Vann's and Water's

3 R Rally
Colfax Recreation Area and RV Park
Colfax, Louisiana
May 2-6, 2007

Hosts: Linda and Polk Brian, Mary and Don Vann, Geneva and Bill Waters

Jack & I have just returned from the 3R rally in Colfax, LA, which is near Alexandria, LA. The park had spacious RV sites. We were near the Red River and we watched the locals during a fishing tournament. We never got the news of who won or how big their fish were, but we did hear there were some really big fish caught. One of their rules was to throw the fish back after
weighing and measuring.

The first day we arrived, the Wellocks, Butuads, Lacours and the Bruces went to a recommended place to eat. It was a small "hole in the wall" metal building, that served hamburgers and plate lunches. Did we ever get a great surprise! They had the best hamburgers that we have had in a long time. The prices were unbelievably low and the plate lunches were $3.50 which consisted of 2 pieces of fried chicken, 2 vegetables, a sweet potato and cornbread. Each day had a different menu for the plate lunches. The train track is across the street and we heard it coming, and then it stopped! They had called ahead to the deli, placed their order and stopped the train to pick up their lunches! The deli motto is "FOOD SO GOOD--IT WILL STOP A FREIGHT TRAIN". We couldn't believe our ears and eyes.

Bill Waters had made arrangements for us to visit the Camp Beauregard in Pineville, LA., a National Guard base. We were met with a receiving line of officers, who were very handsome and in their military uniforms they wear
everyday. They gave us a great orientation of what happens there on that base. One young officer was from West Monroe. LA and the Brians had spent several minutes to reminisce with him. They have a special program on that base of
taking high school dropouts and teaching them to become productive citizens. It is on a voluntary basis, where they put in an application to attend the program and are selected by the officers on the base. Very few of them drop out and some of them that graduate ask if they can stay longer. They keep in contact with these students for a year of those who graduate and most of them have jobs or go on to college.

We also visited the Kent House,which is the oldest structure still standing in Louisiana. It is an old plantation house and the young ladies giving the tours were great. Bill also made reservations for us at Tunk's Cypress Inn, where we had a choice of steak or seafood. It was delicious and we got special treatment because Bill knew the owners. It pays to have friends in high places!

On the night we went to Tunk's we had bad weather, to say the least. There were tornado warning out and lots of black clouds, wind and rain. However, we all made it safely and we did run out of the rain as we went along. The rain caught up with us as we ate and passed on by, so we had light rain on the way back to the park.

We had a great time and we want to thank the Waters, Brians, and Vanns for the fine job they did.

Linda & Jack Bruce