The Winter Blast Rally has been over for two days now and we’ve moved on to the La Paz County RV Park in Parker, AZ.  But, I still have to recap our last two days of the Rally for you; which really just includes one more day of fireworks (Sunday) and then the always sad moving day (Monday).  Sorry for the delayed reporting, but us full-time RVers get busy too 🙂

Our Sunday morning started out like all the other fine Alpine SoCal Rally days, with an awesome breakfast spread put out by our now famous Host(s) and Co-Host(s); Dave & Nicole Guhsé and Paul & Katie Lisec.  Thanks once again guys!  They prepared and conducted a flawless Rally as seen through the eyes of the members, although I’m sure there were many behind-the-scenes challenges what with all the moving parts and pieces.  They even had a specific challenge when the wind picked up just before dinner-time to threaten our scheduled Chicken Dinner, but they adapted and overcame as you ‘ll see later in this blog post.

Another nice sunny morning enhanced our breakfast conversation.  The forecast called for a little wind with some gusts later in the day.

One of our members showed off this cool cloth, (I’ll call it a towel), that she embellished with the logo of an Alpine Coach commemorating the Alpine SoCal Winter Blast 2016 Rally.  Teresa Weitz is a very talented lady with a very capable sewing machine.  I wonder if she’s taking orders!?!

We hung out at the Rally site all day on Sunday and caught up on emails and my previous day’s blog while visiting with our fellow Alpine SoCal members.

As usual nowadays, we took our grandson’s dog “Sheba” for one of her long walks through the Rodeo Grounds.  She didn’t take the fireworks too well the evening before.  Stilla spent most of the evening comforting her in the bedroom of the Coach when the fireworks started.

All manner of motorhomes and trailers are here in the park for the fireworks extravaganza.  Here’s a nice vintage trailer (below).

Here’s another picture of our site (below).  The wind is starting to pick up and the flag is whipping around.  You can see Mike Kuper’s “new to him” Can-Am Spyder® which is parked next to the Urban Escape Vehicle.  I helped Mike & Donna get it loaded into his trailer.

This is Mike & Donna Kuper (FlyingtheKoop.com) putting the Can-Am Spyder “to bed” after squeezing it into their trailer.  I helped Mike guide it in while Donna sat on the back because the rear tire kept spinning on the slick ramp.  I think Mike’s committed to buying a bigger trailer in the near future.  Check out his blog to find out 🙂

Even the gusty winds didn’t stop some of our hardy SoCal members from gathering during the day.

By mid-afternoon, the wind gusts got bad enough that our Host(s)/Co-Host(s) decided to take down the tables and chairs at our get-together site before they blew away.  We also had to take down the EZ-Up tents for the same reason.

The wind didn’t stop us from getting our scheduled chicken dinner tho…  the contingency plan was to serve the food from Dave & Nicole’s Coach.  Everyone took their meals, covered with an extra paper plate for protection, back to their respective Coaches to eat out of the dust and wind.

Everyone lined up at the Guhse’s door like homeless people on Thanksgiving Day at the local mission in the inner city 🙂

I had a moment of clarity, (it’s rare, but it happens), and decided to help out by standing in the doorway and handing the covered plates out to folks.  This way, we minimized the in & out traffic in their Coach and prevented anyone from a slip, trip, or fall on the stairs.  Here’s Teresa (below) begging for her meal 🙂

The wind actually cooperated with our Rally and died down in the evening.  Here’s another beautiful Arizona sunset for you:

And then it was time for more fireworks.  Here’s a small sample again:

Of course, our grandson’s dog “Sheba” didn’t enjoy them so much again, but this time she did better and wasn’t shaking as much or as often as on previous nights.  We wouldn’t have brought her along on this trip if we knew how she’d react to the fireworks, but we didn’t have any other options since we’re dog-sitting for our daughter who doesn’t have a place for her yet.

On Monday morning, folks started packing up to move on to their next destination(s).

We spent the morning saying our goodbye’s and see-ya-laters as folks rolled out of the park.

By noon-time there were only a few Coaches left in the parking area.  We initially thought we’d stay put for one more night.  Our fresh water was still around 1/2 and our waste tanks only showed 1/4 full…

… but, we got a message from some friends we met in Colorado who are staying just down the road in Parker, AZ at the La Paz County RV Park.  So we decide to join them.

So here we are now with Jerry & Marilyn Baumgartner who are on an extended RV trip from their home state of Oklahoma:

Our other old friends Bob & Mary McCord from Colorado are also here in the park.  I wrote about them in a previous post.  They spend most of the winter here hiding from the snow in Colorado.

I’ll post again soon.  I think we’ll enjoy a week-long stay here next to the Colorado River and take advantage of the weekly rate of $155.

Stay tuned…