The Rally

The Infinity group which now owns the Good Sam RV Club, Camping World and Coast to Coast put on a 5 day Rally here in Albuquerque. We had planned this trip with our friends Gary and Suzanne Tomlinson. But, due to a health issue they had, they had to return to Michigan and were unable to come. We stayed at Hidden Valley RV Resort in Tijeras. This small town is about 15 miles east of Albuquerque.
At about 1500 feet higher elevation than Albuquerque it was a bit colder. We had night-time temps in the low 30’s every night. On Friday night we came home from the Rally evening entertainment to see that it was snowing hard. It had snowed, sleeted and rained all day but this was a bit of a surprise. We had about 1 ½ “ on the ground, trees and bushes. Our house too. It didn’t stick to the roads thank goodness. The sand trucks were out covering the bridges because I’m sure the roads froze overnight.



The Rally had 3112 rigs parked on site at the Balloon Fiesta Park. There were more of us scattered around at the various RV parks. And folks from the area were able to join in the fun for a $10.00 day pass. The seminars, RV show and Vendor booths were set up at Expo New Mexico, their state fair grounds. The evening entertainment was held in a very large tent at the Balloon Fiesta Park. Buses ran between the two locations to transport the RVers back and forth. The weather on Friday was pretty miserable and this caused some delays. The route normally takes about 15-20 minutes but with the weather and road construction on both I-40 and I-25 it was taking almost an hour for 1 bus to go 1 way. This made some folks very unhappy. Some even missed the Friday night entertainment because they had to wait so long for a bus. It got better on Saturday as they brought in more busses and more folks drove their own vehicles.
Friday night’s entertainment was Neil Sedaka. I don’t remember ever hearing him sing before. Gary had and was sure I’d be surprised. I knew he was known for having written many, many songs other singers have made famous. And Gary was right. He was great. He is 70 years old but boy could he belt it out. His back up band and singer were great too. You might have seen him on Tuesday morning when he appeared on LIVE WITH REGIS & KELLY.
Over the weekend and Monday we went to several classes, attended a wine tasting, looked at new RVs and enjoyed the many other festivities. Several classic rigs were on display. Very cute and I can't imagine actually living in one of them.

We went to hear Rita Coolidge sing on Saturday night but didn’t enjoy it and left early. We skipped Sunday night’s Osmond Brothers and Gary went to hear Daddy Do Run Run on Monday by himself. I wasn’t feeling great and just decided to hang out at home with Miss Ellie. Gary enjoyed Daddy..they sang many classic rock and beach music.