Never attended a rally, but this year offered a compatible schedule, so we got all excited about going to the Midwest Rally in Iowa (at a County Fairgrounds). This was to be the first of many happy rally memories. So I got some info and had questions that I started to investigate by telephone...and while the ANSWERS were off-putting to me, I want to make clear that the FMCA people that I spoke with were very engaging and helpful.
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First - ELECTRIC was limited and kind of iffy. Water was apparently going to be some sort of a shared experience.
Second - No SEWER hook-ups. There was "a" dump station available if we wanted to un-hook and drive to dump and then return to our site and re-establish ourselves. And "maybe" there was going to be honeywagon service available at a cost of $20-40 each time, but there was no assurance at this time and there would likely not be an opportunity to have a scheduled time.
Third - CAMPFIRES...a mainstay of our social activities at ANY venue...are NOT allowed because of the fire hazard presented with the coaches being only 8 ft from one another while parked.
Now I don't consider myself a fuddy-duddy, but when presented with these initial three impediments to what I had previously assumed was going to be a rollicking good time at our first rally, I started becoming less than enthusiastic about rallying.
Obviously - NO SHOWERING in the coach, because the tanks will fill up and not have an assured outlet. So - multiple hundreds of people competing for 2 mens and 2 womens showers. Not my idea of fun. NO CAMPFIRES to sit and socialize at with all the attendant benefits. And who knows what other surprises that I wasn't experienced enough to ask about. It sounds like it has all the charm of a shopping center parking lot carnival.
Am I wrong in my assessment of this? Or is such an event somehow so otherwise wonderful that normal standards shouldn't be applied?
I would appreciate the benefit of any feedback on these circumstances to discover if this is the norm - or did I happen to catch one that was unusual and is there still some future in rallying for us? To me, at this point - it seems that an uninviting environment with 500 wonderful people is still an uninviting environment. What are your thoughts?
