I am at the rally for folks at www.irv2.com
Hubby and I have the only Camplite here. Lots of people looking at it. I really am unsure about what to tell them regarding the future of Camplite, with customizing on the back burner for now, wood on the front of the cabinets, and a new trailer with a steel frame. I have heard a lot about rubber roofs here and people really like the idea of an aluminum roof.
First day of the seminars:
TPMS: Tire Pressure Monitor System: Looks interesting, requires a metal tire stem for each tire, hubby and I are going to visit the display tomorrow.
Blue Ox: Mostly geared to the motorhome owners, but we did take a look at their WDH with anti-sway. So far, we are staying with our E-2.
Wash and wax systems for RVs: Supposedly, graphics are peeling off because people are using the wrong products to clean their RVs. The right products are available here at the rally, of course. The only product I can remember in the evil line-up would be products that contain citric extracts. I was about to wash my Camplite with such a product, because I like it for household cleaning. Now I am rethinking.
Additional: Something I forgot: A camper here told me that she cleans her black tank with Dawn Dish Detergent, and her sensors still work. After a trip to the dump station, she fills her toilet twice, all the way to the top, and then flushes it into the black tank with 1/3 cup of Dawn. Then it is time to hit the road. All that sloshing around and the detergent eats the grease and paper off of the sides of the tank and cleans the sensors.
She also cleans her grey tank with Dawn and a few sinks of water, after visiting the dump station. Sometimes grey tanks can get nasty with bits of food remaining after dumping, and... too gross to go further...
Leslie, I did confirm that the only camper with a steel frame will be the TT they are designing for Ford. I did not get any info on rubber roofs while I was there.
Well, now we are into the third day. We are not the only red trailer in the campground. There is a red Work and Play trailer a few sites down from ours. Anytime I walk the dogs past it, no one is there.
Yesterday, we went to seminars about the resources available on the irv2 website, and about tire safety. Michelin tire reps did not have much to say about tires that I didn't already know. What I did learn from them was to have the tire stem replaced every time you replace a tire - haven't always done that in the past. They also said that if a tire's pressure is more than 20% below where it should be, do not just put air in it and go. Have the tire removed and checked by a professional, is what they recommend.
Today, it is fun and games, with a dinner tonight followed by a live band. This morning and afternoon they are playing cornhole games and a ladder toss competition in the rec hall. I had never heard of a ladder toss before - throwing ladders around inside the building? That I had to see. No, but it looks like fun anyway. Two 3-rung "ladders" made from PVC pipes, with a base to hold them up were placed 27 feet apart. Teams of two people to a team toss 2 balls tied to the ends of a short piece of rope at the ladder at the far end. The goal is to toss the balls so that they wrap around one of the rungs - 3 points for the top rung, 2 for the middle rung, 1 point for the bottom. The trash talking at these games is hilarious.
Everybody knows the names of our dogs, but not ours yet. Campers walking by say hello Daisy and Sweetie! We still have 2 more days to look forward to.
I had to lookup cornhole games.
Leslie, waiting on day 3/4 reports. Good info on the washing and tires so far.
Days 3 and 4 have been fun and games. So many campers signed up for the ladder toss and cornhole games that a schedule was set up and they stuck to it. One team was declared a forfeit when a man decided he had time to walk his dog and took too long. He was not there when his team was called, so it was a forfeit and they went to the next one. There were playoffs and grand prizes awarded - nice prizes.
There were 2 bands on these nights. One was a folk-rock band, but it started raining and everybody ran for their RVs. Last night, The Western Singers performed. I am not a fan of country music, but these guys were great.
We had catered meals these evenings before the entertainment, and the food was very good. Wednesday night they had roast chicken with a nice salad and lots of vegetables. Last night, Thursday, they served pulled pork and pulled chicken sandwiches with BBQ sauce and lots of vegetables again. The baked beans were so good that I went back for seconds.
Thursday night before the band played, they had a fund-raising raffle for the KOA's kids cancer summer camp. There were also some fantastic door prizes - TPMS systems, one of these motorized dollies for moving your trailer around, some free nights at a KOA, some free nights at Ocean Lakes Campground in Myrtle Beach South Carolina, one year's warranty on your RV from Wholesale Warranties, accessories for your RV, and lots of other prizes. You might wonder what I got? A blue tooth enabled speaker for my Jeep, which I have no use for. I traded it with another fellow's prize - a Peterbilt baseball cap! Hey, at least I didn't walk away empty-handed! I know a joke about Peterbilts, but it's a bit risque, so...
This morning, Friday, was the RVers Roundtable, where RV newbies could listen to words of wisdom from old-timers. The rest of the day was set aside for being tourists, but most of the campers I talked to planned to hang around the campground. Most of us have dogs and we haven't spent much time with our dogs. I spent about 3 hours of "quality time" with my husband and dogs in a Pep Boys waiting room, because a tire on my Jeep was really soft. They removed a roofing nail from the tire and fixed it. What a pain.
We are back in our camper now. My husband is enjoying some quailty time in the queen bed because he needs to get some rest before the ice cream social this evening, to be followed by a big campfire tonight. The campfire on Monday night started out well, but then the rains came, and everybody had to make a run for it. It has been a very rainy week. I hope we are able to have a campfire tonight. We shall see...
Something I forgot to mention, because I chose not to go, but many did go... The Grand Ole Opry. Tuesday night, two buses of folks from irv2 went to the Grand Ole Opry. It sounds like they had a great time. I am not a fan of country music, and that much country was just a little too much for me. However, for those who went, it sounded like it was a highlight of this rally.
Hubby and I just sat around talking to others who decided not to go.
They are working on where to go next year. It sounds like the West Coast people are lobbying hard for it to come their way.
I have to make a correction. The band on Thursday night was The Western Swingers, playing what they call Western Swing. I really enjoyed them.
www.westernswingers.com
Well, the rally is over. We went to the ice cream social and said our goodbyes. It was raining, and we were discussing how our lawn chairs would sink into the mud if we decided to go ahead with the campfire.
The weather has been miserable this whole week. The first two days it was rainy, hot and muggy. Then it turned rainy, cold and damp. The dogs didn't care. There were a lot of dogs here for them to play with. The people didn't care. We had a rec hall for practically all of our activities. The seminars were interesting and informative. The performers were great. The campfires got rained out, oh well. The fun and games... I think the trash talking just added to it. My husband and I made some new friends. I am ready to do it all over again.
If you are interested in pictures, go to www.irv2.com and click on Forums, then click on the section for IRV2 International Rally, then click on the thread for 2015 International Rally Pictures. So far, there are 2 pages, with more pictures to be uploaded later.