Our second day of the rally and we rise early so we can be sure that we’ll get donuts. They’re serving donuts from 7:00 until they run out. Well, nothing like free donuts for starving RV owners and, when we got there, we joined the throngs. It was a large hall with tables laden with coffee and plates of donuts at the doorway. Inside on the right were stacks of local papers and those who wanted to read grabbed their donut, their coffee and the newspaper and retreated to the stands to read. On the other hand, those who wanted to listen to the band and the chorus chose the left hand side and gathered around in the circular seating. Imagine that, live music for breakfast. Though, I’ll admit that I prefer Beethoven for breakfast over ‘Beer Barrel Polka’, this was great fun to listen to. They were having fun, they had obviously practiced and I enjoyed it immensely. (See the bottom of the blog for more music.)
Now, to those donuts… When have you ever heard me complain about donuts? Never. And, Gary, never, never, never. Well, I will bypass the donuts tomorrow. These were the kind like Krispy Kreme, very sugary, very sticky and very tasteless. What happened to the old fashioneds, the cake donuts, the chocolate donuts, the long johns, the apple fritters, the frosted donuts? Just one kind? (I can list way too many types of donuts, I need to get a life.)
Then it was time for the seminars. Somehow, they’ve bunched all the cooking seminars on one day and I’ve got 3 back to back to back today. Ironically, they go through lunch so I’ll get to watch food being cooked but not get to eat any. Is that cruelty or what? What mad scientist cobbled this schedule together?
Firstly, in our RV we have a Sharp convection microwave which can microwave, convection roast, convection bake and then has 2 settings which are a combination of microwave and convection. These are called ‘High Roast’ and ‘Low Bake.’ Huh? It’s a marvelous tool and, I’m sure it can do everything but wash the dishes but I can’t figure out the instruction book. For all the sense I can make of it, I must have gotten the French version by mistake. But, judging by the number of people in the 1st seminar, I’m not alone.
First seminar is now over and I’ve learned a lot. I’ll be able to use my over much better and that was the goal. The off to a seminar about a new GPS for RV’ers. Using a regular car GPS is ok but I have fears that our regular GPS will send us in our 35’ long, 12’ tall RV towing a Jeep down a road with a 10’ bridge, or a very tight corner or - horrors upon horrors - into a spot which might be a dead end for an RV. Then what? As you know, we can’t back up, we can only go forward or unhitch the Jeep, turn around, hitch back up and go on. So, there are some problems with a regualr automobile GPS. This new one was developed by Rand McNally derived from their trucker GPS and we can input our length, our height, that we carry propane (hazardous for some routes) and other considerations and they will program a route just for us. How slick.
I left this seminar a bit early since Gary was there and he could take notes and ask questions, scurried towards the ‘bistro’ which they had set up to satiate those like me who were shuttling between seminars (or, do you think, that they set up this central cafeteria serving sandwiches, salads deserts and ice cream for - money? do you think they were profiting from a captive audience?) And, who cares? They had a banana and I grabbed it for my lunch and scurried on to my next food seminar.
After the 2nd food seminar, I took a quick peek into the exhibition hall where all the venders are. And isn’t this why we’ve all come together here in Madison, so we can spend, spend, spend. Actually, these trade shows are nice since they cater to the RV owner. It’s difficult to walk into a Target or a Younkers or a Home Depot and find things specifically desinged for RV owners: LED lights for our small fixtures, tow bars and covers, shades for our windows, generator parts, etc. On the other hand, there was the Mary Kay lady and the microfiber woman and the Tilley hat guy and several jewelry booths so it’s a great time shopping.
Finally I left my last food seminar after 4 1/2 hours of food and, as I was heading back to our RV, I passed the building where Gary was attending the seminar on safety. I dropped in and got an update on this topic. The seminar leader gives seminars all over the country on safety in an RV, stressing what to do if you should have a fire. I had taken this seminar about 4 years ago and thought a refresher course was needed. He covers carbon monoxide detectors, smoke detectors, fire extinguishers and other safety issues.
Interestingly enough, he said that the previous seminar on microfiber and its uses was packed. His seminar had only 30. Now, which is the most important? Which one should be packed? As an aside: one of the first things I look at on an RV is the fire escape window in the bedroom. How big is it? Could I get out it if we should have a fire at night or one that blocked the front door? You’d be surprised at how many RV’s have windows I would have a hard time escaping through and I’m a smaller person. Most are too small, the window pane lifts up and you have to hold it up as you try to get out, the drop is 7’ and there’s nothing to hold onto. Scary. Our window is much bigger and easier to get out than these but Gary and I need to practice this sometime.
The seminar leader sets several fires in a controlled situation, used several bad types of fire extinguishers, shows us a better one, how to use it and - he sells them. 4 years ago, I bought 4 from him and feel much better about our situation. We have one in the bedroom, one in the kitchen, one by the front door and one in our Jeep. But, I hope I never have to use any of them.
Dinner, a walk and, after my shower, as I sat in our RV writing the blog, I could listen to two guys practicing for tomorrow’s donut serenade in back of our RV. An accordian, a tuba and an audience. Great. It was fun. Just so spontaneous.
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