Before I talk about all we do at the Rally, I have to back
up and tell you what it is like getting older. Friends of ours, who were
traveling to the rally with us, heard a beeping in the motorhome, while they
were driving. At first, the believed that it was the tire monitor, as it had
given them false readings when we first took off. It continued to beep
periodically and they no longer believed that it was the tire monitor. As the
husband drove, his wife went all around the motorhome listening to CO2 detectors,
smoke alarms, etc.…. No luck! She got on her hands and knees and listened low …
stood on her tippy toes and listened high … she finally isolated the beep to a
cabinet. She opened the cabinet and found a walkie-talkie that had gotten
turned on! Can you imagine … naturally, if you know Pattye & Billy … the
story is even funnier!
A bit of history about Dothan. Dothan is the home of Murals
and Peanuts! Dothan is known as Alabama’s Mural City, it has a rich history
from farming to railroad, music to movies, and of course the peanut industry.
They have painted their history on their walls of their most historic buildings
in their downtown. You can see murals dedicated to the Tuskeegee Airman, Johnny
Mack Brown, a Creek Indian Chief, and Ray Charles. There is one representing
the Dothan Riot of 1889, and the capture of a military wife during a skirmish
on a boat. The largest and the first mural is a salute to the peanut industry.
There
are oversized peanuts all over town, painted and decorated very differently. You
may wonder what is it all about with these nuts? Peanuts aren’t nuts, actually.
They are members of the legume family, and they are the largest agricultural
export from the Wiregrass area. Approximately half of the peanuts grown in the
US come from the Dothan area.
When we arrived on Wednesday, we registered and were lead to
our camping area. We ended up with the end site along a row where most of our
chapter is camped. A couple of our chapter members had to camp in the next row.
We spent a few hours in the afternoon in the main building, visiting the state
store and checking on the vendors that are already set up. The evening event
included a “Meet, Greet and Nibble.” If you think this event involves food, you
are right … I am worried that food may be a main theme to this week’s events!
The Alabama chapters all prepared finger foods and desserts to share. Just like
any food event in our community, we had more than enough food! We did have the
opportunity to meet other Good Sam members and chapters from Region 6.
Each of them took home
an additional $45! Great job!
First thing on our agenda on Thursday, for some of us, is “Walking
with Roy.” In Florida, “walking with Mary” is a big group event and loads of
fun. In Alabama, we spent our 30 minutes walking for Roy, actually we were
looking for Roy! A quick stop at the coffee and donuts to grab some coffee.
Opening ceremonies were scheduled to begin at 9 am and we still needed to get
cleaned up and put on our vests. The County Sheriff’s Color Guard presented the
colors at the event. This state is one of the few states that has the opening
ceremonies in the morning. I kind of like the concept!
There was a costumed dog walk, naturally Jack & Jackie entered Lacey. She took second place! We had a Hot Dog and
chip lunch. While we enjoyed our lunch, the Tupperware vendor came around with
some cinnamon rolls she made in the microwave. You all know how Charlie is when
it comes to cinnamon rolls! He had to go over and see how much the pan costs …
we are lucky he did not have a heart attack right there … it was a $199 dish!
Charlie will have to settle for store bought, while we are on the road!
We took a tour of Shutes Pecan Company, It offers a complete
selection of nuts, local honey, and pralines. The fourth generation of owners,
gave us an inside tour of their operations and some history and knowledge of
pecans.
The girls and Jack, played a round or two of Card Bingo.
We each had to
pay $5 to play … basically, we purchased the deck of cards for $20 and 4 of us
played on each deck. None of us were very lucky, except Diane ... she won one hand! These games ran long and
started to encroach on the Pizza Dinner start time. You all understand, how you
should never get between someone and free food … well. That is what the card
bingo players did! It all worked out in the end and everyone got their two
pieces of free pizza.
The entertainment for the night was a stand in group,
called Pure and Simple Bluegrass Band. One of the members, is the man that
invented “chord buddy” the apparatus that helps teach you how to play chords on
the guitar. This group was amazing! We could have listed to them all night! The
night ended with the initiation into the “Good Moon” Society. Several of our
chapter members became members of this secret society, tonight.
A few of us rose early on Friday morning, to go Walking with
Roy … again, there was no Roy! But, we enjoyed our walk! We also enjoyed the
pancake breakfast that they prepared for us! Some of us needed the extra fuel
the breakfast provided.
We have the beanbag baseball tournament this morning!
After the baseball tournament, we enjoyed a slider sandwich lunch.
The sliders were
donated and served by the Dothan Texas Roadhouse. Thanks for supporting Good
Sams, Texas Roadhouse!
After lunch, we caravanned in vehicles to take a tour of
Todd’s Syrup Mill & Museum. We learned how seven generations have built a
family business of making cane syrup from their sugar cane farm.
We had a personal
tour of the grounds, by Mr. Todd, watched a film with his wife, walked the
museum and enjoyed sweet treats from their café.
The syrup mill is located in Headland,
just outside of Dothan.
On our way to the farm, we passed a big pig. We learned
it is “the monument to the Hog.” It looks west toward the highway from a break
in the tree line along Ross Clark Circle on the east side of town. In what has
become a tradition at Dothan’s Schnitzer Steel Industries, the giant steel pig
on display gets a fresh coat of paint. In the past, one half of the pig sported
Auburn colors and the other Alabama colors. That changed around 2010. The
entire pig being painted for a year in the colors of the team that won the Iron
Bowl. Must be Alabama won, this year … since the pig was crimson and white. The
pig has been around since the 1960s. He said it was originally created by the
owner of a feed shop that was formerly on the property and used during a Peanut
Festival parade before being placed on the property to advertise the feed
business. When Schnitzer Sheet Metal took ownership of the land, they also took
ownership of the pig. The Schinizter pig, now acts as a great marketing tool
for Schnitzer Sheet Metal and a landmark. We could have gone to dinner at a
local buffet establishment, but after all the food they fed us today … who
could eat again! We did listen to the music by Tequila Bend Band. The lady lead
singer was good, but the lead singer spent too much time fussing with his hair,
etc … than he did playing music the crowd wanted to hear!
Saturday, was PJ day for this event’s theme … Pajama Party!
As Pattye Starrett said, this is the only morning she can roll out of bed and
be ready for the day! A few of us walked during Walking with Roy and guess
what? We did see Roy, but he was driving, not walking! LOL! We enjoyed coffee
and Krispy Kreme donuts after or exercise. There were some pretty unique PJs!
We spent some time spending money with the vendors. There was an embroidery vendor there, who digitized our logo and put it on hats and a few shirts for us.
It was an awesome rally, we will be coming back to Alabama! See
you next time!
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