Great North American Rally

In March 2001 we left to attend the Great North American RV Rally in Perry, GA. We met Jim and "Torchie" at a camp ground so we could get into the Rally area together. The weather was cool and cloudy. Guess what??, the next day it started raining and rained each day for a week and stopped the day we were to leave the Rally. It sure was a lot of fun walking in the "mud" and cold. There was a man parked down the hill from us and the next morning he started out of his RV and stopped cold. He was in a "lake". It had rained hard all night and he was flooded. They had to put some boards down so he could get out of his rig.

The entertainment was GREAT and well worth walking in the mud to see. The Oak Ridge Boys put on a show that was SUPER, they were the only act that got FIVE standing ovations and call backs. They responded too.

There were several RVers that wanted to leave early due to the rain and mud and they had to be "towed out". There was a man with a wrecker that was towing people out. He charged $75 to hook up and another $75 to tow you out. A lot of RVers complained about this and it turned out that he was working a "SCAM'. Sue Bray of Good Sam Club was notified and she said they had a contract with a towing company but their rigs had a 'Smiley Face" on them. She notified the Sheriff and he contacted the unofficial tow man and had him come to tow him out. When the man arrived he said if would be $75 to hook up and $75 to tow him out. The Sheriff gave him the money which had been "marked". When the man took the money the Sheriff arrested him. The man asked about bail and the Sheriff said that the Judge was at the Rally somewhere but he wouldn't be back in court till Monday and this was on a Wednesday. He told the man not to "fret" cause they served the best "fried Bologna" and he could have all he wanted.

With all the rain at the Rally we had some water leaks at our bedroom slide. We had to go to the Monaco booth to see if they could help. They did send a service tech down but there was not a lot he could to at the Rally. We borrowed a wet-dry vac and got it cleaned up.

We went back to Montgomery to wait for the trip to the Smokeys camp out. While there tragedy hit our home. Our beloved Poncho got killed. He had been outside playing and had come back inside. He wanted to go back outside again and Jerry let him out. About an hour later a neighbor came over and said our dog was dead. He had been attacked by a larger dog that was around a dog in heat. We were sure we'd never get over the loss. He was our baby and we'll miss him a lot.