy about
replying to boards, lists and surveys. And most importantly, it demonstrates to
membership that we care about them personally.
We have many opportunities to recruit new members, and renew existing members at
events, especially Open and Rally events. We will need a strategy of using
events to promote TLCA. Each event which is sanctioned will have a chapter
delegate. That chapter delegate is the logical representative of TLCA, and
should be our point person to set up a booth at registration and be responsible
for recruiting new members and renewing existing members. I have done this at
the Rising Sun Rally for years and it’s not only effective, it’s fun. A tactic
to implement this strategy will be to have membership kits available and
distributed to chapter delegates for their events.
In the near term, we may have to cut back on Toyota Trails. Todd has graciously
offered a number of alternatives to cut costs. He has been incredibly
professional in offering these cuts before having them forced on him. I hate
having to do this, but Trails is our biggest expense, and we have no rational
choice but to cut back here for the short term. We have to tread very carefully
here, as Trails is our number one product. If we cut back too much, we will end
up in a death spiral of people letting their memberships lapse because members
will feel that Trails is no longer worth their membership dues. At a minimum, we
need to do this concurrently with offering more value to membership on our web
site, and if we are successful at bringing our top line back up, then we can
bring Trails back to what we have become accustomed to.
In customer service, we need to figure out how to keep our essential processes
fulfilled in a professional and timely way while cutting costs. We can not
afford to pay what we have been paying for our administrative services with our
current income. Among our options are incentivising the position in some way
based on membership, cutting the scope of the duties of the contract while
reducing renumeration and distributing some of the contract tasks among others,
outsourcing duties to a professional organization, some combination or the
above, or other options which might be presented.
In advertising, we need to move our business model and budget from less reliance
on print ads to more reliance to web ads, while maintaining our advertising
income. Our current ad contact is highly incentivized for ad revenue and is
self-sustaining.
We have an important challenge in that our current webmaster has indicated he
will not be renewing when his contract expires at the end of March. In a
strategy of addressing our 21st century presence in communicating with our
membership and in promoting our club though new media, we will need to make sure
our web site is well maintained, and a transition is orderly and seamless.
Clearly, our merchandise sales have been less than we would have wished. As a
strategy to improve our finances, we can do a better in merchandise sales than
we have. Tactics include having proven sellers in stock, making fresh, exciting
merchandise available, making sure order placement and fulfillment is timely and
professional, and making sure our web store stays up and online.
Alliance with other like-minded Toyota 4x4 clubs, organizations and forums is an
essential strategy. We have made strides in that direction, and need to continue
those efforts. Continuing our strategic relationship with Toyota corporate,
their own budget cutbacks not withstanding. They still have a vested interest in
seeing their vehicles promoted, and we have a vested interest in promoting TLCA
to Toyota 4x4 buyers.
We need to continue to support access to wheeling spots throughout our
membership’s geographic areas of interest. This is not just about writing a
check to an umbrella organization, or having a column in Trails, but in
promoting how to roll up your sleeves and make a difference. We need to be
mindful of the different areas of the USA and the world in how we address and
help out.
While chapter membership represents only around 20-25% of membership, chapter
members are the most active in TLCA, and we need to nourish the enthusiasm that
chapter members bring to TLCA. Most of our BOD are chapter members, and you are
the ones we need to help us achieve our goals, by implementing our strategies
and executing the tactics. Most of our ideas come from you, and many of your
ideas have been successful in moving us forward.
This plan is not specific in detail, but is an overview of where I intend to
lead TLCA in the coming year. It is subject to change and revision as
circumstances warrant, and new information becomes available. It’s going to take
a lot of time and effort on all of our part to winch us out of where we are now,
and move us forward to where we need to be. I’m counting on you, and I know we
can do it.
Thanks, and happy cruisin’!
Jeff Zepp
TLCA #4063, TLCA President Elect