Heading for Home

We decided to leave the FMCA Rally early as the seminars were not of interest to us and we had explored the vendor area quite thoroughly. We really didn't want to be there on Sunday when all of the coaches tried to leave at the same time but we weren't sure we wanted to leave so early in the rally.

We spent this morning walking around the exhibits and picked up a few things that looked interesting. I found an electric meter to check a park's power supply before hooking up that will prevent damage to our electrical equipment in the coach. Tippy found an Italian charm for her watch, 30 for our upcoming anniversary, some candy, and a hand painted denim shirt. We also bought a flag holder for the front of the coach and the US, Nevada, and 19th hole flags to put in it. I also purchased a holder and a 19' flagpole that goes on the back ladder that will fly a windsock and we will start with a US flag windsock. When we stop at a park for a few days we will be able to proudly display the colors and make our site look nice.

We left the FMCA Rally after lunch. It was a little tight getting the coach out of our parking spot but a new friend helped direct me and we made it out without incident. We drove to a KOA just north of Barstow, at the Calico Ghost Town Road, and stopped for the night. We will have a short trip home tomorrow, about 140 miles, and we should be ahead of the weekend traffic. We had our roof under lament replaced while we were gone so we hope that will eliminate the leaks we were starting to see. We will spend the next two months preparing for our 2005 trip that will start on March 16th. Check in here to see our progress and see some pictures of our adventures. Be safe.

Alfa parking area

Alfa at FMCA Rally

FMCA Rally

We arrived safely at the FMCA Rally today after a short 12.5 mile caravan with 39 Alfa See Ya's. We left Emerald Desert in small groups of 7 - 9 coaches and I was the leader of the last group of nine coaches. Seven of the coaches had been at the pre-rally and two more joined our group in route to the fairgrounds where the FMCA Rally was to be held. Unfortunately these two coaches followed an Alfa that wasn't going to the rally and made a wrong turn onto I-10. The last guy in line saw the error and was able to call them on the CB and get them turned around. All 39 coaches arrived at the fairgrounds safely with no big problems.

We were lined up in a holding area for over an hour and then were escorted to our parking area. We were able to get spots with some limited power, 20 amp, but it is better than nothing. The rain has stopped today and it is a little windy which is helping it to dry out. As you might have expected the golf event was rained out yesterday so we just stayed in the coach, except for a couple of errands and meetings, and then went to The Nest for dinner. We had a wonderful meal and enjoyed a bottle of wine with dinner. Tippy had Spaghetti Boulanaise and I had Veal Picatta. The soup was split pea, delicious and I don't like split pea, and the salad was really special. I was able to eat my entire meal but Tippy took most of hers home so we will enjoy it for dinner this evening. We had some of the soup with lunch and it was still delicious.

The rally really begins tomorrow on a limited basis and goes full steam on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. I will include a couple of pictures of our parking area as we are currently set up. I understand we will get some more close neighbors tomorrow but right now we have lots of room. The program for the rally looks good and we hopoe to enjoy the exhibits, seminars, and entertainment programs. More in a day or so, be safe.

Rear view of parked Alfa's

Alfa's all in a row

Sunday at Alfa Pre-Rally

We have met lots of Alfa owners in the past few days. The pre-rally officially began yesterday with a cocktail party, BYOB, and a hamburger/hot dog roast, bring your own meat. The pre-rally did provide beans, potato salad, and bread. We enjoyed chatting with several couples during the party but ended up returning to our coach to cook our burgers as everyone else was eating at 5:00 and that was much too early for us. Today, Sunday, Tippy went to 9:30 mass and then made lunch when she returned to the coach. I attended a seminar with representatives of Alfa leisure company and learned a few new things about our coach.

We have another cocktail party, BYOB, tonight followed by a catered dinner, we chose chicken. Tomorrow is the scheduled golf event, weather permitting, so we will have to see if it will be played or not. It continues to be drippy here but we seem to be missing the major portion of the storm that is going through the LA area. Hopefully we will stay lucky and it will dry out here so we can have a good time at the FMCA Rally next week.

I am reading our christmas present from our friends at the Ranch, "Puppies for Dummies," and I am learning lots about training a new puppy. It has many good ideas that we are trying to follow through with and much of the procedure is to train ourselves to react properly to her behavior. She is doing much better and is truly a wonderful pet. We bought an exercise pen at PetSmart last week so that she can play outside but in a contained area. We got the idea from the Ranch folks as they lent us one to use while we were there over Christmas. The pen consists of 10 - 2' tall by 2' wide metal mesh sections that makes a 4' x 6' play area, I think. I may have to measure to be sure but these dimensions must be pretty close.

We have almost 60 Alfa Coaches here at the Emerald Desert Resort and it makes quite a sight. I will post a couple of pictures of the coaches all lined up. More later as we get to the FMCA Rally on Tuesday. Be safe.