RV Rally Bound

This week, Gladys and I are going to one of the most fun events we’ve ever attended.  In fact, it’s a disappointment anytime we have to miss it.

It’s The Good Sam Rally and it’s once again in Louisville, Kentucky – just a hop-skip-and-a-jump down the road from where we live outside Indianapolis.

It starts Thursday, June 21, and runs for four days.

If you’re serious about RVing, as we are, this is a “Must Attend” event.  Think of it.  It’s the opportunity to hang out with a whole bunch of people who love the same things you do.  When I say “a whole bunch,” I’m talking in the neighborhood of nearly 3,000 RVs in all shapes and sizes and packed into them are about seven thousand or so rabid RVers you can swap stories with.

There’s so much to do.  You can attend RV-lifestyle seminars, see the latest equipment from the manufacturers, and there are a blue-million opportunities to make new friends and scare up old ones you’ve met over the years in various places.

I’ve told you that Gladys and I are both country music fans, right?  Well, entertainment on the opening night of the Rally is going to feature Larry Gatlin and The Gatlin Brothers!  I’m not sure I have anything to worry about, but it’s become a marital joke between us that Gladys has a thing for Larry Gatlin.   The conversation goes something like this:    

“Bill, no offense but if that man ever made a play for me, I’d be outta here so fast it would make your head swim.”

“Gladys, if Larry Gatlin ever made a play for you, I’d help him carry your suitcase to the limo.”

Naturally, we both have a good chuckle over that, and of course, the roles are reversed whenever the name, “Shania Twain,” comes up.   The only difference is Gladys refers to me as “You Old Goat” instead of “Bill.”

One other thing when it comes to entertainment…there will be an Elvis Impersonator Contest with tryouts going on throughout the Rally and ending with the finalists performing on Sunday night.  This, I’ve got to see.  Now, if they ever have a Johnny Cash Impersonator Contest, I’ll be all over that.

Gladys saw in the show schedule that there will be a fellow named Bob Blumer from the Food Network at the Good Sam Culinary Experience demonstrating some “wow-inspiring dishes” and she and her Rally girlfriends will be there. (No word if Larry Gatlin will show up, so I’m taking a chance and letting her attend without me.)  Meanwhile, my RV buddies and I will be kicking a few tires and “walkin’ around, lookin’ at stuff.”  There are over a hundred seminars available – if you want to know how to eat with a left-handed spoon out of a hubcap, I’m sure they’ve got a seminar for it!

That’s what’s so fun about this gathering.  There’s something for everyone.  It’s nice for Gladys and I to do things together and to go our separate ways when we want.

If you get the impression I’m excited about the Good Sam Rally, you’d be right.  Check it out yourself if you’ve got a mind to.  If your serious about the RV life, I guarantee you’ll have a good time.  Just make sure you don’t get caught standing between Gladys and Larry Gatlin if she spots him.  You could get trampled!

 Winnebago Bill

*Disclaimer: RV.com, which is owned by Dometic Corporation, sponsors Winnebago Bill.  Neither Dometic Corporation, nor RV.com, provide this blogger with free Dometic products, and this blogger does not receive a commission on click-throughs from links on this blog to RV.com, Dometic.com, or any other site.  All references made to product brands are made in an attempt to provide readers with the knowledge necessary to recreate the experiences mentioned in this blog.

When You Gotta Go, You Gotta GO!

I’ve never done this blogging thing before. But I liked what I read about real life RVing here on RV.com, and I hope I can share my experience and give everyone some helpful hints for camping.

 My name is Bill, and I started camping decades ago in a leaky tent going fishing with my young son.  RVing is what Mom and I do in our retirement years.  We also get our three kids together one full week every year.  We own a Winnebago that Mom and I RV in. We also own a pop up camper that our daughter Rachel uses when she comes camping with us.  Our other daughter Sarah and her husband Robby own a pop-up, and my son Jack has a travel trailer with his wife Emily.

 We did an “end of the summer” weekend with two of the kids and their kids. I love my grandkids, but it seems they need a whole roll of toilet paper every time they use our bathroom. They think the bathhouse is too far to walk, even though it was just fine for me when I was their age! 

 I’ll admit, I am not as spry as I once was, and cleaning out the black water tank filled with solids (toilet paper, etc.) is more of a chore than it used to be.  So a few years ago, we tried a system I created to help make this old man’s job a little easier at the end of the weekend.

 There’s no real delicate way to explain this, so I’ll just go with the kids’ lingo…If you need to do #1, using the bathroom in grandpa’s camper is fine, but when it’s #2, you have to go to the bathhouse. 

 That sounds great on paper, and it worked just fine until it got dark. Then all the kids were too scared, and Mom was too much of a softy to say “No,” when they said they really had to go. Now, you just do whatever, whenever at grandpa’s place.

 So this time out, I took a different route to making my job easier. I tried “Clean ‘n Green” Tank Treatment.  What a difference!  Suddenly my least favorite job of camping was made simple.  I don’t know what is in this stuff, but I am buying more of it. 

 Don’t get me wrong, “black water” is still “black water” but I was able to stop and dump and the job was over – no more using the hose or running more water through the toilet like I used to.  I’m convinced it is well worth the small amount of money to not lecture the grandkids, or spend forever cleaning out the system.

 I hope you found this helpful. Send me an email, and let me know what other help you need. 

 Winnebago Bill

*Disclaimer: RV.com, which is owned by Dometic Corporation, sponsors Winnebago Bill.  Neither Dometic Corporation, nor RV.com, provide this blogger with free Dometic products, and this blogger does not receive a commission on click-throughs from links on this blog to RV.com, Dometic.com, or any other site.  All references made to product brands are made in an attempt to provide readers with the knowledge necessary to recreate the experiences mentioned in this blog.