The Heart of Dixie and Texas Ramblin' Roses Chapters of RVing Women (RVW) got together for a 5 day joint rally at Lake Livingston State Park. An event like this is always challenging for a number of reasons. First, Texas Ramblin' Roses rallies are always pretty big and then you add in the Heart of Dixie ladies. Then you add in a Texas State Park. Reservations are always a challenge at our state parks. That is why we scheduled the rally for Monday through Friday. Things were further complicated by the fact that this particular state park was closed twice for a problem with the water system. It was scheduled to open on 2 May.....our rally started 9 May so we had some tense moments waiting on the opening date. Fortunately all that went well. So well that 73 of the 80 ladies that planned to attend actually made it and checked in. The final challenge was the weather since we had no rally room. Again, fate smiled on us and we had beautiful weather all week. Yes, it was hotter than normal but the area between several of our sites was well shaded and we had a decent breeze most of the time plus evenings cooled off. Great start, right?!
Registration started on Monday at 6:00PM with our Meet and Greet. I built an xcel spreadsheet with everyone's name, site number, and phone number on it so I checked in everyone that I recognized as I saw them and checked in everyone else as they came up to the sign in sheet. It was a lot of advance work but it sure did simplify things and save a lot of time.that night.
Instead of having everyone bring something for each event, we assigned responsibility for bringing food for each event by first names. We didn't know how that would go over but everyone seemed to like it. We had plenty of great snacks provided for the Meet and Greet.
We were lucky enough to have a very large shady space between two RVs where we could get together. Everyone brought chairs and just left them there for the duration. We also got great cooperation with everyone either walking if they were close enough or carpooling if further away as parking was really limited. We had women in every RV camping loop plus a couple in shelters.
Tuesday morning there were several events going on. Bike riding.....
Hiking......on several different days, different groups, and different trails.
Geocashing was also an event....
The intrepid kayakers kayaked in different places on different days. The Texas Ramblin' Roses have a very active kayaking group that meet weekly around San Antonio for a paddle.
Tuesday night we had a potluck with the hosts providing fried chicken and another group of ladies bringing side dishes. There was plenty of food for all. The hosts provided 5 tables and several other ladies brought tables as well plus we had the picnic table.
Wednesday morning there was a small group doing yoga.
A couple of the hosts demonstrated techniques.
Wednesday afternoon, a lot of us headed over to Lisa's site for a card party.
This was not just an ordinary card party. We were there to learn about the Forgotten Wishes Foundation.
This foundation supports the Forget-Me-Not Friend Club for People with Disabilities. They ensure that these individuals receive cards for all important events like birthdays, Christmas, etc., plus other cards during the year. Lisa supplied card stock, stickers, colored pencils and pens, sharpies, etc., virtually anything needed to make cards.
You don't have to be a great artist to make someone's day. Everyone made several cards and Lisa will send them off to the individuals on her list.
Thursday morning at 11:00 AM sharp, we took a group photo. Almost everyone made it. Our previous TRR president set a precedent of taking the picture right as scheduled or you would have some ladies standing around for a long time waiting for the late comers to show up. You can't make everyone happy.
The picture taking was immediately followed by a Champaign Brunch. The Heart of Dixie ladies made four slow cooker breakfast casseroles. They got up in the middle of the night to get them started. The champaign tub was filled numerous times so there was plenty of champaign or mimosas for all along with orange juice.
Another group of ladies with the appropriate first names brought numerous breakfast items to share.
Everyone enjoyed a great brunch.
The brunch was followed by games and relaxation.
The last official event of the rally was the Friday morning Hitch Up Breakfast. This is a smaller event but hard to plan for as you really have no idea how many will show up. Once again the ladies assigned for food did a great job. We had apples, oranges, muffins, croissants, cream cheese, jelly, orange juice. breakfast bars, melon, etc. and lots of ladies showed up because it is for farewells even if you aren't leaving.
All in all, the rally went really well and everyone said they had a wonderful time. The 4 hosts breathed a big sigh of relief. Did I mention that the sunsets were magnificent?
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