2012 Southern Indiana Camping Rally - Fowler Park - June 7-10

Hokey smokes WHAT A FUN WEEKEND!





We went to the vintage camper (trailer) rally in Indiana over the past weekend.  The vintage camper folks that live in Indiana have two main rallies a year, a southern and northern rally. The southern rally is the one we attended at a place named Fowler Park. It was strange though. I didn't see one duck or goose parked anywhere, so I don't know what was being consumed when the place got its name. Maybe there was some sort of other fowl that I couldn't think of that was parked somewhere, but I certainly didn't see it.



ME and my posse - Big Bill (Seriously? Bill is on the left!)

I should also introduce Big Bill, he is my posse. Every famous hot shot has to have a posse and they all have a vertically challenged person, Norm III has Kevin, Jules & Norm have KC, Brock has Heath. Considering that I am not very tall myself, finding a vertically challenged person for my posse was extremely difficult.

Big Bill actually found ME when he heard that I was in need of a posse for my rep. He said he had watched me from afar for a long time and dreamed of some day being part of my posse.



1965 Aristocrat Lo-Liner

We brought Walter the Hippie for the rally. Unfortunately, Walter decided to pay Norm back for not taking him camping much last year. As soon as Norm had hooked up the water supply and charged the hose, Walter let Norm know about his unhappiness and blew out the water pipe under the sink. What a mess!

Walter knew he could get away with aggravating Norm because we had just gotten there after driving for nearly 6 hours. Norm wasn't about to turn around and go home.

I kicked Walter's tire and asked how we were suppose to get water for our cocktails. Walter asked if I had a posse. I told him of course and he said that is what a posse is for. Hot shots don't care what the posse has to do to keep them happy, just do it. He was right.

Naturally we were camped next to BJ. She brought her Casita this year and decorated it in the theme of the rally weekend - SURVIVOR. (Start the dramatic music.) The whole weekend was based off of the TV show. Unfortunately we don't watch the show so we had no idea how it was played. The TV previews indicated that you were suppose to be a jerk and stab everyone in the back. That didn't sound like a great idea for a fun rally but we went along to see how things went.

BJ's table really said it all.

Big Bill wasn't sure that we should embrace such a description. I told him to have another beer and mellow out. None of us are really trailer trash, our campers cost too much. Its just for fun.

Besides, no self respecting trailer trash person would GIVE popcorn away to anyone that walked up. They would be using the popcorn for bait.

 There were three popcorn machines in the park during this event.

This was our "tribe" meet & greet on Thursday evening. We had to learn the rules of the Survivor game as they applied to our weekend world. Our tribe was called the Ashlanders because our campground road was called Ash. Creative, I know! We also wore red as our signature color. After this meeting we were not allowed to say Vintage Trailer or Vintage Camper or face banishment from the contest or be tossed into the snake pit.

Jules and I are flanked by our camping neighbors, BJ on the right and Brian on the left. Brian was a "newbie" since this was his first rally.

I hope to see him again especially since he sold his camper during the rally! He said he was looking at another one before the rally so selling the one he brought made sense.

Friday was a pretty laid back day. No events or doings were scheduled until dinner. We played cards for a few hours and went into town . Dinner Friday night was the potluck.

I of course brought M&M salad made from Jules' secret recipe.

Personally, I preferred my purple and red dew-rag over the plain red that our tribe wore. I had my all red hat underneath in case someone from my tribe didn't believe that I was a red Ashlander.

After dinner there was an event called the White Elephant.

I don't know where they come up with these names for stuff. Everyone knows elephants are gray or pink, not white. (By the way...If you happen to see a pink elephant you should lay down and nap for a few hours.)



Pictured are a Serro Scotty, Tag-A-Long, Airstream & Shasta

The white elephant is where everyone brings one wrapped up "gift" and puts it on a table. Everyone that brought a gift gets their name called and a chance to pick from the pile of gifts OR you can STEAL from someone who already opened theirs. The gifts can be new, used or re-gifted! Yep, they actually ADMIT that many are re-gifted!

We got this gorgeous basket that was painted by one of the attendees, Lisa. Original art without the gallery prices! Plus, it is a picnic basket, how versatile. I was thinking it would make a great shelter for Big Bill & me should the weather get bad. It is sturdier than my tent.



Me and Lisa.
That's Big Kevin, Lisa's husband behind us.

This is the talented Lisa. I think she was nervous that nobody would think the basket was cool. She certainly underestimated its value among the other campers!

There was only ONE problem with the basket...it was the most popular gift there. Norm stole it from someone else, for Jules, so him being a stealer doesn't count.

The FIRST thing we did with it was take pictures so everyone would be afraid to steal it from us, since we had evidence that it belonged to Jules.

Well, Mark didn't care.

Mark WANTS you to believe that he was patting his bottom like I should kiss something when in fact he was itching in public.

Mark was so proud of himself for stealing from Jules that he wouldn't show his face, the ridicule and embarrassment was too much. To be chased by a gnome just made Mark quiver. Rightfully so!

After dealing with Mark the stealer we picked a different gift. It is a Flamingo salt and pepper set that Jules loved.

Norm sweet talked Lisa into doing a special basket for Jules with paintings of Bob, Walter & Ginger on the top. I'll show you when we get it. Lisa became a commissioned artist and wasn't even looking for work!

On the way back to the campsite we were passing the snake pit when I had an idea. I saw that the snake was taking a nap so I figured it would be fun to wrestle the snake. A surprise attack is always the best anyhow.

Have I mentioned how cool it is to have a posse? I think I'm starting to get the hang of it too. I told Big Bill to fight the snake for me, so he did.

That snake woke up real fast and nearly ate Big Bill but we escaped. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time, watching Big Bill try and hold that snake down. Or maybe he was just holding onto the neck so the snake couldn't swallow him, I'm not sure. But it was funny to watch.

Before bed I took a couple pictures of some of the campers.

This is Todd & Amy in front of their Happy Trails themed camper. Roy Rogers would be proud.

Here are a few more.

Night pictures have a whole different look to them. I really liked these photos.

One of the drawbacks of taking night pictures though is that I don't see real well. So I didn't know that there were people sitting by their camper until AFTER the bright flash has ruined everyone's night vision for a few minutes.

Everyone that I got sitting outside was very understanding and didn't want to thump me. Thank-you!

There is one of the other popcorn machines. The big square light in the background here is the big screen for the movie The Long, Long Trailer!

Movies and popcorn in a campground, how cool is that? Instead of drive-in with your car, its a bike drive-in.

Saturday morning our tribe took this photo to show how good we and our night ops were.

We had swiped the tribal signs from the other tribes without them knowing! Their security was nonexistent! We even swiped one of the green tribes members as a prisoner. That's Don in the middle front with the green headband.

Ashlanders ruled!

         More campers...

These pictures were taken during the Show 'n Shine

Both of these are Shastas. Shasta might be the most popular brand of Vintage Camper.

Some polished, some painted...

This was one of the smallest campers that you can stand up in that I had ever seen. It is basically a dinette that folds down into a bed on one side and a small kitchenette on the other.

Part of the Survivor weekend we had to do a couple of challenges. The first was everyone putting their shoes in a pile. Then they were all mixed up and scattered around. The last 17 to find their shoes and get them on were eliminated.

The second challenge was Saturday evening. Throwing screaming monkeys through a hole in a board. Norm didn't get any. Some folks got one, two others got two. Jules said she didn't want to practice and only wanted to make a fool of herself once. She stepped up and was the ONLY person to toss all three monkeys through the hole. Jules is a triple monkey threat!

Everyone except the top three were eliminated at that point. Jules, Brandon & Brian were the last three.

Here is Jules getting ready for the final challenge. Yes, blindfolded, with a baggie (it was actually a thin poncho thingy) and an egg in a nylon tied on her head.

Once they were all geared up they were given their weapons of mass destruction, a pool noodle. Designed to inflict fatal damage to the opponent's egg without damaging the opponent. A devious weapon. Whoever gets their egg broken is eliminated.

Each person had to make the sound of an animal that they picked so the opponents could tell where they were.


Ready, set, on guard!

It didn't take long.

Not only is Jules a monkey triple threat, she is lethal with a pool noodle.



(Left to right) Brian, Jules, Brandon



Here are the three finalists.

The three finalists were also all from the same Ashlander tribe! Before the final elimination our tribe had prevailed!

Go Ashlanders!!!

Once Jules was crowned the weekends Survivor Champion and got her Big Dog trophy it was on to the I Never game.


Jules isn't big into deer antlers so there will be a crown in next years white elephant gift exchange. The Big Dog trophy will be proudly displayed in Ilean, in Malden.

I could tell by the strange looks I was getting from these girls that they didn't know how famous I was.

Ah youth. Technologically advanced, yet so uninformed. Some people didn't know that they were in the presence of famous idols.

I convinced them that by getting their picture taken with me that they too would become famous. This is Kelsey, Tetra & Annabelle.

(I don't think they believed me.)

The I Never game is very interesting. Someone says something that they have NEVER done and everyone in the group that has done that has to pay a penny. You discover some amazing things about the people in the group.

Some folks, like Norm, don't last long in this game. Jules says Norm is full of blue mud and hasn't done everything he says he has.

I'm just glad that I don't play. I wouldn't last past the first 41 things. At least Norm can normally squeak out until the low 50s.

Eventually it all winds down to the last few.

Youth normally takes the win because their parents haven't cut them loose yet.

Kelsey took home the pot full of pennies.

With all of the winners named it was time to retreat back to the camper with Jules' prizes.

Sunday morning was a quick cup of coffee before church services.

I think I hear angels singing...I hope my life insurance is paid up.




 Whew, it was only Cindy singing, I'm safe.

This is Bill, Cindy & their daughter Hannah. They are actually missionaries that spend half of the year in a country named Latvia. Indiana is their home base and they too are vintage camper enthusiasts.




Well that does it for the Southern Indiana Rally. Hope to see you in the campgrounds someday soon!

Travis
(and Big Bill)