Goodbye, 2011

We are at the Arcadia 2012 Bus Conversion Rally, at the Turner Agri-Civic Center in Arcadia, Florida (map). While we did not really plan it this way, this is the same way we finished out 2010, although we were parked a couple hundred feet further west of this spot. I posted a few days ago that we are visible in the satellite photo taken last year.

Parked right next to us are Chris and Cherie of Technomadia in their GM 4106. They bought Karen's Mini Cooper and so, oddly, we have the same car parked next to us as last year. Once again we set up the hot tub between the coaches.

This is also the second year in a row wherein we have had three Neoplan Spaceliners at the same rally -- in addition to Odyssey, our good friends Steve and Harriet Siems are here in their Lamar-built 45' Spaceliner, and our other friends Lou and Renea Kirk left this afternoon in their Pilsting-built two-axle model. All three coaches had originally been converted by Pegasus and so we have a lot in common. I'm sorry we were not able to arrange a group photo with all three coaches, since the Kirks had another commitment this evening.

We've reconnected with many other friends and acquaintances whom we see but once a year, if that, including Busnut On-line webmaster Ian, Jack and Diane (not the ones from the little ditty), John from Costa Rica, Ewen from Canada, Dave and Carol with the extra-spiffy Flxible Starliner, John from Central Florida Bus where we had work done last year, Marty from Georgia who generously provided us a parking spot one year when we flew away, Ace and Susan, Ken and Pam, Jack and Paula, Bill and Brenda, and many others too numerous to list. We also met some new friends including Sean and Angie who are retrofitting an existing conversion to full time with their four children.

For the first time ever I did not present a seminar this time around. I did participate as one of two panelists on a round-table discussion which seemed to be well received. The other panelist was none other than the inimitable Luke from U.S. Coach in New Jersey, where we've also had work done. Luke and I have been doing the round table for three years now and it's a format that works well.

Our plan had been to leave tomorrow, as today is the last official day of the rally. However, Louise was expecting a package at the post office today which did not arrive. We'll spend one more night here at the Turner Center with Steve and Harriet and whoever else might be around, and Monday we'll probably roll back to the Wal-Mart. We need to stay until Tuesday since the post office will be closed Monday.

We have a few days of downtime between now and January 11 when Louise has signed up for a choral event in Tampa. We'll probably roll in to the Tampa Bay area a few days ahead and maybe look at a couple of boats before that. We hope to also connect with friends in the area including James and Maria as well as Niles. After her choral event, we'll be rolling back to Montgomery, Alabama to help rearrange the Red Cross hot site there, and then we will be heading west towards Las Vegas and beyond.