Camp Charlie and the Arkansas Travelers

After a brief reprieve from the group, it was off with Charlie and Gloria, Huey and Katie, and Brenda and John. We met up with Brenda and John at the Mississippi Welcome Center and caravanned to Charlie’s house in Searcy, Arkansas. Charlie was waiting for our call and by the time we got off the freeway exit, he was there in his car to escort us to Camp Charlie. Charlie and Gloria have a huge piece of property in Searcy- 45 acres. Gloria’s parents and Gloria’s daughter both had houses on the property. Charlie and Gloria had both a house and a “Civic Center" - perfect for Charlie's RV Park and Rally Central.

We got set up in the open field and then headed off for a personal tour of Charlie’s empire. Charlie was in his glory. Charlie is quite a character. He had a rough childhood- picking cotton in the fields, dropped out of high school in the 10th grade, joined the Air Force during the Vietnam War --and then came to Arkansas and started a auto body/paint shop that he has grown into a huge business (multiple locations with a great cash flow). He's turned over the operation of the business to his daughter and a general manager that he considers a son- so he's basically a figurehead- not really tied up in the day to day operations of the business. So, it leaves him with the time to travel and plan these insane pre-rallies. He is one of the most amazing people you'll ever meet- he has a heart of gold- and an overabundance of energy! He continued his private tours for the entire weekend as the rest of the 25 coaches showed up for his “pre-rally”.

He took the Cajuns for dinner on Friday night at the famous Arkansas Cajun restaurant- Who Dat’s. The chef put out quite a feast for us. The highlight of the pre-rally was Saturday night at Charlie’s Civic Center- complete with bluegrass band and barbeque. They had enough food for Saturday and for pot-luck on Sunday.

It was a bit of a challenge since Searcy is smack dab in the middle of White County- a dry county! It's 40 miles to the next county and the "First Chance/Last Chance Liquor Store". We call this place "Dry White Wineless County". Needless to say, we made a liquor run on Saturday to buy 2 cases of wine and beer.
The weekend at Charlie’s over, we headed out, caravan style, to Mountain View. It was quite a site to see about 10 motorhomes headed out of tiny Searcey. Leave it to Charlie, he had a photographer on the main road to document the parade. We arrived that afternoon to a tiny RV park and with the biggest coach, we got the cat-bird spot overlooking the mountains (also the only place in the park where we could fit).
We had an appetizer get-together with the Arkansas Travelers that night. It was an odd mix of people- there was a large contingency of Cajuns - who love to party, drink and dance- balanced by the Arkansas Baptists- who may drink, but only if they have it hidden in oversize, camouflaged thermal cups. They don't dance and don't seem to have a whole lot of fun.... Thank goodness for the Cajuns! (And for our “Charlie’s Auto Body” super-size thermal mugs to hide our wine)

We had 3 days in Mountain View. The guys headed out on Tuesday morning to run around town and get things organized. Brenda and I headed out to explore the town and its’ small antique shops and cute little stores. After dinner that night with the Arkansas Travelers, we all drove up to John Taylor’s Laid Back Pickin. In a huge old barn, we listened to John Taylor’s bluegrass band playin’ and singin’. They even had their dog trained to collect tips!

We took one day from the group and drove to Batesville, Arkansas and visited a museum of funerary stuff. They had old caskets and embalming machines. That night, the entire group headed out to a local catfish restaurant for dinner. After dinner, Charlie had arranged for some local musicians to do some “pickin” and singin’ for us at the campgrounds.