As first year members of FMCA and first time attendees of the convention we really had no idea what to expect. Our check-in at the will-call stop was quick and smooth. Instead of being parked in the family lots, we ended up in caravan parking in lot L3 with no power. Although it seem like we had been sent to the hinterlands, it actually ended up being quite quiet and peaceful. We had great neighbors, great sunsets, met some new friends and a great time.
One of the most amazing sights of this whole event was the massive number of RVs. From every angle, the scene above was repeated. The fairgrounds covers about 1100 acres and a lot of it looked like the photo above. About two thirds of those were plugged in to AC power provided by industrial generators quietly humming along for five days. Amazing!
Wednesday morning we rode the tram into downtown Perry. With temperatures hovering near 32 degrees, we were nearly flash frozen on the open-air trip but all survived. FMCA members were spotted all around town picking up small items here and there. UGA (University of Georgia mascot) was guarding one local business. We returned to the fairgrounds and with map in hand we slowly got our bearings and prepared ourselves for the week’s activities.
It was about half a mile between our lot and the clock tower and extremely helpful and friendly volunteers in golf carts must have made thousands of trips shuffling folks to and fro. The boys didn’t get in all the walking that we did but that didn’t keep them from getting in their naps.
We attended fourteen seminars over the four days with topics ranging from solar power, convection microwave cooking, travelling with technology, genealogy and tire pressure monitoring systems. We were energized!
And then there were the exhibits. We made our initial list in the middle of January, checked it twice and then went at it. We tlked to a lot of vendors, compared products and spent some money. Now we wait for all the goodies to be delivered.
Thanks to everyone for a spectacular week. And lastly, here’s two shots of one of the prevously mentioned sunsets…
