Wednesday, August 15, 2007


The rally in Salem, OR, at the Oregon State Fairgrounds is over. It was hosted by Monaco Coach Corp, the maker of our motorhome. It was actually called a pre-rally, in other words a small rally before the huge rally in Redmond, OR. When Monaco puts on a rally it’s really neat. The cost of the event for attendees covers two complete meals per day (breakfast and supper) and, at the latter they even include an open bar. Though mass-produced, the margaritas were great. The catered food was certainly not of the rubber chicken variety but was delicious, nicely served, and plentiful.
One of the hidden advantages of attending most rallies is that you can get stuff fixed; many times absolutely free or just pay the actual cost of the parts. At a Monaco rally you can ask them to fix two items. We did and they did and we are very happy as it cost us nothing at all. Additionally, the suppliers of much of the equipment used on RV’s are at these rallies and they too fix stuff. For example, the makers of the awnings on our coach came and made some adjustments on our large awning and installed a couple of new straps on two others, without charge. It’s almost like having a lifetime guarantee on these items.
We’ve moved on to rally #2, the FMCA International, at Redmond, OR. This large rally will play host to thousands of motorhome owners (sorry, you tow able RV guys will have to go to a Good Sam Club Rally instead).
Some of the features of the event include semi to big name entertainment nightly, a huge display of new motorhomes numbering in the hundreds from the less expensive at $75,000 and up to the offerings enticing only the very wealthy running from $2,000,000 to about $4,000,00 each. It’s fun to visit and look though we completely avoided those top-level coaches. I mean what’s the point? We’re not masochists.
Aside from literally hundreds of vendors hawking everything from new diesel engines and tires to microfibre cleaning cloths there are seminars taking place all day every day. These can be very useful and informative. You can learn all of the ins and outs of maintaining your RV toilet, tire safety, take driving lessons, learn about wifi, and as this posting shows, how to create and maintain a healthy weblog (blog).
Again, as at the Monaco event, making and renewing acquaintances and friendships is a highlight. Ron was seated out on our “patio” when some folks walked by and saw him. They said, “Wow, he’s outside. We had to come all of the way from Alta Sierra (a Grass Valley Suburb for those of you not familiar with our hometown) to Medford, OR, to finally meet the weather guy in person. We sure miss you Ron and wish you’d come back to KNCO radio.” Then at the “Ricky Nelson Legacy Tour” entertainment last night at which Ricky’s two sons performed their late dad’s songs, we happened to sit with a whole row of folks from Grass Valley.
Over the years we’ve come to realize that there is something strange about Grass Valley. It’s a relatively little place, off the beaten path, and still decidedly rural yet everywhere we go we run into people who live there, used to live there, or have friends or relatives of live there. It happens so often that it seems totally out of proportion to the size of the place and its population.
I dislike feeling I’m part of a captive audience and I do get that feeling here in Redmond. For example, we recently purchased a tank of diesel fuel on the coast and paid $2.69/gallon. Here in Redmond the price is $3.15/gallon. Is it just a coincidence that the fuel is so pricey at the same time that thousands of motorhomers, a considerable percentage of whom drive diesel coaches came to town? Hmmm. Oh yeah, gasoline prices here are higher than in other areas as well.
The food vendors on the fairgrounds are also out to make their year’s income off of us. Try $3.00 for a soft drink, or $16.00 for a plate of fancy nachos. I wonder how they can sell any of that stuff with thousands of RV’s a short walk away full of food and drinks in their own kitchens (or in the case of those $4,000,000 rigs, at the wet bar).
We’ve now attended two huge rallies and three smaller ones. In the future we’ll stick to the smaller ones. They’re more fun, more intimate, and usually don’t have as large an impact on the greedy local businesses.
We leave here on Friday, Aug 17, on a two-day journey back to the coast. We’ll end up on the Washington, side of the Columbia weather for a few days where we plan to meet up with Dave and Sue Anderson, friends with whom we’ve kept in touch since that infamous trip Mexico.

1 comment:

Shadowgrrl said...

Hey Daddio!!!!

Your Kid and grand kid here on the East coast watching your blog and loving every minute of it. Sounds like you guys are having fun, we sure miss you. YA know.. there are a LOT of RV dealers out this way.. you should cruise on by sometime..

Love ya
The kid and kidllet