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.