No NAR in Iowa?

I want to join the NAR but the nearest club is in Peoria, Illinois, which is three hours away. Are there any NAR members on the forum in Iowa? I'm in Dubuque by the way. I'm not one to join a group and not participate, but driving three hours is not an option.

Any ideas?

Mike

There was a group that flew off the balloon launching field in Indianola. Not sure if the Tripoli group ISOAR is still active. You could also start your own chapter. See if you can put a flyer at your local hobby shop.

There is a Tripoli Prefecture in the Quad Cities, about an hour and a half south of us on the Illinois side. Great idea of posting at the hobby shop too. Thanks!

You can start a NAR section with only two NAR members IIRC... I'd say "put out feelers" and try to find a few more interested individuals and start your own NAR section. It's really not that hard. Basically you can start with just a couple people interested in flying together rather than as individuals (for the most part).

Of course nothing precludes you from flying on your own or just 'hanging out' with someone else who's also a rocketeer and flying together without the "official club" status...

I flew by myself all through my teenage and early adult years; never even attended a club launch. When I became a BAR about 8-10 years ago, I went to my first club launches... I really enjoyed it. When I found out that the club was flying from a small park being paved over, turned into ponds and soccer fields, and basically doing everything possible to "squeeze them out" I offered our farms for launching fields, and now the club comes to me... It's been interesting if nothing else...

Anyway, remember, everything basically starts off small and grows from there.

Best of luck! OL JR

That's odd. The NAR mailbox and phone number are in Iowa, so you would think there's a club there. When the NAR website got revamped, a bunch of clubs disappeared from the club locator. I think it had something to do with actively keeping up to date with section renewals. It's possible there's still a club in Iowa that just hasn't kept up to date with its section charter. Maybe someone from HQ could provide some insight into this?

Let me get a list of NAR members in Iowa and see if there are some nearby.
You'll really get the fliers jazzed if have identified a local launch site.

John

not much of an improvement, but woosh in Wisconsin sometimes launches in Johnson creek, wi- which is about 2 hours away from Dubuque.
Also, there is fox valley rocketeers in Woodstock, IL.. 2.5 hours away

Johnly said:

Let me get a list of NAR members in Iowa and see if there are some nearby.
You'll really get the fliers jazzed if have identified a local launch site.

John

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Thanks! I appreciate it!

USAFmissileer said:

I want to join the NAR but the nearest club is in Peoria, Illinois, which is three hours away. Are there any NAR members on the forum in Iowa? I'm in Dubuque by the way. I'm not one to join a group and not participate, but driving three hours is not an option.

Click to expand...

ISOAR is based out of Indianola, or at least used to be. They're active at the moment.

There's also a club in Southern Minnesota (may be a Tripoli Prefecture, but I know some of those guys and I'm quite confident that even if they're not a NAR section you'd be welcome).

-Kevin

https://tramidiowa.heliohost.org/ is the information for ISOAR. Unfortunately we are not a NAR Section. NAR flyers are always welcome, but we won't be doing NAR type competition flying. Unfortunately, our field is about 3h 20m from DuBuque so I don't know if that helps. The TRA Prefecture in Southern Minnesota is about 3h 40 minutes from you. But should you get the urge to drive down our way, you'll be welcome. Just check the site for updates before you point your car in our direction.

Take care,

Duane

I'm in the same boat with my South Dakota location. Nearest club is Tripoli Minnesota, but they're a 4 hour drive from me. I'd love to start a local club, even have access to a decent sized piece of land too, but no luck yet finding local rocketeers.

-Hans

djs said:

Also, there is fox valley rocketeers in Woodstock, IL.. 2.5 hours away

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You can find us at https://www.foxvalleyrocketeers.org.

Our next major event is the Northern Illinois Rocketry Convention, NIRCON, to be held on Saturday, March 14. Registration starts at 8:00 AM, with the program beginning at 9:00 AM through 5:00 PM.

If you're interested, shoot me a private message.