September 2010 Camping Trip

Karen and I just returned from hosting a 6 day NuWa (sounds like "New-Way") HitchHiker Rally in Prosser, Washington. "HitchHiker" is the brand name given to our 5th Wheel Trailers made by NuWa. All of the people attending this rally were members of the "NuWa Owners Forum" that I help to administrate on the Internet. This ended up actually being an "International Rally", as one of our attending couples were from Canada, and others came from as far away as Texas, Minnesota, and other reaches of the United States. The name of our rally was called "The Pacific Northwest Rendezvous", and took place in the wine country of Eastern Washington State. In total, we ended up with 25 Trailers and 49 people! We also had 4 other members drop in while in the area, so that they could meet up with members for the first time and just say hello.

What ended up being very convenient, was that 8 wineries were within a 10 minutes walk from the RV Park we were staying at, which made it very nice for wine tasting. No need to worry about Drinking & driving! :-)

*** Click on pictures to make them larger for viewing ***


Our Site #40


Wine Country RV Park - Prosser, WA


Another picture of the Park

The first day's arrival for most of the members, was just a "Meet & Greet" that evening, but the following 4 days were filled with breakfasts and potluck dinners. We even had "Themes" for most of our potluck dinners (Hawaiian, Mexican, and a Cowboy night). For one of the morning breakfasts, Karen and I cooked a 3 - Dutch-Oven "Mountain Man Breakfast" for the whole group, and 2 other members made Buttermilk Pancakes and sausage, biscuits and gravy! I don't have to tell you that we all ate VERY well!

Debbie (center) gives me a hug during Hawaiian Night. She is currently just finishing up a 48 State Journey by herself across the country (she started in Spring), and was nice enough to make it to our Rally for 5 days before continuing on to finishing up her last 4 states.

Abby (left) got to meet Debbie's traveling companion "Hunter". All they wanted to do was play.


Dave showing off his Coconut Bra for Hawaiian night

Mexican Night Potluck


Karen and I at a potluck meal. Note the FREE book exchange behind us, so that all our "Full-Time" traveling friends could get some different reading material.


The winning "Dressed Couples" for Mexican Night (Terry & Linda from Canada)

There was one afternoon that we had our own Wine & Beer tasting event, complete with Cheese & Crackers and an assortment of Hor'dourves


Making the Dutch-Oven "Mountain Man Breakfast"... and a real Mountain Man (Vern) showed up wearing his real "Buckskin" shirt


While I worked with the Dutch-Ovens, Annie made her "homemade" Buttermilk Pancakes for everyone.

We got very lucky with the weather, and were able to eat all of our meals outside (both breakfast and dinners). This also made for some beautiful sunsets and sunrises every day. Here are a few evening pictures below.

One colorful Sunset!

The Moon over HitchHikers

And of course... what would be a trip without our "sidekick" Abby.

Abby with her "Buddy Glo-Ball"

During the last evening of the Rally, two September Birthday's were honored (Dutch's and mine). Dutch got a really nice Birthday cake from his wife Diana, and the members of the Rally presented me with a gift as well (see below). A couple of years ago, some members of our Forum bought two "Rubber Chicken" traveling companions, which were named "CD" (Chicken Debbie) and SD (Surfer Dude). These chickens have traveled all over the United States (including Alaska & Canada), and at each Rally that they show up at, their numbers seem to grow (complete with baby chicks still in diapers). My "surprise" Birthday gift form the members were ALL of the Chickens together!. Now I've got to come up with a plan to "Pass Them Along" to some other unsuspecting suckers! :-) Beware... Christmas is coming. Ho-Ho-Ho & Cluck cluck!

(Left to Right): SD (Surfer Dude), Earlvis, Papa Murray, CD (Chicken Debbie) & Chicks in diapers.

WOW!!! What can we say... what an absolute blast! Unfortunately all good Rally's must come to an end sometime, but we got to meet up with old friends (members we already knew) and made new friendships with the newer members we just met for the first time. Now there are HitchHikers heading off to points across the whole country. Some are just returning from 4 months up in the Arctic Circle and Alaska, while others will continue heading South to the warmer climates of California and Arizona for the approaching Fall & Winter seasons. For Karen and I, this was just another exciting camping adventure that we got to share with lot's of great people! We also got introduced to "Duck Farts" by Murray, Shelle, Joan, and Rich. I must say that we both slept like babies our last night at the Rally! :-)

Happy Trails... and safe journeys.

-Gary, Karen, and Abby Too-