Yesterday was actually the last day of the rally, but with entertainment, door prizes, etc. not concluding until 10 PM no one left until today.  There are no activities on departure day, and everyone is expected to vacate the venue by noon.  The fairgrounds had another rally scheduled for the coming week, and that groups’ advance crew was due in starting at noon today.

I have described the rally departure experience before, and it was no different this time.  The biggest variable is the weather.  Sunday morning dawned cool but partly cloudy and the forecast indicated we would have a nice morning for exiting and traveling.  Departure morning is often a strange time for us, and our friends have indicated the same.  This was no exception.  Logistically it was consistent with our previous experience at area and national rallies.  Unlike the arrival process, which was highly organized and controlled, the departure process was completely asynchronous, but incredibly smooth and low-key.  One-by-one people just broke camp, hooked up their toads, said their farewells, started up their rigs, and drove away; yet there was never a traffic jam or safety issue.  We did not even have to wait for a dump station on the way out.

While the arrival at a rally is always filled with anticipation and a certain intensity of compact activity that is a bit exciting, the departure is, well, I’m not sure what it is.  It’s not exactly sad or depressing—those emotions would be too strong for the occasion—but it is a time of saying “goodbye for now” to friends that you don’t necessarily see very often and with whom you have just shared an experience.  There is a sense of having been there long enough yet not wanting it to be over quite yet.  And depending on where you are headed next, especially if it is back to a fixed house and a job or business, perhaps a small bit of dread at all of the work and responsibilities awaiting you upon your return.  But that is nature of RVing.

We stood around for quite a while in the morning visiting with our fellow GLCC members, all of whom were avoiding the inevitable departure and getting in one last visit, at least for now.  We finally rolled out around 11:15 AM and headed over to the dump stations.  The Elkhart County 4-H Fairgrounds has nine dump stations arranged in parallel and configured so RVs can pull in from either direction and dump from either side.  There was only one other motorhome there when we arrived and we pulled right in.  Another rig pulled in while we were taking care of business and we decided to go ahead and hook up the toad rather than pull out, stop on the exit road, and do it there.

Using our Rand-McNally GPS we followed a series of county roads and Indiana state highways, eventually getting back to US-20 and then to I-69, I-96, and home.  It was a pleasant and uneventful drive; the best kind.