Kind of like you'll find two major drugstore chains with locations in the same block, the major RV rallies seem to be scheduling themselves near each other. So, we end up with two big rallies right in a row. We were at Escapade in Vermont from July 22-30, then the FMCA rally started August 3. Although I appreciate not having to criss-cross the country and arrange our whole year according to the rallies, it would be nice to have a little more time between the two. We enjoy the rallies and have fun, but we are also working pretty hard. We're exhausted by the end of a rally. Even more so at the end of two rallies back-to-back. Luckily, the grounds here at the Eastern States Exposition, provide for staying parked after the rally at $20/night. The rally was over on Saturday - now it's Monday and we're still here. The Internet was good enough for us to do our "Button" show on Sunday. This was
episode #90 on Sync'ing Contacts.
From Essex Junction, Vermont we came pretty much straight here. We needed to get some printing done, and because of a dynamite FMCA discount at Office Depot/Office Max - we always look for them. Using Google Maps, we found that there are none in West Springfield, so we looked afield and found an Office Max in Albany, NY that we could route thru. They had a big parking lot so we just stayed there for the night while we waited for our printing job to get done.
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| I wonder how often Office Max hear's this: Them, "I'm sorry sir, but we won't be able to complete your order until tomorrow. We can't do it while you wait." Us, "That's OK, we'll wait. Our bed is in your parking lot!" |
We had planned to stay at a campground west of the rally for the couple of nights before, but when we got there, we saw no Verizon signal (or any other) so we simply turned around and kept on driving. They were able to accommodate us early at the Expo grounds - yay! We're all set. Let the rally begin!
Here was our schedule for the FMCA rally:
There's nothing quite like an RV rally. You are at home ... in your motorhome. Here's Jim grilling our dinner.
But, your neighborhood was just thrown together for a few days and includes hundreds of other RVs. In this case, about 1,300 others. We're here to work, but "work" is just a short walk from our RV door. There are friends and frolick galore, and even live entertainment most every night.
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| Our work started at 7am on the first morning, when people came to register for our one fee-based workshop on smartphone photography. Many of these people, like Chuck - in front - we know well and see at many rallies all over the country. |
I think we overextended ourselves a bit at this rally. It's only 4 days long, and we did 7 of our seminars, Jim also sat on a panel for the Fulltime RVer's seminar - AND - we had our fee-based workshop for 30 people with 2.5 hours of teaching on smartphone photography. The weather was gorgeous all week, but warm, and the seminar facilities had no air conditioning. I think there is an extra stress that comes from trying to speak to a group over the roar of industrial-size fans used to keep us cool. One night we were in bed and sound asleep by 8 o'clock.
When we weren't in seminar, we were at our table being "Smartphone Help Desk." We love that! It's so good to work with people on their personal devices and show them how to accomplish what they want. And, see so many different phones teaches us a lot too!
One Teaches, Two Learn
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| The smiling blonde to Jim's left is Joyce. We're so glad to have her helping us at these rallies! She is also helping us with our website. Thanks Joyce! |
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| This is what we mean by a "Hands-on" class. aka "Learn by Doing" We teach how to use your smartphone's camera functions, and also how to use Google Photos for Storing, Organizing, and Sharing all your photos. |
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| This is the "Honey, Tell Me Where To Go" seminar about Google Maps, and other software for Trip Planning |
