Friday morning we were up early again, serving coffee and donuts to our rally attendees, saying goodbye, and wishing them a safe trip to wherever they are headed next. There were lots of hugs as RVers wished us well, congratulated us on a great rally experience, and promised to see us somewhere down the road.
By noon, most of the RVs had departed from the Yuma Fairgrounds, usually after making a stop at the dump station on their way out, to empty their gray and black tanks. The place sure looked empty after being filled with motorhomes, fifth wheels, and travel trailers for two weeks, first for the Arizona Good Sam rally and then our Western Gypsy Gathering rally.
We waited until everybody else had pulled out before we made our trip to the dump station, and then we parked in the same back corner of the fairgrounds where we had been before the rally. As soon as we were situated, an installer from Redlands Truck & RV started installing a set of Koni shock absorbers on our Winnebago Ultimate Advantage. Our motorhome rides pretty good already, but the new Koni shocks should make it even better. Thanks Keith Shumaker and crew, for your great service! Redlands was one of our rally vendors, and I was really impressed with them, as were many rally attendees who kept them busy with installations.
Once Rob, the Redlands mechanic, was finished with our rig, Terry and I, Greg and Jan White, and Mike and Elaine Loscher went to an early dinner at Chretin’s, a wonderful Mexican restaurant that Miss Terry pronounced one of the best she has been to in our travels around the country. That’s saying a lot! We had a pleasant meal, just unwinding, rehashing the rally events, comparing notes on what we did right, what we did wrong, and how we can make it better next year.
Back at the fairgrounds, we said our goodbyes to Mike and Elaine, who are leaving early today, bade Greg and Jan goodnight, and headed inside for a quiet evening just trying to let the kinks and aches seep out of our bodies.
We were in bed much earlier than usual, turning off our cell phones and vowing not to open the curtains today until at least noon!
It’s been a busy week, a great rally, and we’re sure glad it’s over! Thanks to everybody who came, and especially to our hardworking volunteers!
Thought For The Day – Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing.
Nick Russell
World-Famous, New York Times Best Selling Author, and All-Around Nice Guy!
Nick,
You will LOVE the Konis. We had the Koni FSD shocks installed on our coach before we ever drove it, so we don’t have a before and after comparison. But even so, our motorhome glides and rarely sways with these bad boys in place.
Yuma was a great rally. Your vendors should like us. We purchased:
Fire suppression system for engine compartment
Fire suppression system for Dometic service compartment
Two smoke detectors
Digital tire guage
Sewer stub cap
A braclet
Also, We decided to stay for a month at the Park of the Sierras in Coarsegold, CA
And at the “Purple Park” in Phoenix for a week.
A 50 to 30 amp cord
A Gypsy Journal T-shirt
Wow, maybe it’s good we didn’t show up! We’d have been buying a bunch of stuff too, and our wallets are already empty getting our casita remodeled! But we did miss the fun and camaraderie — NEXT YEAR is on the horizon, though, as long as SKP Chapter 21 doesn’t have a conflicting rally!
HI Nick & Terry,
As first timers to your rally we were very impressed and like many others we purchased way more than planned. However after giving most of that to Redlands who are very professional and did a fantastic job, we were more than happy with the ride home as compared to the ride over. 🙂
In addition they discovered another issue with our coach and we are heading to Tuscon this week to have them fix it.
Thanks again!
We made the vendors even happier than George did. We bought:
50 amp EMS for our new coach
More Pressure Pro sensors for our new toad
Power Tank Air System to fill our tires when the Pressure Pro beeps
SMI brake for our new toad
Engine fire suppression system
Fire suppression system for our frig compartment
Koni shocks for better ride
Safety Steer to help keep us in our lane
Weighing to see how well balanced our load is (We’re good.)
And driving lessons so we can quit scaring the other drivers.
Now we can’t afford to live to a ripe old age but we’ll sure do it in style. 🙂
Linda Sand
Not to beat a horse to death, but everything that Linda Sand bought and we bought are for safety in the RV. Except the T-shirt :).
Sounds like everyone had a great time and spent a lot of money… Doesn’t that make for a GREAT Rally??? Sure hope I can make it to the next one! Have fun, Get reat and travel safe!!!
Donna