Good Sams Rally, Atlanta Georgia

So we were headed to Atlanta motor speedway, and we were about 15 minutes away when we decided to stop at a shopping plaza so I could use the bathroom.  As we were getting ready to pull out, I noticed that a tire on the camper looked funny, it looked like something was stuck to the side of it, so I honked and had Shane pull over, and we got out to inspect it.  Sure enough one of our tires had a tumor!!

Now we do have a spare tire, so we thought it best to change this tire immediately, only problem is.... Shane didn't have a socket the right size for our lug nuts :/  luckily we have roadside assistance, so we made the call and then had to sit and wait.  We waited a couple hours for someone to show up, but they finally showed up and we were on our way again. 
We were going to the rally to meet up with Howard and Linda, they are full timers that write a daily blog, that Shane has been following for years.  They had mentioned that they were looking for another team to join them in weighing RV's.  Shane had emailed them and they were interested in talking with us, and asked us to meet them at this rally to see exactly what they do, and how they do it.
So we got there and they directed us to our "sardine" spot, they really cram people in these things

We got set up, and headed to inside the track to get registered and meet up with Howard and Linda.  After we met them, we headed over to Walter and Amy's rig (Walter is the executive director of the company that does the weighing), and we had a couple glasses of wine and got to know everyone.  Then we went out for dinner, and then came home.
The next day we were to go to the tire safety seminar that Walter was giving, and after that we were to join Howard and Linda in the booth to start signing people up for the weighing.  I guess you could say we picked it up pretty quickly, and before long they let us take over, this helped us learn everything we could possibly learn about the paperwork part of it.

 

 

After two days of signing people up at the booth we were ready to start the weighing.  We had gone with them to choose the weighing site.  It has to be on level ground, and has to have enough room to accommodate multiple big rigs, so they had picked out an exit road with three lanes, and this is not a very popular exit so it is not to busy.  All set up and ready to weigh

They have 4 scales, one for each tire, the RV pulls up, we align the scales in front of the tires, then they drive up on them, and we read off the weights.  This is done to insure that the RV is not overloaded, and that they are carrying the correct air pressures in the tires, its all about safety, and having the knowledge about the correct air pressures and knowing what it could cause if you don't.  After the first day of weighing, we wanted to see about moving our rigs over close by where we were weighing, that way we would be right there, and have a close bathroom to use.  So Shane called security and asked if we could, and they were fine with it, so we moved over there, and so did Howard and Linda

We had to be up and out by 7:15, and it was brisk that morning.  Over the 2 days of weighing, we weighed 86 rigs, mostly motorhomes, but quite a few fifth wheels and some travel trailers.

 

Overall we thoroughly enjoyed this experience, and we are ready to take on this duty!!  So we discussed with Howard and Linda about meeting up at the next stop to go over the final paperwork, and we decided on heading to Indian Springs State Park about 30 miles away.  This was a pleasant change from the sardine situation we were in at the rally.  We got together for dinner that night and then hung out by the fire, then we called it a night, as we were all pretty tired from all the weighing.

The next day Howard and Linda were approached by the neighbors Ricky and Tresa, they are also followers of the blog, and Linda offered to show us girls some Tshirt braiding because I had asked her about the shirt she was wearing

It was awesome!!  I loved it, and its super easy, so now I can pass it on too!  The guys were hanging out over at the neighbors site, gossiping while we were making shirts

 

 

We just hung out for the day, a little later Linda went over the final paperwork with us while Howard went on a little walk to get some pictures for his blog

 

and then we all had dinner together, and then had Ricky and Tresa over for a fire

The next day Howard and Linda invited us to go paddle around the lake before we left that campground, and we said yes.  They wanted to head out early so we were on the water by 8:30

 

 

It was quite chilly but we sucked it up to see the lake

 

 

 

 

We had a good paddle, we were out for a couple hours, and then headed back to camp to get packed up to head out.  We decided that we were going to make Georgia Veterans State Park our next stop.