After starting our Airstream adventures as “not really rally people” and moving to “ok, maybe we are rally people” we decided to go big or go home and test our rally skills by attending the big kahuna, the International Rally. Since it was being held in York, PA (why are most of the rallies we’ve been to in towns named York?) and that’s only a 7 hour drive we figured it was time to give it a try. I mean, we’d get to hang out with 1000 of our Airstream friends!
And since we were there, we thought we’d tack on the Vintage Airstream Club Rendezvous being held for two night before the rally at Gifford Pinchot State Park, just a few miles away from the York Fairgrounds. So we set out on Wednesday afternoon, planning to get a few hours driving in and minimize the long drive on Thursday. We spent Wednesday night in a Walmart parking lot- a first for us- in Roanoke VA. We were the only RV there and honestly it wasn’t too bad! But we knew better places lay ahead and on Thursday we rolled into the state park.
As we pulled in our camping spot we noticed the trailer beside us had Georgia tags. Melinda wondered if maybe it was our friends from Silver in the City, Danielle and Lucius. Sure enough, a few minutes later they pulled up! It’s really fun to run into people you know while on the road.
The VAC Rendezvous was fun- we got a tour of York from one of the local members who gave up some time to show off his city- it’s cool to see a town from a local perspective. In the evenings there was food, fun and fellowship but the days were our own to enjoy. Gifford Pinchot is very large and lacked water at the sites- but the showers had hot water and while dated and in need of some paint & TLC they were all clean and working. We tend not to judge too harshly, they are often underfunded and understaffed so if things and clean and functional we are pretty happy.
On Saturday we headed over to the rally, at the York Fairgrounds. They really have things down pat- very efficiently organized. I guess after 68 years they’ve learned a thing or two! We were escorted to our parking spot with the other VAC folks. We were kind of in the back along the fence, which was fine, but we were a little too close to our neighbor- our awning would barely open without touching. No matter though, our neighbors were Deb & Dean from Ohio and they were quite wonderful, as was their beautifully redone 72 Safari- very modern and extremely high quality work.
The rally was a lot…. from opening night filled with pomp and circumstance but in a fun way, to the seminars, vendor areas and block parties we were pretty busy. The VAC threw a 60’s themed “glam” party that was a lot of fun- Melinda of course looked amazing and I looked suspiciously like I normally do. We had heard that the VAC threw the best parties and they did not disappoint! And the VAC “block party” around the campfire had excellent raffles where the winner had to sing to collect their prize. There may be video of someone singing the classic 80’s hit “Mickey”.
We did escape one day, to take our bikes out to the Rails to Trails path- an easy ride with a function train that we got to ride alongside. Then back into town for some good food at one of the local breweries. To be honest we needed a break from all the intensity of the rally- as introverts we have to get a little downtime on our own.
The last two night were casino night and closing ceremonies. A lot of the other campers were gone- like 50% or more- but we wanted to get the whole experience so we stayed until the Friday morning after the closing ceremony.
We decided we wouldn’t head straight back home, we wanted to visit some of the covered bridges out near Lancaster. But after arriving at the first one we realized their weight limit was 3 tons, and since our truck weighs 8 tons, and Tess weighs 2 more on top of that, we weren’t going to be able to cross any of them- and we were afraid of getting somewhere we couldn’t turn around so with a little disappointment we cancelled that part of our trip. Luckily we had a second chance found time to visit the National Clock and Watch Museum in Columbia PA. We figured we’d be there for 45 minutes or so… two hours later we finally left and probably could have spent more time there. Well worth visiting!
Our final stop was to visit some dear friends in Stuart VA to celebrate their wedding anniversary with them- even though we made some wonderful new friends at the rally, it’s hard to beat nearly 50 years of friendship.
Soooooo, would we do another International Rally? I think our answer is probably not. Not that we didn’t have fun ( we did) and not that we didn’t meet some great people and reconnect with other friends ( we did) but we found it to be a bit overwhelming. We had a similar feeling at Alumalina a few years ago and this just reinforced it. We enjoy getting out and exploring more- maybe that is on us somewhat because we were trying to get the full rally experience; maybe if we we went to another we’d know more what to expect- what we want to stay around for and when we can explore. So we aren’t going to never say never, but certainly not again any time soon. Small rallies in cool places? We’re so in. Melinda wants to try a caravan, so that may be next on our plate for big things. But the immediate future is a wagon wheel rally in Mills River, NC- twenty something rigs, beautiful location. We were going to go to it last year but it happened on the same weekend as Hurricane Helen- hoping for better weather this time!
