Aluminum Rally

Our next destination was just outside of Daytona, at a gathering of Airstreams.

 I am sure that it was just an accident that the organizers booked this rally less than 10 miles from the Daytona Speedway at the same time that the Daytona 500 was on. And certainly, it was also merely an oversight that they reserved a campground for us across from the Cabbage Patch Bar, which is a famous biker bar. It also happened to  be just down the street from a motorcycle racing course, during the “everything-with-a-loud-motor” racing week.

I mean, us Airstreamers aren’t normally known as heavy partiers. After 9pm, anyway.

Not knowing what we were getting into, hubby and I arrived at the aforementioned campground, to be parked closely with about 80 other trailers on a grassy field. 

If they had parked us in a circle, I would have thought that they were circling the wagons for protection.

We needed protection. The Fire Ants were deadly on that grassy field.

The best part of an Airstream rally is checking out the other rigs.

There was a fairly new Airstream motorhome across from us, the Airstream SkyDeck. The owners were generous enough to hold an open house to allow the other rally attendees to walk through. 

To be honest, we’ve been inside Airstream motorhomes before.  The attraction on this one was the upper deck – a roof level with seating and tables for party goers.

It was a great view. They said the ocupancy load was 15 people. 

We tested it. 

However, later that night I noticed that it was dark on the upper deck by 9pm.

Told you so.

Airstream parties may not go late, but don’t you be thinking that we don’t party. Happy hour was always the best attended event of the rally.

That's my kind of people.

So, maybe we weren’t into all the loud racing and crashing that was popular in that area on that week, but hubby and I did find something to do while we were there.

We checked out the Canaveral Seashore National Park. It gave us a place to paddle and hubby a place to fish. The manatees in this area are very curious and friendly. A cow and calf came up to our canoe, passing underneath us a couple of times and poking their noses up to check us out.

Along the interior shore, away from the brutal waves of the Atlantic Ocean, we found Turtle Mound. That hill beside the water is not a natural hill. It is 50 feet high and made of millions of oyster and clam shells left there by the occupation of natives a long time ago.

We walked the trail around the bottom of the mound, where the shells are washing out to the tidal lagoon. Even at the very top you could see the oyster shells inside the dirt.

Now, those natives really knew how to party. 

W