Saturday at the Rally

SATURDAY

April 16th

We’re on the last day of the rally seminars

and my favorite sessions are today.

First at

8:00 AM

was Boondocking/Solar. 

We’ll be boondocking next week

at Elkmont in The Great Smoky Mountains National Park. 

No electricity and no showers in their bath houses. 

There is a dump station but

it’s at the Sugarlands Visitor Center
about 5 miles from the campground.  
That’s also where you fill your tank with fresh water.

We’re pretty sure we can handle the boondocking tanks situation. 
We can go 6 days without making any
changes in our current way of living.
Not sure about the fresh water but we'll see. 

I hope some day a few solar panels

will be on Winnona’s roof to just top off the batteries.

Next was Howard’s session on Choosing Campgrounds/RV Parks.  

I heard this talk last year and found

that he pretty much uses the same system I do

but it was great to hear it again and be reminded

that I’m not the only one who spends

HOURS

trying to find the special spots we like the best.  

We aren’t RV Park or resort folks. 

We don’t need cable or full hook ups

and prefer to be as far out in the boonies

and one with the critters as we can get. 

So boondocking will be great for us. 

Otherwise, State Parks,

National Parks, Corps of Engineers Campgrounds,

National Forests are the places we like.

At 10:30 Linda did a very informative session on

Packing your RV for Full-Timing. 

Her lists of things to consider and what they feel were essential

are right on the money I thought. 

It’s all about weight and placement. 

You just can’t bring everything.

The final seminar was

Traveling to Alaska by RV. 

Bill Napier showed great slides of his trip

by caravan and gave us all a lot to think about

in terms of joining a caravan and what to expect.

After lunch,

was one of my favorite parts of the rally,

the open rig walk throughs. 

Last year we were just at the beginning and went through everything. 

Class A’s, 5^th wheels, trailers

to confirm our decision to choose a class A.  

This year that decision is firm

but we wanted to see what sorts of modifications

folks had made to their rigs

and how theirs differed in ways we might want to imitate. 

We got tons of great ideas.  

Although we mostly went through the class A’s from 33’ to 43’,

we did go into a couple 5^th wheels of friends,

including Dan & Trisha who are parked next to us.

And this is Dan's great drying rack design

for the rear of a rig.  I like this so much better than

those flat hang off the ladder designs.

Here's the creator Dan sitting at a session table with Syl.

Sadly I don't seem to have a shot of Trish. 
Or at least I can't find it as I attempt
to get caught up on all we've done

We also saw Cindy's darling little Casita,
which she'll be living in while working at Yellowstone this summer.


We went in the only Truck Camper on the open Rig tour,
A Lance, which is amazingly spacious

and has a full size refrigerator.  

Because we were so hurried in going through the rigs last year,

we didn’t put Winnona on the walk through list this year.  

But we actually should have

since we did have enough time

and we would like to show folks

that you can full time in 34’

which enables you to “qualify”

for all state and national parks in terms of length. 

And besides Winnona is such a sweetie,

everyone should get a chance to meet her.

We were Table #4 at the dinner tonight, same table, different number

and GUESS WHAT?  

We got called FIRST AGAIN!!  

Can’t be lucky this many times so

we’re saying “Thank you Howard & Linda”
whichever one of you was drawing the numbers.  J

First, second or 3^rd for every meal. 

This one was a catered dinner of roasted chicken,

BBQ’d ribs (of which I ate far too many),  

veggies and German Chocolate Cake (one of my all time favorites). 

You can see why I eat too much.

We ended the night with a rousing 70’s dance party

in which the tie dye, forehead bands and peace signs were everywhere.  
There was even a table to decorate your pet rock.   

We danced,

and line danced

and did the locomotion

and danced some more.

Here are John Howard Lennon

and his Yoko

being accompanied on air base by Madam Gin.

At the party’s beginning we gave Howard and Linda

the Family Hug Jug Surprise-  
a gift from us all to them
as a thank you for all they have done
to make this life style a reality for so many people.

They are an inspiration

as well as a wealth of knowledge both in person

and on their web site www.rv-dreams.com.   

They even inspired Winnona’s license plate.

And they were surprised, which was great.

Everyone did a TERRIFIC job of keeping it a secret.

And with 160+ people, that’s saying something!