Today, we went to the Good Sam gathering, aka "The Rally." We went to it years ago on their first shindig - it has grown a lot. This is a pretty big deal in the RV world.
This year, it is being held at the Phoenix International Raceway (home to the NASCAR races in this area) - it is a huge facility, easily handling over 100,000 people for a NASCAR event. I am guessing there are between 4,000 and 5,000 RVs on the grounds, with hundreds more new display units on the infield grounds; plus several hundred vendors selling all kinds of things you didn't even know you needed.
We were directed in to a close parking area - in the handicapped parking. Is this right? I guess so - there are plenty of able-bodied people rolling in to park. Now for the "zoo" part: no signs telling you where to go, where to buy your day pass, where to catch a tram. This is not their first time at this; I was surprised that things were so disorganized.
Like others at the parking, we started walking towards the Raceway...
Then got redirected by a woman in a golf cart to head away from the Raceway to go get in a line. Yep, a crowd you couldn't see from where we were parked...
No real organization while we waited for what we hoped would be a tram to take us to the displays and vendors. Several people got tired of waiting and started walking back in the direction of the Raceway... and were told by a volunteer that "It is over a mile to get there..." It's a big facility, looks closer than that. Finally, we got our turn on a tram...
I'm guessing it was well over a mile to get to the tram stop. Then, more walking. We oriented ourselves with the map we got. We weren't feeling the need to check out any RVs, but we wanted to see the vendor booths. More walking. Past some of the RV displays...
Tents for seminars and other gatherings...
In case you are looking for a date, I guess. After a long walk, we finally came to the large vendor tent...
LOTS of people and booths once we got inside...
We walked by all the displays... RV stuff for sale... cooking utensils... tow bars and towing equipment... insurance... RV resorts... if you couldn't find something you needed, you weren't trying. We found a ladder that would work great for the new RV (folds really small), and visited with the couple who started "Harvest Hosts," a membership that allows you to stay for free at participating wineries, orchards, farms, breweries - interesting places that you might want to visit, anyway. Not a campsite, but boondock parking. Interesting concept - we'll let you know more about it if we use it.
Lots of giveways at the various booths... anyone need some can koozies? Or keychains? Joan spun the wheel at one booth and won their "grand prize": yep, more can koozies, sunglasses, a calendar, and more. We played miniature golf at the Progressive booth and won Croakie-type glasses holders, sun screen, and a photo with Flo. OK, it was a green screen - Flo wasn't really there.
An over-priced lunch... you are a captive audience, and you get to pay Raceway prices. When our legs and feet couldn't take much more shuffling, we went back for our ladder and checked out a few RVs on our way back to the tram stop.
We have a soft spot for Bounders (it was our first diesel pusher)...
We learned that American Coach, Monaco, Holiday Rambler, and Fleetwood are now owned by the same company. We checked out the new Trek...
It used to be a Safari product; Safari is no more, but the Trek is now a new Holiday Rambler model. I liked it; small in length, but plenty of liveability inside (just like the original premise of the Trek, back in the 90s).
We had to swing by the Winnebago display - the new Brave, a retro-inspired version of what Winnebago started with...
A bit boxy and too retro for my tastes, but it was very functional. At the other end of the scale, a Grand Tour...
Very classy. We schlepped our way back to the tram stop and got directed here and there by still-disorganized volunteers. Three trams showed up at the same time... instead of directing people to tram stops by number (there were 12 trams stops), each of them stopped at every stop... taking longer than it needed to. We drove by RVs of all kinds out in the Raceway parking area; some were on blacktop, but most were in the dirt. Not a problem on a sunny day like today (other than the dust), but the rain is supposed to roll in tomorrow and stick around for the next few days. Glad we aren't parked there.
The upcoming weather made our "which day to go" decision for us.
Then, the walk back to the car. We certainly got our exercise today.
Supper tonight with Steph and Dan. Nice visit.
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