Winnebago Grand National Rally-July 09

On Thursday, July 9th we left for an extended trip to Glacier National Park in Montana, right near the Canadian border. On Sat and Sun, after 980 miles, we stayed in Hannibal, MO, one of our stops last Fall in the Great River Road Caravan. We stayed at the same campground, Tom Sawyer, and enjoyed two pleasant days there; dinner cruise on the Mississippi in the Mark Twain river boat, a night with Mark Twain Himself, and nice steak dinners. The beef there is simply out of this world.

On the 13th we arrived in Forrest City, IA for the Winnebago Grand National Rally which is celebrating the RV manufacturer's 40th anniversary. Among our activities are tours of wind mill farm, ethanol plant, farms, John Deere factory, and Winnebago factory. At the rally, we got to meet friends from previous Winnebago sponsored trips, including my #1 fan, Helen of IN. Compared with other rallies we've attended, the GNR was a big disappointment. The exhibits were not worth visiting, there were too few new Winnebagos. The 7am reveille and military music was absolutely ridiculous.

We enjoyed, however, the Iowa beef and got some things fixed at the factory: door lock, molding around windshield, and roof examined and re-sealed. At a nearby plant that does work exclusively for Winnebago, we got some of the gelcoat re-done. While camped at the rally, with Millie locked securely in our motor home, when we returned, the door would not open. It unlocked OK, but just would not open. Thanks to some advice from onlookers and a borrowed drill from Larry, I was able to break in with out damaging anything. Will not divulge secret of my stealthy entry.

We greatly enjoyed the pre-rally tours which included a wind turbine farm and robotic milking machine. Farmers get $6,500/year for each wind turbine on their land. No humans are involved in the robotic milking process: they are only require for removing the manure! Cows can get milked anytime they like; when they do, they get a treat. Some get milked as much a five times a day. For their comfort, they have air mattresses to lie on. They do not go out of the building or into pastures. In addition, next door to us was the Iowa Heritage Farm which had demonstrations of working farm equipment from the early 1900s. In the picture below, they are threshing wheat.












The rally included a big barn fire and marshmallow roast, state club hospitality exhibits and featured a Woodstock theme, Winstock.








On July 25th we left, vowing never to attend another GNR, and headed for Medora, ND and the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Despite this vow, we did have a good time overall with lots of great memories. It's just that the quality of the event did not justify the effort to get there and the time involved.