Sunday, May 31, 2015

RV-Dreams Reunion Rally: Days 7, 8 and 9

(Marion, NC) Hi 84 Lo 66 -- More fun at the RV-Dreams Reunion Rally. On Friday there were groups doing all kinds of activities, including paddling down the Catawba River, paddling on James Lake, and a Pub and Grub Crawl in Black Mountain. Arlene and I went on our own and did some shopping at Black Mountain, which included a great lunch at the Veranda Cafe.  Black mountain is a quaint, small mountain town with all sorts of unique stores. (Click on the photos to enlarge them.)


Friday afternoon Jim and Mike took off for Winston Salem, about two hours away, for a night of racing at the Bowman Gray Stadium. It's the oldest NASCAR sanctioned weekly racing track. All the NASCAR greats ran there back in the 50's and 60's. It's a small 1/4-mile track that encircles a football field. The stadium used to be the home of the Wake Forest football team, and still has high school and small college games occasionally. Here's a photo Jim took during the pre-race practice session.

The guys had a lot of fun and enjoyed being at such a historical track, but they said the racing wasn't the best. The track is just too small and tight to allow for much passing. There was a lot of 'fender rubbing' though. :)

Saturday morning was the continental breakfast, followed by a  Q an A session with Michael Witt, a certified RV mobile technician. There were questions on many different subjects, but most of them were about refrigerators. 

A group of us met in the afternoon to decorate the pavilion for the evening Luau.


I made up some watermelons to look like pigs for one of the planned games. 














The decorating committee.

At the luau we had roasted whole pig, grilled shrimp skewers w/mango sauce, grilled pineapple glazed chicken legs, sweet potato casserole, Hawaiian rice, and a decorated cake for dessert. There was enough food for everyone to eat all they wanted, and everything was delicious!

Linda and Howard, our hosts, and the leaders of RV-Dreams. 

Earlier in the week a rally goer distributed envelopes to every rig with two colored pieces of paper. We were asked to write a note to Linda and Howard to tell them what they mean to us. All the responses were attached to a board and given to them before dinner. They were also given a small photo album to put the notes in. They were very moved, and there wasn't a dry eye in the place. 

We then dived into the pig roast. This is before...


... and after.


The cake was decorated beautifully.


After dinner there were several games, including one involving 'warriors' who had to 'stab the pig' with their 'spears' (which were darts. Jim was one of the warriors. 
























The games were a lot of fun and we all had a lot of laughs. We ended the evening with our traditional bonfire.












Sunday morning we had a catered farewell breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausage, hash brown casserole, biscuits and gravy, which officially ended the first RV-Dreams Reunion Rally. After breakfast we said our goodbyes with hugs, tears, and final photos as everyone was off to their separate ways. We're hoping there will be more reunion rallies in the future. We sure enjoyed this one. Thanks Howard and Linda for a wonderful and successful rally.

We and a few others are staying an extra night here at the Tom Johnson Camping Center. Tomorrow we're off to Heiskell, TN, a few miles north of Knoxville. We're going to slowly make our way to Illinois and some family time with the kids and grand kids.

See you in a few days.

3 comments:

Dizzy-Dick said...

You all sure know how to have fun everywhere you go. Keep it up.

Mitch & Cheryl said...

Thank you so much for this great blog! Although we couldn't be there, I feel like I was able to live vicariously through you!dd

owensontheroad said...

What a cool thing for someone to cook up, the note board for them. I bet there certainly wasn't a dry eye in the house! Thanks for sharing the rally with all of us that couldn't be there :)

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