2014 Oregon Rally Circuit

Hello friends, welcome back to our story. Our last episode concluded on Saturday, July 26^th, when we arrived at the Seven Feathers RV Resort in Canyonville, Oregon. We traveled there with our friends Ray and Suzie Babcock and were going to be there to be the wagon masters for a rally of the Full Timer's Chapter of FMCA.

Sunday, July 27^th, the first official day of our rally. We didn't have any events planned until 4:00 because today was the arrival day for most of the participants. Nonetheless, we had lots to do to get ready for the rally. The plan for today was a social hour from 4:00 to 5:00 and then we were serving everyone a Fiesta Taco Salad meal, along with rice and beans. Ray Babcock is a retired firefighter and he was the house cook for much of his career. One of the great things that he makes is a taco salad. We have had it at get together's with friends for a number of years now. We had calculated what groceries it would take to make enough for 40 people, our original estimate for the rally, and bought the supplies when we were down by Medford the other day.

Ray spent a big part of the late morning, early afternoon, cooking 21 pounds of meat, hamburger and sausage, for the salad. Jackie was doing other things, like dicing tomatoes, and we were busy getting everything ready for the party. During the afternoon I went over to the covered BBQ pavilion where we were having the group tonight and did some decorating with some cheesy Mexican decorations we had been finding at dollar stores over the last few months. The pavilion was right across the road from where we were parked, so it was pretty easy. Over the afternoon we watched as our group started arriving and getting parked. Our other assistants for the rally, Peggy and Vernon Bullock arrived and parked right beside us.

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At 4:00 the rally got started and everyone showed up for social hour at the pavilion. We have a total of 18 coaches at the rally, which is 36 people. Some are friends we have known for years, like Bob and Gloria Baron, who we knew back in Indio way before we went full time. Some are friends we have met on the road or at rallies, some are people we have met once somewhere, and some were strangers to us until today. It was a really nice group of people and everyone had a great time socializing and getting to know each other. As part of our preparations we had made name tags for everyone in the rally, so everyone knew who they were talking to. I gave some welcoming remarks and kind of went over the schedule for the rally and then just went out and socialized like a good President should.

About 5:00 we and the Bullock's and Babcock's brought out the food and set up dinner. It seemed that everyone enjoyed the dinner and liked the food. Everyone ate and then hung around for another hour or so before drifting off to their own coaches for the evening. We then cleaned up the pavilion and sat outside with our three couples and chatted for a few minutes. The first day of the rally was done and seemed to be a success.

Monday, July 28^th, we had a busy day scheduled. We had made arrangements to have the big meeting room at the resort for the entire day's activities. Our first activity was at 10:00 when I held a meeting for the Full Timer's Chapter. Although we had ten couples there who were actually members of the Chapter, it was still not enough for a quorum for an official meeting, so we had an informal meeting. I still had some things I had to cover regarding chapter activities at the Redmond FMCA rally a week from now. The Chapter always hosts the ice cream social at the big FMCA rallies, and I had to try to get volunteers for that. I also wanted to get our members to come to our seminar that we host on Full Time RVing. It is always good to have a big turnout of members to show support. We also had our National Director delegate talk to the group about what was up for consideration by FMCA at the Board of Director's meeting in Redmond. The Board is made up of delegates from each chapter of FMCA and they serve as the governing body for the organization. The meetings can be a bit unwieldy as there are over 500 chapters, so there are a lot of delegates.

After the meeting we broke for lunch, coming back at 1:00 for a Bunco tournament. Bunco is a fun dice game for large groups which is very easy to learn and play and is a great way for everyone to participate in a fun activity. We were fortunate that among the couples at our rally were Warren and Marla James, whom we met last year at a rally of the Beat the Odds Chapter in Pahrump, Nevada. That was our first rally with that chapter and they always do a Bunco tournament and the James' are the ones that put it together. They have all the equipment with them in their coach and they volunteered to do Bunco for our group. We ended up with 24 people playing, which gave us six tables of four, a perfect number for Bunco. We played three sessions which took about ninety minutes and everyone had a really good time. We had set a $5 per person buy-in for the game so that we would have some money for Warren to give out as prizes later in the rally.

After the Bunco game everyone was on their own again until 4:00 for the social hour. I used that time to bring over the equipment for music and karaoke later in the evening. At 4:00 the entire group gathered in the room for social hour. Again, everyone seemed really happy to go around and talk to different people. At 5:00 we took a half hour break so people could go back to their coaches to get stuff for the pot luck dinner we had planned for 5:30. Everyone brought something and we had some really outstanding dishes. The meal went well and no one went away hungry.

About 6:30 I started playing music and doing some karaoke. Besides me there was only one other person who sang, LuVerne Underhill. She is one of the members of the Frustrated Maestro's Chapter of FMCA and is a singer at all the FMCA rallies. However, as the night went on the audience started collectively singing along with the songs, which I had up on the big screen TV, so I started doing songs that were familiar to the group and which they would enjoy singing. We partied until about 9:00 when everyone finally wandered off to their own coaches for the rest of the evening. It was a very busy, but very fun day and I think most everyone enjoyed it.

Tuesday, July 29^th, was on the schedule as a free day for the rally, when everyone could go off and do their own thing. One couple, Judi and Clark McKay, drove down to Grants Pass to take one of the jet boat rides on the Rogue River. We had done that a few years ago and had a lot of fun. Other people went out and explored the area, the Underhill's did some geocaching, and some people just stayed around their coaches for the day. Our only scheduled activity was a social hour at 4:00, at which we were going to have some prize drawings.

We made arrangements to use the meeting room again because it was quite warm and humid outside, and everyone gathered around 4:00. Jackie and I had been working over the last few months to solicit donations from various RV related companies for prizes that we could give away at our rally. We got a fair amount of response and had a number of fun and nice prizes. We just put everyone's name in a jar and drew names until we were out of prizes. The “grand prize” if you will was a refund of the $130 per rig rally fee that everyone paid. We had enough money left in the kitty after expenses to be able to give one rig their fee back. That was won by our friend Gloria Baron. We had also been selling fifty fifty tickets since Sunday afternoon and had managed to collect $175 with that. This meant a prize of $87, which was won by Marla James, and $88 going to the Wounded Warrior Project charity.

As with most rallies we also had an appointed “sheriff” who watched during the rally and levied twenty five cent fines for violations such as not having a name tag, or not singing like Sinatra (me) and other silly stuff. Ed Molinsky was the sheriff and he collected $5.25 in fines, which also went to the Wounded Warriors. Gloria donated $20 of her prize so we are able to make a donation to Wounded Warriors of $113.25, not too bad for a small rally.

After the social hour broke up a bunch of us went to the restaurant in the truck stop for dinner. The food was quite good and we had a nice relaxing dinner. We then went back to the coaches and sat outside for a short while before retiring for the night.

Wednesday, July 30^th, the last official act for our rally was to provide coffee, juice and sweet rolls for people before they left. We brought everything over to the pavilion about 8:00 and most of the rally participants came over, even if just for a few minutes. We only had this “breakfast” for about an hour before we started getting packed up ourselves. We left the RV resort about 10:00 and were on our way west to the Florence Elks Lodge on the Oregon coast, a trip of about 125 miles. We were traveling with the Bullock's to Florence and arrived around noon or so. The Babcock's and the King's were also going to come to Florence, but the King's had some work that had to be done on their coach, so they had gone up to Harrisburg, Oregon on Monday to get the repairs. They missed most of the rally. The Babcock's decided to stop for the night in Harrisburg to make sure the King's were going to be OK.

After we got settled into the Florence Elk's RV park, we stayed around the coach and mostly rested and did a little clean up. That evening we had cocktails with the Bullock's and then did some BBQ with them. By 8:30 we were resting in front of the TV. Finally a time to rest.

Thursday, July 31^st, the King's, with their coach fixed, and the Babcock's arrived at the Elks around noon, just as we and the Bullock's were going out for lunch. We left them to get set up and the four of us went to old town Florence and a place called Mo's for lunch. Mo's has a great reputation for their food, especially the clam chowder, but it was a little disappointing today. The chowder was gritty, or mealy and didn't have much flavor. Jackie said the same about her fish tacos, very little flavor. I had the fish and chips, which I thought were good, but Vernon thought were too spicy. I guess everyone's taste is different.

After lunch we drove around and did some sightseeing in the area and also tried to get some geocaches. We ended up getting one as all of the others we stopped to look for were too far out in the sand dunes for us to look for. We weren't dressed for trudging around the dunes. We then made a stop at the local Fred Meyers store for some supplies before heading back to the RV park. We had cocktails in our coach with the whole group, Babcock's, King's, and Bullock's, and then we did another BBQ meal. We chatted and enjoyed the relaxed time until they left to go back to their coaches about 8:00. We then watched TV until bedtime.

Friday, August 1^st, another month gone by. Jackie and I went out after lunch to do a few geocaches. We were able to log eight new finds and one new DNF. After caching for a few hours we headed back to the coach and relaxed. Around 5:00 all eight of us loaded into two cars and drove into town to the Elks Lodge for dinner. Friday is the big dinner night at the Florence Elks and the menu for tonight included prime rib. We have eaten here before, but it has been about five or six years. We had told everyone how great the dinner was and so forth.

I had called yesterday to make a reservation for eight at 6:00. When we got to the lodge I checked with the hostess and she had my reservation on the sheet. However, it was not destined to be a good night. It started with cocktails. We went to the lodge early so we could have a drink. When we went to the bar we found there was one server at the bar and there had to be a couple hundred people in the lodge, many of them thirsty. It took twenty minutes to get the first drink. At 6:20 we still hadn't been seated and I checked with the hostess who told me she would make sure they set up our table. About 6:30 I went back to the hostess and while I was standing there waiting I saw another host seating people that had just walked in the door. That really ticked me off and I said so to the hostess. I told them that if they couldn't accommodate us we could go somewhere else.

Finally, about 6:50 we got seated at two tables of four. We never did get our big table. We were sitting with Peggy and Vernon and the King's and Babcock's were at the other table. They took our order and forgot to bring the soup and salad for the table. They finally did get our prime rib to us and I have to say, at least that was tasty. Unfortunately, the other table got their salads, but never got their food. For some reason the server never brought their meals out. By the time we were done eating Ray was telling the server and the club manager that they could go ahead and just cancel everything because they were leaving and weren't going to pay for the salads. They finally walked out when we did without having eaten anything but their salads. The whole night was a disaster and I was very sorry I ever suggested eating there. We drove back to the coach and watched TV until bed.

Saturday, August 2^nd, We left the coach about 10:30 with the Bullock's in our Jeep and headed south about 20 miles to the town of Reedsport, Oregon. We were going to do lunch, some geocaching and see what was going on with the Dune Fest event in Reedsport. Dune Fest is an annual event for the area and is centered around the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area. This area of huge sand dunes runs about 40 miles along the Oregon coast, from Coos Bay in the south to Florence. Much of the area is open to recreational use, including dune buggies and bikes.

We got into Reedsport and settled on the Main Street Cafe for lunch. It was a nice place right on the main road in the middle of Reedsport. They had a nice menu with lots of selections. I had a Reuben that was very tasty, as well as a cup of pea soup and apple pie for desert. Jackie had chicken fried steak which she said she enjoyed a lot. We were quite happy with both the food and the service. After lunch we drove down to Winchester Bay, the little port town just south of Reedsport, which is one of the entrance areas to the Oregon Dunes. This was where the Dune Fest was centered, however, none of us really had much interest in dune buggies or dune riding, so we just started some geocaching.

We were able to get eight new finds in a couple of hours of caching. Peggy and Vernon got to number 2,300 with the last find of the day. Yea! After caching we drove back up to Florence and the RV park. About 5:00 we all went over to Ray and Suzie's coach for cocktails. It was us, the Bullock's and the King's. About 6:30 Ray served some of the taco salad stuff that was left over from the rally and we all pigged out again. It was just as good the second time! After talking for a while we finally headed home around 7:30 and just relaxed the rest of the evening.

Sunday, August 3^rd, Jackie and Peggy went to Fred Meyers before lunch to do some shopping. They were having a big clearance sale. When they got back the three of us drove a couple miles north of the RV park to pick up a geocache. The caching website, geocaching.com, has a challenge for August to get six different types of caches. Normally we don't go after different varieties of caches except traditional and virtual, however, I did find a puzzle cache nearby that was pretty easy to solve. We needed one of this type for the challenge, so we went up and got it. It was a quarter mile hike in and out to get it, but we did score the find. Yea!

Once we had this cache we went back to the RV park and then went to the Florence Elks annual family picnic being held on the other end of the property on which the RV park is built. They had several hundred people there and were charging only $5 a person for all you could eat hamburgers, hot dogs and BBQ chicken, beer, wine and soda. Quite a bargain. We got there late because of our other activities, so the food was a little cold, but they still had lots of everything. In fact, we all went home with extra chicken because they had so much. We stayed down there socializing until about 3:30. The girls had bought raffle tickets for some gift baskets, but no one in our group won anything. After we got back to the coach Jackie and I were wiped out, so we just stayed in and vegged for the rest of the night.

Monday, August 4^th, another travel day and another rally. We were packed up and out of the Florence Elks by 10:30 and on the road to Coos Bay, another Oregon coast city which was about 50 miles south. We were headed for the Mill Casino RV Park, the site of the rally of the Monaco International Chapter of FMCA. We like going to Monaco rallies because nearly everyone there is a Monaco coach owner and they always have great food, drink and entertainment. Since this one was being held in an RV park we even had full hookup sites. Yea!  On the way south to Coos Bay we were passed by a caravan of Volkswagens.  They had VW's of every type and there must have been 50 of them, all driving south to somewhere.

There wasn't anything much going on today so after we got all setup we went down to the laundry in the RV park and did our laundry. We did visit with the Bullock's for a little while and say where all the rest of our group is parked. We are scattered all over the RV park. We are parked right across from our friend John Ham, who is in charge of the parking for the rally. John and Rita are full timers but have a place in Yuma that we have been to several times. John is a big time geocacher so when we saw him in the parking lot we had to talk caching for a while. He did tell us about an event cache on Wednesday, which is one of the types of caches we need for the challenge, so I guess I will be getting up for a 6:00 in the morning event Wednesday. After we got our laundry done we went back to the coach and just relaxed the rest of the night.

Tuesday, August 5^th, is still one of the early parking days. Not too much rally activity going on today. I left the park about 10:30 and drove to the Coos Bay Jeep dealership to get the car serviced. Vernon went along with me because he wanted to look at the Jeeps they had for sale on the lot. While I was gone Jackie went down to the activities area to sign up for some craft classes and a luncheon we want to go to. She also walked through the vendor area for the first time since they just opened today.

The dealership was pretty quick and Vernon and I were on our way back home shortly after noon. I went down to the activities area to pick up Jackie and walk through the vendors too. There were only a dozen or so and half of those were selling satellite dishes, so there wasn't a whole lot to look at. Jackie and I went out and tried to do two geocaches, two of the types we needed for the challenge. We got one, but struck out on the other. About 5:00 we went to the outside area where the new coaches were on display. There were only three new Monaco Dynasty's out there, but they said there would be a couple more later in the week.

Since Monaco was sold to Allied Specialty Vehicles (ASV) they have only been building Dynasty's and Diplomat's, and most of those only on customer order. The market for RV's is nothing like it was in 2005 when we bought our coach from the “original” Monaco. ASV also owns Fleetwood RV and American RV, so what is badged a Monaco today is not really a Monaco. Different chassis, different design and engineer teams and different people building them. Not to say it's not a good coach, it probably is, it certainly costs enough. However, it is not a Monaco.

They had drinks and sandwiches for dinner tonight outside in the parking area, but unlike past rallies the drinks were not from an open bar. When you came into the rally they gave you 15 drink tickets each for the entire rally and if you wanted more they were almost $7 each. And the drinks were tiny, exactly one ounce. That's what happens when a casino takes over a rally. We had a couple of drinks and then went home, not even trying the sandwiches they had. Peggy and Vernon came over and Jackie put together some chicken enchiladas with the chicken we got from the Elks Lodge on Sunday and we had that with some rice leftover from our rally. We had a great dinner with just the four of us. They went home around 8:30 and we just watched TV until bedtime.

Wednesday, August 6^th, I was up and out of the house by 6:00 a.m. There is a geocaching challenge going on for the month of August that requires us to find at least one of six different types of caches, one of which is an event cache. Well, we knew that we could probably get the other five types sometime during the month, but event caches are not that frequent and you have to be in an area where there are a lot of caches. Lucky for us one of our caching friends, John Ham, is here at the rally and knows one of the local cachers. He arranged for this group's monthly coffee get together to be listed as an event on the caching website. Therefore, if you go to the coffee meet and sign the lot, you get credit for an event. Vernon went along with me since he is an early riser anyway and Peggy wanted to complete the challenge along with us.

The coffee shop was only a couple miles from the RV park and Vernon and I had a cup of coffee and chatted with some of the local cachers. They were a very nice group, very friendly, and there were a couple dozen that showed up for the coffee. About 7:00 we were done and headed back to the Casino with an event cache in the bag. Yea! I took a quick shower and then Jackie and I headed down to the event area for a meeting of rally mentors. The Monaco International group always sets up mentors for the first timer's at their rallies. We meet with the new people on the morning of the first day of the rally and then have dinner with them that evening. The idea is that they have someone to talk to right away and we can introduce them to other people and let them know what is going on with the rally. It is a nice way to get people involved right from the get-go. Right after the 8:30 meeting for the mentors we went down to the food and entertainment tent in the parking lot for the meeting of the first timer's. This was were we got to meet and talk to our mentee's. We had two couples assigned to us, but only one was at the first timer's meeting.

Bob and Madeline Flynn were a couple from Massachusetts, about 40 miles west of Boston. He is in the business of selling mini-buses, and they have been RVing for a lot of years. They recently bought a Monaco coach and joined Monaco International. They are our age or maybe a few years older and very nice. We chatted with them for a while and introduced them to some of our friends. After the first timer's meeting Jackie had to go to the Monaco International Chapter Board meeting as she is one of the Regional Director's for the Chapter. I went back to the coach and took care of some housekeeping and administrative issues.

When Jackie finished with her meeting she came back to the coach and had a quick lunch, then we went out to do some geocaching. We were trying to get the last couple of the six different types of caches for the challenge we are doing. We took Ray and Suzie Babcock with us and Peggy followed in her car with Bob and Joyce Mackay, a couple that had come to our Full Timer's Rally and had expressed an interest in caching. Our first cache was one we had tried to find yesterday. The cache owner happened to be at the coffee this morning and he verified that we had solved the puzzle correctly and had the right coordinates for the cache, but we just missed it, looking in the wrong place. With the new information we quickly found the cache container and logged the cache. We have now successfully completed the August challenge. Yea!

We went out and looked for a couple of other caches, finding one and having to DNF the other. Then the group decided we needed to go back to the RV park because some of them had things they had to do. About 5:00 we went down to the casino for happy hour and then dinner. Most of our group was at one table, but we were committed to dinner with our mentee's, so we were closer up front to the stage. Bob and Madeline were there and our other couple, John and Joyce Caruso, also came and sat down. John and Joyce are a little older than us, but also very

nice people. They live in Burbank, California, so Jackie had a lot to talk to them about. We had a couple of cocktails before dinner was served and listened to several local dignitaries welcoming us to the area. Dinner was lasagna, they had both meat and veggie, and some steamed veggies. It was very tasty, but there wasn't a whole lot of variety. Even the salad bar was weak on choices. After dinner the entertainment started. Tonight was a foursome called Aces Up, four young kids from the Seattle area who did country rock music. They initially came on WAY too loud and a whole group of people left. They finally turned them down a little and we listened for about a half hour before we finally left too. The music was OK, but the band sounded like they hadn't been playing together for long. It took them halfway through a song before they all got into sync and rhythm. We went back to the coach and watched TV until bedtime.

Thursday, August 7^th, not too much going on for us at the rally today. We don't go to a lot of the seminars they have because we have been to most of them once or twice at other rallies. Jackie went down for a craft class about 2:00 and I went with her and walked through the vendors once more. We picked up some free gifts they were giving away, some small Monaco engraved glasses, and also some larger glasses that we bought with the $10 vendor credit they gave each of us. After that I went back to the coach and spent the afternoon doing odd jobs.

We were supposed to go to a keg party at 4:00, but the wind has been blowing 40 mph all afternoon and the party was outside. Way to cold and uncomfortable to go out to drink beer and wine that neither Jackie nor I particularly want. We went down around 5:00 for cocktails and dinner. We sat with the Caruso's and a couple of other people for dinner and had a good time. Dinner was chicken or tri tip which was very good. I have to say that the food so far is excellent. The entertainment tonight was a group called The Young Bucs. They were a 50's do wop band and, although none of them were young, they were outstanding. We and the Babcock's were one of the dozen or so couples who stayed for the entire show, leaving about 9:00. The group also announced that they would be playing at the FMCA rally in Redmond, so we will get to see them again. After we got home we watched an hour of TV and then went to bed.

Friday, August 8^th, Happy Birthday to my mom. She would have been 88 today. At 11:30 we went to the dining tent for a luncheon and meeting of one of the chapters we belong to. The Monaco's in Motion chapter is a caravan chapter. The members put together caravans to various places which are usually a lot cheaper than the commercial caravan companies because there is no profit or salaries built into the cost. We haven't had a chance to go on one of the MIM caravans because the one's we would be interested in have not been in places convenient to us yet. One of these days we will go with them.

After the luncheon we relaxed at the coach until cocktail hour when we went back to the dining tent. We sat with our little group for cocktails and dinner, which was a Mexican fiesta tonight. The entertainment tonight was a group called “The Coats” and it was an acapella group, four guys who put on a wonderful show without a single instrument. It was probably one of the best rally entertainment shows we have seen for a long while. Tonight probably 80 percent of the people in the tent for dinner stayed for the entire show. That is unusual. Usually almost everyone is gone when the show ends. After the show we went back to the coach and watched a little TV until bed.

Saturday, August 9^th, the last day of the Monaco International rally. Jackie and I went down to the event tent about 8:30 and got in on the last of the breakfast food. We had to be there for a 9:00 meeting, so we decided we might as well enjoy breakfast too. At 9:00 the business meeting for Monaco International began. Jackie had to be there because she is one of the elected Regional Directors for the chapter. The meeting lasted about ninety minutes and then Jackie had to go into another couple of meetings. I just hung around the casino and did a little gaming while she was busy with meetings.

Jackie finally finished all her meetings a little after 2:00. We left the grounds and went to Walmart for a few supplies before heading back to the coach. At 5:00 we went down to the dining tent for cocktails and then dinner. Dinner tonight was baked salmon. The salmon was a little dry, but tasty. There was no entertainment tonight, so we were back in the coach watching TV by about 7:30.

Sunday, August 10^th was a travel day. We are traveling to the FMCA Rally in Redmond, but it is about 250 miles over some narrow, winding roads, so we all decided to break the trip up into two parts. We went today from Coos Bay across the coastal range of mountains to the town of Coberg, Oregon, on the I-5 just north of Eugene. This was about 115 miles. We, along with the Babcock's, Bullock's and King's had reservations at an RV park there. We didn't even unhook the car as we knew we were leaving in the morning for the rest of the trip. The King's have been having trouble with their coach overheating and the Babcock's had to go to their assistance this afternoon just to make sure they got to the park OK. We had a quiet evening in our coach.

Monday we all left the park in Coberg and started over the Cascades to Redmond, about 125 miles east. The King's have decided not to go to Redmond but instead took their coach across the road to the Cummins Service Center in Coberg. The engine was still under warranty and we found out later that they have a couple of problems that will take a few weeks to repair. We learned that the King's just left the coach with Cummins and took the car back to their home in California.

We made it to the fairgrounds in Redmond a little before 1:00 and we were parked and set up pretty quickly. We were lucky to get a parking spot right near the main entrance to the fairgrounds and all the activities. The Babcock's and the Bullock's were supposed to park in the handicap area, but they tried to park them right next to one of the big power generators they have set up for the rally and they didn't want to park there. They ended up bringing them over to where we were and they are now parked right next to us. Not planned, but it couldn't have worked out better. Although we are in the electric area, the power doesn’t come on until tomorrow morning, so we are running our generator for power. It is pretty hot, so we need the A/C. We got together with the group for cocktails, but everyone had a late lunch, so we didn’t do any dinner. We just relaxed in the coach until bedtime.

Tuesday, August 12^th, the only activities at the rally for today involved the members of the Governing Board of FMCA. The Governing Board is made up of representatives from each of the nearly 500 chapters of FMCA. Each chapter elects a National Director who then attends the annual Governing Board Meeting on behalf of their chapter. Jackie and I have both been to one Governing Board meeting over the past years, her's in Pomona, mine in Minnesota.

However, Jackie and I stayed busy working on the ice cream social volunteers and the Full Timer's Seminar. Both of these activities at the rally are reliant on the Full Timer's Chapter. As President I have to make sure things go as planned. I had to go over to the FMCA office this morning and pick up the volunteer ribbons and pins for those that have agreed to help with the ice cream social on Friday. I need to get them out today, however, because at 6:00 tonight FMCA is hosting a dinner for all volunteers and I don't want ours to miss out. After we got the ribbons we spent an hour or so running around the fairgrounds tracking down people who had been at the Full Timer's rally and agreed to help serve ice cream. I was also contacting the people who were going to be on the panel for the Full Timer's Seminar on Thursday. By mid-afternoon we had handed out all the ribbons we needed to and were able to relax for a couple hours.

We got together with our group for cocktails about 4:30 and then at 5:30 we went over to the building where the volunteer dinner was being held. We were fortunate that we had parking very close to the entrance of the fairgrounds because while we were having cocktails in the Babcock's coach some storms moved through and it was raining cats and dogs.

We made it to dinner without getting too wet, thanks to good umbrellas, and had a very nice dinner. We had about 30 people from the Full Timer's Chapter there who were recognized as the Ice Cream Social volunteers. After dinner we went back to Ray and Suzie's for another drink and talked until about 8:00 when everyone went back to their own coach's for the rest of the evening.

Wednesday, August 13^th, Jackie and I were headed over to the activities area just before 10:00 for a seminar about the upcoming FMCA rally in Madison, Wisconsin in the summer of 2015. We are considering going to that convention and wanted to see what they had to say about the venue. It turned out to be pretty much a waste of time. The young gal from the Madison Visitor's Bureau showed a brief video of sights in Madison, showed a couple of slides and talked for ten minutes. At the end we didn't know any more about the rally than we did to begin with.

About 12:00 we went out to lunch in Redmond with Ray and Suzie and Clark and Judi. Peggy was in the Governing Board meeting and Vernon didn't want to go without her. We went to a nice little breakfast and lunch place called One Street Over in downtown Redmond. The food was very good, as was the service and we enjoyed the place very much. After lunch we hung around the coach and got a few chores done. At 4:30 we walked over to the activities area again for the opening ceremonies. They didn't amount to much, a welcome speech by the National President of FMCA, but it was the official start of the rally.

After the welcome ceremonies we walked over to the meeting of Military Veteran’s Chapter which was followed by the Elk's International Chapter meeting. The two groups were co-sponsoring a reception after the Elk's meeting, but we and the Bullock's were the only one's of our group that came to the meetings, and we decided we would go back to Peggy and Vernon's coach for a cocktail and some snacks. Peggy and Jackie put together some cheese and cracker plates and we just sat and talked until about 8:30 or so at which time we went back to our own coach. The rain that had been threatening all afternoon never really came. We had a few light sprinkles, but nothing more.

Thursday, August 14^th, Jackie and I left the coach and went to the vendor display area about 10:30. Today was the first day for the vendors, so the place was pretty busy. At first we thought we were just going to do a quick walk through today just to see what vendors were around. However, we ran into our friends Bob and Gloria Baron who told us that they had just bought a new mattress for their RV from one of the vendors. When Jackie and I looked at it and lay down on it, we decided to buy one too. We still have the original mattress, which is now nine years old. It wasn't a really good mattress to begin with, and we have been talking for a while now about getting another. We have been looking at the Sleep Number air beds, but they are really expensive. We really liked the mattress they had on sale at the rally and it was only a little over $500. Plus, here in Oregon there is no sales tax. Yea! They are going to deliver it tomorrow or Saturday and haul off our old one for us.

We decided to drive off the fair grounds for lunch. The food booths at the fair are too expensive for the crap food that they serve. We went to Arby's in town and ate lunch and then I bought a bunch of Arby sandwiches to put in the freezer. They keep great and make good, quick lunches. After lunch we went back to the coach and started getting things together for our Full Timing Seminar this afternoon.

A little after 2:00 we took our stuff over to the seminar room and waited for the earlier seminar to finish to we could get started. By a quarter to 3:00, when our seminar was scheduled to begin the room was so full the monitors were not letting any more people in. We actually had to ask some of our friends, who were just there for support, to leave so the regular rally attendees could get in. I was the moderator for the panel and we had Jim Goetzinger, Howie Bates, Mike Neighbours, and Jackie as panelists. These are all members of our chapter. We talked for a little over an hour and had a very good response from the audience. I think we signed two new members for the chapter at the rally and a number of people took applications with them.

After the seminar Jackie and I went next door to a social that the International Area Executive Board was sponsoring for chapter officers in the International Area. They gave a little talk and handed out some nice coasters with the FMCA logo on them as gifts. They had cheese and veggie snacks after, but Jackie and I decided to just head for the coach so we could rest. It has been a busy and stressful day and we wanted to just veg out, which we did for the rest of the night.

Friday, August 15^th, Jackie and I were up early and went to a 9:45 seminar on tinnitus. The seminar was presented by a local PhD audiologist and his wife. I have had tinnitus for many years and, for the most part, it doesn't bother me. It is worst at night, when it is very quiet, but generally it doesn't bother me unless I think about it. The seminar pretty much confirmed what I already knew, that there is no “cure” for the syndrome, and they don't even really know what causes it.

After the seminar we walked over to the vendors and walked around some more. Other than a tee shirt we didn't buy anything. Around 12:15 we walked over the middle of the fairgrounds where the Ice Cream Social was to be held. As usual, the Full Timer's Chapter was providing the volunteers to hand out the ice cream. We had a really good turnout of members, actually way more than we needed, but we never turn anyone who wants to help away. Before we handed out ice cream we had a quick, two minute business meeting because I needed to get a nominating committee elected. We started serving ice cream about ten minutes early since we had a big line and the volunteers and the ice cream were ready. We handed out 1,500 ice cream sandwiches in less than half an hour.

After the ice cream social we went back to the coach for a while. Around 2:30 they came and delivered our new mattress and hauled off the old one. Yea! About 5:00 we had cocktails with our little group outside and started to do a BBQ since there was no food at the rally tonight. Although we cooked the food on the BBQ, we ended up going inside the Babcock's coach because the flies were so bad. I guess being at a fairgrounds the week after the county fair leaves a lot of flies with nothing to do.

After dinner we all headed off to the evening entertainment. Peggy and Vernon had gotten everyone VIP seating for the show tonight through their contacts with the sponsor, Fantasy RV Tours, so we were seated in the front row center. The entertainer was William Florian, a name I didn't recognize, but he was a former member of the Folk Rock group The New Christy Minstrels, a group that I do remember from the 60's and 70's. It was just him, a bassist and a drummer, but they put on a really good show. He was very interactive with the audience, talking a lot between songs and talking about his life journey. He played mostly stuff from the folk genre, but it was a really good show. After the entertainment ended just before nine we went back to the coach and watched TV until bedtime.

Saturday, August 16^th, the last day of the rally. There were very few seminars scheduled for today. They did have a general business meeting of FMCA starting at 9:00, but I had no reason to be there and no desire. About 11:00 or so Jackie and I went down to the events area and spent a couple hours walking around looking at some of the new motor homes on display and also making one last run through the vendor area. Although we looked at a lot of coaches, most in the half million range, I didn't see any that I liked well enough to be interested in, even if we had the money. The motor home industry today is way different than it was just eight or nine years ago, when we bought ours. Then coaches were selling and manufacturers were making a dozen a week in all different floor plans and decor. Now they make very few coaches on spec, most have to be ordered first, and the one's they do are all only in two or three basic floor plans. Very little innovation or imagination among any of the RV manufacturers that are left out there. Kind of disappointing.

After looking at coaches we headed back to our coach and sat outside in the shade with some of our group and just chatted. About 6:00 or so the eight of us drove into town to a Mexican place called Mazatlan. We had been there the last time we were in Redmond, about four years ago, and remembered pretty good food. We got seated right away because we didn't try to wait for a table for eight. We took two adjacent booths and split up. The food was excellent and the service was outstanding. We were very happy, and very full, when we left there and headed back to our coaches for the rest of the evening.

Sunday, August 17^th, another moving day. We were packed up and ready to leave the fairgrounds around 10:30. We are leaving Redmond and driving about 21 miles east to the town of Prineville for the last rally of this series, a two day event by the Three T's chapter. The three t's stand for “to dump, to wash, to relax” and that's what the rally is all about. They always have a two day rally immediately after any of the FMCA conventions and it gives members a couple days to decompress after what is for many, two weeks of rallying. They always have the rally as close to the convention as possible so that there is not a long drive. They go out for dinner the first night and on the second day they do a breakfast and then a pot luck in the evening. The rest of the time you are on your own to do whatever chores you need to get done.

Since it was such a short drive Jackie just followed in the Jeep and we were at the Crook County RV Resort before noon. We got checked in and setup and spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning the inside of the rig and taking care of chores. At 4:00 the group, which consists of eight rigs, sixteen people, had cocktails and chatted. There were only two couples that were new to the group that we did not already know. Peggy and Vernon were the only one's of our Redmond group that came to 3 T's. The Babcock's and the McKay's decided to stay another night at the fairgrounds before heading back south to California. We will probably not see them until winter in Indio.

After cocktails the group drove into Prineville to a restaurant called Dillon's. It was mostly a sandwich and BBQ place, but the service was great and the food was excellent. I had the rib sampler which had two beef ribs that were almost as good as Cactus Jack's in Indio, as well as three St. Louis bones and a half rack of baby backs. The St. Louis were wonderful and I had to take the babies home because I was too full. Lunch tomorrow, yea! After dinner we drove back to the coach and watched TV until we went to bed.

Monday, August 18^th, we were up and out of the coach at about 9:00 for the breakfast being put on by the 3 T's chapter this morning. This is a very short rally with few activities, so we thought it was important to try and participate. They had eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes and juice, as well as some fruit, so it was a full breakfast. After breakfast the chapter had a short business meeting, after which everyone was on their own for the rest of the day. We would come back together for cocktails and then a pot luck dinner tonight at 5:00.

After the meeting was over we packed up our laundry and headed into town to wash clothes. Before we were done with our laundry three other couples from our group showed up as well. It seems there was only one coin laundry in town. While the laundry was working Jackie and Peggy went to the Verizon store in the same shopping center to see about upgrading their phones. Peggy was able to get hers, Jackie was told she had to wait another 30 days before she could do an upgrade deal. Once the clothes were done we did a couple of other errands around town, including finding one geocache in Prineville, and then headed back to the coach for the day.

At 5:00 we joined the group at the ramada for cocktails and then a pot luck dinner. Jackie made a Chinese chicken salad which was quite good. Even though there were only eight rigs at the rally, there was a great variety of really good food. About 7:30 dinner was over and everyone drifted back to their own coaches for the night.

Tuesday, August 19^th, the rally cycle was over and it was another moving day. We and the Bullock's were leaving Prineville and heading north to a Corps of Engineers RV park located where the John Day River comes into the Columbia River. The trip was about 135 miles and we arrived at the RV park about 1:30 or so. We pretty quickly got setup in a nice spot with a view of the water and the Bullock's right next to us. The only problem with the spot is that the phone service is very poor and the satellite is iffy when the wind blows. There is a tree that blocks a little of the satellite view when the wind blows the leaves around. We are going to be here for five days, but the Bullock's are only staying for two.

We had cocktails with Peggy and Vernon at around 5:00 and then we did some steaks on the BBQ. We had a very nice dinner and some quiet conversation with them, which was great after three weeks of being around eight or more friends. About 8:30 or so Peggy and Vernon went back to their coach and we watched TV until it was time for bed.

This close of the rally cycle for 2014 marks a good time to post this episode. We will be working our way back towards our “home” in Pahrump over the next couple of weeks and will post again once we get there. Until the next time, enjoy every moment of your life. Remember the words of Abraham Lincoln, “and in the end, it's not the years in your life that count, it's the life in your years.” Bye for now.

Up The I-5 Corridor, Fresno to Grants Pass

Hi there, good to see you back. Our last chapter concluded on Wednesday, July 2^nd with our arrival at the Elks Lodge in Fresno, California. We came here to Fresno because Jackie has a cousin, Stephanie, who lives here with her husband and three kids. We arrived from the very nice 72 degree temperatures of the Central Coast to the 105 degree heat of the Central Valley. Wow, what a change. We got set up in the lodge about 3:00 and then just hung out in the air conditioned coach for the rest of the day.

Thursday, July 3^rd, Jackie was still not feeling well. She came down with a cold or allergies, I tend to think allergies, a couple days ago and is sniffling and coughing and headachey. I went out this morning and got some medications for her, and then we spent the rest of the day in the coach. Stephanie's mother Sue and her sister Cherie are coming up to spend the holiday weekend with Stephanie. Sue and Cherie are Jackie's first cousins. We were going to go over to Stephanie's house, but she called and said that they would not arrive until late afternoon, plus Jackie was not feeling up to par, so we said we would just come over tomorrow. With that we stayed in the coach and tried to stay cool while Jackie worked on getting better.

Friday, Happy 4th of July! We left the coach around 2:00 and drove over to Stephanie's house, about six or eight miles northeast. We got there and everyone was home, Stephanie, her husband Ron, their oldest Tyler, and the other two kids Brice and Madison. Jackie's cousins Sue, Stephanie's mom, and Cherie, Sue's sister. We spent the rest of the day talking and catching up with what was going on with family. The kids were playing a lot with fireworks in the street until the local police helicopter flew over and they thought they were in trouble.

Ron cooked some chicken on the BBQ in the early evening and we had a very nice, casual dinner. About 7:30 or so some friends of Tyler's, who were a little older, came over with some heavy duty fireworks, mortars and the such, and they started doing those in the front of the house. By this time there were explosive sounds coming from all over the neighborhood, so I don't anyone was paying too much attention. About 9:00 we decided it was time for us to go home, so we packed up and headed back to the coach and bed. It was a very nice holiday with family.

Saturday, July 5^th, we spent the day at home. Jackie's family was busy with baseball games and other family activities, so we didn't get with them today. Since it was still very hot today, we decided we didn't need to try and cook and heat up the coach, so about 7:00 we went out to a little taquaria just down the street for some dinner. We were about the only non-Hispanics in the place and the food was quite good. I had the carne asada and it was very tender and flavorful. After dinner we went back to the coach and watched TV until bedtime.

Sunday we had a nice morning with the Sunday paper and our coffee. About noon Jackie's three cousins came over and picked her up for a girl's lunch. The four of them went out and had a very nice lunch. They got back to the coach around three and then the four of them sat and talked for another couple of hours. Jackie really enjoys her opportunities to get together with her family. She grew up with Cherie and Sue and was around for a lot of Stephanie's growing up. The girls left around five and we had cocktails and dinner and then watched TV the rest of the night.

Monday, July 7^th, another travel day. We were packed up, hooked up and pulling out of Fresno by about 10:30, heading 140 miles northwest to Lodi, California. We try to stop in Lodi when we go through this area because we have friends there, Fern and Andy Leonardini. Like many of the people in Lodi, they grow grapes on some land they have outside of town. They grow Zinfandel grapes but they don't have a winery. They just grow the grapes to sell to private vintners. We met Fern and Andy back when we still had the house in Indio. They had a winter condo in Palm Desert and were good friends with Barry and Colleen Cohen. We grew close with them through that friendship and stop to visit when we can.

We arrived in Lodi around 2:00 and headed for the Elks Lodge where we usually stay. However, when we arrived at the lodge we found the entire parking area completely ripped up and construction people all over the place. They were replacing the pavement. Although it looked like there might have been a spot open, we wouldn't have been able to get to it any time soon. I knew of a private campground a few miles west, near Interstate 5, so we drove over there. We checked into the Flag City RV park and got set up in our spot. We will be here for three days. We were still all set up and relaxing by 3:30, plus we now have 50 amps and full hookups, so the heat will not be such a problem. Since we had a long, stressful day, we just stayed in for the rest of the day enjoying the air conditioning.

Tuesday, July 8^th, we left the coach about 11:30 or so and headed for the little town of Lockeford, about five miles east of Lodi, where Fern's daughter Lisa owns a restaurant called The Country Cafe. She has had the place for many years and we have talked about going there, but never made it. Today we had made arrangements to meet Fern there for lunch. We arrived around noon and met with Fern and Lisa, as well as several other employees. We had a nice lunch and had a chance to talk quite a bit with Fern. I actually had dinner, liver and onions, and it was outstanding. Jackie had the chicken fried steak & eggs which she said was OK. We visited with Fern for a couple of hours before we left the restaurant to do some exploring.

The first thing we did was a little bit of geocaching. We haven't been caching much lately because of the heat, but today was not quite so hot. We only cached for a short while but got four new finds. We then spent a hour or so exploring the countryside east of Lodi, which, like most of the rest of the area, is mostly vineyards. We then drove into downtown Lodi, a very quaint little area, and walked around for another ninety minutes of so. About 5:00 we drove over to the Leonardini's house for cocktails. Fern's husband Andy is having trouble with emphysema, so he doesn't get out much any more and we wanted to visit with him while we were here. We brought some nice cheeses we bought in Lodi and some crackers and had a very nice visit with Fern and Andy. About 7:30 we left and headed back to the coach where we spent the rest of the evening with the TV.

Wednesday was a stay at home day. Jackie is getting better, but wanted to take a another day to rest and try to shake the sickies she has. Thursday was our next travel day. We were on the road about 11:00, headed north to Carmichael, a suburb of Sacramento. The trip was only about 47 miles, but we hit some heavy traffic once we got into the middle of Sacramento. Even with that we were parked and setup at the Carmichael Elks Lodge by 1:00. We are going to be here for five days, mainly visiting some of Jackie's long time friends. Jackie used to work with Kathy Yarbrough back in the 80's and has known her daughter Julie since she was ten. Julie now has a five year old, Bella, whom Jackie adores.

About 5:30 we left the coach and drove to a restaurant called Pete's Original Restaurant and Brewhouse to meet with Kathy and her family. Kathy and her husband Bill arrived first and Julie and Bella came along a few minutes later. The food at Pete's was pretty good. Both Jackie and I had pasta dishes, mine was shrimp in a tomato basil sauce, hers was linguine with chicken. Her's was pretty spicy, but she liked it. Mine was also very tasty with a lot of shrimp. We had a great visit with everyone and stayed for a couple of hours. The only problem was about halfway through dinner a musician they didn't know was going to be there that night started playing. That made conversation difficult, but he took a couple of breaks, so we still had a chance to talk. We finally left just before nine and headed back to the coach for the night.

Friday, July 11^th, Happy Craps Day. (7-11, duh) We left the coach after lunch and Jackie got a quick haircut. After that we did some geocaching since it was supposed to be a cool day today. We managed to get a half dozen new finds in a few hours, including another milestone, number 6,500! Yea. After caching we stopped at Walmart and Sam's Club for a few things before heading back to the coach. We had thought that Kathy and Bill might come over for a while, but they called and told us that they were tired and wouldn't make it, so we just had dinner and relaxed with the TV until bedtime.

Saturday we stayed in for most of the day, another recovery day for Jackie. Around 5:00 we drove over to Kathy and Bill's house for dinner. They live in Citrus Heights, the next neighborhood north of Carmichael, only about five miles away. They live in a retirement community of park models and have a nice little place. They even had wild turkeys wandering around on the grass and in the streets. They had ordered pizza and we had pizza and salad for dinner. It was a very nice dinner and we talked before and after. Around 9:00 we decided we needed to head for home, so we left and drove back to the coach and stayed in the rest of the night. Sunday was a stay at home day also.

Monday, July 14^th, we went out after lunch and did our laundry and also stopped at Walmart for supplies. About 5:00 we walked over to the Lodge for drinks and dinner. Bill and Kathy met us in the bar and we had a cocktail then had the Lodge's Monday night Spaghetti dinner. It wasn't too bad, the meat sauce was very good. It wasn't an all you can eat like some lodges, but the plates were big enough that you got plenty and didn't need to go back. You also got salad and garlic bread, so you were not going to leave hungry. After dinner we had another drink and chatted with Bill and Kathy. We left and went back to the coach about 8:00 and stayed in the rest of the night.

Tuesday, July 15^th, another travel day. We packed up and left Carmichael about 10:30 and started north on I-5 headed for Corning, California, about 125 miles or so. We were going to stay at the Casino there, which has an RV park, mostly because we wanted to get the coach serviced at the Speedco in Corning. Speedco is like a Jiffy Lube for big rigs. We have used them for the last six years for our annual oil and filter service. We were also meeting our friends Ray and Suzie Babcock there.

We arrived at the Speedco and Ray was already there in line. Then he told us that Speedco no longer carried the brand of filter recommended by Cummins, the Engine manufacturer and the I had never heard of the brand they did carry now, Baldwin. Then, a few minutes later he called again and said it didn't matter anyway, because they didn't have the Baldwin filters he needed in stock. So, we both stopped and got fuel and then went to the RV park and checked in.

After we got set up for our two day stay here in Corning Jackie and I drove 20 miles north to the town of Red Bluff to take her to an urgent care. She has a boil or cyst on her lower back that has been bothering her and we wanted to get it looked at. We waited an hour and a half for the nurse to tell her that she had a cyst, but unless we were going to be around for a week or so she couldn't cut it out because that required followup care. She gave Jackie some advice on treatment, warm compresses and patience mostly, and sent us on our way.

We drove back to the RV park and had cocktails with Ray and Suzie about 5:30. Around 6:30 we went to the Rolling Hills Casino for dinner. Tuesday's is senior night at the buffet, two for one, so it was inexpensive. The food was not too bad for buffet fare, but not much a a variety of choices. After dinner we gamed for a half hour or so with both Jackie and I coming out pretty much even. We went back to the coach and relaxed the rest of the night.

Wednesday, July 16^th, Jackie colored her hair in the morning and then after lunch we went out with Ray and Suzie to the grocery store. Our friends Clark and Judy McKay arrived at the RV park this morning. They are also going up to Mineral tomorrow for Peggy and Vernon's get together. We had cocktails with everyone at 5:00 and then the six of us went into town for dinner. We ended up at a Chinese place that had very good Yelp reviews, called the Flying Boat. It was in a kind of dumpy, industrial type building, not a lot of ambiance, and the service was one woman. It was a menu restaurant, not a buffet, but they had a very extensive menu selection. When the food came out we astounded at the amount of food. The plates were very large and covered with food. I had a combo that had fried rice, sweet and sour pork and chicken chow mien. The other plates were equally large. Each meal also came with egg rolls and soup. I don't think that you could have gotten more food if the place had been a buffet. We all ended up with take home boxes with more than enough food for another meal. After dinner we stopped at the casino again for about an hour. Both Jackie and I ended up down about $20, not too bad for an hour of gaming. We then went back to the coach and relaxed the rest of the evening.

Thursday, July 17^th, we packed up and left Corning about 10:00 and headed northeast to the little town of Mineral, about 63 miles. This is the town of 123 that sits near the entrance to Lassen National Park and is where Peggy and Vernon have their home in the woods. When we came here last year in July the coach was having overheating problems because it is a very steep grade and it was hot. The Jeep we have now is pretty heavy, so we have to be really careful on steep and/or long grades. Since it was a fairly short trip, we just didn't hookup the car. Jackie drove behind me and we made the trip without any serious heating. The coach got warm, but not alarmingly hot like it did last year. Clark and Judy and Ray and Suzie followed along behind us.

We got to the Mineral RV park a little before noon and got checked in and setup. It took me a long time to get setup because where we are parked I can't use the satellite dish on the roof. I had to put out my portable dish in the field behind the coach, and then had to reconfigure the whole TV system because it wasn't HD. I finally got everything setup and working by about 3:30.

Around 5:00 we headed over to Peggy and Vernon's house, only a half mile from the park, for the first evening of party, which is going to go on all weekend. Tonight was grill your own meat, so Jackie and I brought some steaks and she made wasabi cole slaw for a side dish. There were probably 30 people there, most of whom we knew, either as RV friends, or from last year's party here. We had a really nice night of dinner and conversation and finally left to go home about 9:00. Peggy and Vernon's nine year old granddaughter Trinity wanted to come and spend the night with us. She adores Jackie and also likes our cats, and this would be the only night she could stay with us because her dad is coming up tomorrow. She had a nice night on the coach and seemed to enjoy being there with us.

Friday, July 18^th, we were up and out of the coach by about 8:45. Yes, that's correct, we went to breakfast! Part of the reason was that we had been tasked by Peggy to provide the juice for breakfast this morning, so we had to get up and deliver it. I suspect it may have been part of a larger plot to get us up early, but I can't say for sure. Breakfast was great, egg and bacon sandwiches with all kinds of goodies to go with them. About 10:00 we left and went back to the coach where we relaxed until we went back over to Peggy's about 5:00 for dinner.

Tonight was pot luck and Jackie had made her taquito casserole, which is pretty tasty. There was lots of good food and no one was going hungry. There were most of the same people from last night, along with several additional families, bringing the total closer to 35 or 40. I chatted for a while with a California Highway Patrol sergeant that I met. Around dark they made a big campfire and toasted marshmallows. A few people tried making smores, with mixed results. We finally left to go back to the coach around 9:00 again.

Saturday, July 19^th, the biggest night of the party. Over 40 people in the yard. Fortunately, the Bullock's have a big deck and a huge yard, so there was plenty of room. We went down to the house early, about 3:00 so I could get the music equipment set up. We are doing music and karaoke tonight, just as we did at the party last year. I had everything up and working in about 45 minutes and we then just hung out and visited with people.

About 5:30 we went back to the coach briefly so Jackie could make the Ceaser salad she was bringing tonight. Peggy and Vernon had bought a bunch of baby back ribs for tonight and Vernon, his daughter Katie and his son Larry were busy cooking them on the BBQ. They also had made some “chicken in a barrel” for tonight. These were half chickens hung inside a 55 gallon drum that had a charcoal fire in the bottom. Around 6:30 dinner was served and it was wonderful. The ribs were great and the chicken was outstanding.

After dinner we started the music and we played and sang until almost 10:00. Besides myself there were only three other singers, but they were all very good. Peggy, Jackie, Judi and Suzie got up and did their version of Tequila wearing their blinged up blue Los Algodones jackets. They will be wearing them again at our rally next week. All in all it was a great day and a wonderful, fun evening.

Sunday, July 20^th, we had a relaxing day around the house. I went over in the late morning and packed up all my music stuff at Peggy's house and brought it back to the coach. About 5:00 we went over to Peggy and Vernon's for dinner again. Tonight was left overs night and we ate up some of the stuff left over from the other dinners this weekend. The group was down to about a dozen now with most of the people having left. We stayed until about 9:00 and then went back to the coach for the rest of the evening.

Monday, July 21^st, the RV park group is now down to just us and the Babcocks. The four of us drove to the town of Chester, about 35 miles south. Chester sits on the shore of Lake Almandor and is a cute little town. We had lunch at a place called the Copper Kettle Cafe. The food was pretty good and you got a lot for your money. After lunch we did a few geocaches, getting three before we started hearing thunder and decided it would be wise to quit. We then drove back to the RV park and rested for a while.

About 5:00 the four of us went over to Peggy and Vernon's and had a nice quiet evening with just the six of us. We had cocktails and then did some hot dogs on the BBQ. We had those with the last of the leftovers. We left about 8:30 and went back to the coach for the evening.

Tuesday, July 22^nd, happy birthday to my middle child, Tracie. Today was travel day. We packed up and left Mineral around 10:00 and drove down the hill to Redding. The Babcock's also left and followed us down. We went into the Redding RV park for a one night stay. We didn't even hook up the utilities other than the electric. We even left our car hooked up to the back of the coach. Ray unhooked his car and he and the girls went into town for pedicures. I stayed at home and working on some of the paperwork for our rally next weekend. Jackie wasn't feeling too well, so I had cocktails with Ray and Suzie and then went back to our coach. Jackie and I had dinner by ourselves and watched TV until bedtime.

Wednesday, July 23^rd, another travel day. We and the Babcocks left Redding about 9:30 and started the 165 mile drive north to Valley of the Rogue State Park in Oregon. The park is located off I-5 between Medford and Grants Pass and is one of our favorite stops in Oregon. We had reservations, so we were able to drive in and get set up by about 2:00. The Babcocks are in the next space over, the McKays are just down the street, and our friends Bob and Gloria Baron are just around the circle. The Barons are also coming to our rally next weekend. After we got set up Suzie and Judi came over and Jackie and they started putting together the “goodie bags” for our rally. After about an hour they had all 19 bags pretty much ready. The only thing they have to do is add anything that might have come in the mail to the RV resort. We will be there on Saturday, the day before our rally starts.

About 5:00 we and the McKays met in Ray and Suzie's coach for cocktails. While we were there Bob and Gloria walked by, so we invited them in too. We all sat and talked until about 6:30 when everyone went off to their own coaches for dinner. After dinner we watched TV and chilled until bedtime.

Thursday, July 24^th, we were up and out of the coach by about 11:30 for a shopping day. We rode with Ray and Suzie in their car and Clark and Judi followed in theirs, and we all headed to Medford. Our primary goal was to buy all the stuff we needed to make the Sunday evening taco salad meal for our rally in Canyonville. We are feeding 38 people and needed a lot of stuff. We all first stopped at a Carl's Jr. and had lunch, then we were off to Costco for some supplies. After we loaded up at Costco with what we could find of what we needed, we went next door to Walmart. By the time we were done we had close to $300 worth of stuff for the rally, fortunately well within our shopping budget with the rally fee revenue.

After shopping we headed back to the park and worked to find a place to store all this stuff for a couple of days. We managed to get most of the stuff that needed refrigeration in our fridge, and the Babcocks found room for the rest in theirs. Around 5:00 we got together with the Babcock's and McKay's at Clark and Judi's coach. A little later Judi served a nice Mexican meal of homemade beef enchiladas, beans and rice. For dessert we had tapioca pudding, something I haven't had in a long time. Around 7:30 we were back in our coach watching TV for the rest of the night.

Friday, July 25^th, Happy Birthday to Jackie's brother Dennis. The six of us all drove into Grants Pass, in our own cars, to do laundry. We found a nice laundromat and finished all the clothes in a couple of hours. The six of us then went to lunch at a place called Taprock. This is a very nice restaurant and brewhouse right on the Rogue River in the middle of Grants Pass. We have been here before. Although the food was pretty good for the most part, the service was a little iffy. The servers were nice enough, but things were getting mixed up in the kitchen. We got a couple of wrong orders and the food came out within five minutes of the soup, and some of the stuff was not hot. They need to work on the details if they want to be considered a top quality restaurant.

After lunch Jackie and I went to Walmart for some last minute stuff we couldn't get in Medford yesterday. We then headed back to the RV resort to put stuff away. We got together with the group at 5:00 for cocktails. We were back in the coach and watching TV by 7:00. We didn't make any dinner because of the large, late lunch we had.

Saturday, July 26^th, another travel day. We and the Babcock's left the State Park about 10:30 and headed north to Canyonville, about 60 miles. We arrived just before noon and got settled into our spot at the Seven Feathers RV Resort. This is a very nice RV park that is part of the Seven Feathers Casino complex in Canyonville. We are here at this park to be the wagon masters for a three day rally for the Full Timer's Chapter of FMCA. I am the current President of the chapter and Jackie and I decided to put on this rally. The Babcock's and Bullock's are our assistants. The Bullock's will be up tomorrow, which is when the rally officially starts. It is a three day rally and we are expecting 18 coaches to attend.

After we got setup and relaxed for a while we and the Babcock's drove over to the casino to have dinner and do a little gaming. Both Jackie and I came out even after an hour of gambling. We had a nice dinner and were back in the coach before 9:00.

The Rally we are putting on starting tomorrow is the opening rally for this summer's rally tour. It has been about three weeks since we published a blog, and this marks a good place to close out this chapter. The next one will be a couple weeks down the road and will cover the four rallies that we are going to attend in Oregon this year. Until the next time, be happy. Remember the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, “For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.” See you next time.