Friday, July 29, 2005
Arrived at Winnebago Grand National Rally
Sunday, July 17, 2005, Arrival at the GNR site in Forest City, Iowa
We took our time leaving the park in Clearlake, Iowa, and drove into town toward Mason City looking for propane. We didn't find any, so ventured back and drove through the corn fields up to Forest City. We found the camp ground and rally site and continued into town, still looking for propane. Of course, on Sunday one would not really expect to find the propane stores open unless it was at an open gas station. We found the propane dealer in Forest City, then turned around and went to the rally site.
The back way in is used for all arivals so that there is enough room to stop and disconnect the tow car. As we did this chore, the old steam tractor near us blew his whistle ear-drum-shattering loud and chugged across the road behind us. When we were ready to go, the RV engine was reluctant to start. Looks like the starter is bad. Tried 3 times and the engine started. We got our parking location information and a team in a golfcart escorted us to the parking spot. This is on a slight slope and I had to use all my blocks to make the RV level enough to sleep in without rolling out of bed. I set up the blocks and urged the reluctant starter to start which it finally did. As blocked the RV was nice and level. Now we don't have to move until Friday morning. Need to make arrangements to have Ford fix this problem. I opened the switch on the chassis battery, then hooked up my trickle charger to the chassis battery to make sure that it is fully charged and not the problem with starting.
Or friend, Jean Johnson arrived from up the row to welcome us to the group. There are three RVs from our group here, but there are quite a few from the central (Nashville) and western (Memphis) groups, so there are about 23 couples here from Tennessee. I hear that there are 1550 RVs at the rally! We Tennesseans all got together at 4 to snack and meet and sit around and talk for a while.
In the evening we went to the starting ceremonies at 7 p.m. in the amphitheater. Announcements, Flag ceremony, parade of states and flags and we were done for the day. On the way back to the RV it began to rain and lightning was striking in west. We sat in the front seats in the RV and watched the storm approach and drench us. My awning was up and my antenna was down, so it was fun to watch and the storm was good sized, too.
We took our time leaving the park in Clearlake, Iowa, and drove into town toward Mason City looking for propane. We didn't find any, so ventured back and drove through the corn fields up to Forest City. We found the camp ground and rally site and continued into town, still looking for propane. Of course, on Sunday one would not really expect to find the propane stores open unless it was at an open gas station. We found the propane dealer in Forest City, then turned around and went to the rally site.
The back way in is used for all arivals so that there is enough room to stop and disconnect the tow car. As we did this chore, the old steam tractor near us blew his whistle ear-drum-shattering loud and chugged across the road behind us. When we were ready to go, the RV engine was reluctant to start. Looks like the starter is bad. Tried 3 times and the engine started. We got our parking location information and a team in a golfcart escorted us to the parking spot. This is on a slight slope and I had to use all my blocks to make the RV level enough to sleep in without rolling out of bed. I set up the blocks and urged the reluctant starter to start which it finally did. As blocked the RV was nice and level. Now we don't have to move until Friday morning. Need to make arrangements to have Ford fix this problem. I opened the switch on the chassis battery, then hooked up my trickle charger to the chassis battery to make sure that it is fully charged and not the problem with starting.
Or friend, Jean Johnson arrived from up the row to welcome us to the group. There are three RVs from our group here, but there are quite a few from the central (Nashville) and western (Memphis) groups, so there are about 23 couples here from Tennessee. I hear that there are 1550 RVs at the rally! We Tennesseans all got together at 4 to snack and meet and sit around and talk for a while.
In the evening we went to the starting ceremonies at 7 p.m. in the amphitheater. Announcements, Flag ceremony, parade of states and flags and we were done for the day. On the way back to the RV it began to rain and lightning was striking in west. We sat in the front seats in the RV and watched the storm approach and drench us. My awning was up and my antenna was down, so it was fun to watch and the storm was good sized, too.
