Good Sam Spring Samboree II

Saturday was a terrific day! Rain held off until early Sunday morning. Activities included, door prizes, a Flea Market, a parade, a group dinner, a meeting and entertainment. There were vendors throughout the campground, and a lot of folks just visited others.

The Flea Market gave chapters an opportunity to raise money. Our chapter sold hamburgers and bottled water and used paperback books. It all resulted in about a $200 increase to our treasury which we will later donate to a charity. These activities give many people a chance to participate, meet other people and have a good time.

The parade was our first. In previous years we had been on the sidelines. This year Janice walked with about a dozen other chapter members in beach attire. The Ferebees let Ralph drive their mini golf cart in the parade. The cart is candy apple red, it was decorated, and had a boom box playing CDs by The Beach Boys. The theme was "Beach Party" and all sorts of costumes decorated the parade route. Many of our chapter participants were armed with water guns and made sure the spectators along the road were well soaked. By the time we reached the judges at the reviewing stand our water gunners were in great form and expended their tanks dousing the judges. And so, any parade award we might have received was washed away.

Aside from the parade, Ferebees mini golf cart had an additional mission this weekend. We had seen this cart, called "Cricket", last month at Virginia Beach. Janice had called the manufacturer to check on dimensions, prices, and availability. One major question was, would it fit inside our Subaru. We asked Bill Ferebee if he would try to put it in; he did, and it fit. Janice is ready to order one for us.

After we had recovered from the parade, we set up an area between our coaches for Happy Hour and dinner. A spaghetti dinner was provided by ODC members, and we could not have eaten better. No one left hungry.

The evening meeting began at seven and was followed by entertainment at eight. Saturday was a very full day of fun. The sound of rain on the roof Saturday night and Sunday morning was welcome and helped us sleep soundly into Sunday.

Clouds and showers dominated Sunday. Most of the Samboree attendees left Sunday, but we stayed until Monday. The Methenys and Burdettes stayed also. We all went to dinner at a local restaurant Sunday night and welcomed bright sunshine for our departure Monday morning.

This was a wonderful Samboree and much improved over those experienced in recent years. Hopefully, the state organization can keep improving these get-togethers so that attendance will return to 300-400 rigs.

Our next outing is in June in Lanexa, VA. We'll be back to the blog then.

Good Sam Spring Samboree

We are again at Bethpage Camp Resort in Urbanna, VA for the Virginia State Spring Samboree. We were last here in May 2007. Last year we went to West Virginia's Samboree. You may recall that seven rigs from our group traveled to WVA, and the high light of the weekend was that five of seven had to be pulled out of the mud.

It would not be a Samboree without rain. The showers came Friday afternoon as people were gathering for dinner. This campground drains well and there is little danger of getting stuck. Rain ended early, but more rain is forecast for the weekend.

Several of us began the weekend here on Thursday. We will stay until Monday to get the most out of the weekend. We have friends of the Matheny's camping with us, and we hope they will join ODC and camp with us often.

Old Dominion Cardinals are supporting the new Virginia State Director as much as we can. We encouraged him to seek the office and promised to support him. We have seventeen rigs in our group attending the Samboree. Friday evening we served the dinner meal, cleaned up the dining area and set up refreshments at the opening ceremonies. Today, Saturday, we will have two fund raising activitiues: selling used books at the flea market and hamburgers for lunch.

Most Samboree activities take place today. With over 200 rigs here there are enough people to keep everyone interested. If the weather remains dry, we will all be out and about. It should be fun. We'll tell you about it later.