Rally Report

2008 Spring Rally
April 25-27
Wales West Train & Garden Lovers R.V. Resort
Here is the Schedule

Date: Tue, 29 Apr 2008

We just got home this afternoon from the GMCES rally at "Wales West R. V. Resort and Train & Garden Lovers Family Park" at Silverhill, AL.

With only 17 coaches in attendance, it was an intimate rally where we got to spend a lot of one-on-one time with our friends. While we'd like to have better attendance, it's a bonus to feel that we weren't forced to neglect to spend time with anyone.

The park is great: The grounds are neat, well maintained, and decorated with typical Welch decor. A very comfortable and well equipped meeting room, with kitchen facilities, is adjacent to the large indoor swimming pool, hot tub, and exercise room. All facilities, including the private bath rooms are decorated and maintained like a home. They even had an isolated building, reached by train, where we held the technical sessions free of disturbance by "them"!

A pot luck dinner, with club provided meats, started the eating (and provided leftovers for lunches the rest of the time). Coffee & pastries starting each morning were followed by very good catered meals on two evenings. We really should cut out all this eating thing -- too hard on waist lines!

The technical program included hands-on examination of front end components and discussion of wheel alignment procedures and do's & don't's. I think everyone learned at least one new fact, such as where and how components fail or how to repair them. David Marchiando lead those discussions and proved once again that he's one of the most knowledgeable GMC experts around.

Joe Ekl demonstrated how to disassemble a steering column for repair or to upgrade the GMC with the later column mounted electrical controls. I told the story of my new dash with a slide show of the photos from GMCMHPhotos.

Several members had maintenance issues to attend to using the pit. There was even a machine shop which could have been used if necessary!

No one took advantage of the great weather to sample the fishing in the stocked pond adjacent to the camping area -- maybe next time. I willingly missed the bingo party, but heard everyone had a great winning time.

The only thing wrong with this rally was that so many of you were not there!

Fred Veenschoten & John & Rita Nicholls did a great job -- Thank You.

Ken H.