The Gathering, Day 4

Saturday was our fourth day, starting with a session by John and Kathy titled "Lessons Learned." Good information on mishaps and how to avoid them, with lots of audience participation. The Geeks presented a seminar on Google Maps, and taught us how to plan multi-stop routes and save the maps for future reference. Great stuff!

We had a cookout on the island with burgers and dogs (Bob was one of the grilles and did a fabulous job!) that was so much fun.

Then the highlight of our day was a presentation by Al Hesselbart on the history of the different types of RVs, starting in 1896! Did you know people were RVing back then? The very first RVs were horse-drawn wagons with tents on them. Later on, with the advent of the automobile, people built their own trailers and truck camper-type vehicles. In the 1930s RVs were built for the wealthy and were driven by chauffeur. The poor driver was often exposed to the elements as he drove, and slept in the back of the car. One early fifth wheel had a maid's quarters!

The first motorhomes were called "house campers" and were not called "motor homes" until 1958.

 

Al showed hundreds of slides and they were fascinating. I asked when air conditioning started to be used in RVs and he told me that while "swamp coolers" we're used in the 1920s, true AC units weren't used until the 1970s.

We went out to dinner with Kathy and Randy, Cheryl and Bradley, to at Poppo's Taqueria. I tried the chicken quesadillas this time and it was as good as last time. Fun to share this place with friends!

At 6:30 we had door prizes and Bob won a week's stay at this park. We can use it for our next year's Gathering--yay! We also won two $5 gift cards to Dunkin Donuts for doing well at Travel Trivia. Our Gathering, we are proud to say, raised over $1,000 for Wounded Warriors through the nightly 50/50 drawing and the chinese auction. Whoo hoo!

Auggie has been more and more frantic when we return to the coach, so he will be glad when we are able to spend more time with him. This morning (Sunday) we have a farewell breakfast, and then the Gathering is over. Except for a class I'm taking with the Geeks on Tuesday.