The Rally – Redux . . .
Thought I’d do a repost of the largest rally we ever attended. With over 2000 RV’s it was put on by Good Sam’s Club and Camping World and held at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville.
We had such a good time at this one we had hoped to attend another one, but the ones after that always seemed to be at the opposite end of the country from where we were.
Too bad.
July 21, 2010
The Rally – Early Bird Day 2
Today we decided to try another well-known restaurant here in the Louisville area, although in this case it’s actually in Indiana, which of course is just right across the Ohio River from Louisville. So we left about 11:15 am heading about 25 miles north and out in the country to the Joe Huber Family Farm and Restaurant.
The Huber family has owned this 200 acre farm since 1843, but the restaurant got its start in 1967 when the family begin advertising “Pick Your Own” fruits and vegetables. It turns out that the customers were hungry after picking in the fields, so the family began serving box lunches.
Then in 1983 they built the restaurant that began it all. Today it’s a tourist destination, with a petting zoo, gardens, rides, gift shops, and meeting halls for wedding receptions, reunions, and company picnics.
And the restaurant is great! Here’s my Country Platter Dinner.
It had Fried Chicken, Country Ham, Corn, Cole Slaw, Chicken N Dumplings, Mashed Potatoes, and Green Beans. And It was “All You Can Eat”
Believe me, this was all I could eat. In fact I had to take some home.
And the grounds were very nice, too.
After a great meal, we got back to rig about 2 pm, and it seemed like a good time for a nap.
Then, about 3:30 pm we went over to look at the new RV’s on display. These next two photos are of 2010 American Eagle, the same one as our 1999 Eagle. This one lists for $580,000.00. Guess we’ll have to wait for that Mega-Millions winning ticket.
One of the other rigs we looked at was this Prevost from Parliament Coach in Florida.
We really need a place to store our crystal glassware!
And what’s even better, you can buy it today for half price, only $975,000. What a deal!
Then about 6 pm we walked over to Freedom Hall to see the Monarchs, a 60’s rock and roll group. Two of the band are original members from when the band formed in 1960. They had a number of hits, including “Look Homeward, Angel”, which made it to #13 on the Billboard Chart. They toured with Dick Clark, The Beach Boys, The Righteous Brothers, Dion, and Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, among others. I remember seeing them in Birmingham, AL in 1965 on the Dick Clark’s Cavalcade of Stars. And they still sound good.
After the concert we walked back across the parking lot to our truck, passing a display of old RV’s.
This one looks like the one from Lucy and Desi’s “The Long, Long, Trailer”.
We got back to the rig about 9 pm and started planning our day tomorrow.
Thought For The Day:
If you’re going to be dumb, you better be tough!
July 22, 2010
The Rally – Day 1
After we got parked here on Tuesday, I was curious how they were supplying us with power. It turns out that rather than powering us directly from the mains, they’re using portable generators set up around the park.
These diesel generators put out 240V at 240 Amps. There’s also another generator behind this one.
.They then split the 2 phases into 2 – 120 V lines at 240 Amps each.
This means that each generator can power 16 coaches with 30 amps each.
Really neat setup.
About 10 am we headed over to the Expo Hall to start making our way thru the vendor area. They have several hundred vendors here, with a lot that I haven’t seen before at other rallies.
One of the vendors was from the Province of Saskatchewan, and was giving out tourist info on the area. Saskatchewan is one of the provinces we haven’t visited yet, so we picked up some booklets.
About noon we took a break and grabbed a lunch of hot dogs and a pretzel from one of the vendors.
Then at 1 pm Jan attended a seminar on Velcro. I went back to the rig and took a nap. I think I probably had the best time. Velcro? Really?
At 3pm I met back up with Jan and we went to Mike and Terri Church’s talk on RVing in Alaska. Ninety minutes later we were homesick for the place and ready to hit the AlCan heading north again. It was nice to see so many of the places we’d been, and to see all the places we’d missed.
Maybe in a couple of years.
At 4:30 pm we drove over to the nearby Cottage Inn, a restaurant that we passed the other night and noticed how busy it was. It’s a small place, very popular with the locals, and has been owned by the same family since 1929. And the food was excellent!
Home cooking at its best.
Getting back to the fairground, we ran into Lynn and Dave Cross that we had last seen in Yuma, AZ this past March. Lynn and Jan worked the registration table together.
They said they were going to be taking a TRACKS RV caravan tour of National Parks. Sounds like fun.
Tonight’s entertainment was Bob Newhart, but first we started off with some rousing songs from a local choir, Master’s Men.
And then it was time for Bob. And he was hilarious! He started off telling a story about how in the ‘60’s he decided to take his family along in an RV as he crossed the country to perform a concert. It sounded like a combination of “RV” the movie,and “The Long, Long Trailer” with Lucy and Desi, and ended with him scraping the air conditioner off the roof as he arrived at the hotel where he was performing.
He finished up with one of his famous routines about a driving instructor with a really bad student. He mentioned in the setup that it was a woman driver, and got some boos from women in the audience.
So he said “OK. How about we made it a Chinese driver. Will that make you happy?” So he sat down and started the routine…in Chinese!
After about 30 seconds of incomprehensible dialog, he looked at the audience and said ”OK. We can go on like this for another 8 minutes, or it can be a woman driver. You chose.”
The audience roared. And it was now a woman driver.
Bob put on a great show. It’s hard to believe he’s almost 81.
Leaving the concert hall, I got this shot of the former Six Flags – Kentucky Kingdom amusement park that is part of the fairgrounds. But it didn’t seem to be open.
A little Googling told me that back in February of this year, Six Flags and the Expo had been negotiating a new lease, and Six Flags had wanted some better terms because with the bad economy they were losing money on the park. Apparently this is the only park where they lease the property and don’t own it outright.
So when the Expo dug in their heels and refused to renegotiate the terms, Six Flags called their bluff and did not open the park this year. They just shut it down and left the Expo holding the bag.
And now the Expo is really hurting, because they not only don’t get the lease money, they also have lost the parking fees which they got. Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face.
Tomorrow it’s more seminars, more vendors, and Tanya Tucker for entertainment. Sounds great!
It’s also supposed to be 98 degrees here tomorrow, so we’ll see how the 30 amps and one A/C works out.
Thought For The Day:
Knowledge is power, if you know it about the right person.
July 23, 2010
We’re 3 out of 4, but the iced tea was good…
Today started out at 10 am with Jan attending the Dog Talent Show and I hit the vendors area again. I bought a couple of things, and I’m looking at a few more, including a new PacBrake.
At noon Jan and I met for a lunch of corn dogs and French fries at the Food Court. What we didn’t realize at the time is that this would be the best meal of the day.
Then at 1 pm Jan caught a seminar on RV’ing the Pacific Northwest by Mike and Terri Church. A little late since this is where we were earlier this year.
I checked out a talk on RV Refrigerators, which I hoped would help with a problem I’m having with mine. No luck. But it was interesting.
About 2:30 pm we headed north into Indiana to Sam’s Club to pick up a prescription and some other stuff. Then it was off to the low point of the day.
Since we’ve been in Louisville, we’ve eaten 2 places that were on the Rally Tours: Mark’s Feed Store, and Joe Huber’s Family Farm and Restaurant. We also discovered Cottage Inn, a nearby local favorite. All three were excellent.
The 3rd restaurant on the Rally Tours was Kingfish Seafood. In finding the directions online, I also read a few reviews. Some liked it, but others said it had gone downhill, and wasn’t as good as it used to be. Another said the food was “Bland, bland, bland”.
And boy, was he right.
Jan had a Shrimp and Oyster Platter with a Baked Potato and Glazed Carrots, and I had the Seafood Feast, with Tilapia, Catfish, & Shrimp, with Corn on the Cob and Onion Rings. Believe me, bland, bland, bland certainly described the meal.
Nothing had any taste or seasoning. Red Lobster is much better, and I really don’t like Red Lobster.
But as Jan said, “The iced tea is good, though”. A ringing endorsement, indeed!
The view of the Ohio River was pretty, but it didn’t make up for the meal
On our travels we collected photos of a number of city mascots in last few years, including pelicans, mermaids, bears, bison, and now horses. We’ve seen a number of these around town, all with different paint schemes.
Getting back to the rig, we rested up and tried to keep cool for about a hour and then headed out for the high point of the day.
Tanya Tucker !
And just as a teaser here she is singing “Delta Dawn”.
And she was fantastic.
During the first part of the concert, I was impressed by the voice of the backup singer in the band. Turns out she comes by that voice naturally. She’s Tanya’s 21 year old daughter, Presley.
And boy, can she sing, too.
Tanya ended the show with the first big hit she had, Delta Dawn. When she was 13!
Before the concert they were selling aerial photos. So here’s what we look like here.
We got back to the rig about 8:30 after a long day. It’s nice to be home.
Thought For The Day:
At my lemonade stand I used to give the first glass away free and charge five dollars for the second glass. The refill contained the antidote. – Emo Phillips
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