Intro
The Airstream owners club, officially known as the Wally Byam Caravan Club International (WBCCI for short), is divided up into local units. Usually the local units hold local rallies, where their members, and any other member of the WBCCI, gather with their Airstreams and camp out for several days.
The Washington D.C. Unit (WDCU for short) is no exception. Every year they hold a rally the same weekend as the Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C..
We last attended this rally in 2005, and we had a great time. So we decided to attend this year’s rally.
In preparation for this event, I de-winterized the Argosy, which involves flushing out the RV antifreeze from the water lines and making sure no new leaks developed over the winter. I also washed the trailer, as it badly needed a bath. There would be shiny polished vintage Airstreams at this rally and I wanted the Argosy contingent to be proudly represented (many consider us to be the ugly step child of the Airstream family…).
Two days before we were set to leave, fuel prices jumped twenty cents a gallon.
We left mid afternoon on Wednesday, April 9th. We headed North to Columbus, OH, then East on I-70. Our destination was the Wal*Mart in Cambridge, OH, about a 4 hour drive.
One interesting note on this leg of the trip was that there were a lot of big semi-trucks on the road, and almost all of them were driving at or near the speed limit (60 MPH for trucks in Ohio). My guess is that it is the fuel prices that are causing them to slow down to conserve fuel.
Walmarting
For those of you who aren’t RVers, you may have noticed that in the evenings you may start seeing RVs (and often semi-trucks) parking their rigs along the outer edges of a Wal*Mart parking lot. Most Wal*Marts allow RVers to overnight in their lots. All you need to do is to check at the service desk to make sure it’s OK (It’s not fun being woken up at 3AM by a security guard or cop demanding you move on…). There are no water or sewer hookups, and barbecuing outside in the parking lot is discouraged, but it beats paying $40 at a campground for the privilege of stopping for 12 hours just to rest.
Overnighting in a Wal*Mart lot has the added advantage in that you can run in and buy last minute or forgotten items.
Thursday Driving
The next morning, we woke up bright and early. After gassing up at the Wal*Mart gas station (you get a 3 cents a gallon discount if you pay with a Wal*Mart gift card), and hitting McDonald’s for some much needed coffee and breakfast, we were back on the road.
We followed I-70 East through Ohio, the tip of West Virginia, and Eastern Pennsylvania. Normally, you take I-70 all the way through to Maryland. However, part of that route includes a portion of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. While pulling a trailer on the turnpike isn’t THAT bad, I like to avoid it if possible. There is a lot of traffic on the road, and you have to pay the tolls.
So, we normally pick up I-79 south in Washington, PA, then take I-68 East in Morgantown, WV. I-68 travels through the Maryland panhandle. It is very rural, hilly, and is a picturesque route. There are very few cars and trucks on the road, so pulling the trailer is relatively stress free.
If you ever take this route, be sure to stop at the visitor’s center at the Eastern end. There they explain how they made the enormous cut in the mountain that allows the Interstate to go through. The more adventurous may even want to take the scenic “old” route over the mountain, US Route 40. I have never done this, as I do not know how passable it is pulling a trailer.
In Hancock, MD we rejoin I-70 and continue East. The closer we get to the Baltimore-Washington area, the more crowded the road gets. In Fredrick, MD, you would normally take I-270 South to Washington, D.C, then pick up I-495 (the Washington Beltway). However, this can get very crowded and is generally not a “trailer friendly” place to drive, although I have done it several times and lived to tell the tail. Instead, we continued East on I-70 till we picked up Maryland route 32 East.
Maryland route 32 used to be a two lane road back when we lived in Maryland in the early 80′s. However, after the first 15 miles or so, it turns into a 4-6 lane limited access freeway now. We drove by the townhouse we used to own in Columbia, went by Ft. Meade and the NSA (you used to never see signs that indicated that the NSA was there when we lived here), Headed South on route 3, to route 301 and then on to the rally grounds at Roger’s Farm in Upper Marlboro, MD.
At the Rally
The rally is held every year in a horse pasture. Electricity and water are provided, although the electricity is what we call “rally electric”, in which you are limited to 2-3 amps (meaning: no A/C, electric heaters or hair dryers).
We pulled in to find that we were one of the last units to arrive. A lot of people arrived on Tuesday or Wednesday. Doug Rowbottom (“Mossback Doug”, for short) guided us to our parking spot and we quickly set up.
(Click to see full sized photo)
One of the reasons we love attending these rallies is that we get to see old friends and make new ones. This rally was no exception. There were a lot of folks we had seen last Summer at the International Rally in Perry, GA. Plus a few we hadn’t seen for years.
Another great thing about rallies is meeting people you only know from e-mail or the web. There were several of those here as well (more info on this in a bit…).
At 4PM Ann & I headed for the happy hour. This is a daily event at WDCU and Vintage rallies. Everyone arrives with their lawn chairs, favorite beverage and a snack to share with the group. When I say “snack” that can mean a lot more than chips and dip. I believe that we had some sort of shrimp or other seafood every happy hour, along with many other treats.
The funny thing about these happy hours is that someone sets up a table for the snacks, then the early arrivals set up their chairs around it. More people arrive, so the circle of chairs around the table has to pull back to accommodate the new arrivals. More people arrive, another pull back of the circle. Repeat this several times until you have a huge circle maybe 40 feet across with a table full of appetizers sitting in the middle.
Happy Hour
That evening Ann & I had dinner in the trailer. Afterwards it was time to gather around the campfire and chat with our old and new friends.
Friday
Friday morning arrived cool and foggy. Thank goodness our rally hosts provide us a great continental breakfast with fruit, muffins, bagels and, most importantly, coffee! We did not sleep real well last night due to two feline co-conspirators named Gustav & Lilly. For some reason they think that just because their distant cousins in the African veld sleep during the day and hunt at night, that they can do the same in the close confines of a 22 foot trailer.
Around 3:30 AM or so they start racing over and under the beds, wrestling with each other and playing with any loose object (the noisier the better) that they can get their paws on. Then, for some strange reason, they think it’s a good idea to sleep during the day. This is something we discourage, but are not very successful at.
Nap time!
The weather forecast is saying that we will have rain on Saturday (a CBR tradition), so a lot of the folks head out to do some sight seeing in our Nation’s Capitol. We decide to hang out at the rally site and visit with others. A little later we headed out for supplies at the grocery store. We also needed some adult beverages. Maryland has bizarre alcohol laws that say the chain stores can’t sell alcohol. Only small independent shops can sell it. Unfortunately, the only place we found had rip off prices, so we decided that we could survive with what we had till we found a store with better prices.
The weather is fantastic; sunny with temperatures in the upper 80′s. The kids are flying kites, playing games and generally having a great time. One of the things that we really like about the WDCU is that you have more younger members who have children. You rarely see kids running around outside these days, unless they are participating in organized sports. At the rallies, however, they are free to run around all weekend and have a great time. The rally organizers, Danee and Kim Alaniz, made sure there were lots of outdoor games for them to play with. This, I believe, is the only hope for the future of the WBCCI. While other units are shrinking, the WDCU is growing. Lets hope that it keeps going that way.
Friday afternoon we had another happy hour that couldn’t be beat, followed by a catered dinner. As per my usual luck, our table was the second to last to be called to the food line. We had pulled pork & chicken barbecue that was OK, but I have had much better (including my own 
).
The “kids” watched a movie that evening in the tent. I put that in quotes because there were a couple of them that were on the way far side of 12 years old watching it as well. The rest of us chatted or went to the evenings campfire.
Saturday
Saturday morning brought the promised rain. Fortunately it wasn’t constant. A storm would blow through, followed by sun, followed by yet another storm. I do not know if anyone went to downtown DC to see the Cherry Blossom Parade. We did that the first time we attended the rally, so we stayed at the rally site.
The weather finally cleared up early Saturday afternoon, just in time for the open house. This is where people let all the rest of us tramp our muddy feet through their trailers. We also had several “locals” come to the rally site to see the trailers as well.
There are all sorts of Airstreams here. There are beautifully restored vintage trailers. There are new trailers. There are what Terry Rowbottom referrs to as “Aluminum Tents”, which are ones that have been gutted and havn’t had the insides put back in yet. There is even a SOB (Some Other Brand) trailer here, as this rally is also a buddy rally (where non-members are invited to attend as guests of a member).
Dinner on Saturday was a Pot Luck affair. This is always a favorite of mine. I like to take little samples of a LOT of items. And there were a LOT of items to choose from!
After dinner we had a special treat. A live “taping” of The VAP (Vintage Airstream Podcast) Internet radio show. The show is hosted by Tim Shepherd and features panelists Colin Hyde and Rob Baker. The interesting thing about this event is that they normally do the show remotely, using the Internet to communicate with each other. It turns out that until the show at the CBR, they have never met each other in person!
The highlight of the show was the determination of the winner of the VAP “Bathroom Throw-down”. Colin, Rob and Frank Yensan were all remodeling the bathroom in their trailers, and the CBR attendees voted on who did the best job. I won’t spill the beans on who won, you will have to listen to Episode 68 to find out.
No campfire tonight, as the rains have returned…
Sunday
Time to pack up and go. We need to be in Williamsburg, VA by early afternoon.
After a quick breakfast we say our goodbyes, load the cats into the truck, thread our way out of the rally site and hit the road….
You can view all of my CBR photos HERE
