Perry GA FMC Convention

It was another sunny day in Perry GA. We both got up early and caught the 7:30 tram over to the South Africa RV seminar. This was presented by a company who sponsors these trips, but it was a rather neat photo presentation of an RV trip in Africa. Bill and I want to go to Africa, but not this way. They are gone for 37 days, and it costs $15,000 per person plus gas. We are looking at a National Geographic tour that is also expensive but is a much more civilized trip.

After the presentation we shared a breakfast at one of the two restaurants. Bill went on to his three hour RVing seminar, and I came back to the RV. We lost power for about 15 minutes. This has been an iffy electrical setup. Our clocks are losing about 10 minutes every 24 hours. Bill went to the ice cream social that was supposed to start at 1pm. They were out of ice cream by the time he got there at 1:15, so he wandered around talking to some vendors before he came back to the RV. I took a nap before we headed into Perry at 5. We went to Walmart and then had dinner at a Chinese buffet. It wasn’t too bad. We did drive around the outskirts of the fairgrounds, and the number of RVs here is mind-boggling. Hopefully we can get an aerial photo of the convention. That would be impressive. Bill also picked up some info on Stone Mountain, our next destination.

Perry GA FMC Convention

It was a lovely sunny day finally. Bill took off for a seminar on batteries. I had breakfast and took the tram over to the main fairground buildings to meet Bill for lunch. I had an hour to kill so I went into one of the main exhibit buildings. It was typical fair booths with an RV emphasis – brakes, tow bars, campgrounds, cleaning products, and an assortment of jewelry, handbags, bed sheets, Tupperware (my, how it has changed since I bought it!). By the time I made it through this one building, it was time to meet Bill. He only had a half hour, so we went to a Beef Tips and Spuds tent. They had run out of ‘spuds’, so we got a dish of beef tips, onions, and mushrooms. Lord.

Bill went on to his 3 hour RV Driving seminar. I hung around for a half hour because I had to see “Rick Hubbard and the Kazoobie Kazoo Show”. This was a one man, guitar/banjo/kazoo player show. We all got free kazoos. He put on a surprisingly interesting show. It was the audience participation I could have done without. The average age of the audience had to have been 75. He had them up there blowing bubbles for a bubble song he had written, shaking maracas, and playing household objects in an audience band. And through it all, he had the audience playing along with their kazoos. Mr. Hubbard also is owner of the only US manufacturer of plastic kazoos. After the show, I caught the tram back to the RV and sat outside in the shade reading.

Bill showed up at 4:45. He said the seminar wasn’t too bad, but lots of audience members had to insert their own stories into the seminar. He has another 3 hours tomorrow of the same thing. He grilled steaks for dinner, watched Judge Judy, and then we rode his bike back over to see Tony Kenny’s Irish show. He didn’t stay too long. I keep waiting for the chamber music which will never happen.

Perry GA FMC Convention

It was a cold, nasty, rainy day all day! I kept rolling over and going back to sleep as is fitting on a day like today. Bill was up early and over to the info pavilion to sign up for a safe driving seminar tomorrow. He hung around there and went to a seminar on RVing in Atlantic Canada and a towing roundtable. He didn’t learn anything new about towing, but he got some info about Canada. He ate lunch there, went to some exhibits. He spun the wheel at a booth sponsored by Minute Rice and won the ‘big’ prize. He even got his photo taken with his prize – a microwavable brown and wild rice product containing two individual servings. We got a laugh out of that.

I stayed here drinking coffee, chatting with Mandy, and watching the folks try to ford the huge Georgia red mud puddles next to us. They have to get to the road to catch the tram to the main exhibit/seminar buildings. The best thing I saw was a little old couple. The husband had on plastic grocery bags tied around his shoes. His wife had on Zip Loc baggies, and they walked gingerly through the mud. The RV in front of us gave up and left even though the rain should stop late tonight, and the sun should shine the rest of the week.

Perry GA FMC Convention

We got packed up, hooked up, and left Kings Bay by 9. The drive to Perry GA was fairly uneventful. It did start to sprinkle just before we arrived at the Georgia State Fairgrounds where this big rally is being held. We are parked in a huge field, but luckily we are at the end of the row next to an asphalt road which gives us a little more room. They have strung electric lines over our section of the field, and we share a box with the RV next to us and the one behind us. We get 30 amp power but no water or sewer. We hadn’t been in our spot very long when it started raining. And it rained, and it rained, and it rained. The area around us was pretty swampy. It has stopped for tonight, but we are supposed to get a bit tomorrow, too.

Bill took the tram over to the main exhibit buildings to look around. I didn’t want to traipse around in the rain, so I stayed here. The seminars and exhibits start tomorrow. There are only a couple of seminars that I want to attend, so I will stay home with my books. We do have what appear to be fire ants in the area, so we will have to be careful. I do have ant bait, so I am prepared if they try and invade the RV. Bill says there are fair food booths over in the exhibit area, but I can check those out after the rain stops.

Kings Bay GA

It was a cool, foggy morning. Everything outside under the awning was wet even though it hadn’t rained. After lunch, the sun finally came out, but it didn’t warm up too much. We went to the commissary to stock up on food for the coming week. Bill is really looking forward to the seminars at the Family Motor Coaching rally in Perry GA. Me, not so much. There is one seminar about RVing in southern Africa that sounds interesting even if it is at 8am on Wednesday morning. We will be there until Friday.

We got gas for the Tracker, some cigars and scotch for Bill, and came back to the RV. We put the food away, and I cleaned up the coffee pot and got it packed away. We did a few other items that needed to be done and then sat outside and read. Tomorrow we hope to be out of here by 9, so it will be an early wake-up to shower since we won’t have water hook-ups all week. We do have a water tank, but we will have to be frugal. It should be an interesting week.

Kings Bay GA

It was a much cooler day at Kings Bay. We slept in which is always nice on cool mornings. Last night there was a great blue heron out front. We hung around here in the morning. At 12:30 Bill drove down to Amelia Island for the Concours d’Elegance. This is a high end classic car show and sales. Bill wanted to look at the cars and meet David Hobbs, a Formula 1 race who now announces races on the Speed Channel. He called a couple of times and was having a pretty good time. He got back here about 4.

While Bill was gone, I chatted with Mandy while I worked on labeling photos. I got those all caught up. Mandy and Cynthia are going to Boston in the morning for the weekend. Saturday night they are going to see the musical Dirty Dancing. At 6 we left to drive back down to Amelia Island to meet Nancy Van Tyle and her friend Candy for dinner. They had found a place called Brett’s Waterway Restaurant and were waiting in the bar for us. It was a really nice restaurant. I had fried green tomatoes, shrimp bisque, and red pepper polenta, all of which were quite good. Nancy and Candy shared some fried green tomatoes and had salads. It was a fun evening chatting. Nancy and Candy met a lifetime ago when both were working in Alaska, so it was fun to hear their stories.

Kings Bay GA

It was a lovely down day! I slept in, had coffee outside looking at the lake, had breakfast. Bill went to get gas and a paper. It was almost too windy out to read outside, but he managed. I worked on cleaning up photos. I got all 150 of them done and posted the best ones online. We did a few chores around here and cleaned up some things. A nice relaxing day.

I did post photos from Okefenokee Swamp Park and the Jacksonville Zoo. The link can be found on the left.