This trip is going to take in several different events under the label of 2013 AOC North American Rally (NAR). The NAR actually starts on Monday, May 20 in Gettysburg, PA, but since it's so close to where Aliners are built, the company (Columbia Northwest, in Kecksburg, PA) decided to sponsor a "Homecoming" for all who are on their way to the NAR. The Homecoming Rally in Champion, PA, is being conducted by the Eastern Canada and the Northeast Regions (USA) of the AOC. The NAR is being conducted by the Mid-Atlantic Region. Got that?
We left home on Thursday, the 16th, headed for the Homecoming campground, the Mountain Pines RV Resort. We picked up Joe and Loretta in Decatur on the way. We spent a night at Bass Lake Campground in Springfield, OH. When we got up on Friday morning, it was really foggy outside and we heard on the radio that there had been a twenty-car pile-up on I-70, just east of Springfield. Since we planned to go that way, we decided to find a restaurant for breakfast to allow time for the fog and the accident scene to clear. By the time we finished breakfast, the fog had cleared, but the accident scene had not. Luckily, Lucy, our GPS was aware of the traffic problem and routed us around it. We arrived in Champion at about 4:45pm, set up camp, showered and relaxed for the rest of the evening.
Saturday morning, we got up early (7:30 is early for me) and enjoyed the "Welcome Breakfast" and a short visiting session. After that, Jim & Jan got in our car and we all headed for Fallingwater, the famous Frank Lloyd Wright house, about twenty miles east of Champion. The house was really cool and unusual, but unfortunately, no photography was allowed inside.
After leaving Fallingwater, we headed for the Flight 93 Memorial which is about thirty miles west of Champion. What the heck?! We're in the neighborhood. After visiting the memorial, we headed back to the Homecoming and arrived just in time for dinner.
It was a good day!
We arrived at Brown County State Park, outside Nashville, Indiana about 4:30pm. We were a day early for the get-together (not a formal AOC or Gathering event), but there were already several people there and set up. The evening was great. Nice fire and good weather.
That all changed on Thursday and continued thru Friday. Lots of rain. Saturday was rain free except for a five minute shower while several of us were cooking dinner over a wood fire. I sheltered the fire and the meat with an umbrella. No harm done.
Enjoy the pictures.
The rally actually started on Friday, but Marsha and I and few others showed up on Wednesday afternoon. The weather was pleasant on Wednesday evening and everyone sat around the campfire at our campsite and shot the breeze well into the night.
Thursday's weather was threatening, but it didn't start raining in earnest until evening. Marsha and I drove around that day just checking out the area. The weather forecast was so bad that there were about ten cancellations, but we still had about 25 units in attendance.
On Friday during the rain, John held a seminar on the care and feeding of your Aliner. Friday evening was the potluck. The pavilion came in REAL handy!
Saturday, several of us went to the Dutch Days Festival down the road in Fulton, IL. The windmill was very interesting. It was built in the Netherlands and reconstructed in Fulton in 2000. It's an actual working mill, but not used for high volume production.
As usual, we made the best of less than perfect conditions. The fact that it was a joint rally with AOC members from two regions attending made it interesting because we got to meet several people from the other region. There were also some new members of our region there.
