For over an hour, I’ve been sitting here deciding what to write about this Campout and have concluded, this has to be the hardest post I have ever written! The stars had to align in so many ways to bring us to this point and because of the energy and the emotions, it makes putting words to print and describing this Campout so difficult. Here, as you read this (should I have left something out), please know that an omissions on my part was strictly by accident and you may contact me (us) to share any input or post your take on this amazing event.
The Riveted Rendezvous started out with a bang! Bonding Time, as we like to call it! After arriving, several (many) volunteered to help set up The Fox Den (known as the main social spot). Lights were hung, tents were erected, artful decor was spread around, as were signs, hammocks, chairs, fire pits and more. The Fox Den took on a life of its on!
Before long drinks were poured and The Riveted Rendezvous began!
Let’s get this party started! First, we have to finish off the Fox Den decor with a few . . . bras?!?! Oh yes, they did it! These crazy ladies started The Riveted Rendezvous off right! Chris was loving it! Can’t you tell?
Morning Bliss
Mornings started with our famous Coffee Chats and one morning, Marc, brought in 3 dozen donuts! All you sleepy heads missed out on this one! I fully expected blueberries and aliens with a hazmat crew to arrive, but . . . Oh wait, different story! Thank you Marc for your generous hospitality ~ they were YUMMY!
Ruff Morning
It was a paw-some morning when a dog pack and play was held with Candy (and her dogs) as the fearless leader and herder of the pack. With the Main event field so close to our sites, she led everyone who participated to the open field where they played games, shared treats, played, ran and more. Thank you Candy for taking the time and energy to offer this “Ruff”ians morning to the groups dog owners. It was a wonder-fur morning and everyone had a fetching good time! Don’t pug with me, I can keep going . . . ruff, ruff!
Bike the Park ~
Up for a Bike ride anyone? Yes! A large group of us enjoyed a ride around the SOS Park, as Chris acted as our tour guide and showed off the overly large Music Park and all it had to offer us while there. We had several Group photo ops, riding from the tea colored waters of the Suwanee River to the backwoods of Bird sanctuary, the Bat house and even the Swap lake proved to be photogenic! We aimed to please offering members a little excursion and exercise while at the Campout. FYI, Laurene really wanted to ride, but her golf cart broke down and she had to be towed ~ YES, I have it on video! Thankfully, all the bikers wheely had fun and didn’t get two-tired! I crack myself up sometimes!
Rainy Day Cooks ~
Even though we had a little weather move in, we still were able to enjoy a Dutch Oven demo and cook along with John and Laurie one day. They cooked a Taco soup (and made bread) anyone who had a dutch oven was invited to cook along. Two members took them up on the offer and before long, Jason & Amanda and George & Jill were heating up the flames! Jason was super sweet (and spicy) to offer Chris and I some of his delicious ‘Vegetarian’ soup before he added a protein, BUT not before he added his spices! It was so yummy, we could feel it to the depths of our soles (feet that is)! Really is was quite tasty! Laurie saved us a slice of bread and we were thankful for the opportunity to have a soaker for our flames! …. Just kidding, it wasn’t that hot! Thank you John and Laurie for sharing Dutch Oven tips, ideas and demo with us, even with the weather being unpredictable, all turned out great! And, thanks to George & Jill and Jason & Amanda for cooking along! Ya’ll are soup-erstars and to think, you had me at taco!
Don’t Worry, Be Happy HourS ~
Who doesn’t love a good happy hour? Well, I’ll tell you who! This group doesn’t! No, nope, nota, no way! This Groups only loves Happy HourS! Yep, one hour just seems to piss them off, so when The Riveted Fox holds a happy hour, we really have to step up our game and make sure it is worthy of Hours of Happiness!
~ With that said, Bikes, Golf carts, running shoes, cameras, sex toys, bears and underwear may have beed needed (they were) for this Happy HourS! Kudos to Kathy for jumping in and leading this Outrageously entertaining (or at least for us), one of a kind, hand selected, unique, Scavenger Hunt from the Den. Opening the Happy HourS with a Cheers and the next thing we know, Kathy has given everyone a list and a pen – a Riveted Rendezvous Pen! ~ everyone scatters and the Hunt is on! Wildly funny, totally unexpected results, completely fabulous Happy HourS! Thank You Kathy for your time and effort in putting this together and for giving out the Cool Riveted Rendezvous Pens! You rock, well actually Kheira Rocks! There was a Scavenger Hunt tie between Umsy and Kheira, so they played Rock, Paper, Scissors. Kheira had Rock, Umsy had Paper . . . The winner of the Scavenger Hunt . . . Umsy! Congratulations!
~ Taking Pics to remember an event is alway fun, but when you have a Pro-Photographer in the Group they become phenomenal! John, who has been known to Shoot people, along with his wife, Tami, who has been known to Flash people, set up a Photo Booth during Happy HourS one day, equipped with props and green screen they were ready for anyone willing to ~ Strike a Pose! It was rather entertaining just to sit back and watch as people had their pics taken. John and Tami also get credit for the fabulous Group Pic you see above from the Riveted Rendezvous! Thank you both for herding this group and getting them to sit still long enough for pics! They never lost Focus and when done they were able to Crop it like its Hot! We don’t have any of their pics to share, but we do have a few we took of the craziness going on. Check these out!
~ Ok, are you taking Notes? Campouts without Music would b flat! The Riveted Fox loves Music and really loves sharing it with the Group, hence why we play so much of it at our Campouts. Each evening, we would play special requests, oldies, pop, rock, beach any type of music (well, maybe not country – ok some country) either by the fire or just having it in the background.
Insider Field Day ~
Okay, you would think, we like to exercise as much movement we throw into these Campouts . . .
Unfortunately, the rains came and came and came and did I say it rained! Well, it Did! But in true Fox Spirit, we adjusted. We slipped into a coved, semi walled, VIP building just across from our sites and pressed on! Chris and I were bummed for a bit about having to disassemble The Fox Den (from outside and move what we could to the inside), but this amazing Group jumped right in and it all worked out the way it was meant to be. In this case, it did.
The activities planned for field day were just slightly altered, but it seems as though everyone enjoyed the event! Who wouldn’t enjoy playing with our old Stinky Slinky? We thought . . . hey, what could it hurt to let the Group use our sewer hose for this game. If one of them should break it, no worries because we should get us a new one since we’ve had that one for 5 years now. Agreed? Don’t fret, we cleaned it really well before we had anyone carry it around. It was so clean , , , they didn’t even wear gloves!
Chris gets the credit for this game! It was simply a black shit hose that members had to load & release in a bucket (balls) all while in a relay race working (only) against a clock. Devilishly entertaining! The Big Load, I mean Win, goes to Dean and Barbara. Congratulations to you both for pulling out the win! It was a moving experience!
No Pre-existing Art ability Required:
One morning we tested our artistic abilities with Ink designed shirts, bags, socks and Paint designs on bags of rocks! It was Amazing watching everyone as their inner artist bloomed!
I wanted us to do a tie dye ~ I got ~ Marcia and Russ and WOW! They came prepared to create! Marcia told me she had something easier and to trust her! They came with campers, peace signs, flowers and even a fox face templates, tons of pens and Alcohol (well, rubbing alcohol)! This was such a great idea and Thank You Marcia for (telling me ~ No) putting your crafty mind to work and pulling off such a cool clean fun time!
In walks Tami, the rock painting Queen! Tami is an artist and it showed! She brought some of her rocks to show possibilities and they were beautiful! It was awesome how she was able help everyone paint such beauty on these tiny rocks, but she did! She offered great tips on designs and how to do these for gifts and more! Thank you Tami for sharing your abilities with us to show how we can paint too!
Sing ~ Sing A Song . . .
Of course we had Karaoke! What started out to be a Campground dinner and Karaoke night at the Music Hall turned into a Riveted Rendezvous only Karaoke in the VIP buildings aka The Fox Den by 9pm. Who knew . . . this Group could sing???? Everyone was so amazing it was unbelievable! And trust me here when I say the later it got the better everyone sounded. It was like their voices warmed up and the words got better and the stars alined and the drinks were . . . .
It was a night full of laughs, crazy dancing and good music!
Glow Night Fun
Yes, we did! What a fun night too! Dressed in our “Glowing” attire, the group danced the night away! Everyone glowed from head to toe and with bubbles, bouncing balls, balloons, strange looking alien dolls and rockin’ music, it was one of the best nights of the Rendezvous! Contestants paraded through for a Glow Night Contest and the proud winner was . . . Fiora! Congratulations, you glowed all night!
Rock’N The Fox Den . . .
In The Riveted Fox style ~ We Rocked Out our final night together with a Private show from our good friends, Canadian Rock Band . . . Wicked Truth!
What a night it was! As the wild weather pushed through and temps dropped, we were not sure how having the band outside was going to turn out, but . . . WOW! One of the most EPIC times ever! Wicked Truth is well known in the RV industry, are connected with The RVer’s TV show on the Discovery Channel and have been our friends since 2019. Having them play with the our Airstream as the stage backdrop was such a cool combo of ~ Live Music with RVing!
Definitely, a great way to cap off an amazing week!
Turn Yourself In – Get the Hell Out – Go To Bed! . . .
Chris, you gotta love him! Even if you don’t, you do! He has this way of getting in your head, under your skin. He is like the itch you just can’t scratch! Ok enough, you get it! Or do you? Well, he started a ‘new’ tradition here and those of you reading this, who were there, are already singing it and laughing in Your Head – right?!? I can’t explain it to give it justice or so anyone who reads it understands, but all I can say is . . .
It’s over! Time for bed! Have you – done anything bad tonight?
Have you – had too many drinks tonight? Whoo, Let’s go!
Did you enjoy the Riveted Rendezvous? Yes!
Want to do it again next year? Yes! We Love ALL of You!
Chris
In summary, this was more than a Campout, The Riveted Rendezvous was more of a Rally style event with 70 RVs and 105 attendees. There was never a shortage of things to do with activities scheduled all throughout the week, plus what the park had to offer. But, like with any event, people will get out of it what they put in. Sunday to Wednesday we had beautiful weather, Wednesday the rain moved in and by Saturday lunch it was sunny again and chilly, but the group adjusted and we had a great time!
Rvers from all across the country joined us with some even flying in and renting RVs! For several people this was their 3rd event with us, some their first time, but we hope all enjoyed their Riveted Rendezvous and will join us at more and more events soon!
Speaking of more events . . . . Up Next is the Shenanigans on the Lake in just 6 weeks! This will be a smaller more intimate event, so book soon to grab your lake front site!
Thank you ALL for trusting us (again) to host your Campout and provide fun an amazing activities for the group. We aim to please and our door/ear is always open, so if you have a recommendation, suggestion and/or a location idea, please send us an email and let us know.
Until next time, Safe and Happy Travels! We love you all!
Cheers, Chris and Gina
Maybe you missed it, but you didn’t miss out! We host Meet-ups, Campouts, and both In-person & Online events on a regular bases. Please join us on our next adventure by going to our EVENTS page and finding the right one for you. Drop us a note to let us know you want to join in and before you know it . . . We will all be together!
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Really looks like you all are having wonderful times. We are still a little confused with the site. Not seeing any upcoming meet up events with city and state. We are full time rver’s and have arrived in our home state of Michigan for the summer from our 7-8 month winters in Florida. However we do travel in between and during our stays on either end. We love live entertainment and try to find that most everywhere we go. The 55+ resort that we are lot owners in Florida don’t believe in live entertainment. Is there any way that we can connect with a couple of these groups for future meet ups? We were part of the RVillage group and came here when you all was so generous to extend the invite. We have filled out our profile except pictures and that part seems to be a major chore.
Ron & Mary Smalley
This was such a fun campout! Thank you Chris & Gina. Met so many of our friends that we only knew through Zoom. This group is like a family from all over the US, and we had a big family reunion. Can’t wait to do it again. Keep up the great work Chris & Gina!
Awe, Thank you! We love connecting people and doing these Campouts are another way we can all can do just that!
Glad you two had a good time and thanks for letting us know! See you at the next one!
Y’all made me go to Florida. Now here I am again becoming a Floridian. I have still not seen a real live alligator and yet I am still completely, unreasonably terrified of them. I mean it’s a dang dinosaur that crawls around eating old ladies who garden too close to the pond for heaven’s sake. Great memories, dancing, so much fun! And the dogs got to visit with all their friends from previous Campouts. Loved it!
This was an event we will never forget! We couldn’t be happier to be apart of this amazing group of people. We found our TRIBE! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for creating this awesome community!
Great site, awesome camping and lots more than that.