The pirate ship sailed to the Georgia National Fairgrounds with 1,574 happy pirates among the various RVs.
The Perry, Georgia location showed again why it’s our favorite rally location.
We arrived Sunday afternoon during a break in the rain and were parked and set up before the next round, next to our friends Pat & Meagan.
Meagan and I had a busy week ahead and it was nice to enjoy a quiet dinner in downtown Perry. If you find yourself in Perry, GA be sure to have dinner at Orleans on Carroll.
Monday was cold and rainy as I headed out to get pictures of the fabulous parking volunteers. I love talking to them, they really enjoy getting people checked in and parked. It was different seeing them bundled up.
Lane Southern Orchards is a fixture at rallies in Perry. Their cobbler is amazing; I picked up a frozen five-pound peach cobbler for our Mother’s Day dessert.
Acres & Oak is a new business in Perry that pre-makes meals and boy, they were busy!
The rain finally cleared giving us a beautiful sunset.
Tuesday morning, I watched the guys at Kleen Tank clean and flush an RV tank. It was wild watching all the “stuff” they clean out after the tanks have been flushed.
We got together with our chapter for the Chapter Fest held every rally right after the First Timers seminar.
Tuesday night, well that was a fun evening. We enjoyed a concert in downtown Perry! We had a similar night out at the rally in Oregon last summer. Mark and I really enjoyed ourselves listening to the band Macon Sound. Everywhere you looked in downtown you saw the familiar FRVA name badge.
We got back just in time for another fabulous post sunset glow photo!
The rally officially began on Wednesday with the opening of the RV Show, Product Expo and lots of seminars. It’s always fun to walk through new RVs and this rally was no different. They are so pretty and shiny, even with the wet grass the rain left behind.
We started with our Air Fryer 101 seminar with 250 new friends. Mark made cinnamon rolls; he is the AF cinnamon roll master. Thank you to all who attended!
Dale Hafer, the rally chief of security, put together a scavenger hunt for the drive. We do these often on long trips with friends. It’s a great way to pass the time on long trips. He gathered a lot more “fabulous prizes” than we ever do. Several businesses donated prizes. He’s already planning a bigger and better scavenger hunt for the Gillette, WY rally in July.
Wednesday night we walked over to the arena for the Andrews Brothers dueling pianos. What. A. Fun. Night. We sang (badly) to so many songs. People danced in the aisles as they played song after song. I hope they’ll play again next spring; I’d be happy if they played at every rally.
We started our Thursday and Friday at the Roadmaster Coffee hour. Lucky us, our camp spot was maybe 40 feet from the FRVA Town Center tent where the Challengers Chapter served coffee, tea and donuts with a friendly smile.
The rally theme was “Return to Perry, Lafitte’s Lost Treasure” and attendees went wild with the pirate theme. I even found a handsome, although rather rigid pirate in the welcome center. There were too many pirate flags to count. The parade had more pirates than the Disney ride! It was so fun. Mark and I added a pirate flag and banners to the RV. We wore pirate shirts and we were woefully behind in the costume department.
Meagan and I led several seminars for new RVers. She really knows her stuff. We had good conversations amongst the attendees. It’s great to watch experienced RVers share their knowledge with the rookies.
We lined the pathways of the fairgrounds for a Walk the Plank Parade. Various chapters participated, it was fun to see so many different pirates and wenches. The parade ended at the Town Center tent with a costume contest and the Chapter Fest. Our chapter made four different crockpots of chili that were devoured quickly. We had another opportunity to talk to rally friends about our chapter. Nearby with their chapter were Chris and CharlsAnne, two of our favorite pirates. The night capped off with an electric fireworks show. Thank you to Terry Zelius for these fabulous pictures as I was inside our RV on the floor with our very scared Daisy girl.
One of my favorite activities at the rallies is the Magic Mile held on Friday mornings. Just like it sounds, it’s a mile walk through the grounds. Rally goers sign up when registering or during the rally for $10 with all monies going to a local charity. This year we donated $1,280 to The Halo Group in Perry. They do great work with adults with autism and development disabilities.
There was a large severe storm brewing. We talked to our son and decided to leave Friday afternoon after one of our new RVer seminars. The rally was so much fun, it was hard to leave. We had a small window to get around the southern end of the storm before it spread over all of Mississippi, cutting off our route home. Thankfully the fairgrounds were spared the worst of the storm.
Sunday morning the pirates set sail for another port, vowing to return again next spring.
Mark your calendars for July 16-19 when the Rock & Roll High School Rally takes over Gillette, Wyoming.
