Rallying hard

We’re coming up on a week in Rice Ranch now and the rally is going

hard.  Despite the rain and cold we’ve been having a lot of fun.  We had the bus so full of guests the night before last it felt like we were back in Mexico.  George is also happy to see some old friends again.

The night before last we got the rains that you have been hearing about in California.  Actually I didn’t think

it rained all that much right here but I guess in the desert it doesn’t so much matter how much it rains where you are.  What matters is how much it rains wherever your water comes from.  The picture of the busses lined up under the bright blue sky was taken the day we arrived.  On Thursday night my shadow

in that picture would have been under about a foot of water.  We had a river flowing 100 yards wide in front of the bus.   It washed out the crossing to the back part of Rice Ranch leaving over half the busses at the rally temporarily stranded.  I don’t think this was the first time they had seen this happen here because before 10:00 AM they had the culvert stuffed back in place, the sand

packed over it and some fresh crushed rock scattered over the top. 

This next photo is kind of out of sequence because it is of the flock of Eagles arriving.  A bunch of them held a pre-rally east of town so that they could all arrive at the same time.  Its kind of a general rule at rallies that if you want to park together then you need to arrive together.  That makes the job of the parking guys somewhat manageable, although not completely without its challenges.  Some of the Eagle guys solve that by arriving in a 30 bus convoy which is pretty impressive when it rolls into town. 

Today we have one last day of rally activities and then tomorrow I expect most of the group will start to bug out.  A lot of the people here are names that I know through their online activities at the two bus bulletin boards so it has been a lot of fun putting faces to names.  Michael Hargis (our rally entertainment) had some fun last night with what is often a disconnect between our expectations about the appearance of someone we have never met and the reality when we finally meet them.  Some of that fun was at my expense but that’s OK – I give as good as I get.  You listening Michael?  I owe you now.