Friday, October 12, 2012
Today Tony got up to head to work again, thank goodness not quite so early. It was an in-service day, but the band still had practice. I got up a little later and began work, and worked until after noon. I then decided to venture out and visit with folks for a bit, until I had an email to take care-of... more work. I'm not complaining, it really is wonderful to work where ever the Mammoth goes!
While visiting, the other owners of an ElkRidge asked if they could see our coach, so I gave a tour. They really liked the floorplan, and what we'd done to it. When we came out of the rig, we had NEIGHBORS! Finally! We had been separated from the rest of the Rally-goers by the park's restroom facilities, and felt a little exiled. So now we had neighbors, Gary and Annie, in their BigHorn. I visited with them for a bit, then decided I needed to eat dinner and get to Wal-Mart to pick up our potluck dinner ingredients.
I left and stopped at the Dairy Palace, they supposedly have "world famous hamburgers." They had an unusually varied menu, including Salmon, Catfish, and Bison burgers, Mexican food, salads, desserts, and 32 flavors of Blue Bell Ice Cream. I ordered a burger and some fried mushrooms. They were good, but not outstanding, in my opinion.
After returning to Mammoth, I hurried to get ready for our potluck Dessert Meet and Greet. We had purchased fried pies from Bakers Ribs yesterday, so I cut them in half for people to be able to eat. We had Apple, Peach and Pecan, but somehow there were much fewer of the Pecan already?? So I didn't take those.
At 7PM the Meet and Greet began, with a message from the Mayor of Canton, and his wife who spoke on the Santa's Kids charity, our 'Heartland Gives Back' initiative. There was some more club business, then introductions... then time to eat! There were many desserts and all I tried were delicious. I then visited with some of the other HL owners. After a bit, the Wii games got rolling, and we all had a good time laughing and playing. About 10:00pm, most folks were deciding to call it a night, so we headed back to our rigs. Tony got home about midnight from his football game.
Saturday, October 13, 2012
This morning, we got up and started getting breakfast ready, when we discovered tiny sugar ants in the cabinet, attracted by the syrup. We worked to rid them and cleared out the rest of the food, then I set an ant bait in the cabinet, for any that returned.
After breakfast Tony went and did some visiting and picture-taking. About 11:15 we met to take our group picture in front of Terry's rig with the Heartland Banner, then after a few quick coach tours, we all gathered up to head over to ExploreUSA just a few miles away. They had cooked hotdogs and brats, and they were ready when we got there. It was good food, and they even had seating! We got to spend about an hour, wandering around their lot, looking at rigs. All are open, and it's nice to get to compare brands side-by-side.
They even pulled some of the newest Heartland products up under their covered area, and had them hooked up to power, so we could see the lights, AC etc. running. There are new Landmark, BigHorn, Sundance interiors and exteriors. We had seen them at the RV show, but it was nice to see them outside, in their natural environment, without so many people in the way.
Landmark interior
Landmark slide facia
Landmark bathroom
Bighorn new front cap
After our time at the RV dealer, we headed back to the RV park, and rested for a bit. Many folks were out visiting, since the weather was nice. Tony went out to visit, and shortly after handling some work, I went out as well. Many were touring each-other's coaches, so we got to see a couple of Landmark, BigHorn, ElkRidge, NorthTrail, and Road Warrior. It's really neat to see how others decorate and make it their own!
After a while we returned to our rig to get ready for the potluck dinner. At 6:30, we went over to help set up, but everything was done! Terry said they didn't need help, so we just hung out until others arrived. We had a great meal, and door prizes! We ended up with a $10 gift certificate for Camping World! The big prize was a Tire Pressure Monitor system from TST, worth over $300, with everyone's name in the hat... but we didn't win.
Getting ready to potluck!
After those festivities, we decided to play games and chat. Dan, Tony, Gary, Annie and I visited for a long time about winter camping, and other rig-related issues.
We called it quits about 10:30 again. Overall, a good time! As we left, we could see lightning in the distance, so I started watching the radar. Strong storms were headed our way, but it looked like it would be early AM before they arrived.
Sure enough, 1:45 my iPhone went off, suggesting storm warnings in the area. About 3:00am, the thunder woke me up, and from 3:00 to 4:00 I listened and watched the storm blow in. Luckily it was just heavy rain and some wind, nothing severe.
Sunday, October 14, 2012
At 8:30, when I finally woke up, Tony was already dressed and ready to head to the rally continental breakfast. I told him to go and bring me back something. By 9:30 he still wasn't back, so I figured he was visiting. I texted him, and although the food was gone, he said he was having a good visit. I ate in the rig and started getting ready for us to leave. It was surprising how spread-out we got for just 4 days! About 10:30 Tony arrived, and we finished packing and getting ready to head home.
Once the rig was hooked up and ready to go, we took our Eileen pic and went over to the group to say our good-byes. Many were staying over another day, so we were sad to have to leave. We gave hugs and handshakes, and by noon (checkout) we were pulling out.
Eileen at Mill Creek Ranch Resort... Many Heartlands in the background!
Tony pulling out (taken from our site)
We got home fairly quickly (it's about a 40 min drive!) And collapsed for the afternoon, then unloaded the Mammoth and Tony took her back to storage. We had a great time at the Rally, it went very smoothly and Terry and Carol did a great job as Chapter Leaders.
