We were up early for breakfast and prepped ourselves for travel with showers and a shave (Bruce). I looked through my e-mail for our FMCA Rally registration confirmation but couldn’t find it. Linda called the FMCA headquarters to see if we needed it (we didn’t) and inquire about any specific arrival instructions (there weren’t any). We then went through our departure routine. We dumped the waste tanks, topped off the fresh water tank, disconnected/stowed the hoses, hooked up the car, and straightened up interior. We filled out our FMCA toad hang tag and emergency locator card and placed our entrance placard in the lower outside corner of the lower DS window. The last thing we disconnect and stow is the electrical power shoreline.
We pulled out of our site at the 3 Flags RV Park at 9:35 AM. We had estimated a 2.5 hour drive to the CAM-PLEX in Gillette, Wyoming, and pulled up to the entrance at 11:55 AM. Access to the facility was easy from the I-90 exit for Garner Lake Road and a short drive to the west entrance. We were surprised by the lack of FMCA specific signage, which we have seen at past rallies, but it wasn’t really necessary at the CAM-PLEX. The parking crew was well organized and got us directly to the holding area and in line for the “Family 50 Amp” parking area. We quickly had enough coaches and were led to our camping area by a golf cart. We got to the Boxelder RV Park area and were able to pull through into our site with the car still attached. We then had to quickly unhook and move the car as other RVs would soon be backing into the spots behind us. We ended up in site F-20 with full hookups and 50 A power! FMCA always designates parking areas at rallies by Lot and Street numbers. We were on 7th Street in FMCA Lot 2.
We then went through our arrival routine. While Linda set up the interior, I plugged in the electric & reset the “AC in” parameter on the Magnum 4024 inverter/charger to 30A (the default setting) to take full advantage of the available 50A service. I turned on all needed circuit breakers and then connected water and sewer lines. We then opened all of the awnings except for the patio awning, for which it appeared we might not have sufficient room. Our campsite made ready, we met and chatted with adjacent motorhome owners. Not knowing where it was, we snagged a golf cart ride to the nearest info booth, dropped off our emergency locator card. The booth wasn’t that far away so we walked back to our coach. I took a photo with my phone and e-mailed (or texted) it to our kids. By then it was mid-afternoon and a bit warm, so we (me, at least) took naps. We then went for a walk, found Pat & Vicky Lintner’s coach, and visited for a while. Pat and Vicky are fellow members of the Great Lakes Converted Coaches Chapter and Pat is our National Director, representing us at Governing Board meetings. (Linda is the treasurer of this chapter.) We then walked over to the buildings to scope out the route and location. Upon return to the coach we had dinner. We then drove to Home Depot to get a small fan and some reflective insulation for the skylights as it was expected to be hot here the next two days. The overnight lows, however, were forecast for the 50’s most nights.