All packed up and ready for the road, we left North Miami Beach. We managed to get through to the highway without much traffic and no horn-blowing. We had an easy ride to Vero Beach where we stayed at Sunshine Travel Resort for one night.
Then we drove an even shorter distance to Orlando RV Resort, a Thousand Trails park we stay in for free. The two nights there gave us time to buy lots of groceries and do a few loads of laundry. I like this laundry room – clean, good machines (with separate machines for campers with pets). We were preparing for a few more days on the road and then our stay at the rally where we will not have water or sewer and we don’t want to leave the rally for groceries.
In Orlando, our next site campers, Bill and Karen, were also going to the rally. This will be the largest RV rally we have attended – the International Family Motor Coach Association – with almost 2000 rigs attending.
As we drove to our next quick stop at Stephen Foster State Park, we saw lots of rigs heading the same way we were. We stopped on Monday for gas at a Pilot truck stop. Pulled up next to us was another Tiffin like ours. With so many motor homes heading to Perry, it was an easy conversation that we would all be attending the rally. This couple, Martha and Bill, were also spending that night at Twin Oaks Campground. Martha and I briefly spoke, I gave her our card, and we agreed to find each other after we parked at the rally. Casual friendships happen like this all the time on the road.
We arrived right on time for our scheduled rally parking. There was a short delay getting us into our site, but we liked the convenient location we had in Lot #1, just a few rows down from the end of the lot. We hooked up the electric (no sewer, no water so we were using our holding tanks – which is really not a problem for a few days). Martha and Bill were camping a few rows over from us.
Martha called and we agreed to get together that afternoon at our RV site. They brought over their chairs and drinks and we had a few hours of conversation and camaraderie on a beautiful Perry, Georgia afternoon. They have attended more rallies than we have and shared their knowledge and expectations with us.
Martha and I had tickets for the Ladies Luncheon, and we agreed to go together. It’s always a good approach to enter one of these things with at least one other person. Neither of us is shy but it is intimidating to find a table to sit at when it seems like everyone else is holding seats for their friends. Martha had also arranged to go with a friendly vendor and I had asked Gloria whose RV was across from us. Then the four of us befriended a woman sitting alone who was very happy to sit with such a nice group of women. I think the simple bonding we did before the lunch made it one of the best of these events I have attended. Such pleasant, up-beat conversations we had, along with good food and music.
These rallies are jam-packed with seminars, entertainment and vendor displays. Doug and I spent hours pouring over the offerings and planning our separate days. There were way too many good seminars to attend – we had to divide and conquer. Plus, while Doug went to the technical workshops, I found some great crafting groups to meet with – new ideas for quilts on the road, a fiber artists group that may expand into on on-line group, diamond painting (something new for me) and a greeting card seminar.
Doug and I managed to meet for lunch in the Town Center Square Tent every day (and listened to the bands and choral groups that entertained then). We started some days with donuts and coffee and more entertainment while we went over our ever-changing schedules.
We ate at our RV for dinners, while we compared notes on our day’s fun and rested up for the evening festivities. We laughed with a humorist on Wednesday night, enjoyed the Coasters, the Drifters and the Platters on Friday night and listened to the horns and swing music of Louis Prima, Jr. on Saturday night.
The amount of walking we did more than took care of the donut and ice cream calories. From Tuesday afternoon through Sunday morning, I tracked well over 21 miles walking around the beautiful Perry Fairgrounds and back and forth to our RV. It is well-known that I have a poor sense of direction and some of those miles were me being lost between seminars.
We learned a lot, met wonderful fellow travelers, joined RVillage and Tiffin Motorhomes Lifestyle Facebook groups and considered joining the Full Timers Chapter. Some folks travel from rally to rally but we’re not in the category. We’ve agreed they are valuable activities in our life, but will probably go to one large rally every other year. It’s tempting to attend many – for instance the next big FMCA rally is the 100th year anniversary in Minot, North Dakota, but our planned travel misses that by a month and there is another rally in Tucson which we may attend on a day pass depending on our volunteer work schedule. So much to see and do – so many plans – we just can’t fit it all in nor do we want to fill our time that intensely. So we enjoyed this Peachy in Perry Rally and we’ll see what happens in the future.
After all that fun, we needed a rest and Camp Lake Jasper in Hardeesville, South Carolina was just the place to do it. We filled in our food supplies and got our laundry done. The weather has been spotty with a nice warm and sunny day in between cold, damp and rainy days. We take the good with the bad and try to enjoy seeing this part of the county.
Our next big excitement is visiting my Aunt Camille in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina. Can’t wait to spend time with her!