Tuesday, Mar. 22
Today is the official start of the convention.  At a couple of minutes before 7, I was at the morning coffee area for my hot chocolate and Krispy Kreme doughnuts.  I then went to the first of 4 scheduled seminars which was the Cummins engine seminar.  By the time the seminar was over, the exhibits were open. 

There are 4 buildings of exhibits here, and I wanted to do a quick scan of them.  As I was coming out of the 2nd building I noticed a few drops on the pavement.  Within seconds the sky opened up.  We had a very heavy thundershower, followed by numerous others the rest of the afternoon.  By waiting for a period of only light rain, I managed to complete the exhibits while getting only slightly soaked going from one to another.  I also quickly learned to park my scooter under the building overhang.

The route to the motorhome included some very muddy areas.  Wherever a low spot collected water and then was driven on by the cars and golf carts, the grass was very torn up and a muddy quagmire resulted.  I was able to skirt these areas with my scooter.

I skipped the two middle seminars, but made it back for the afternoon one on Allison transmissions.  We would like to have gone to the evening entertainment, but realized it was at 6:30 when we saw the clock at 7:00.

My solar panels did not do much today as it has been very dark all day.  The highest I saw during the day was 2 or 3 amps.  On a good day, I have seen 23.  We fired up the generator and watched The Weather Channel, only to find that we are in a severe thunderstorm and possible tornado area.  We watched periodically until all the storms had skirted this area, then went to bed.

Wednesday, Mar. 23
Today dawned bright and clear.  As my first seminar was not until 9:30 this morning, I arrived for my hot chocolate and KK doughnut at about 8.  I then started reviewing the exhibits more deliberately.  After my seminar on holding tank chemicals I returned to the motorhome.  Betty and I then returned to the activity area, but not quite as we had planned.  When Betty tried her scooter, the meter would swing all over the range, and then turn off.  It had gotten wet yesterday!  I was not going to try and push her wheelchair through the wet grass and mud, so we drove to just outside the activity area and parked.  I then pushed her the rest of the way.

We started reviewing the exhibits together, then went over to the Ice Cream Social at 1.  We met Fred and Judy, and as Fred and I were going to the same seminar on inverters and battery chargers, Judy and Betty headed off together.  When Fred and I reached our 1:30 seminar, still a little early, we had the door closed in our faces with the statement that they were full, and that they could not accommodate any more standing room.  We were NOT happy campers!  Eventually we met the girls again and went our own ways again. 

Betty and I finished the exhibits then headed over to the coach displays.  About as far as you can possibly walk and still be in the fairgrounds we found the Foretravel display.  We said hello to Brad, the man who sold us our coach, and to Terry who was his manager in Escondido.  Terry gave each of us a Foretravel cap.

We were now in a quandary.  It was too late to return to the motorhome, but too early for the evening entertainment.  We had a funnel cake between us, then headed over to the arena where the entertainment will be.  After waiting about half an hour, they started letting the handicapped in.

Pam Tillis was the featured entertainment tonight.  She and her band put on quite a performance.

Even thought I had left my scooter charging all day using a small inverter, the solar panels had fully charged my house batteries today.  No generator tonight!

Tomorrow is the final day of the convention. 

Thursday, Mar. 24
Today is the final day of the convention.

I headed out at about 7 again for my KK doughnut and hot chocolate and then over to my 8:00 seminar.  My next seminar was in the same room so I just kept my seat.  The seminar after that was just across the hall.  Boy, today is easy!  The seminars I attended this morning were on RV Electrical Circuits, Computer-Enhanced Travel, and Electronic Diesel Engine Monitoring.

I went back to the motorhome and tried to get Betty's scooter running.  It had been caught in the rain on Tuesday, and would not run on Wednesday morning.  I pulled it all apart and tried to clear any moisture from the electronic control box, but it appeared dry.  I finally noticed that the attempts it was making to work varied as I put pressure on the battery.  I cleaned the slight corrosion from the scooter battery terminals and the scooter worked - almost!  It ran just fine, but the "horn" (a pip-squeak type, soft tone) was on whenever I drove it.  It varied in loudness, but never went away.  I decided the electronics need a little more drying time, but I was greatly relieved that it is not dead!.

Betty and I went back over to the activity area where we met Judy.  Betty and Judy went to the Red Hat Tea (open to all ladies), while I went to my fourth seminar of the day on Supplemental Towed Car Braking.  After rejoining Betty we got a bite to eat and then went over to the evening entertainment very early.  Tonight's concert is by The Oak Ridge Boys!
 

The Oak Ridge Boys put on a terrific concert!

We thoroughly enjoyed the evening.  They performed for about 1 3/4 hours.  At about an hour into the performance, Joe Bonsal, their leader, said that no one told them how long they should perform, so they would do a bunch more.  They got a rousing cheer for an answer.  Everyone seemed to enjoy the performance.

The convention is over!  We had a total of 6467 coaches here!  This breaks down to 5127 family coaches and 1340 display units.  That's a lot of motorhomes!  The approximately 10,000 family members here more than doubled the population of Perry (pop. about 9000) for a few days.
 

As we left the activity area of the fairgrounds for the last time, it actually started looking very familiar.

We leave tomorrow. 

Friday, Mar. 25
Today is Good Friday.

We were assured by the weather-guessers that we would stay dry until Saturday.  They were wrong!  I woke up about 5 this morning to the sound of a very heavy thunderstorm.  It passed in a few minutes, but more were passing through.

We had planned to leave our motorhome parked at the fairgrounds until early afternoon (I know we are supposed to be out by noon, but I figured I could "push" it a little.  Fred and Judy have an appointment to have their coach weighed at 3:00.  This is a service the FMCA partially subsidizes to help members know if they are safely loaded, and if not, to assist them in making the proper changes.

As we are parked on grass here, and stories abound about past rallies at Perry about coaches mired in the mud, having to be pulled out by long cable winches on huge wreckers, and that it was still muddy in places from Tuesday's rain, I was not happy to have more rain just as we have to leave!  We all decided to leave the fairgrounds fairly early, before too much of the ground dissolved under us.  Fred was the first out, and reported that the talk on his CB said that Walmart was packed.  We decided to go to a rest area about 15 miles south of Perry and wait there.  Neither of us had any problem driving out of the fairgrounds, but we did see some very large wreckers driving around the parking areas.
 

As we prepared to leave, there was a steady stream of motorhomes driving past on the road above us. The foreground shows an area of mud typical of the driving lanes between parked motorhomes (many of which have already left in this picture).

The Pfafmans drove to a nearby city to find a laundromat from the rest area, and we drove back into Perry.  After finding the hospital (we missed it on our first tour) we drove out to the airport, which is where they were weighing the coaches.  I talked to one of the leaders of the weighing team and asked about Fred's timing.  When I said his appointment was at 3, he said "Bring him in now!".  A quick cell phone call relayed that informatiton.

They still had to get back to the rest stop, hook up their car, and drive their rig back to Perry, so we went to a peach and pecan packing house.  They also have made it into a real tourist attraction.  (Notice I didn't say "trap"!)  We had peach cobbler and peach ice cream for lunch, it was great!  As we had all planned on going there before the change in plans, we bought a "sympathy pack" of cobbler for them.
 

The outside of the Lane Packing House is very neat and well kept.
	They have beautiful flower gardens all around the building.

We actually got on the road about 2:30 with a projected driving time of about 2 to 2 1/2 hours.  Wrong!  It took 4 hours with numerous areas of stop and go traffic and long back-ups.  It was a horrible drive!  We finally arrived at our overnight stop of (what else?) a Flying J just 2 miles from the Florida border.

Tomorrow we head to St. Augustine.  More severe weather is forecast!

I have posted this report including a number of photos at:

http://myweb.cableone.net/rsmason
 

Till next time,

Dick and Betty

Saturday, Mar. 26
We had a good night's sleep at the Flying J.  We were going to leave at about 9, heading to St. Augustine, FL.  We waited to call for reservations until 8:00 figuring that most campground offices would be open by then.  We called the campground we had selected and were told they were full, but that we might get in if we called back at 11, after some campers may have left.  We then tried several other campgrounds, all of which were full (with no offer of a possible vacancy later).  One actually told me "It's Easter weekend!  It's Spring Break!  We are booked through April!"

Somewhat discouraged, I discussed what to do with Fred and Judy.  We decided to try a few campgrounds farther out from our desired destination.  We got a reservation at a place in Crescent City, about 20 miles out.  We finally left somewhat after 10.  Three miles later we stopped at the Florida Welcome Center.  We had our free cup of orange juice and picked up a number of travel pamphlets and booklets.  One of these was a Florida campground directory.  While we were inside, the skies opened up and it poured buckets from the sky.  It had been dry until now.  Welcome to Florida!

After driving a while, Fred called on the CB stating that Judy had been calling camp grounds from the guide, and could get us 2 spots in St. Augustine for a little less than our current reservations.  We said to "Do it!".  She also called our Crescent City CG and cancelled that reservation.  When she gave us the name of our campground, it was the one that had said to call back at 11.  It was just 11.  We completed our drive WITHOUT a GPS plan!  Guess what?  A paper map still works!  Amazing!

After getting settled, we all drove into town.  First we stopped at Whetstone Chocolate Co.  They usually give tours, but have suspended them during some remodeling they are doing.  That's two out of two tours no longer available!  This is the company that makes the chocolate oranges that you bash into a hard surface to separate the slices.  It was an interesting place, but possibly the day before Easter was not the quietest time to visit!

We then drove into the historic section of the city and did a preliminary car tour.  We now know some of what to look at when we go back.
 

Judy and Fred at the entrance to the fort.

We watched The Weather Channel and watched the severe thunderstorm and the tornado watches and warnings move around on the map.  Unfortunately, we were in these zones.  It stayed dry!

Sunday, Mar. 27
Happy Easter!

Again we are supposed to have thunderstorms, some severe.  It is a beautiful day so far.

We started out separately.  We went back to the historical section.  We were just driving into an ancient fort when Judy called.  She warned us there is an Easter Parade this afternoon, and much of the downtown area will be closed to traffic.  We decided to return yet again tomorrow.

We all met at the campground, and headed for Daytona Beach.  It was about a 50 mile drive.  In some ways it is a typical beach city during Spring Break.  The big difference I noted was that although we were driving right along the coastline, we could seldom see the ocean!  Anywhere there was a break in the buildings, they were putting in yet another condo or hotel, many in the 15 to 30 story tall range.  Occasionally there was a narrow road that led to the beach.  For an admittance fee, you could drive your car right onto the beach.  However, it is no longer a speed testing range with its 10 mph limit.  The temperature was in the 80s', so there were many people on the beach.
 

Judy has just gone wading in the Atlantic Ocean.
	The beach at Daytona Beach is just loaded with high-rises!  There is almost no beach access or visibility.
This was one of the more interesting buildings in Daytona Beach.

We stopped at a city park.  There was a large paved area above the beach, with ramps leading down to the sand.  Judy walked down and briefly waded in the Atlantic Ocean. 

We spent about an hour there, just relaxing, talking, and people watching.  It was very enjoyable!

We drove the 50 miles home along the beach.  It was much slower than the interstate would have been, but it was fun seeing all the beach businesses and homes.  We also passed through a number of state parks.  As we got into St. Augustine again, we turned off onto a road heading toward our campground.  Within seconds we drove into a wall of water.  We had been seeing lightning over about a 120 degree arc in front of us.  Now we were there!  After several minutes of very slow, low visibility driving, we drove out of it just a suddenly as we had entered it.  Obviously it had passed over the whole area between us and the campground, as they were all very wet.  It is now 9:45, and that one very heavy shower was all the rain we had today.

Monday, Mar. 28
We decided to each tour on our own today.  Betty and I relaxed around the motorhome until late morning, then headed once more into St. Augustine.  Traffic was worse than either weekend day, but the sky was blue and sunny.  The only weather problem today is the very high winds. 
 

Flagler College has a beautiful campus!  This is one of the more outstanding buildings.

St. Augustine is the oldest permanent city in the continental United States, having been established in 1565.  For 235 years it was the military, political, and religious capital of the Province of Florida, controlled by Spain.  During this time the town's primary value was as a military base to protect Spain's colonial trade and commerce.

We drove through the old downtown district to the Castillo de San Marcos, a fort started by Spain in 1672 and completed in 1695.  During the many years Spain held the fort it withstood many attacks.  It was never defeated, but was ceded by treaty two times.  The first time in 1763 to Great Britain in exchange for La Habana, Cuba, then it went back to Spain in 1783, and was finally ceded to the United States in 1821.  It was used briefly by Confederate troops during the Civil War, and it held military prisoners during the Spanish-American War.  It was made a national monument in 1924.

The fort is a square courtyard surrounded by many rooms within the outside walls which are over 16 feet thick.  Each corner has a diamond shape bastion with numerous cannon all around the top of the fort and the bastions.  There is only one entrance protected by a drawbridge over a dry moat.  The design was such that the moat could be flooded if needed by opening flood gates on the sea wall.  Normally they placed their livestock in the moat during attack.
 

A "Spanish soldier" gives a talk about his (her) living conditions, clothing, and flintlock rifle.
	This is a 15 inch mortar.
View from the upper deck of the fort to the Bridge of the Lions.

After leaving the fort, we drove around St. Augustine a bit.  The traffic was very heavy, not helped by the many tour "trains" and the horse buggies giving tourists rides around the city.  We drove through some very narrow streets parked solid on one side, leaving only a narrow single lane to drive, with very nice houses on both sides of the street.  Other neighborhoods had more realistic modern day street widths and still contained very nice homes.

Near the historical district is the Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum and the Fountain of Youth which Ponce de Leon found.  You can remain eternally youthful for only a $6 admission which lets you sample from the fountain.  I guess we will just grow old!
 

This shot through our windshield shows us driving over the Bridge of the Lions.

We drove over the Bridge of the Lions several times.  This was named for the large lion statues at the base of the bridge.  We could never find the lions!  We saw photos of them in the tour books, but could not find them ourselves!  The bridge has a short section of draw bridge in the center.  I saw it once just as the drawbridge was coming down.

Tomorrow we plan to head to Palm Bay, close to Orlando and Cape Canaveral.

I have posted this report with photos at:

http://myweb.cableone.net/rsmason

'Till next time,

Dick and Betty