Those of you who attended the Sponsor's Rally in Rayne, LA this year know what a great time we had. Immediately following that great rally, some of us left for Schulenberg, Texas ("Halfway to Everywhere") to begin the Rolling Rally. We left in convoys of 3 to 4 people, so as not to clog up the works when we arrived at the Schulenberg RV Park. The folks there were so awesome…they had us call ahead and tell them what order we were arriving in, and they met each of us with a golf cart and took us directly to our parking spot. There was no waiting and no sign-up needed! It was wonderful. The park itself was very cute, with a wonderful meeting room, which we decorated with the theme "Life is a Picnic!" And it was quite a picnic, with beautiful Fall weather each day, plenty of sunshine and good companionship. We ended up with 12 rigs.  John and Ramola Laninga met us there, along with new members, John and Deanna Brandon. The first night we all walked to Frank's Restaurant and had great Hill Country Fare.  

The tour on Monday was led by Lou and Carol Butaud of the "Painted Churches". We didn't exactly know what that meant until we saw all those beautiful churches painted in Czech style from the 1800's and before. They included a beautiful Catholic Church in High Hill, a Lutheran Church in Swiss Alp (we met a woman who was born and raised in that church who gave us its history), another Catholic Church at Ammonsville (which really excited Linda Brian, as it was called "John the Baptist Catholic Church" and she thought she had finally found a Baptist Church), and finally a Methodist Church in Dubina.  After lunch at the local City Meat Market (good Czech meats and sausage), some of us drove to Shiner, Texas to the Spoetzl Brewery for a tour and a taste test. Back at camp we had social time and a pot luck dinner (and, yes, some of Bill Waters' funny stories).

On Tuesday, we began our day with Kolaches from the local famous Czech Kountry Bakery. The guys went to Main Street to the old Historic Hardware Store and most of us departed for the Roundtop/Warrenton Antique Market that was happening this week. We walked the market for a couple of hours (it would take a week to cover all of it) and then went to Festival Hill, which is a local concert hall. We arrived for tea, wine and cookies at the student residence, the historic Menke house, followed by a private tour of the concert hall and grounds, all of which Rosalyn Odom had set up for us through her docent friend, Jamie. We all had dinner independently and rested after a great tour day!

On Wednesday, we departed in convoys again for Kerrville, Texas, and Buckhorn Lake RV Resort.  Dick and Rosemary Dumais met us there.  Lou and Carol prepared our dinner upon arrival of barbecue brisket, beans and potato salad, followed by Geneva's famous bread pudding. She is getting so much smarter…she made TWO of them tonight!  We explored the park, which is absolutely awesome.  It is so clean and well decorated and has all the facilities any one could need.

Thursday morning, James and I cooked quiche, ham and fruit for breakfast and we all looked around Kerrville and Fredericksburg independently. Some went to the Pacific War Museum, and the Admiral Nimitz Museum in Fredericksburg. Others toured the Western Art Museum, the Clint Orms Silversmith shop, The Point Theater and Gallery, James Avery's Silver Shop, and, of course, our favorite, the local Gibson's.  That store has everything! …Even a cowboy boot water fountain for Polk.  There's no way accounting for some people's taste.  HA!   Some of us had dinner at Billie Gene's on the Guadalupe River.  The theme of Hill Country Autumn continues to provide us with amazing weather.  I don't know how Lou pulled it off, but he must have connections with the local weathermen somehow.

Friday started with another big biscuits and gravy breakfast and more sightseeing in this gorgeous HillCountry area. Lou cooked ribs all afternoon in the lovely outdoor cooking area near our parking spaces, while his helpers looked on and drank their favorite beverages at the outdoor bar.  

We had a big day on Saturday.  After breakfast (furnished by the BuckhornPark), we got ready and drove in a caravan to Po-Po's Restaurant in Welfare, Texas.  As some of you know (we went there in previous years), Carol Butaud's family owns and operates that restaurant, so we got extra special care and good food.  After that we drove on to Fredericksburg, where we had tickets to go to the Rock Box Theatre.  We thoroughly enjoyed the show and still returned back to Kerrville at a reasonable hour.

On Sunday morning, most of our rally participants left for home.  However, several of us stayed behind to enjoy another day (or two, or three).  We just couldn't stand to leave this awesome place and great weather.  We followed the Laninga's lead and went to a Pacific War battle re-enactment in Fredericksburg, with full uniforms, artillery and all! 

Several of us met up with old friends and co-workers along the way during this rally. James ran into an old friend from his fraternity in college, as well as an old friend of ours from early married life. I ran into an old co-worker I hadn't seen in years.  Les Cook met up with his son, Guy, and friends to go dove hunting. Bill and Geneva met up with their grand-daughter and family in Schulenberger and went to have dinner with some neighbors of theirs who used to live in Baton Rouge while in Kerrville. The Odoms also reunited with friends in both towns. It was just one of those wonderful rallies where everything went well, everyone was congenial, all enjoyed themselves in different ways, and we felt new connections with many of you.  I especially enjoyed getting to know Mary and Bernard Lang and Keith and Jutta Bertelsen better. We all enjoyed hearing Elaine McIlhenny's great laugh.  I believe we all left with smiling faces.  

Gail Smith

Picture contributions by John Laninga and Linda Polk