Not all the Alpiners continued on to Coos Bay. The early birds who registered right away stayed in the RV Park at the Casino with full hookups. The rest stayed in the overflow dry camping area. Many, including us, had 30-amp electricity, while others dry-camped, relying on their generators.
As is typical with these rallies, there is a set program with meals, seminars, excursions, and entertainment. And of course, there are the vendors who carry all the absolute "must-haves" for RV-ers. RV dealers also come to these rallies to entice and convince, whether it's to down-size to a smaller model, move up to a larger one, or consider a newer model with all the latest bells and whistles. The new coaches and RV-s parked in neat rows, sparkle and beckon, and are an attraction for all.
We enjoyed this rally. There were a few seminars that we missed in Pomona and were able to attend here. Michael's main interest is of course the technical aspects of the coach, like steering safety, and tow bars (for that eventual day when we also tow a car behind us).
For me, the seminar on cleaning tips was interesting and I learned a few clever tips that apply specifically to RV's but also to general cleaning in our homes. I plan to post more about this later.
This time we attended a couple of interesting seminars together, about the National Parks and the geology of this area. We live along a volatile subduction plate off the west coast that will one day let us know that it is there. Since Mother Nature is pretty much in control here, the best we can do is to be prepared just in case, and live life to the fullest. In fact, the saying about eating dessert first seems to make a lot of sense! Twice during the rally we were treated to the locally made ice-cream, and relished every scoop.
In any case, the best information we came away with is that there are two types of tsunamis. A distant tsunami is caused by a large undersea earthquake, and will take at least a few hours to travel across the Pacific Ocean before it comes ashore. So, if we hear a siren, at least we can rest assured that we have up to four hours to move to higher ground. But, as the lecturer explained, it is the local tsunami that is of far greater concern. This would be the case when an earthquake along the Cascadia Subduction zone occurs. The Cascadia tsunami will reach the Oregon coast within 15 to 20 minutes. Such a massive earthquake, of magnitude 9 or greater, would be so strong as to knock us off our feet and we would find it hard to stand back up again. That is the clue to immediately move to high ground. While it is a certainty that an event of this magnitude is likely to happen, I definitely hope that it won't be in our life time. Or at least while we are Alpining along the coast somewhere.
Michael, being the plane nut that he is [in all senses of the word;) ], enjoyed the seminar on radio controlled aircraft. IF, and it's a big if, there is enough room in the basement storage, it would be fun to have one of those. However, I really would not like it if his plane displaced any of my allocated storage bins. Storage space is an on-going banter between us, as I have watched more and more "necessary equipment" find its way into the bays below.
The technology seminar is always interesting. It can be quite mind-boggling (for me) to keep up with this rapidly changing sector. We still subscribe to the good old-fashioned flip phone so it's quite enlightening to learn the various Apps that folks with their smart phones need to know. As smart as they may be, these phones also seem to complicate lives.
The other aspects of technology relating to computers and televisions are also interesting. And quite startling at how quickly things have changed. When we did our around the country trip in our little Eurovan Pop-top in 2002, we stopped at various local libraries to log on to check emails. I sent emails to family and friends about our trip and more often than not would lose an entire document before I was able to save to disk or press send. Years later, we were so glad to be able to log on to the campground WiFi inside the camper. Many provided free access, though several charged a nominal fee. Now, WiFi is standard everywhere, but with so many of us using computers and smart phones, it often becomes a challenge to be able to log on. There are of course devices and add-ons that are available to make your Internet and TV viewing experience less of a hassle. I leave that to my tech-savvy hub who often helps me out with what I call the "tower of power", a WiFi booster antenna, that I use to upload photos to my blog.
Likewise, for us women, she gave several good tips on how to pose for a photograph so that we all look at least ten pounds slimmer. However her truthful husband assured her that even from that vantage point, her "behind" still looked the same size to him.
It's good therapy to laugh. And the evening with Bernie and Red was certainly therapeutic. Of course, the audience is retired, very gray (well, for those who embrace that fact without help), and in that autumnal period of life. Yet that does not deter us from living life to the fullest, traveling about in our RV's, and enjoying new experiences. And poking fun at ourselves.
The highlight of the evening, I think, was Bernie's rendition of the operatic version of O Sole Mio in Italian.... however, the only Italian lyrics he knows included every possible Italian food with a few Sophia Loren and Mario Lanza's thrown in for good measure. Bernie has a fine voice, which only made the spoof more hilarious.
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| the big tent where we gathered for meals, and entertainment |