The FMCA Six-State Rally in Shreveport, LA

This FMCA rally was held on the Louisiana State Fairgrounds and lasted from Wednesday through Sunday morning.  We had paid for an extra day of camping so that we could arrive on Tuesday.  Initially, I thought it would give us better parking, but the result was just the opposite!!  However, it paid off, because this rally scheduled the seminars to begin early on Wednesday morning, and if we had come in on Wednesday, we would not have been parked and ready until the afternoon.  Some of the folks who did that, were not very happy!

One of the first things that caught our eyes was a 1974 Winnebago motorhome that had been updated with a modern paint job and interior! 

Rallies like this typically have seminars, coach displays, Vendors, and nighttime entertainment.  Most of the enjoyment is doing all the above, and meeting people that are old friends and those that you meet for the first time……. all with the common interests of living and traveling in an RV of some type.

One of the seminars that I attended had a demonstrations of a new-to-me product called “Strike-Hold”.  This product had been developed for the military due to the amount of fine sand in the Gulf War that affected weapons.  The product cleaned and left the weapons with out the residue that attracted sand.  It also had great waterproofing results.

I had seen a video, but this guy did a live demonstration. The demonstration had the guy take a 120v electric cord with a light bulb in an adapter on it, and stick it into a large bowl of water with power to the bulb.  I figured it was a real brave or a real stupide thing to do……. as I know from my working days, there is often a fine line between the two!!!

I found the guy’s booth at the vendor area, and took my buddy, Mark Didelot, with me to test his IQ……….. he failed!!!  Here are some pictures of him showing his “BRAVERY”!!!

Look at the smile on the vendor’s face……… He’s found a guy who is as “BRAVE” as he is!!!!

In the list above, I failed to list another activity at rallies…… Eating!!  We only went out once, and it was to a “recommended’ local Cajun restaurant.  It was recommended by an insurance salesman, so I should have been a little suspicious.  It was called Herby K’s!  The food was good, but not as good as Mulate’s in New Orleans, and the location would have been questionable, it it had not been recommended.

On Saturday, we went with Mark and Sue Didelot, with him having survived the ‘light bulb test’, to the Red River Revel Arts Festival in Shreveport.  They had entertainers as well as arts and crafts tents.  Here is a picture I took of Patsy and Sue with a “tall” lady as we entered….

As we toured the tents, I found a painting showing the restaurant that we had eaten at a couple of nights before……

There was live entertainment for each of the four nights of the rally.  The performances, although not ‘top of the line’ were good and we enjoyed each one.  They were primarily gospel/bluegrass and CW.  Here’s a photo of the entertainment hall, and some of the folks that we met at the rally.

The guy in the blue ball cap is Gary Mabry with his wife, Kathy from Wichita Falls, TX to his right.  We ran into them at a function, and found out that he is the brother of one of our neighbors in Victoria!!

I didn’t get any pictures of the performances because my ‘camera phone’ did not perform very well in the auditorium lighting.  I’ll take my camera next time!!