We have arrived in Preston, GA and are parked at the old school with 30-amp electric, a nearby fresh water spigot, and backed right up to a sewer cleanout. We were the first ones to arrive, so I got a prime piece of real estate for our parking place.

The drive up from Lake City was a pleasant drive with comfortable temperatures the whole way. We stopped right across the state line on Georgia at the Flying J. Diesel fuel was $1.90/gallon and we also topped of the propane tank.

As we continued north on I-75, we saw a lot of traffic go around us since I was driving at a steady 55mph. When we got to Tifton, we turned off the interstate and took US and state highways to Albany and north to Americus. We found a Wachovia Bank where Dottie got some money from the ATM and we visited the local Super Wal-Mart. There is also a Lowe’s there so we can get some supplies for any modifications I may want to make to the coach.

We drove through Plains where everything is labeled to recognize the Home of Jimmy Carter, the 39th President. This area of the country is NOT affluent, and the homes and mobile homes along the highway tell the story of the economy of these counties. Preston was at one time the poorest county in the USA. There are only 2500 people in the county with about 60% Caucasian. We got parked at the old school, which is being renovated for the use of County offices.

Our parking was originally to be on an asphalt parking lot, but there is some event in the next two weeks, so we have been moved to a grassy area backed up to a building. The 30-amp electric boxes were just being installed as we arrived. They are plumbed off an air conditioner circuit breaker and we’re getting strong 122 volt, 30-amp electricity. I have to stretch my 100’ garden hose out to a spigot but it will reach easily and I can fill the fresh water tank.

Moreover, I’m parked right in front of a sewer cleanout so I can drain my gray water tank each day. The local County Commissioner has stated that he doesn’t want any of our water hitting the ground. Obviously, he’s not “RV-savvy”.

We have met several folks who drove by last night and just stopped to welcome us to Webster County. Preston has a Baptist and a Methodist church. There is Mom’s Restaurant, an IGA grocery store, and a convenience store/gas station. Mom’s Restaurant was so popular with Jimmy Cater that he talked them in to opening a store in Plains, seven miles east of here. We met Terry Allen, the grocer, when he drove in to introduce himself and returned later on his Harley to invite us to join him and several of his friends for a Thursday night motorcycle dinner ride - boy, was that tempting! We had already started cooking a chicken on the BBQ, so we sadly declined the invite. We were also visited by the Baptist minister and his wife. They have offered the facilities in their church for anything we might need. It has been an experience getting to see all these folks who are just downright hospitable. They are truly appreciative of the efforts we’ll be making to get this first house built for the New Horizons affiliate of HfH.

On Friday morning we drove over to Mom’s Restaurant for breakfast. I had a sausage & cheese omelet, biscuits, and grits for $3.50. About noon the first of the arrivals started showing up. By evening there were five coaches parked, and on Saturday we expect another five coaches to arrive. Dottie and I are the kids of the group; most of the others are noticeably more “mature”. We have seen the build site and the walls are waiting to be erected and supplies are ready to be opened. We will have a groundbreaking ceremony at 3PM on Sunday followed by a dedication dinner on Sunday night. Monday morning we’ll start swinging hammers.

Friday night seven of us walked to Mom’s for dinner. Dottie and I had a catfish dinner for $6.50. It included three pieces of catfish, hush puppies, onion rings, and cole slaw. It looks like we’ll be eating several meals at Mom’s in the next two weeks.

On Saturday morning we waited for the other coaches to arrive. There were four that had indicated they would arrive so we got to know the others in the group and sat around under some shade trees socializing. By 2PM the remainder of the coaches had made their way to the parking lot and were getting settled in. Some went back to Plains for some peanut ice cream and some drove around the town to look. There’s not a lot to see as the downtown is only 3-4 blocks long. Many of them decided to go to Mom’s again tonight, but we have some food at the coach and we’d cook something here.

This county is a dry county so there is not much tolerance for alcohol. I can drink a beer near the coach or have a glass of wine with dinner, but there is no liquor sold in the stores. We are going to support the Baptist church on Sunday - the pastor was one of the big supporters of this Build and one of the reasons we are here. He is a friendly sort of guy and we want to give him all the help we can. He has given the Team Leader a key to their Fellowship Hall with bathrooms and showers. There will be several of our meals that will be served in the church Hall and we’ll try to attend his service on Sunday morning. After church we’ll probably all go to Plains and have lunch at Mom’s Café there. It’s rumored that we may even see Jimmy Carter as he sometimes frequents the café and may even serve meals to some of the patrons.

Sunday morning most of us went to the Preston Baptist Church for services at 11AM. It was an enjoyable service and everybody was outgoing and friendly. We walked back to the coaches and had a quick lunch, relaxed, and even took a short nap. At 6PM we all met at the build site for the dedication ceremony and met several of the New Horizons HfH Affiliate staffers. It was a short dedication service with a traditional groundbreaking ceremony. Afterward we walked to the church fellowship hall for supper. You should have seen the spread of food! There was all the usual southern fried foods that you could imagine. The tables were loaded with food that had been brought from home. And the dessert table was something to die for! We did all we could to be fair and give everything a taste. We also received a goody bag with a cap, t-shirt, coffee cup, pen, and a flashlight. It was a pleasant surprise gift bag with things to remember this build.

We start at 8AM sharp on Monday at the build site. The day starts with a short devotional followed by raising the walls and getting the house framed. Fred O’Donnell, the Team Leader, will be a task master, but fun to work with. Dottie and I are both looking forward to this build.

Wednesday, March 18th

We moved to the Rally site and parked with the rest of the early arriving staff. The Parking Crew was a smaller group of fellows and a tighter bunch. We all enjoyed each other’s company and had a great time marking out the parking spots. Each night we usually drove in to town and ate as a group. The first night was Southern-style BBQ; the next night was Chinese buffet, etc. All these outings help to add inches to the waist and lbs. to the weight. But the company was extremely enjoyable! On Saturday the first of the Volunteers began to arrive. Only 30 or so were expected and we parked less than that; several decided to remain in the RV park. To get 30-amp electric hook-ups at the Rally site the cost was $20/night. The RV park was only $15/night for 50-amp electric, water, and sewer plus a strong wi-fi signal!

On Sunday, the early arrival date for the Rally participants, we parked almost 220 coaches. There were just under 300 coaches that had pre-registered, so most of our work was completed on Sunday. We had a very slow day on Monday, and Tuesday was almost nothing. We had the privilege of seeing Page Robertson, the Monaco Rally King, at the Rally. Page has been with Monaco for most of his working life. He has officially retired as of February and came as a member of Monaco International. We also saw Mike Snell, Vice President of Sales, and April Klein, Vice President of Technical Support. April has always been one of my favorites and was noticeably impacted by the massive terminations Monaco had to endure. We went to her Service Seminar on Thursday where she and Brett Howard, Service Manager of the Wildwood, FL Service Center led a discussion on problems with the coaches and how to solve them. One of the biggest answers to most of the problems is customers helping customers through the email groups. I’ve noticed a lot more activity on the two groups in the last three weeks, so the message came through. There were a few folks that just didn‘t show at the Rally because there were no Service Techs in attendance. Many folks were hoping that some of the Techs would come anyway and charge a flat rate to fix items on coaches. There was a lot of talk about assisting them with their expenses at the next Rally in Springfield, OH in July.

Each day there was a “keg party” by the new display coaches from 3:15 to 4:15, followed by the catered dinner each night. Monaco brought some of their remaining new coaches from the Oregon factory, and Lazy Days from Seffner, FL brought some of their coaches. I didn’t hear how many coaches were sold, but most of them would have been without any factory warranty, just the component warranties. We even made an offer on a new Dynasty that was absolutely ridiculous and the salesman from Paul Evert in Fresno tried to make the numbers work. He quietly approached me on Thursday evening and told me he just couldn’t make it all work. We were relieved, but expected that they would have needed to work miracles to make it happen.

Our meals were wonderful and plentiful! At 5PM the doors would open and we could go to the dining hall for Happy Hour. The open bar was accompanied by a salad bar, so there was almost as much eating as drinking. The salad bars are the best thing that’s happened at these Rallies! It gives folks something to munch on and keeps the alcohol consumption much lower. Besides, a plate full of rabbit food only satisfies your appetite for 20 minutes or so, and then you’re ready for the main meal. We had entertainment each night after the meals. Tuesday night was a comedian that rode the fence-line between hilarious and obscene, but never crossed the line. He was a real hoot and had all of us sore from laughing. Wednesday night we were entertained by a Canadian guy wearing a kilt. We didn’t stay very long, but heard that he got better as the night progressed. Thursday night was The Diamonds, and group of 50’s and 60’s era songs that had us dancing and toe tapping. Friday’s entertainment was the U.S. Marine Corps Band. We had to leave Friday morning, so missed that last night.

It was a great Rally and gave us the chance to see some old friends from the East Coast that we hadn’t seen for a couple of years.

On Friday morning we pulled out of our parking place right after breakfast and headed south to Melbourne, FL. My brother’s three kids were all going to be home - two on Spring Break from out-of-town colleges. Bill and Lane were entertaining seven of their daughter’s friends that came to Melbourne with her. We wanted to get to Melbourne in time for a band competition that the youngest son, Schuyler, was participating in. We drove down I-75 to the Florida Turnpike, through Orlando, and to Melbourne. It was a 326-mile drive, much longer than I care for. In spite of the long distance, it was worth the effort to see all those kids. We pulled up to the front of Bill’s house about 3PM. He lives in a restricted neighborhood, so our coach made an impression on the neighbors as we navigated the narrow streets to his house. We said our “Hellos” and got the plans for the next few days. Then we moved the coach over to the Melbourne Elks Lodge, about 5 miles away. There we got settled in with 20-amp electric hook-ups. There was another coach there so we made the best of the limited parking space.

We went back to Bill’s for hamburgers and prepared for the trip to the school where the competition was to be located. We saw a couple of schools play and enjoyed the music. With all the cutbacks in California and music being one of them, it was refreshing to hear these high school kids with so much musical talent play some renditions that were truly moving. It was almost 9:30 before we left and then we drove to Del’s Freeze, a popular ice cream spot that serves some of the best frozen dessert I’ve tasted. The family returned home and we drove back to the coach.

On Saturday morning we took our sweet time getting up and going. We finally went over to Bill’s where we loaded in to cars for a trip to Orlando and the Florida Mall. Bill had made arrangements for dinner at Buca di Beppo, an Italian restaurant that was outstanding. There were 12 of us sitting around a circular table and the food was served family style on the circular rotating inner table. It was a meal to remember! After over-eating, we all walked around the Mall for about an hour and gave everybody an opportunity to spend some more money. We loaded back into the cars and returned home arriving at the coach by around 11PM. Nancy was really glad to see us!

Sunday morning we attended church at Bill’s Palmdale Presbyterian Church and met several of his parishioners. We went over to his house after church for a light sandwich and to watch all the kids prepare for their flights back to school. We returned to the coach early to watch some TV and rest. At 7:30 drove back down to Del’s for an ice cream and to watch the shuttle launch. The sun had already set over the horizon, but the contrail left by the booster rockets was lit up in bright oranges and yellows from the setting sun. It was a spectacular sight to see! We watched in awe as the shuttle climbed up and then the booster rockets broke loose and began to fall back. Their engines were still burning for most of the way down as we saw them disappear below the eastern horizon.

Monday and Tuesday were days to catch up on chores around the coach. Bill had to be out of town, but Lane cooked dinner for us both nights. Tuesday was a St. Patrick’s meal of corned beef and cabbage. Excellent meals, warm hospitality, and the fun of spending time with family. The weather was very humid - at least for what we’re used to. Our electric wasn’t strong enough to run an air conditioner, but we kept fans going all the time. Nighttime temps got low enough for a light blanket, but daytime temps were in the low 80’s. We desert rats just aren’t used to this energy-draining humidity, and we both look forward to returning to our native weather.

This part of the trip has been wonderful! In spite of the terrible humidity, we have had the opportunity to see the kids and spend some time with his family. It was well worth the extra miles and time to get down here for a few days and we’ll never be able to repay the hospitality that we felt.

On Wednesday morning we packed up the motor home while enduring a light rain. We finally got everything secured and pulled out of the Elks parking lot. We drove over to Bill’s house where we picked up Father Aigian, Bill’s father-in-law, and drove him to the Orlando airport. He seemed to enjoy the ride and the experience to ride in a comfortable coach. When we arrived at the airport, he quickly disembarked with his luggage and scurried off to find a wheelchair for his journey to the departure gate. We continued on the toll road and the Florida Turnpike to I-75 and landed at Lake City at the Oaks’n’Pines RV Park. The humidity was still high and very uncomfortable, but the 50-amp electric, free wi-fi connection, and cable TV were welcome accommodations for the night. Tomorrow we’ll drive on north to Preston, GA for the Habitat Build.

Monday, March 2nd

We left Styx River RV Resort on Saturday morning with the threat of looming thundershowers in front of us. We could feel a southwesterly wind helping us along the interstate, but we could also see the dark clouds overhead. We drove into a few isolated rain showers that dumped rain on us for a few miles, then broke out into hazy sunshine. The 97 miles we drove to Defuniak Springs was an easy drive and we arrived just after 1PM (with time zone change to Eastern Time).

The Sunset King Lake RV Resort was designed for smaller RVs, not our 40’ coaches. We managed to drive to our assigned spot and I got the coach hooked up just before the skies opened up. When I finally finished getting all the necessary connections made, I walked into the coach with a shirt that was wet enough to wring out. For the remainder of the day we sat inside while the skies poured rain on us. The park had cable TV with HBO, so we saw a couple of movies before heading for bed and listening to the wind gusts move the awnings.

Sunday morning we left the park about 10AM knowing we had 190 miles to drive. We continued east on I-10 and finally stopped east of Tallahassee at the Flying J Truck Stop. As usual, the RV lanes were built as an afterthought and not designed for the ease of maneuverability of a long motor home pulling a car. We were able to top off the tank and get away from there with a minimum of hassle. We drove in to Tallahassee and turned north on US-319 headed for Moultrie. It was nice to get off the gray concrete ribbon of interstate highway and drive on a smaller roadway. The scenery became interesting and enjoyable for a change.

We drove about 70 miles to Moultrie and found the location of the Monaco Pre-Rally at the old Spence Airport. The airport was once a military base and designed like so many of the Air Force bases I‘ve seen. I found the parking location and checked in with Bob Larson, Parking Guru, and Wade Myers, the current President of Monaco International. Bob suggested that we park at the Moultrie RV Park, a Passport America (half-price) park located just a mile away. He led us to the park and we got settled in for the night. Our cost was only $15 with full hook-ups versus $20 for 30-amp electric and water at the venue site. The park also had a strong wi-fi signal so I could do some email and internet work. The owner let us know we could stay as long as we wanted, but we are committed to getting over to the parking site to start marking and measuring sites. People will start arriving on Saturday and we have to get over 270 sites marked and ready.

We stayed up later that night watching The Celebrity Apprentice since we’re in the Eastern Time Zone. We’ve been spoiled out west where we can watch prime time TV at 5PM since we get the East and West Coast channels on the satellite. The temperature got down to 32 degrees during the night, but we stayed warm with an extra blanket and a four-legged bed warmer that didn’t want to get off the blanketed bed.

I was up at 6AM and checked my emails while sipping some hot coffee. Dottie finally got up and we casually prepared the coach for moving over to the Rally site. I even had enough time to do a quick wash job and get the two days of road grime off the coach. Around noon we pulled out of the RV park and headed over to get settled on for the next ten days.

The scuttlebutt going around among those here is that Monaco is really having some financial problems. They gave everybody on the production lines an indefinite layoff. The stock is down to $.06/share, or $.40/share, depending on which source you listen to. It’s a gloomy picture and we may not have Monaco factory technicians at the Rally. We joked about how it’ll be lots of guys with their feet sticking out from under the coaches all helping each other with problems. There will DEFINITELY be a Rally, though!

We are parked on a large, grassy lot with good electricity. The temps are supposed to get down below freezing again tonight, so the facility has turned off the water for the night to avoid any freezing. If we get any rain near the end of the week, it could get mushy and I’ll be one of the first coaches to get moved off the grass and on to asphalt. We’ll just have to wait and see.