Rick and Tina's

We stopped in Eatonville for a few days to see Kat’s son Rick and his family. Tina and the grandkids Tyler and Cheyenne are all well, as is Rick. We didn’t get to see much of Rick. He left the evening we got there to attend ‘labor relation’ classes or some such in the big city. One of the big cities, maybe Spokane? We did have a nice dinner at Ruby Tuesdays in Puyallup with most of the Washington side of the family. Troy and Mike were there along with Kat’s half sister Kim. We all got there separately and embarrassingly enough Kat didn’t even recognize Courtney (Mike’s daughter) when she came in. In Kat’s defense Courtney came in by herself and kids do grow up and change. I don’t remember the head count but there must have been a dozen or so. It was good to see them all!

We got a look at Rick’s new trailer. New used anyway. And very nice! We were hoping to have them come over to our next stop at Scenic Beach but they were not able to make it! Maybe next time.

Speaking of Puyallup. There’s a one word tongue twister! Say that real fast 7 or 8 times. Sometimes I get it right once. There are probably lots of words I would mispronounce but they are words I don’t know or haven’t heard and don’t see often or at all. I cannot say Puyallup out load without first saying it to myself a couple of times. Just one of those things? (Pu yallup- pu yallup- pu-allup- pew allup-pewallup) There I got it! Until next time anyway. But I can read Sequim. It’s a town in Washington on the Olympic Peninsula. Kat always reads seequim. I always correct her. Squim! It’s pronounced squim!!! She can say it she just can’t read it. I’m reminded of a phone conversation with my cousin Nancy who lives near Chicago. She gave me a hard time about some of our names here in the Northwest. I replied, “ and this is coming from a person who lives in ellanoise? Illinois!

Host Hook-Up

For the past 17 years Oregon Fish and Wildlife has held an annual get together for all current and prospective hosts and volunteers. I guess in the strict sense of the phrase it’s not really a rally because lots of ODFW volunteers don’t have an RV. But for us it kind of feels like a rally. ODFW staff hatchery managers and crew spend a few days recognizing current volunteers and recruiting new folks.

Because of our circumstance and proximity we helped some this year putting it on. Mostly just some grunt work and driving. Kat spent the better part of a day pedaling her bicycle all over the campground getting people in the right RV site and letting them know what was up.

Mostly we met some friends and made some new ones. There was one potluck and the rest of the meals were catered. There were several interesting speakers talking about ODFW related subjects and prize drawings for ODFW gear and such. You can’t volunteer without the T-shirt and the coffee mug. I’m developing quite a wardrobe of volunteer shirts. I entered the Pro-Division casting contest and (drum roll here) finished in second place. Pro-Division in this case meant that you had held a fishing pole at some point in your life. I think Tom won, but I got another coffee mug. After Tom it was just a case of who was luckiest. That turned out to be me.

There was a tour of the hatchery which didn’t seem like it would be a big deal, because we had worked at one, but it turned out to be very interesting. They happened to be harvesting salmon and collecting markers that had been implanted in the fish for tracking and study. They were knocking fish in the head and cutting off the snout if they were tagged and then put on ice to be sold to a fish buyer. Just a baseball bat and something like a paper cutter for cutting off the nose. Kat didn’t like that part much. Understand though that the life of these fish was over anyway. These were spawning salmon and after spawning they die. This way ODFW gets some return on raising all these fish. Seems fair to me!

The "Rally"

I’ve written about Rally’s before. Kind of like a big fair for RV’ers. Vendors, seminars, RV’s for sale, food, and entertainment. But this was the Grand National and it was huge! We walked through RV’s until my knees didn’t work anymore. Maybe even saw a couple (RV’s I mean) we liked. But then we’d need to win the lottery. I guess even before that we would have to start playing the lottery. I’ve learned you can’t be guaranteed a win if you play, but you can be guaranteed not to win if you don’t play! We went to some good and not so good seminars. Seminars on safety, cooking, maintenance, exercise, even one on romance. And even if we didn’t need that seminar I had fun. I probably embarrassed Kat a little though. I played in the golf tournament and had a great time. I played with a couple and their friend from Montana. They were very nice but a load to carry for 18 holes (golfers will understand) so we didn’t finish in the money.

Another important aspect of Rally’s is that it’s a huge opportunity to spend money. “It’s Like pouring sand down a rat hole.” Our big expenditures were two “Fantastic” exhaust fans and a supplemental brake system. The brake systems are for the ‘toad’ (see previous entry). Because of insurance liabilities they have become mandatory. Most states are requiring it now. Ironically Oregon does not. Police are being trained to investigate at accidents. So if you don’t have an aux braking system and you are involved in an accident you can pretty much bend over and grab your ankles. So we got one! And even if it was expensive we did save some on the deals at the “Rally”.

We enjoyed the whole experience.

Who wants to join us in Perry, Georgia, next year for “The Rally”?

This was the write up in the Good Sam Magazine.

Many Good Sam Club members were among those in the 3,852 rigs that gathered in the high-desert town of Redmond, Oregon for The Rally, July 19 through 22, 2007, joining what has grown to become the definitive annual gathering for RVers.

Organized by the Good Sam Club's parent company, Affinity Group, The Rally put almost every facet of the RV experience at attendees' fingertips on the 132-acre grounds of the Deschutes County Expo Center. Participants could choose from a broad range of seminars, RV displays, parts and accessory exhibits, fun activities, tours and live entertainment from some of the hottest performers in the country. TV game show emcee Bob Eubanks even joined the fun to host the Good Sam Club's Almost Newlywed Game on The Rally's final day.

The Rally had something for everybody. Like kicking tires? You could have spent days touring the hundreds of 2008 RVs from more than 15 manufacturers. Just about every RVer could find the rig of his or her dreams, from lightweight trailers that sold for around $15,000 to diesel-pusher motorhomes with million-dollar price tags. One of the most popular rigs was Country Coach's 2008 Rhapsody, which featured four slide-outs, one-and-a-half bathrooms and a host of high-tech features. The price: a cool $1.3 million. Visitors could also browse the aisles of RV accessories - everything from cookware to trailer hitches to handcrafted art - in three large indoor-exhibit areas.

The RV hardware on display was rivaled only by the lineup of more than 150 seminars on topics that ranged from personal safety in an RV to how to set up a satellite dish and tips on planning a trip to Alaska. The impressive roster of instructors included Highways columnists Joe and Vicki Kieva and Bob Livingston.

Beyond the seminar halls and exhibits, Good Sam members found plenty of ways to have fun. Pet lovers got a chance to trot out their four-legged traveling companions during Friday's Rally Dog Show, which featured a swimsuit competition, a singing contest and - we're not kidding - a competition to see which pet owners bore the closest resemblance to their pooches. The event was hosted by Robin Dickson, CEO of Dogs for the Deaf.

On Sunday, the Good Sam Club sponsored the Almost Newlywed Game, hosted by longtime television host Bob Eubanks. Scores of Good Sam Club members watched as four couples chosen at random squirmed under the hilarious questions and double entendres posed by Eubanks.

It's a good bet that the awesome surrounding scenery inspired a sense of wanderlust, and The Rally's tours proved to be the perfect tonic. Throughout the day, buses took Rally guests to such destinations as the Deschutes Brewery in nearby Bend, the Newberry National Volcanic Monument and Crater, and Mount Bachelor, where tour guests enjoyed a high-altitude lunch at Pine Marten Lodge.

You didn't even have to have a driver's license to have a good time. The Rally's Youth Program offered a full slate of activities for young people ages 6 to 17. Participants kept busy with an Oreo cookie stacking contest, face painting and trips to some of the area's surrounding attractions.

The fun didn't stop as the sun dropped. Evening entertainment at the Hooker Creek Event Center included performances from Suzanne Somers, Gary Puckett, BJ Thomas, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and Beatles tribute band, Ticket to Ride.

Of course, a special thanks needs to go out to the 291 RVers who volunteered for activities, parking, registration, seminars, transportation, security and attendance duties during The Rally. As Marty Hayes said, "I like to help out, but I also made sure that I took some time to have fun."

Before the Rally

As I have said, July was "Rally" month for us. But we had to hang around for a while before they started.

Because it is summer and about a 'zillion' RV's are headed this way for the "Grand National Rally" in Redmond Or. we made some advance reservations where we could. That started in Milo McIver state park. It's just down the road from Clackamas and Oregon City. We did some relaxing, got some sun, did a little walking and some reading. All that retired RV'ing stuff we're supposed to be doing. McIver is on the Clackamas river which is home to a substantial population of Ospreys. I sat on the river bank for a time one afternoon and watched an Ospery dive for fish. They fly into the wind along the river at maybe 50' and look for fish. At times they will come to almost a hover and when they see something they fold their wings and dive straight down into the water. Most of the time as I watched they were coming up with what I assumed was a trout. Hard to tell exactly? Then they would fly off to eat. Fun to watch!

Woodburn was next. Woodburn is near the heart of the Willamette valley and as a result very much an agricultural center. It's also home to a decent RV park with a pool that happens to be right next to the Woodburn Factory Stores. Guess who went to the pool and who went shopping. Need I say more?

Then it was LaPine State Park. When we pulled into the park we realized our reservations were for the same site we had stayed at coming through here from Goose Lake. Jade liked it! She knew where to hide and watch the chipmunks. We did some bike riding and walking. But this is where Kat started to suffer from sciatica.

We went to the lava cave and didn’t make it all the way in. Maybe it’s really called a lava tube. They’re tubes (go figure) that lava flowed through and then receded to leave a long tunnel (Of course that was a couple bazillion years ago). I think in this case it may be a quarter to a half mile long? I did the whole distance a long time ago but can’t remember for sure. Anyway we couldn’t do the cave so we went to Bend and did dinner and a movie. We saw the latest Bourne movie. Pretty good but of course nothing like the book. The books are great! Just a side note there.

We also drove up to Newbury Crater and National Volcanic Monument (or something like that). Newbury crater is home to East and Paulina lakes and a couple of campgrounds. In the last few years, since it became Federal, they have made several improvements to the area. There’s a huge obsidian flow in the area. Just lot’s of things to do and look at if you’re into the outdoors.

Another day, and on the advice of the Park Ranger, we drove a couple miles up a dirt road to see some waterfalls. The trip and the falls were good but not something to write home about. The dust however was memorable. We got back to pavement with enough dust on the bumper to grow potatoes. That was after getting up to speed and trying blow some of it off. Of course “up to speed” in our little “toad” maybe not be enough to blow much dust off. For those of you not in the know a “toad” is a car towed behind a motorhome.

Our last stop before the big event was Sun Rocks, a private park south of Prineville not too far from the reservoir and state park. And only about 45 minutes from Redmond and the site of the “Rally”. This was just a few days in a 3rd rate RV park. This close to the Grand National Rally in time and space we couldn’t be picky about where to stay. We were seeing motorhomes from all over the country. But Sun Rocks did have a first rate pool and we both got lots of pool and sun time. Kat was even getting into it. We have already started to make reservations for next years Rally in Perry, Georgia. But before that, IT’S ON TO THE “RALLY”.