So, what’s an RV Rally like? it’s 600 coaches, approximately 2 people and 1 pet per coach, and it seems one golf cart for every 10 people. Yup, that’s a lot of people, pets and stuff. But all in all, it’s very well run and organized.
The section of the campground where we are camping.
The camping sites has been unusual to say the least. I think I mentioned before, we are in the infield of a horse track. There aren’t any permanent utilities here. But the fairground people put out electrical cords and hose hookups. So viola! We all have electric and water (see the picture below). I was a little worried about the water pressure in the morning when everyone gets up and takes a shower, especially considering it’s all just garden hose. But it’s been OK. I suspect we get up earlier than most.
Garden hose and 30 amp outlets
This is proof we are staying in the middle of a horse track! When the horses are being exercised, they post a geriatric look out to make sure the golf carts, cars and pedestrians stay out of the way of horses. I was a tad surprised to see how these horses are being exercised. I have no clue if this is normal practice or not.
Horse training!!
There have been seminars and craft classes everyday. I finally got to try using a fire extinguisher at a Fire Safety Class (I always seemed to miss that class during my Kodak days). Yes, Mac the Fire Safety Guy was actually lighting fires for us to put out.
Fire Safety 101
I managed to attend one craft class this morning…on Jelly Roll quilts (made from 2.5″ strips aka jelly rolls). I could have taught the session, but it was nice to get a mental brake from all things RV related!
Jelly Roll Quilts
There are also 2 buildings full of vendors. And, of course, rows and rows of new RVs that can be yours for $200,000 and up (gag!).
The average age of the attendees is probably 70. Yup, I’m a youngster here. There is a heck of a lot of this going on…lots of scooters. I didn’t want to embarrass anyone by taking their picture on a scooter. Dr. Nefario from Despicable Me will have to do.
They have had social activities in the evening. We attended the first night. Personally, that was enough of the rally’s entertainment for me. They started with a group of campers who call themselves the Frustrated Maestros (listening to them took me back to my days of attending elementary school band concerts). It was followed up by a group called New Odyssey (3 guys, 30 instruments…and they played them all!) which was better than I thought it would be. I was a captive audience anyway at the venue due to a thunderstorm rolling though (and the muddy walk back it created).
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- New Odyssey
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- Seniors dancing to Blurred Lines…I about died laughing
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- Muddy horse track – post rain
We’ve been treated to free coffee and donuts every morning, lunch today courtesy of Fleetwood RVs, an ice cream social yesterday, and a pancake breakfast this morning with Polka music being provided by the Frustrated Maestros. Who knew Pancakes and Polka went together! I have the Pennsylvania Polka stuck in my head now.
Pancake Breakfast…and Polka music!
Jim and I completed our purchases this afternoon of things we MUST HAVE for the RV. We have supplies to clean the outside of the coach, an LED light to try out, spray to clean electrical corrosion and goodness knows what else. It was a big enough load we took a golf cart shuttle to haul our loot back to the coach.
Golf cart shuttle. Jim on the right…I opted to sit in the back.
This evening we are going to an RVillage (think Facebook for RVers) meetup with other geeky types (including those from my previous post), then attend the start of tonight’s entertainment to get our “leaving instructions.” Imagine trying to coordinate 500 coaches leaving!!! Then we are going to check out the coach of the guy who sells the LED lighting and has converted his over. And THEN we collapse.
All in all, the rally has been worthwhile. We have learned a lot from other attendees, the seminars and the vendors. Jim is anxious to attend another. I’m less anxious, but I’ll go along for one more in the not so near future.
We are out of this site by noon tomorrow. We were going to head home, but the thunderstorm the other night made us realize that the awning over our slide-out does not shed water the way it should (hey, it’s 10 years old)! Water inside the coach is NOT a good thing. Since we are only 15 minutes from the factory, we had them order a new awning. It will be in Tuesday, so we’ll stick around until then so they can install it. Then we head home.
Tomorrow we are heading to a campground in the nearby town of Shipshewana, Indiana. It’s famous for its flea market, being in Amish country, and who knows what else. I did get a line on a couple of quilt shops in the area (from the wife of the LED salesperson!), so that is on MY agenda until Tuesday rolls around. I brought my sewing machine…I want to use it!
We will be home Wednesday at the latest….maybe 🙂
You “suspect” you might be up earlier than most —- no suspicions there!!!! So — maybe Austin or Spencer could accompany you — then you’ll have a pet, too!!! Or — how about a turtle??
A turtle? Don’t tell me you have one of those too? 🙂
No, just thought that it would be lower maintenance if you want a pet.
500 RVs, at least 1-2 persons in each RV – that are really big happenings.
Only few camp grounds here would be big enough to accommodate them.
Ira…There are not many campgrounds here that would accommodate that many RVs also. But there are a few places that cater to this size of group. Come join us!
That would be a lot of jun 🙂