Well, not really. The rally itself was relatively calm, as it should be, there wound up being only two rigs attending. The only problems at the campground were a pair of (large) dogs that had been tied to overhead tree branches, left whiole their owners went out, and had wound the ropes up so tight they were strangling themselves. The park rangers had to come out and untangle them. They and their owners were gone by morning.
As most of y'all know, I am still working, and of course Friday was horrible, from employee problems, to last minute issues with Moose, our truck. I got the employee problems temporarily straightend out (any of you mechanics want a job, come see me), and found the driver's power window on the truck had bit the dust. This seemed to be a minor problem, but played an important roll in the festivities later.
I got home, loaded the truck with 3 scooters for our planned Saturday outing, hooked up Goliath, and after a couple more last minute delays, left home about 6:15 for St. Petersburg. I won't say I exceeded my self-imposed speed limit of 60 mph, but I made the 120 mile trip in 120 minutes, start to stop. Then more fun began. I found out
why site #156 was one of only two sites available. Low-hanging tree limbs, narrow driveway, and a narrow street made for almost impossible parking conditions. A Mini Cooper and a Base Camp might have been able to back into the space with no problem, but not a 21 foot long truck trying to manhandle a 26 foot long trailer. I tried creeping back into the space, and thought I was doing well, when
CRUNCH! I tried to knock down a large palm tree. Both the tree and the truck were moderately damaged. Marie was standing on my side of the truck, screaming at me that I was about to have a close encounter of the worst kind, but I couldn't hear her over the diesel engine, and the stuck closed driver's window (remember that from earlier?). After much cursing and gnashing of teeth, and more finagling, not to mention trying to drive the front of the truck through the washroom to get enough clearance to pivot the trailer, I got everything where it needed to be.
After unhooking, and connecting to water and electric, I found out that an emergency repair I had made to the dump valve plumbing leaked profusely. %$^$%^$%#!!!! Okay, off to the washroom to take a shower.
Next morning, after the dog incident, we unloaded the scooters for part of our planned activities. One scooter (with 51 miles on it, I might add) had a dead battery, and stubbornly refused to start by kick-starting it. A several hour long search for a replacement battery proved fruitless, so I swapped batteries with another scooter that would start by kick starting. Before going out, we, not believing we had incurred enough wrath from the karma gods, attempted to unfurl out antique awning. This was not a good idea, although it did seem like a good idea at the time. One of the anchors ripped out of the aluminum skin, causing two problems. First, we had to secure it to drive home, and second, we now had two large round holes in the roof. About an hour's worth of work was required to get the awning reattached to the roof, so we could go home.
The rest of the day passed pleasantly enough. We were visited by Rich Luhr (rluhr here on the forums) with his wife Eleanor, and Emma, their daughter. We spent a couple of hours catching up on life, liberty, and the pursuit of Airstreaming before they had to head off for another rendevous a bit further South.
Evening dinner was grilled hamburgers and salad, and we were all too tired to partake of the movie we had brought.
Leaving this morning, I had to wait in line at the dump station and watch a newly minted RV'er attempt to emulate Robin Williams in the movie "RV". I was able to get most of the black water where it was intended (remember the leaking repair?), and head back home. No further prblems, and no Airstreams were harmed in the making of this rally. A good thing.
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