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.