Wrapping Up with Dinner at Paul's Place Steakhouse

It has been an interesting week and a half. We have done some sightseeing in the local area.Then there was lunch with another RV friend who lives in Oklahoma. We went to a concert put on by the Notable Exceptions which was fantastic. We relaxed with friends in the RV.

We put in lots of volunteer hours which made us appreciate all the work that goes into putting on a convention. We attended seminars, socials, and entertainment. We started out warm and chilled right down to temperatures we hope to never see in San Antonio even in January but we stayed warm and snug in our RVs. We did wish we had been smart enough to bring more sweatshirts and dog sweaters. We traveled in golf car taxi's and regular vehicles.. I had the front jacks quit working on my 5th wheel (verified by several other women) and then miraculously work perfectly when I finally got my turn with the mobile RV technician who was busy from early until late every day. He was a great young man and didn't even charge me anything for coming by. I unexpectedly ran out of propane on Saturday morning when I thought I had another full tank but I was able to get the propane delivery man to add me to his list when he was already coming out. I called and got on his list but he was flagged down by half the women in the park when he arrived. Fortunately he had propane and patience to fill us all. I also found time to get a couple of blind restringing repairs done this trip. I watched a video on how to do it a month ago and it really wasn't that hard to do......I only had to pull the existing strings back through the holes and reattach it properly but it was very satisfying to get it done.

When one of the Texas Ramblin Roses sent out an email about gathering for dinner at Paul's Place Steakhouse, we were ready to roll. Dinner was food, the service was decent and another wonderful time was had by all.

And we met several more women to add to the long list we met during the convention. Thank goodness RVW and our chapter are very big on everyone wearing their nametags as I am terrible at remembering names.....always have been although I always remember faces.

 

Mary Jane, Carolyn and I all decided to head out on Sunday rather than Monday as we had originally planned. Almost everyone else had the same idea as sleet/snow was predicted for Monday. Carolyn filled her water tank, dumped her black and gray tanks and headed north to Tulsa to visit relatives for a week before heading to an Arkansas State Park for Thanksgiving week. She did see snow but not until Tuesday morning. Mary Jane and I headed back south with an overnight at Coffee Creek RV Resort where we spent a night on the way north. Four other RVs also met up with us there for the night. We were invited for margaritas and snacks but I neglected to get any photos. It was a fun time for all of us though. We had fairly short travel days both Sunday and Monday so there was no need to head out early. Monday night found us back in San Antonio. I unpacked the RV and gave it a quick winterization job before putting it back in storage Tuesday morning. Mary Jane is a full-timer so all she had to do was hookup.

 

Another great trip wrapped up until next time which will come a week after Thanksgiving when I head up to Lake Buchanan for a Texas Rambin' Roses rally. Until later.....

Ice Cream Socials and The Sync Show

Mornings were spent attending seminars, or as a volunteer manning the help desk, or providing seminar or vendor security. We also found time to check out the vendor booths and the fund raiser baskets up for auction. My friend Sage donated quite a few camping items which I put together in two packages and brought to the convention since she didn't attend this year. There were an amazing amount of baskets for people to bid on but they all had bidders and brought in more money for future events.

the next afternoon, the Mid America chapter sponsored a an ice cream social. It was very well attended in spite of the cold temperatures outside. These ladies scooped a mountain of ice cream and poured a lot of sauce.

 

We were all back at the main ballroom for the "Sync" program that evening.

First up were the "Ukuladies" from Florida.

They meet up to entertain often and did a great job in their performance here.

Then there was a skit based on an old program.

There were a lot of good performers and I just didn't get pictures of them all.

You probably remember Rosanne Roxannadana from Saturday night live.

It was a very fun night. Our emcee for all the programs was Stephanie and she did a really good job of pulling everything together and moving things along,

I didn't get too many pictures at the seminars I attended but here is one with Donna Carmon telling us all about Letter Boxing. If you haven't heard of it, it has been around a lot longer than geocashing has and doesn't require a GPS.

 

I attended a number of other good seminars on tire safety, RV tank maintenance, and work camping.



A Wild Time at the Derby

The first big entertainment of the week was our own RVW Derby. Here are the horses lined up and waiting for their jockeys.

And here are the motley crew of jockeys.

They were a wild looking bunch wearing very unusual jockey attire.

Take a look at all the belles decked in their derby hats. Kentucky has nothing on us.

The Texas Ramblin' Roses president, Jimmie Andrews, was one of the jockeys.

It wasn't easy finding hats and flowers to decorate them this time of year. Mary Jane opted for a giant red rose as er center place.

I decked mine out with yellow roses both large and small.

The hats came in all sizes and shapes but most everybody entered into the derby fantasy.

 

Lest you think any of the jockeys were running around a track, I'll let you in on the how the races worked. There were three races. We had bookies to take our bets at the counter (all going to a fundraiser). Huge dice were thrown on the floor and the jockeys got to move the number of spaces that were rolled for their horse. It was a fun night.

 

Temperatures were dropping steadily in Shawnee. Thank heavens my RV is well insulated for an RV. An electric heater was plenty to keep it warm except for the nights when we dipped into the 20s. Then I turned the furnace on.

Opening Ceremony

The convention was set up to make it easy to get around to all the events. There were golf car taxis stationed at the Expo Center as well as roaming the areas where all the RVs were parked. As you can see in the background, we weren't the only event going on. There was a barrel racing competition as well as another show but they were in other buildings.

 They had a special welcome party for all the first time rally attendees so Carolyn and I attended that. Mary Jane has belonged to RVW for a long time and has attended many rallies around the country. Don't hold me to the statistics but I heard there were about 180 rally attendees in 140 rigs and about 40% were first time attendees.

The board of directors welcomed the first timers. The woman speaking is from my chapter, the Texas Ramblin' Roses.

 This is one of the RV parking areas which just happens to be filled with Ramblin' Roses. My rig is front left. Our senior chapter member's rig is on the right.....Barbara is 92 and still traveling the country. One of her daughter's may drive a vehicle behind her but the Class C is Barbara's and she drives it herself. Just wanted to lay waste to a common misconception......if you are a woman you really need to get a small Class B. Ha!  Out of the 180 rigs at the convention, possibly 20 were either small Class B's or tiny trailers. You can see here what the majority of the women drive or pull.

The Ramblin' Roses were planning to have a fish fry the day before the convention officially opened but two things happened. First, it got pretty darn cold in Shawnee and second, everyone at the convention was invited to bring a dish and attend. We moved to an indoor location and we had lots of guests. Jimmie, our president furnished the fish and fried it.....she is a big fisherman. As you can se below, we had lots of dishes to choose from.

Mary Jane enjoying her dinner.

Quite a crowd came to our gathering and everyone had fun.

 The Ramblin' Roses hosted the convention along with the Mid America Chapter. We provided the Honor Guard composed of prior service members. They did a great job with Barb Long heading it up.

 

 

Our Chapter President, Jimmie Andrews, carried our banner in.

 

As you can see, the Texas Ramblin' Roses are a large, enthusiastic group easily recognized when they wear their yellow chapter shirts.

Carolyn is a Rose but she also belongs to the Heart of Dixie Chapter which covers Louisiana to Georgia. When her chapter president found out she was at the convention, she asked Carolyn to carry their chapter banner. Carolyn managed to find another Dixie member who had just joined RVW and Heart of Dixie and shared the honor with her.

We had some entertainment that evening as well as a cocktail hour but now things were officially started although many members had been there a week early to get things set up.

 

One of the seminars presented right before the grand opening was a two day session of RV Maintenance. The first session was a basic course and the second was an advanced.  I sat in as seminar security for a couple of hours for the advanced course. Let me tell you, Barbara Jording, an RVIA/RVDA certified RV service technician, really knows her stuff and is a great instructor.

 

I should mention that the Maintenance courses along with a number of sightseeing options were held before the convention actually started. Carolyn, Mary Jane, and I attended the Notable Exceptions concert Sunday night and it was outstanding.

Hamburger King Lunch Surprise

Carolyn arrived at the convention site on Monday. It didn't take long for her to set up as she has a 5th wheel with big tanks so need to hook up water or sewer until you are actually going to use them. Mary Jane and I had a couple volunteer spots to cover and then we just relaxed and enjoyed the company. Tuesday morning another RVing friend down from Edmond just outside Oklahoma City to meet us for lunch. She took us to a neat place in downtown Shawnee called Hamburger King. The first thing we saw as we parked was this neat mural on a nearby building. The truck parked in just the right spot to mess up the view but it was still neat.

Hamburger King has been round since 1927.

They serve a variety of burgers with either potato wedges or tater tots but it is really the ambience of the place that is the draw. It is fun to eat there.

The décor is definitely old school diner. See the phone on the wall? That is how you are going to order your burger.

We each took a turn.

Everyone got exactly what they wanted on their plate.

No mustard or pickles please. A waitress delivered the menus and our food which arrived promptly. She also stopped by several times to see how the food was and to get us drink refills. They also had some really good looking pie but we were all to full to order that after the burgers.

We had a wonderful visit with Barb. Unfortunately, Kat couldn't make it due to an appointment but we may get to see them both when they head south to the Rio Grande Valley for the winter. The rest of the old downtown looked interesting as well.

 

Now on to the actual convention.