Between one thing and another this day disappeared and I didn't get to have nearly as much fun as everyone else. The best part was the happy hour we hosted at the trailer, except that Eleanor and Emma were still off at the kid program and missed the party

I was delighted to see Ray and Terri Hodges drop by. They are camphosts near the coast of Oregon who have their own blog. They came over today to check out the rally and (apparently) kiss Carol's puppy.

Ray holds the puppy while Terri gives a kiss

I was less enchanted with the visit from a local person who crashed our event and started grabbing magazines and CDs to take with her. I relieved her of the magazine and had to keep an eye on her thereafter. She seemed to be someone with mental disabilities, who just wandered through looking for stuff. She was harmless enough other than her apparent bent toward kleptomania, so I let her stay and play with Carol's puppy.

This was my first encounter with the local population, but the rally in general has had several security problems. Last week five motorhomes were broken into. This week there have been reports of items stolen, and everyone has been on guard and locking up, which is something we don't normally have to do at a big rally. This town has quite a population of street people, especially downtown, and I've been hearing a lot of comments about panhandling, groups of shady-looking teenagers cruising the rally, etc. There were no such problems at Springfield MO last year, or Lansing MI the year before.

Dicky and Larry giving out door prizes

Dicky Riegel and Larry Huttle spoke this afternoon about the new products, the decision to kill the Class A motorhomes, and other subjects. The Westfalia has been discontinued. The new 27 Front Bedroom floorplan is available in Safari, International, and Classic lines, and looks like a winner. (Carol bought one today!)

Joe was cruising the rally today with his Jamaican hat with fake dredlocks. Everytime he spotted someone notable (or not), he got them to pose in the hat. Thus, he has a collection including Dicky and Larry, Hunter Hampton, Bryan Leipper, me, Rich C, Emma, Dave Schumann, and many others. Rich C and I have promised to mutually withhold the photos of each other ... but I bet he'll cheat.

Finally, this evening Rich C and I decided to use his blue boy to dump our gray tank. The dump station at this rally is well hidden, and we needed about fifteen minutes to find it, with help from other folks. Rich has decided that he doesn't use the blue tank often enough to justify carting it around in his truck, so he's going to try to sell it at the Flea Market. Hmmm... can you find a willing buyer for a used blue tank?

Mark asked about our numbers. They are the standard-issue numbers on a sheet of clear Lexan, just lying above our rock guard. I have suction cups to mount them higher but haven't gotten around to it yet. This way, we can remove the numbers when we don't need them and transfer them from trailer to trailer. Since we own 2-3 at all times, this is more convenient for us.

Renee Ettline reports that the new Heart of Texas Camping Unit (HOTC) was formally raised from provisional to regular status at the IBT meeting on Monday. Congratulations to David Tidmore and his crew!