Saturday, 4/16/11: Rally Day 5, more seminars, cruisin', catered meal, and dance, dance, dance

Today’s seminars started an hour earlier at 8 AM!  That's early for us these days.  We're usually up by 6:30 or 7:00 – our dog, Katie, is our wake up call – but we enjoy waking up leisurely and don’t tend to get out the door until 10:00 – 11:00.  Terri actually set the alarm for 6:00...not something I was too thrilled about.  We attended all of the scheduled seminars today including Boondocking/Solar, Choosing Campgrounds/RV Parks, Packing Your RV For Full-Timing, and Traveling to Alaska by RV. 

Open rig walk throughs were available in the afternoon.  We chose not to open ours up because of the pets.  Instead, we jumped in the car and headed out to, once again, check out the Spring Pigeon Forge Grand Rod Run.  When we got to the top of the hill, at the campground entrance, the southbound lanes were almost at a standstill.  We needed gas, so we turned right and headed north to find some cheap gas (an oxymoron these days).  Then we headed back south to head on down to Pigeon Forge.  It took us almost a half hour just to get back to the campground entrance.  We both figured it would take way too long to get there, so we just headed back home.  We decided to park the car at the rec center, walk up the hill to Parkway, and walk south a bit to see if we could see any cars along the way.  We were just about to the top of the hill when Harry and Jessica drove by.  As soon as they got to the top of the hill and saw the traffic, they turned around.  They said they were going out to shop for some souvenirs.  Needless to say, they decided that maybe that wasn’t the best time to go get them.  Well, we headed south and were walking faster than the cars were moving in the southbound lanes!  We probably walked about three quarters of a mile before we decided to turn around and go home since we still didn’t see any cars, and it was too far to walk before we would.  (There was a cool, brisk wind that also helped in making that decision!)  We would have liked to look at some of the cars, but it just didn't work out.

Tonight was a catered dinner.  Ribs, chicken, taters, green beans, rolls, and German chocolate cake were on the menu.  Yum!!  (Side note:  Did you know that German chocolate cake is NOT from Germany?  It was actually created by a man whose last name was German.)  All of the food was delicious.  We sat at table number 4 with Gin and Syl, Bill and Nancy, and Sherry and David. 

Syl & Gin

Nancy & Bill

Sherry & David

What a change of luck for us.  Last night we were the last table called to get in line, and tonight we were the first!  That was great.

A 1970's Theme Party followed dinner.  A "Hug Jug" was presented to Howard and Linda just after the start of the party.  Bill and Nancy, Linda K, and Sherry and David were responsible for instigating this wonderful presentation.  Everyone was invited to donate money to the "Hug Jug" as a token of our appreciation to Howard and Linda for all of the help they so freely give us RVers through their website, forum, journal, and rallies.   Howard and Linda weren't aware that this was being done and were very surprised.  It was a special moment.  Tie dye seemed to be the shirt of choice.  I don't have a tie dye shirt, so I wore my Jim Morrison shirt instead.  Howard and Linda were all dressed up for the occasion. 

Howard & Linda

 The party started, and Terri and I were up dancing almost immediately.  We danced off and on throughout the evening.  Midway through the evening there was a “Name that Tune” contest in which each player had to raise their hand if they could name the tune.  With just about every song I leaned forward to tell Terri the name.  Others at our table saw me doing this, so when Linda called for a second round of players, my table coaxed me up.  Laurie sat next to me, and between the two of us, we got most of the songs right.  It was a lot of fun.  When I got back to the table, Bill asked me how I knew the songs so well.  I told him, "I just listen to the radio a lot."




Hug Jug presentation

Rick & Cindy

Jessica & Harry

"rocker" Gin

"I think I know this one..."

Sunday is the final day of the rally.  A farewell catered breakfast is scheduled from 8 to 9 AM, and that’s the official end to the rally.  Many people will leave tomorrow, but we're staying until Tuesday.