I retired as a Police Captain from the Belleville, Illinois Police Dept. in 2009. After that I was the Deputy Director for the Southwestern Illinois Police Academy. We train all downstate police officers for Illinois. I retired from this position after 10 years in August 2019 and Rita & I are now fulltime RVing.
We bought our first ever RV in 2014, a 43-foot 2008 Country Coach Inspire FE (go big or go home). We joined CCI that first year and go to at least two rallies a year. The friendship & Country Coach knowledge we have gained from CCI is immeasurable.
I have been happily married to my high school sweetheart, Rita for over 48 years. We have two grown daughters and five grandkids, two of which are United States Marines. I am happy to be away from the constant demands of work & enjoying the Country Coach life! After over five years of full-time RVing have had our Country Coach in 49 US states, seven Canadian provinces and one Canadian territory. Plus, we have recently become Florida residents.
Gene Harrington, TX
Cell # 214-733-1470
Sr. Vice President
After graduating high school in Albuquerque, I joined the Navy where I served our country for 6 years. I then went to college and graduated from the University of New Mexico. I retired from Raytheon in 2017 after 33 years. I have been married to Janet for 33 years. We live in the small town of Fairview about 30 miles north of Dallas, Tx. We love to hike and see new areas of this wonderful country. We recently started playing pickleball and really enjoy it. We both grew up in families who loved to go camping. Janet and I bought our 2001 Intrigue Country Coach in 2014 and have loved being able to travel in it. We have camped (tent, trailer, and coach) in about 40 states, but I have visited all 50 states. We joined CCI in 2020 and had planned to go to our first rally in Santa Fe, NM but then covid hit. We were able to attend the rescheduled Santa Fe rally in 2021. Janet and I have enjoyed all the rallies we have attended since that first one. We enjoy meeting and making new friends and seeing different areas of the country in our coach. I have learned so much through the tech talks at CCI rallies, as well as the FMCA rallies. We are looking forward to attending future rallies and meeting other Country Coach owners.
Pat Gauch, MD
Cell # 240-925-5687
Board Secretary
I have been married for 48 years and have two sons! I graduated from Methodist Hospital School of Nursing in 1969 and my BSN from Metropolitan State College ( now University) in Denver, Colorado. Worked in PACU/OR at Calvert Memorial Hospital, Prince Frederick, MD, for 32 years. Retired in March, 2016 and loving it! My hobbies are traveling and reading, my newest endeavor is pickleball. My husband Chuck and I have been Country Coach owners since 2002.
Dianne Hegler, TN
Cell # 931-797-5181
Treasurer
My husband, Max Hegler, and I have been retired since 2004. We've been married almost 50 years and love to travel. Max was in the USAF for 33 years and I followed him to almost every assignment with the exception of Thailand back in the early 70's. I did fly over for a visit however. I have a Degree in Elementary Education and used it for a short while, about four years, but took off a few years to raise our two girls. When I did return to the workforce, computers had finally caught up with my passion and I worked as a Systems Administrator, Instructor, IT Analyst, Help Desk Coordinator, IT Technician for various school systems and finally EDS/HP. I worked to be very flexible for whatever job was available as we moved around in the military life. We bought our first motor coach in Nov 2017, named her Hazel, and it's been a love affair ever since. The RV life is perfectly suited for our love to be on the move and travel and we can include our wonderful fur baby, Jake, a yellow lab. He loves it too. I am honored and excited about serving as Treasurer for CCI. Nicest group of people ever!
Buddy Bordes, LA
Cell # 504-982-1635
VP Membership
Four years ago after retiring from Shell Oil and Ann retiring from teaching, we began our RV experience. Since our journey began, we have traveled over 30,000 miles and have met many wonderful friends. Joining several motor home clubs introduced us to people from all over the United States. We have traveled through 30 states and have seen hundreds of interesting sites. So far our trip to the Grand Canyon was our most enjoyable. In the future we are planning on attending more rallies visiting with old friends as well as making new ones. Our only barrier has been missing our three boys and five grandchildren. They all live in New Orleans and we are a very close family. The grandchildren stay with us a lot and we are attached to seeing them almost every day. Skype does help some and we are hoping to take a few trips with some of them soon.
Tammy Toalson, FL
Cell # 850-866-5758
VP Rally Coordinator
Rick and I have been traveling in a Country Coach for 11 of our 12 years motor-homing and 10 of those we have been members in CCI. I became more involved with the Club in 2011 when CCI conducted a contest to come up with a new logo for our Club. I began embroidering the new logo on shirts, hats and other items for the Club and we started attended more rallies to bring products to you. As I have become more involved in the rallies, I have become more interested in serving as a Board member for CCI. I am looking forward to serving you as VP of Rallies.
Mike Sowers, FL
Cell # 321-355-8563
VP Webmaster
Mike is a past president of CCI. He and his wife Pam of 46 years have two children and three grand children. Mike and Pam started their RV adventures in 2000 with a Monaco Executive and quickly moved into their first Country Coach Intrigue. After 46 years leading Global Information Technology Teams, Mike retired in 2021 and he and Pam are now looking forward to increasing their travel. We currently reside at the Great Outdoors RV Resort in Titusville FL where we can see rocket launches regularly.
Rita Sax, IL
Cell # 618-972-9886
CCI FMCA National Director
I have been a sales, marketing and business analyst for Anheuser-Busch and Dunn
& Bradstreet, then became a Massage Therapist and Esthetician and owned and
ran the largest and award winning Day Spa in our area.
I
have been married to my high school sweetheart, and love of my life, Bill,
since I was 18 years old. We lived in Germany for the first 2 years (or
as he puts it, one year 11 months and 27 days) of our marriage and now
full-time all over the United States in our Country Coach. Life has been
a magnificent ride.
Bonnie Data, NY
Cell # 440-341-3454
VP Communications
I am the Director of Operations for Revlet Sales. My career has included work in private equity, marketing, sales, and operations. My husband Julian is a bus operator. We have both always enjoyed camping and other outdoor activities. We also share a passion for training and competing with our dogs. Therefore, we purchased our motorhome shortly after we married in 2020 as we wanted to enjoy it as much as we can together before we retire. We have a 43 foot 2005 CC Allure with a custom blue paint scheme. We love it and use it for vacationing, dog competitions and of course rallys. Our dream is to be able to retire in a few years and travel throughout all of the United States in our Country Coach!
