My sister wanted to get away, and with the newly opened Epcot Center at Orlando, it seemed we had a perfect trip planned. We went to FL and had a great time. The weather was non-typical for January. Temps were cold and in the 30's. The day of the car show (always your last day it seems) was warmer and sunny. Made us hate to come back to NC and wintertime. I had a wool jacket, but with the FL humidity, it was the coldest I had ever been.
While at our campground in Daytona, I saw another Avion trailer that had some numbers on it's streetside front corner. I knew there was a club for these Avion trailers, but I knew nothing about it. I saw the owner of the Avion out one day and I inquired about the club. He told me to get in contact with Helen Williams, Executive Secretary of the Avion Travelcade Club. When I got home, I went to the local dealership and secured and application to join the ATC.
My application was processed and by late Feburary, I was a new member with # 11340 assigned as my membership number. Jackie and Orlo Struble were president and sec/treas of the NC Unit. They were planning a spring rally at the fairgrounds in Raleigh, NC for the third weekend of April. I signed up for this event.
Time passed by until it was time to get ready for the spring rally. I had never been to a rally, and didn't know what to expect. There was a kind of initiation ceremony held and my membership numbers were installed on the trailer by Marion Best. There were a few onlookers making sure he got the numbers on the trailer in a straight line. We arrived not knowing anyone, though we really felt we were a part of a nice group of people. Correspondence with Jackie Struble before we arrived had made me feel comfortable about being a "newbie." At the business meeting, we were introduced as the "new members." Plans for the fall rally were announced at this time. This group really gets out and enjoys their Avions. We made plans then to go to the fall rally at Franklin, NC. Fall rallies were always held on the 3rd weekend of September. Rallies were planned so that other state units could rally (hopefully, NOT on the same weekend) and a regional Governor of the ATC could attend several rallies in his region without conflict.
I had never towed into the NC mountains, so I borrowed Dad's 1979 GMC dually to tow the Avion to the fall rally. The timing could not have been more perfect. The leaves were at their fall brilliance peak and we were situated in a lovely valley just outside of Franklin. By this rally, we were getting to know a few people and were "hooked" on the Avion Way of Life. 1983 was a good year.
We made friends with Tom and Doris DeRhodes, Coy and Rhetta Coley, Jackie and Orlo Struble, Marion and Lorene Best, Grady and Mary Holland, Mac and Vera McClenny, Al and Orla Hurt, Charlie and Vinnie Chappell, Frank and Betsy, Lawrence, Bob and Clara Holmes, and daughter Betsy, Alton and Mary-Neil Tarte, Frank and Jan Morris, Clarence and Dorothy Pope, Rupert and Buleau Kincer, Frank Erker, May Beaver, Ida Whisnant, David and Sue Broyles, Clyde and Naomi Byrd, Lewis and Helen Cook, Bob and Athalea Corns just to name a few. These people became our extended family. Our unit news published in the Avion Travelcade News (paper) was our link to staying in touch. We cherished our new friends.
I was asked why I wanted to join a club with so many "OLD" people in it. True, I was 22 years old and most of these people were retired. My response was, I joined the Avion Travelcade Club, not an old folk's club. The trailer and travel were what we had in common. Most of the long time members loved my response. They were only older in years. Their lifestyle was very active.
The next few years, we attended almost all the spring and fall NC state rallies. The ATC also had a winter, summer, and fall Rendezvous for Avioners to rally from all over the US. It was quite a few years before I attended one of those events.
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