03-09 FMCA Rally Perry, GA

From 3-09 FMCA Rally in Perry, GA

When we have talked about attending RV Rallies, several people have said we should attend a FMCA Rally. They reported how well they are organized for such a large gathering. So we decided to attend the FMCA International Rally in Perry, Georgia. Especially since it was more or less on our way north after wintering in Florida.

Similar past Rallies have had as many as 7300 motor homes in attendance. This year there were almost 3300, so about 1/2 what it used to be. The economy I'm sure is the reason.

RV rallies in Perry seem to have a reputation for attracting rain. This rally was no exception. We were fortunate to get set up Saturday without rain. Then it started Saturday night and continued off and on through Monday when the rally officially opened. We were in a swamp for a few days. It was no fun for any of us, especially when we had to take Clay for his "health breaks". We had to dry him off, especially his soaked feet each time we returned.

This is Tuesday after much of the water had soaked into the ground. We are the 1st coach on the right:

From 3-09 FMCA Rally in Perry, GA

We had heard stories about RV's being pulled out by bulldozers a few years back. I was beginning to worry a bit that we might have to be pulled out as well. However things dried out considerably by the time we left Friday.

From 3-09 FMCA Rally in Perry, GA

We attended lots of seminars. Some were beneficial. A few were a waste of time. We also attended a three day "Computer Boot Camp" taught by "Geeks on Tour". Their training is excellent. They produce some excellent training videos that can be downloaded from their website. Some are free. Others require an annual membership fee. Many are available on DVD to watch on your own PC. We have several sets of these, and I found them very useful when building this Blog.

I attended other seminars they conducted to learn how to create a Blog with Google's Blogger, manage pictures with Google's Picasa, and keep online photo albums with Google's PicasaWeb. All these programs are free downloads.

We enjoyed the Rally, but were really tired when we left. I must say we enjoyed the Newmar Rally more. Primarily I think because we were with our SC friends John and Dede Fisher and our new friends Jim and Carol Chaney. Plus we just seemed to meet more people at the Newmar Rally.

We did enjoy unexpectedly running into old BellSouth friends Kent and Dale McCoin who are also motor home owners. I also ran into another BellSouth acquaintance, Dicky Lowman and his wife. Dicky has served as President of one of the largest FMCA chapters for Roadtek owners which has about 5,000 members.

We had a funny experience one day. I advertised a portable power protection system to sell. I returned a call to a man who had left a voice message. As were standing in this large building talking, Monique suddenly realized she was hearing both sides of the conversation from two directions. The man was standing about 10' away. So we hung up the phones and finished the deal face to face.

I was a bit concerned about how confusing it would be on Friday with the 3200+ motor homes leaving. However it was no problem at all. Some, perhaps 500 or so, had left Thursday afternoon. The rest were staggered enough in leaving that there were no problems.

We made an uneventful drive over to SC. One thing that is making our drives more tolerable is listening to books from audible.com. We have listened to two we really enjoyed recently. One was "Dewey" about a remarkable cat who lived in a library in a town in Iowa. The other was a humerous fictional detective story called "Dog on It". It is told from the detective's dog's point of view.

We are downloading these books to the Ipod my office gave me when I retired. That has been a much used and much appreciated gift.

03-09 Westville, Georgia

From 3-09 Westville, Georgia an 1850's village

One day while at Florence Marina SP, we drove over to Lumpkin, Georgia only 16 miles away to tour Westville.

Here is a description from the Westville website:

"Westville is an outdoor history museum which depicts an 1850 west Georgia village. You may have seen pictures of little towns like Westville. They dotted the 1850s countryside in the southern United States.

We have created Westville so that you can experience a community in the twenty-first century similar to the ones in which our ancestors lived in the middle of the nineteenth century. See where the antebellum townspeople worshipped, voted, and went to school. Westville has over thirty authentically restored and furnished pre-Civil War buildings: houses, stores, workshops, churches, school, and courthouse. In fact, it has all the ingredients of a functioning town.

Our guides and interpreters are in 1850's dress and will take you through the town and share with you the history of Westville, its people, and their times."

From 3-09 Westville, Georgia an 1850's village

It was a slow period when we visited. Only a few visitors were touring the town and only three guides were conducting tours. Each covered 1/3 of the town and only explained a few of the buildings although all the buildings were open to be viewed. Each guide did an excellent job.

I was especially interested in the large animal powered cotton gin

From 3-09 Westville, Georgia an 1850's village

and cotton press (picture at beginning of this Blog entry). I had seen neither. My Uncle Vernon Kimbrough grew cotton near my home town in the Mississippi delta when I was growing up. I always enjoyed going out to visit. I was familiar with modern cotton picking machines, cotton gins and cotton bales. Another thing I recall about cotton bales is that my father's was given the opportunity to raise his own cotton on an acre of his Father's land. He raised and sold one bale of cotton and that was his high school graduation gift.

From 3-09 Westville, Georgia an 1850's village

Westville is a very interesting place to visit. It is worth the trip to Florence Marina SP for a few days. Plus there are several other things to tour within 1 or 2 hours drive.

If you are interested, I have 53 pictures from Westville (about 1/3 of what I took) in a Web Album. Just click on the link under one of the pictures to see them.

03-09 Providence Canyon State Park

From 3-09 Florence Marina SP - Providence Canyon

Another day while at Florence Marina State Park, we drove 8 miles down the road to Providence Canyon State Park. It is called the "Little Grand Canyon" of Georgia. It is an area where poor farming techniques in the 1800's cause heavy soil erosion. This revealed brightly colored sands, soil and rock in the gullies, the deepest of which is about 150'. The park brochure says some 43 different shades of soil can be seen.

We took a three mile hike to tour the formations. It was a hot day and lots of up and down sections through the rolling hills and heavy woods. It turned out that about 2 miles of the 3 mile hike was in the woods. The last mile had all the best overlooks. We could have just walked in the opposite direction from the visitor's center and avoided the hot walk, but we needed the exercise. Here are a few more pictures:

From 3-09 Florence Marina SP - Providence Canyon

From 3-09 Florence Marina SP - Providence Canyon

03-09 Florence Marina State Park, Georgia

We started our move north on Friday March 6th heading to Florence Marina State Park in southwest Georgia. It is on the Georgia/Alabama border about 40 miles east of Plains, Georgia the home of former President Jimmy Carter. We selected this campground after searching for a well rated campground within 100 miles or so of Perry, Georgia. (We use rvparkreviews to do our campground research). We were headed to Perry to attend a large FMCA (Family Motor Coach Association) Rally from 3/14-3/20.

This turned out to be another very nice campground. It is in a quiet very rural area. The main attraction for the campground is the marina and easy access to the Walter F George Reservoir and the Chattahoochee River. At least half the campers were there to go fishing.

The campsites were large. We ended up with an asphalt paved site long enough for two motor homes with their tow cars. We had full hooks but only 30amp electric service, but this worked out ok.

What else made the visit pleasant were the campground hosts. Both couples were very nice. One couple, Richard and Becky Day, both retired from BellSouth. I think they have pretty much been full time volunteers in the Georgia Parks since retirement. We met several other couples who stay for the winter. I believe this is the only Geogia State Park with monthly rates. We went to lunch with some of these folks at a great family buffet style restaurant just across the river from Eufaula, Alabama which is 22 miles away and the closest town with a WalMart, large grocery store, etc. We were also invited to Richard and Becky's for homemade ice cream on top of chocolate brownies - a real treat!

Richard and Becky both make various craft items. My favorite were World War I style bi-plane models made out of aluminum cans. It takes Richard about 8 hours and 18 cans to make one plane. He only charges $20 if he delivers one in person or $30 if he must ship it. He will make one out of any style can if you supply the cans. He once made two out of commemorative Dale Earnhart, Jr coke cans. He said one is hanging in the museum at the Talladega race track. I bought two that I hang on my rear view mirrors when we are parked at a campsite. They are quite a conversation piece and are a substitute for the wind chimes I used to have at our home in SC. I do not have any of those now since other campers might not like the noise.

From 03-09 Coke Airplane models

From 03-09 Coke Airplane models

(If anyone would like to order an airplane, Richard's email address is rday01@bellsouth.net)

This campground may become a regular stop off spot for us whenever we head to and from Florida.