What do 1,352 people camping in 640 Grand Design RVs at the Elkhart County Fairground do for a week? Attend the Grand Design National Rally (GDNR) and have a great time!
Grand Design, the manufacturer of our 5th wheel, is a relatively new company in the RV industry. Started by Don Clark and 2 other RV leaders a little over 10 years ago, they felt there was a better way to do things. They had a vision for a company that was customer-centric with a focus on quality. Boy, have they delivered. If Don, the CEO, can field questions from 1,350 people for over two hours at his annual “fireside chat”, you know they are doing something right.
The annual rally sold out within 6 minutes of registration opening last April. Dave and I each were on our computers and hit enter at exactly 8 a.m. We were lucky to get a ticket! Not quite like getting tickets to see Taylor Swift though. The rally actually started on Monday, but to help stagger arrivals, attendees could arrive between Friday and Sunday. We arrived on Friday around 2 p.m. and waited about an hour in line as each RV was checked in. We were then escorted to our assigned location, Section H, in the infield of the racetrack.
Our Section had over a 100 RVs and had 2 couples as wagon masters, in charge of our area. They had arranged pre-rally events on Saturday and Sunday. We had fun at a corn hole derby with a baked potato bar for dinner on Saturday and then Mexican Fiesta night on Sunday with Salsa and Margarita contests, yummy tacos, and then a Macarena dance contest. Guess who won the dance contest? Me! I think the tequila from all the margaritas I sampled helped. We had a dance party after the contest that was a blast.
During the rally week, breakfast and dinner were provided and there were seminars, vendor booths, bus trips to the Grand Design manufacturing facilities in nearby Middlebury, IN, wine and food bus trips to nearby Michigan, a trip to an Amish community, Bingo, a casino night, music in the park in the evenings…the list goes on. What made the event so successful was all the volunteers. The chief wagon master, Bob, works with a key contact at Grand Design to plan the event. He and hundreds of other volunteers made the event so special. And every single person you encounter are friendly, smiling, and welcoming (especially to “newbies” which Dave and I were). I signed up to help serve breakfast and dinner on Thursday. It takes 45 volunteers to help serve each meal. Wow! Dave and I did get one bike ride in and Murphy and I walked to a nearby trail several times.
But I was Bad Brenda and did not get any other rally pictures and now the rally is over. Dratz.
I did manage a picture of Dave & Murphy getting some afternoon ice cream.
Dave and I left the fairgrounds on Friday with the other 640 RV’s. We waited to leave after 1 p.m. to help it clear out a bit. We are now making our way to Tennessee to participate in the Bicycle Ride Across Tennessee, known as the “BRAT.” Dave and I are excited to catch up with friends at the event.
Thoroughly enjoyed the GDNR Brenda, We definitely chose the right RV brand Dave, I sniffed a lot of butts at the rally Murphy.
Dang, that rally looked like fun!
The pic made it look like a little tight parking in the racetrack.
And “Queen of the Macarena” !, – who knew?
Such talent 😉
Dodging hurricanes, Wes
Yep, I love Wes’s suggestion. So deem that Queen Macarena shall be your moniker from now on!!!
Say hi to everyone
Do you bow to the Queen of the Macarena or shake a tail feather?