Tuesday, 4/12/11: RV-Dreams Rally Day 1, Mentoring, and... Walmart

We met with with our assigned mentors, Lee and Martha, and fellow newbies, Dick and Michelle, this morning about 10:30. We talked for about two hours and found it very informative. I think all six of us learned from each other. One thing that I've learned is that no matter how long you've been fulltime, somebody will teach you something new and helpful. Thanks to Dick and Michelle for having all of us over to their RV and thanks, also, to Lee and Martha for mentoring.

After that, we headed to Walmart for some groceries. I certainly enjoy being able to go for groceries or run other errands now during the daytime instead of after work at night. Even though we've been retired for just over three months, we haven't been able to enjoy "retirement" yet too much because we've been working so hard on getting the house ready to list for sale.

Once we got back from Walmart, we put the groceries away, had some lunch, and then went over to registration to pick up our nametags, shirts, and goodie bag. This year Terri and I have fulltimer designations on our nametags, which is a goal I'm very happy to have accomplished. After registering we stayed and talked a while with Paul and Marti, Sherry and David, and Gin, and then headed back home to get ready for the evening.

Tonight's activities included a catered dinner, announcements, and a little icebreaker. Dinner was delicious. There were hot dogs, hamburgers, potato salad, baked beans, pulled pork barbecue, cookies, and brownies. We sat with Ray and Kris, Bob and Paige, and Paul and Marti. Ray and Kris are our next door neighbors, Bob and Paige are new fulltimers from Minnesota, and, of course, Paul and Marti are our good friends that we met at last year's rally. It was a real nice mix of folks, and we all enjoyed each other's company.

After dinner Linda led us through some introductions, and then we were all split up into groups by the number marked on each of our badges. I have a "4" on my badge and Terri has a "5" on her badge, and we all had to go to the appropriately numbered table for the next activity. Once everyone got to their assigned tables, we played an RV-DREAMS version of the game "Minute to Win It" in which you had to put on a hat and swing the attached hanging tea bags up onto the hat. I opted out of the attempt because I didn't want to hurt my neck, but Terri tried it and surprised herself by conquering the feat rather quickly. The task is harder than it looks, so it was fun watching people try to get the tea bags up onto the hat. After game time was over I talked with Jim and Linda, whom we met at last year's rally, and then joined Terri in chatting with Rick and Gail. We got back home in time for Terri to watch Dancing with the Stars Results Show while I surfed the net and dozed off.

And so the first official day of the rally is over. It was really nice meeting new people and catching up with friends from last year. We're looking forward to meeting others throughout the week.