Day 2 - 5 of the Southeast Rhombus Rally Caravan with Friends - Georgia Fall Good Sam Rally

If you do not have a good time at a Rally, they used to be called a Samboree, it is your own fault. We have just spent the past four days at the Georgia GoodSam Rally at the National Fairgrounds and Agri-center in Perry Georgia. We enjoyed seminars, food, vendors, entertainment and fellowship. The great thing about holding a rally at this location, is plenty of RV parking, a large building and a second facility with smaller meeting rooms. During a three day period, there were over 30 seminars. The topics ranged from daily devotions to health services, beauty, fashion, RV repairs, cooking demonstrations and caravans.

What do you do? Let me cover what we did …

We arrived on Wednesday afternoon, the second early bird day. The early bird days are days ahead of the full blown event, a chance to get acclimated before everyone arrives. We used that time to get set-up and catch up with old friends. There were

sign-up sheets for games and activities available, there were a few seminars set up, the hospitality area had cold drinks and coffee available. We enjoyed a pizza dinner with our friends. After dinner, we played SAMGO (also known as BINGO) enjoyed some complimentary cold drinks and popcorn. It was a pretty good turnout for the early bird day …

the regular pots were $55.00 each and the cover all was over $100. But, none of our group was lucky, we all left with less money in our pockets, but plenty of popcorn in our bellies! We could have rode back on the tram that is provided, but we wanted the exercise. So we walked and enjoyed a beautiful sunset!

Thursday morning the Rally got into full swing! The morning starts out with complimentary coffee and donuts in the hospitality area. The vendors had their booths open and ready for business. There was a health fair offering blood pressure and glucose screenings. Thursday was the largest offering of seminars, the girls decided to attend two cooking seminars. There

was a team trivia competition, a washer board contest and RV displays from Camping World. The afternoon had music session open to all players and singers in attendance. We also were lucky enough to have an afternoon session of SAMGO. Jack was really lucky, he won the top & bottom game! Dinner was on our own, we enjoyed meatloaf made by Pattye, vegetable casserole by Jackie and potatoes by Wendy. 

We got our green shirts and purple vests on to attend the opening ceremonies. The opening ceremonies were followed by entertainment by Kenny Evans. We have been lucky to see Kenny Evans perform before. For those who don’t know him, here is a little bit about him. Music has always been a part of his life. As a child he sang in a family quartet with his father, brother, and younger sister. The Evans Family Quartet toured the southeast doing concerts at churches, festivals, and theatres and also made guest appearances on the live Hee-Haw show. In 1994, Kenny signed with a booking agency and quickly began a grueling tour schedule as the opening act for some of country music’s biggest stars including Kenny Chesney, Charlie Daniels, Lonestar, Sara Evans, Toby Keith, Tracy Byrd and many others. In February 1998 Kenny signed a record deal in Nashville and released his debut album “When You Love Somebody” and just as his career was taking off tragedy struck as Kenny and his band were almost killed by a drunk driver while on tour. In the spring of 2000 Kenny left the country music industry to serve the Lord. He has in served churches in east Tennessee and south Florida and since 2005 has traveled the nation as an evangelist singing and speaking in more than 100 events each year. His message and music make check to cheek dancing perfect! 

Friday was the “theme” day … everyone was supposed to wear their “birthday themed” outfits. Notice, they did not say to wear your birthday suit! Again, first thing in the morning the hospitality area was open with coffee, tea, hot chocolate and donuts. Did I mention they were Krispy Kreme donuts? They were, oh … so good! Right Jack? There were different seminars today, the vendors were open again and very willing to talk about their products or services. The Georgia State Store is open too. The State Store is where you can purchase Good Sam products, clothing, hats, patches, etc… There were opportunities to purchase Chinese Auction Tickets and to check your numbers for door prizes. Your numbers? When you pick up your registration at the event, you are given a card with a number. That card and number are used for donuts, ice cream, door prizes and raffle tickets. Today, we were given a hot dog lunch by Camping World. They were the big deli hot dogs from Sam’s Club deli, just like we have a Majestic Oaks Burgers and Dogs. 

Later in the day, we had ice cream. This is one of the high points at a Georgia Rally. They have pints of Blue Bell ice cream. Yes, pints … one per person! We tried a new angle this year. Charlie & Bully got their pints today and they gladly shared them with Pattye and myself. This way, we did not go into an ice cream coma. There was a cake walk in the afternoon. A

cake walk is an opportunity to win homemade cakes. You pay $1 to sit in a circle and pass numbers around while music plays. Do I dare say, like musical chairs … the music stops and everyone has a number. They draw a number and if it matches your number, you win a cake. Naturally, Pattye won a cake on her first play of the game! Of course, she shared it with all of us!

The evening program tonight included the music of Sunday Drive. We heard Sunday Drive twice before. The first time was at a Florida Rally and the second time was at a church in Plant City. Sunday Drive provides a musical experience that takes their audience on a journey they will remember forever. Jeff, Misty and Dusty Treece blend their harmony, beliefs and

humor to create an awesome stage show. It is not often that musicians sing ballads, top ten hits, gospel and comical songs all in the same show. Sunday Drive does just that! Following the entertainment of Sunday Drive, some of the door prizes were awarded. Again, winning these door prizes is based on your number and you must be present to win. They tell you what

the door prize is, draw a number from the bucket and a winner is born. You can only win once during the rally for these door prizes. Naturally, the only one lucky enough to win a door prize was Pattye ... a Thirty-One Tervis Tumbler with a "travel motif."

Saturday morning we awoke to Dunkin Donuts and Coffee at the Camping World display. After we walked to enjoy that breakfast, we continued onto the main hall to the hospitality area to enjoy a sausage biscuits and more coffee. We will have to walk a great deal after these breakfasts! Saturday was Military hat and State shirt day. We all wore hats for our branches of service and a shirt from the state we call home. After breakfast, some of us played Bean Bag Baseball. The pairing of the teams were drawn. The first team, and only team, we played were the Mini-Sams. Most of the members of the team were under 12. It was a no win situation from the start. If we won, everyone would say “You beat the kids?!” If we lost, everyone would be saying “You were beat by the kids?!” We were doomed either way. We played our best, but they beat us 11 runs to 5 runs. At least it was not a blow out! In the early afternoon there was pickin’ and grinnin’ to enjoy and more Blue Bell ice

cream pints. You could only get ice cream, if you did not get a pint yesterday. Since the guys got ice cream yesterday, the girls got our ice cream today, and yes … we shared it with our guys! After ice cream was our third and final chance to play SAMGO. It was a great event, there were regular pots that were $80 and the coverall was $230! Pattye and I even convinced Bully and Charlie to play! 

At 5pm, we enjoyed a catered meal by Yoder’s. Yes, it was an Amish meal and it was awesome! Roast beef, scalloped potatoes, green beans, coleslaw, yeast roll and banana pudding. The evening program included recognition of the military, our contributions to the VA programs in Georgia and chapter awards and presentations. The entertainment was Music City Brass. Music City Brass presented a truly unique brand of entertainment, in an instrumental and vocal style. Founded in 1969, they have enjoyed an excellent reputation for superb performances for more than forty five years. Music City Brass has performed with some of Americas most prominent artists including Kenny Rogers, Porter Wagoner, Bill Anderson, Jim Ed Brown, Connie Smith, Ray Price, Travis Tritt and many more. The night ended with the remainder of the door prizes being awarded. 

Sunday morning is the day that most rally attendees pack up and hit the road. There is coffee at the hospitality area and a non-denominational service. We were staying one more night at the fairgrounds, so we enjoyed coffee and the service and watched people hook up and head out. The rest of the day we relaxed and walked around the fair grounds. We did a great deal of walking this whole rally. We enjoyed ourselves so much, we are ready to sign up for the Georgia Spring Rally with the Wild Wild West theme! Giddy Up!