Final Day of the National Cedar Creek Rally

The rally ended this past Monday, but the internet in the RV park wasn't working on Sunday or Monday morning so I failed to update until now.  We've been busy at home.

Sunday was the last day of the rally, and it was jammed full with activities.  In the morning we headed to the City Market.  It was like going to 50 garage sales combined with 50 local produce stands.   According to their website, this open-air market first opened 150 years ago. 

Unfortunately we weren't headed back to the RV park after this visit, because I would have bought lots of produce.

One vendor was selling purses made out of rubber innertubes. 

We found this in the Italian shop where we had a sandwich with Steve and Carol.  None of us was brave enough to try this salad.

I really wanted to buy this for my sis, but there was just no way to get it home.

After spending a couple of hours in the market, we next had a tour in the Arabia Steamboat Museum.  The Arabia was a steamboat that when down in the Missouri River on a trip from St. Louis to Kansas City in 1850.  It was discovered 132 years later in a farmer's field near Kansas City.   

Later Sunday night a large group of us headed to El Maguey's restaurant for a final meal before we all headed our separate ways Monday morning.

We met a lot of great people and can't wait to meet up again with them for the next rally.

Day 6 of the National Cedar Creek Rally

We opted out of today's activity, which was a visit to the American BBQ Festival in Kansas.  We had some things to do around the trailer, and are just BBQ'ed out! 

Little did I know that our day would start so early.  Mark took Butch out around 7:10am, came back inside 5 minutes later and said, "get up, we're gonna take the bed apart and look at the mechanism underneath."  Huh???  This is not "easing into my morning." 

The mechanism underneath the bed.

The bedroom slide has been crooked since day 1 of owning it.  It's always bugged us, but we don't believe it's really hurting anything.  The factory in Indiana will fix it if we just take it up there.  Since we're surrounded by fellow Cedar Creek owners, the guys all talk about their numerous repairs and alterations.  Several said that making these adjustments would be easy.  Easy for them - not their trailer.  We decided to live with it, after taking the bed and underneath apart.

We got all that done before the 9:00am breakfast in the clubhouse.  Afterwards we tackled the hemming of the five roman shades we had put up over the winter.  Since I didn't have my sewing machine with me all winter, I brought it along this week for that very purpose. 

Butch helping with the shades.

Slowly but surely, the entire group (26) ended up at our trailer for the afternoon.  Finally at 6:30p, we headed to a local restaurant for a very healthy dinner of pork tenderloin, mashed potatoes, and gigantic onion rings with two other couples and left everyone else sitting in our yard. 

When we arrived back at the park at 8:00, the gang was still outside our trailer.  It's 10:57pm, and the last of the group has just left.  

Tomorrow we gather at 10 in the morning for the last planned outing.

Day 5 of The National Cedar Creek Rally

Today the rain has ended, the sun came out and things are drying up. We started the day being woken up by a local contractor that we hired to wash and wax the fifth wheel. This is something that we would normally do ourselves but this campground doesn't allow us to wash the rig. The fellow we hired carries his own water in a large tank on a trailer and he power washes the roof and sides first. Then he treats the roof and finally he and his helper wax the trailer. It was such a good deal that he contracted to do at least three other rigs attending the rally.

At noon we gathered at the clubhouse to carpool to the Harry S. Truman Library. We rode over with Steve and Carol, the couple from Montana that set everything up for the rally. They are the only couple about our age and they also have a 2010 Ford F350 Dually we rode in that would really look great towing our Fifth wheel. Steve arranged for a docent to lead our group through the library and share a more personal viewpoint of Truman's life and times. We needed someone like this to help us wade through all the information when we visited the Nimitz museum of the Pacific War last month!

Harry S. Truman's grave site in the courtyard of the Presidential Library.

When we got back to the RV park there was just enough time for a cocktail before everyone gathered at the rally hall for a potluck dinner. These people can really cook. There was so much food that everyone  had all they could eat and there was leftovers of almost everything. Following the dinner we played the Fast Pass Dice Game. Very similar to Rob Your Neighbor but much faster and crazier.

Finally, we sat around the campfire for a couple of hours and then off to rest up for tomorrows fun.

Day 4 of the National Cedar Creek Rally

We are all starting to wonder - will it ever stop raining?  We awoke to another muddy, mucky day after a couple of inches of the wet stuff overnight.  We were all scheduled to go to Nationwide RV Center which sells Cedar Creek RVs.  They had three of the newest models on display, along with 8 other models.  The newest averaged $75,000.  Nice, but only for full-timers and those with lots of cash (not retired telcommunications people!).  At noon they had BBQ for us.  Burnt ends, chicken thighs, and ribs, along with baked beans, baked potatoes, slaw, and several cakes and these fabulous apple turnovers that one of the owners made this morning.

It seems like all we've been doing is eating since we got here, especially BBQ (which KC is famous for). We all got raffle tickets so after lunch they called off numbers for a lot of prizes - some great, some not so much.  My number was the first to be called (why can't I be so lucky with the lottos?).  I won a very nice black leather coat.  Mark won a golf bag.

In addition to the coat and golf bag, we won coffee mugs, coasters, 4 hats, golf towel, damp-rid, and toilet chemical.  The factory in Indiana donated all of these gifts.  Makes us want to go back next year for sure.

Those of us who didn't want to sit inside and watch the rain, gathered underneath the overhang of the clubhouse.

Creepy looking sky around 7:00pm.  Tornato warnings were in the county just south of us.

After six rounds of Mexican Train, we're headed off to bed.  Lots on the schedule tomorrow.

          

Day 3 of the National Cedar Creek Rally

7:00am  That's how late we slept in this morning.  Since getting Butch, we've been up at 6, even though he has not caused us to be up so early.  We would just wake up and worry about him so we took him out.  I'm hoping for 8:00a tomorrow.

Today several most of the group headed into downtown Kansas City for either the Hallmark Factory or the WWI museum.  At 2:00p we were supposed to be at Cabela's about 12 miles across I-70 into Kansas for a cooking demonstration.  We opted to just meet the group at Cabela's.  It was going to rain most of the day and we didn't want to be wandering around downtown in the nasty weather. 

The 2-hour demonstration at Cabela's was quite interesting. The fellow who did the demo was a VP with Cabela's and also a scout leader. His name was Rusty and he was quite a showman! He was using cast iron dutch ovens to make beans and then a peach cobbler.  We were told to return outside 45 minutes after the food went on the fire so we could eat what he had made.  He also had made brats while we were all inside the store.  We met up with two other couples and talked for the entire time; he probably wanted us to be shopping but we had other plans.  The food was delicious. I'll probably make the beans, but in the crockpot instead.  Cast iron dutch ovens are way too heavy to be carrying around in an RV. 

The drive to Cabela's required going through downtown KC.  The roads are all under construction with multiple lane closures, and it was raining on top of all that.  The drivers on this side of the state are as rude and inconsiderate as those on the east side. 

This evening several of us just sat in the clubhouse and gabbed.  We're lobbying for next year's rally to be in Nashville.  I guess the location will be determined at a later date, but we're putting in our two cents worth.

Butch doesn't seem to mind going out in the rain to do his business.  That's good, because it supposed to rain for the next 24 hours.  He doesn't mind being in the cage while we're gone during the day either.  We're so lucky to have adopted this perfect companion.

Our First National Rally

Day 2 of our first Cedar Creek Rv Rally is in the books. Apparently there is a standard format for these things that include starting the day with coffee every morning at the rally clubhouse. Several of us arrived yesterday but most folks arrived today. We have met so many new friends that we all have to wear name tags to have any chance at remembering names. Some of the people here know each other from previous rallys but for the most part we are meeting for the first time. It seems that in the world of RVing the only thing you need to get a conversation started is any common ground about nearly any subject. In the case of a specific brand RV rally everyone has common interests before you even get started. It amazes us that we all seem to have the kinds of problems with our rigs and that without any coordination we all seems to have gotten to nearly the same solutions.

Tonight we came together at the clubhouse to have a dinner and introduce ourselves to the group. The schedule for the week was discussed and then once again different conversations broke out all around the room. A little later in the evening we had a campfire and Hobo Pies. This was a first for us. They are made with two slices of white bread with fruit in the middle and then toasted over the coals until crispy. Very good stuff!

The one thing that tied the day together for us was walking Butch numerous times. Since he thinks that 6 AM is wake up and go outside time we decided to walk around the RV park with him whenever we had some free time. The goal is to tire him to the point that he'll sleep a little longer. It would seem that male dogs want to spritz every verticle thing they see even when they are are out of spritzing fluid. We aren't sure if we wore him out but we certainly are going to sleep well tonight! Tomorrow we head for Cabella's for an outdoor cooking demo with some free eats and some attendance prizes. Unfortunately it looks like the rain is coming along for the next two days.

Butch Says It's Good To be A Patton Dog!

After being home for a month, we've hit the road again.  We left this morning for Oak Grove, MO, just east of Kansas City.  We're attending a Cedar Creek owners rally.  This is our first rally, and since it was only 200 miles from home, we couldn't pass it up. 

After the troubles getting home from Texas, the truck is now running fine.

 We have a new traveling partner with us.

We got Butch from the Humane Society just 3 days ago.  He's a 2 year old cutie who only weighs 11 pounds.  He loved to ride in the truck, and has settled right in as the "perfect trailer dog."

It's good that he's a small dog since we're wallowing in mud puddles and muck from the non-stop rain here in Kansas City.  The sun finally came out around 6pm.  Butch has already had two half-baths.  Fortunately we have this outside shower and we can hose him off quite easily, plus he doesn't even care.

Butch loves sitting on my dog blanket (fleece with dogs on it) looking out the windows.

We've met five other couples here for the rally.  Several more will show up tomorrow when the activities begin.  Lots of activities are planned for Wednesday thru Sunday. 

This is how Butch likes to watch television.

In case you are curious about such a big name for so small a dog...Mark suggested Butch as in Son of a Butch that way when the dog aggravates him he can ask me why we adopted the SOB!