On the road again!

February 18, 2008
Antelope Valley Fairgrounds, Lancaster, CA

We’ve been quite busy since my last post, and I need to catch up. We wrapped up Geri’s “Day of the Dentists” on Thursday just like clockwork. She had the root canal done and our regular dentist put in a temporary post and acrylic crown. We got home just a little before 5:00, walked the pups and fed them, changed clothes quickly and met Ana and Larry at the restaurant selected for Valentine’s Day dinner. Dinner was good, as it always is with our friends. Service was spotty but, hey, it’s always that way on a day like this. We only had to call the manager over once to chase down the waiter, Joey. Since they’re Hillary supporters, Larry suggested we call him “Joey Obama”. Ouch!

Friday, we brought the coach over to the house in the morning and finished most of the loading. In the afternoon, Jed Balser, an ex-colleague from Towers Perrin and EDS, stopped by to visit. He was in town to visit his father, and we were able to schedule a quick visit. He’s doing OK; suffice it to say I continue to not miss the rat race.

Saturday morning, we finished loading the coach (refrigerator, DVR, etc.) and hit the road around 11:00 AM. What a joy to be back on the road again! We stopped near the Arizona-California border for lunch, and rolled into Indio mid-afternoon. Wayne and Eva were there to meet us and we were parked in their driveway in no time. We did a little shopping and then had dinner at their neighbors, Will and Diane. Diane made a fabulous lasagna dinner and a wonderful chocolate dessert. We brought fixings for “Al-tinis” and some Chianti, and Wayne had Café Patron after dessert. We all had a great time.

On Sunday, we had planned to drive from Indio to the rally in Lancaster, about 3 hours. We dumped the tanks and filled up the water, left on schedule around 9:00 AM, stopped at a truck stop near Palm Springs to top off the fuel, and were on the road. Wayne had made arrangements to meet up with another Monaco couple, Jerry and Liz Brannon, along the way, and our three coaches rolled into Lancaster just before 1:00 PM. We saw our friends Paul and Dorna on the way in; they were volunteers working at the gate.

We were parked quickly and had everything deployed, then were able to relax for a bit. For dinner, Wayne and Eva had a pork tenderloin and Jerry and Liz had a Costco Chicken, so we combined everything for one meal. Jerry and Liz hosted us in their coach, and even had some banana nut cake with a candle for Geri’s birthday!

Today, we all went to a place called “Crazy Otto’s” for breakfast. They feature HUGE omelets for breakfast. Geri had corned beef hash and I had half-portion of a bacon and chicken liver omelet (never had that before) that came hanging off the plate (who could eat a whole one?). On top of that, they offered a 20% discount for Monaco Rally attendees. As retirees, how could we go wrong?

This afternoon, we took it easy. I went for a bike ride around the grounds and met up with several people we know: Rod and Jean Bahnson, Bob and Marlene Rea, and Bill and Sandy Crawford are parked on the other side of the grounds. Later in the afternoon, we visited the vendor booths (I picked up a few parts I needed, and talked to a guy running a caravan to Alaska in 2009) and then hung out for a while at the “happy hour” put on by the sponsors (Monaco and key dealers). With the large breakfast and the “finger food” offered, we didn’t even need dinner! We caught up with Lew and Dottie Anderson, Andy and Linda Clarkson, and Bob and Jane White over snacks.

Tomorrow is the official start of the rally. We signed up to be “mentors” for first-time attendees, since we had such a good experience ourselves two years ago, so we’ll head off to find out what that’s all about tomorrow morning at 8:15. After that, it’ll be seminars for the next few days and somewhere in there, Monaco will be out to the coach to replace a couple of parts “on the house”. It’s a pretty good deal, all things considered.

I’ll also try to get out for some pictures tomorrow, so I’ll have some things to post later in the week. We’ll be here until Saturday morning…