February 20, 2008
Lancaster, CA
Well, the rally is in full swing and we’re having a pretty good time, except that winter weather has descended on the Antelope Valley. We had rain overnight and the winds have picked up in inverse proportion to the temperature. In other words, it's been nippy out there! Temperatures dropped to the 40s today -- ouch!
The rally is going quite well. Each coach in attendance is entitled to two “free” repairs from the manufacturer. I had a new keypad for the entry door installed and tried to get the switch for the lights in the under-coach storage bays fixed. To be more precise, I got the switch replaced, but the bay lights still don’t work as there appears to be a short somewhere in the circuit. “Free” rally repairs means that they’ll work on something for only so long before giving up. I’ll have to trace the circuit from fixture to fixture when we get home.
We fulfilled our duties as mentors for first-time attendees, helping to welcome one of the 100+ couples who were attending their first rally. We met them at the “first-timer’s meeting” and had dinner with them last night. We lucked out a bit, since they already knew people attending and didn’t need as much guidance as true “newbies”.
We visited with the vendors in attendance and managed to buy a few things (as expected). Surprisingly (and thankfully!), there were no big ticket items. I picked up a few window “weep covers” (they fit in the channels of the windows and let any moisture drip out) and a can of dry-lube, and got all the fittings to add an outlet for the central vacuum to the basement. This will allow me to leave the small shop-vac in the bays home, and cost all of $9. My kind of investment!
The rains started around 3:51 AM today. No, make that the rains started at exactly 3:51 AM today. It started raining so hard it woke me up. I was just falling back to sleep when Merlin started making what we call “out noise”. He has this part grunt, part bark thing that he does when he needs to go out. In general, we really appreciate that. At 4:45 AM, not so much. On the other hand, it sounded like the rain had stopped, so I took that opportunity while it presented itself.
You’d think that retirees at a fun rally wouldn’t have much of a schedule to manage. You’d be wrong. Breakfast starts at 7:00 AM. Sign-up for services from the vendors starts at 8:00 AM. Seminars start at 9:00 AM and last until 3:30 PM or so. At any time during the day, a vendor could call and say “I’m here” so you can run back to the coach and make sure Merlin doesn’t bite anyone. “Happy Hour” starts at 3:45 PM. The cocktail and salad bars open at 5:00 PM with dinner around 6:30 PM. Entertainment starts around 7:30 and lasts until 9-something. Get some rest, fella; it all starts again tomorrow.
Speaking of tomorrow, we’ll start with a visit from the folks who service the blinds we had installed last year. We have a couple that need adjustment, so they’ll be here for an hour or so. If the weather cooperates (i.e., no rain and/or wind), I’ll get out and take some photos around the grounds. If it’s like today (showers on and off and 30-40 MPH winds), you’ll just have to take my word for how nicely the Fairgrounds is set up for the rally.
We’ve toured the new “show coaches” and haven’t found a reason to trade ours in (thankfully!), although we always get some ideas about future modifications we may want to make. We have spoken to quite a few people who have an interest in a trip to Alaska in 2009, so we’re continuing to explore our options in that area. We also found a group that does 3-4 member-led caravans each year, and they’re thinking about things like California wine country (Napa/Sonoma) tours, so it seems like something that’d be right up our alley. We’re 80% of the way to making a decision to join the 50-day 2009 Alaska trip, so we’ll see what comes of those discussions. It’s not like us to plan that far in advance, but it might be worth it “just this once”…
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