Rally time!

We are in Pecatonica, Illinois, at a rally. This is the FMCA MWA rally. That's Family Motor Coach Association Midwest Area rally. We arrived Tuesday and we sat in the holding area about two hours until we got parked. The dates on their literature that was sent to us was incorrect, so we were actually a day early, but we got parked anyway. And to make it better, we have 50 amp service. We were only supposed to have 30.

We have about 250 rigs, so it isn't a real big rally, but these are among the friendliest people I have met in a long time. We have made lots of friends already and have especially enjoyed meeting and fussing over all their dogs. We had opening ceremonies Wednesday evening, but I'm sure not everyone was there. Along with the rest of the midwest, we are having a horrendous heat wave and it was too hot for some people to get out.

We went to coffee this morning and afterwards went to see the vendors. We are a little disappointed with the number of vendors. There were not very many and not a lot of variety with those that did come. We went to the seminar yesterday put on by Mac McCoy (Mac the fire guy). His programs are always impressive and very well done. He stresses the importance of knowing how to get out of your rig in the event of a fire and how necessary it is to practice escaping from your rig. We already have the fire extinguishers in our rig that he recommends, but we learn something from him every time we hear him speak. When we got back home, we tried our escape windows. They had never before been opened, and they stuck, we we did get them open and are confident they would work if we ever had to exit.

Last night about 9 p.m. we heard a loud pop and the front A/C immediately quit. It also started emitting a foul burnt carbon smell. I guess it's safe to assume that the unit that we have been having problems with has finally given up the ghost. It is two years old. It is shot and we could not even get the fan to run. So we turned that circuit off. We didn't have any trouble keeping cool overnight because the rear A/C is running well, but it isn't enough to keep the entire coach cooled down. With today being the hottest day so far at 97*, we haven't been keeping all that cool. The bedroom is cool, but one can only spend so much time in there. . . okay, okay, you can spent a LOT of time in there, but meal time is a struggle. We have been eating out of the refrigerator trying to eat cold stuff to keep cool. We did manage to take in a seminar today as well as look at some display coaches. Haven't seen anything I like any better than ours and I do not like the new Phaetons. Ours has much better quality materials in it.

This evening we went to the entertainment and even though it is still hot, the group, The Marlins, were absolutely terrific. They are four brothers who sing and play instruments. They are multi-talented and play several instruments. They performed a variety of songs from many genres and were extremely entertaining. They have a website, www.themarlins.net if you are interested in looking them up.

We may leave here tomorrow. The jury is still out on that one. The heat is oppressive and tomorrow is supposed to be cooler, so we might stay for another day. But there is no point in being miserable, so we may have to head back to Elkhart. The good news there is that Charger Enterprises, where we have service work done, is going to get an A/C unit and install it for us on Monday. They are closed the rest of the week, so they are going to get us up and running before they leave. Thanks, Gerald!

Till next time. . .

Dale