[A/S] The Sarasota Rally

[hhamp5246@xxxxxxx]

Good Morning,

Well, Linda and I caravanned over to the rally yesterday morning. The drive 
is just a little over an hour from Zolfo Springs thorugh mostly farmland and 
residential areas.  As soon as we got on 75 south we were passed by two 
Airstreams so we just settled in behind them.

Monday is "early" parking for people who have prepaid. I knew that, but also 
knew they would let us in.  They did.  We had to pay $10.00 more for the 
extra day. 

When you come in you get into one of five lines and pay, or show that you've 
paid.  Then three of you at a time are led to your parking space by volunteer 
workers riding on scooters or golf carts. More volunteers are stationed in 
the field and they direct you right to your spot so the jack will drop right 
on the prepainted orange spot. 

We were parked and electric was already in place and I knew where the water 
was so we had water within minutes.  I had parked one row behind in the same 
place last year.
George Tripp came over, he's parked one row behind but on the other side of a 
chain link fence. So close, yet so far (c:

When parking us there is an odd obsession to have all the fronts of the 
trailers line up in a row. I can only guess this has to do with photographs.  
If *I* were in charge the back ends would line up.  What's the difference?  
In my case I have a huge motorhome in the row in front of me.  My truck is 
extra long which puts it too close to the back of the motorhome..... not only 
making it difficult for me to get in and out, but the trucks that need to 
drive between us have a tight squeeze. Wouldn't you know that the longest
RV in the next row would back up to the longest truck in this one.

The thing is, as my trailer is only 25 feet I could be backed up 9 feet and 
still not jut out further than the 34 feet trailers in my row.  Linda's Bambi 
looks so cute.... I even considered parking Bruiser behind it. (c:

After lunch we walked around, I shopped and got a mat for out in front of the 
trailer..... I needed a few things from the Airstream booth, but they didn't 
bring any of what I need.   

By now I realized that my dog Brady's back/butt was getting pink.  Poor boy, 
he was shaved for his back surgery and from his waist to his tail isn't 
protected.  I tied a bandana to his waist and the back covers his bare spot.

Linda and I decided to tour the new trailers and motorhomes set up out on the 
blacktop, the dealer is Recreation USA in Winter Garden.  The cutest thing is 
the new 16 foot Bambi.  It's got black trim outside and it's wonderful 
inside.  Very light wood, the floor looks to be Pergo or a Pergo type wood 
floor. The cabinets look like real wood, not the flat Formica looking ones in 
the larger Bambi and the Safari.  There's an L shaped couch in the front 
which makes into a double bed.  Tiny kitchen, with an unsually large amount 
of storage.  The bathroom has the toilet in the shower like the older 
trailers had.  It appears to be larger than the 19 foot Bambi because there 
is so much open floor space.

There's a 34 foot with a slide out.  The sign on the door says SOLD.  The 
condition of sale was that it be locked up tight..... apparently the 
International presdient bought it.

By now the dogs and I were so tired we needed to come back to the trailer to 
relax until dusk... then we went for a walk around and looked inside 
trailers.... I love doing that, when the lights are on and the curtains not 
closed.  Even though I do it, I find in fascinating that people live/stay in 
these silver tubes.        

I was getting antsy to get online, but didn't want to use my cell phone like 
last year.  I spent more money getting online from here last year than I paid 
to be here.  Last year they had a fifth wheel open for a few hours a day for 
email and gave you a bunch of crap if you did anything wrong.... like in my 
case I had the sound on when I first signed on so Windows was making it's 
boot up noises...which got me in trouble. /-:   

I was reading the booklet about whats what and what's where and found they 
had email access in a building this year.  I wandered over there, and got 
online with no one waiting... heaven. As far as I could tell it's open all 
day long with no supervisors.

On the way back I met a guy struggling to get a signal with his satellite 
dish.  He had it in the stand and was adjusting and adjusting it.... 
listening to the beep inside the trailer which indicates no signal.  I fooled 
with it and then asked if he had the booster on where it was connected.  He 
went inside to check, it was on...he turned it off and  tried again.  Within 
10 seconds he had a picture (c:  

This morning I woke up to a newspaper outside my door and free donuts and 
coffee at the mini building. The theme this year is Hawaiian Holiday and many 
of us are wearing Hawaiian shirts. 

So far it's been a really nice experience....  if any of you are coming I'm 
parked in E5.
Look for the big red F-25 Super Duty or trailer # 2268.

Hunter