2013 Good Sam Rally Atlanta Georgia

Oct 16 to 21 Wednesday to Monday   Weather was mostly sunny and 70's, two days of misty showers
All activity goes on inside the track.  All the displays, new RV's, seminars, exhibitions, shopping, shows, events, and even test driving motorhomes on the inside track..... 

Billy found his dream RV he's only short about $700,000

  Any empty area has camping for handicap and all the exhibition people.   So it was packed!  

Seminars run every day from 9 am to 5 pm.  There are 6 tents holding the seminars with plenty of seats.   We went to RV cleaning, Waste Management, Refrigerator Mtce, Caravan to Australia and South Africa, and 120 volt Electrical Safety.  There are many more subjects and the seminars are free with your camping! 

In between the seminars we did some shopping for items we had on our spare parts list.  When you have an RV there is always a list of widgets... new straps for the awnings, hydraulic cylinders, latches and more.  This was a convenient place to find the items not always available and of course they all had show special prices!

There were also lots of RV resorts promoting specials all over the USA.  Free nights, half price weeks and extreme discounts on months.  
In the really big tents there were cooking demonstrations by Bob Blumer from Food Network and a trick dog show by K9 Kings.  These dogs were so obedient, and tricky jumpers! 

The CEO Marcus Lemonis did a special event where he gave away prizes.   You could also stand up and tell him a beef about Camping World/Good Sam or praise.   He would make it right for you.   He also gets crazy giving away things.   One couple won a BBQ and he said "what would you really like?"  They said "a trip to Hawaii".  He said "OK".  The crowd went wild,,,, and he did give them a trip to Hawaii!!!

Good Sam Mascot and Marcus beside him

He was an excellent speaker too, some of you might see him on the "Celebrity Apprentice" or his own show "The Profit".  
So we head back to our RV every night and then the entertainment begins.   Live in concert each night a different venue.... The Beach Boys, Vince Gill and The Vogues.   And Fireworks.  We definitely enjoyed the entire 5 days and will be watching for the next Rally.

2013 Good Sam Rally Atlanta, Georgia - Getting There and camping

 Oct 16/13 Wednesday - Weather is beautiful, sunny and 70's
We staged our overnight stay so we would have about 1 hour to drive to enter The Rally.  Our entrance was posted for the p.m. which could be anywhere between noon and 5 pm.  We also planned on passing through Atlanta using the west bypass by 10 to 10:30.  Traffic was not so bad, mostly trucks and it worked great. 

Bypass around Atlanta

Getting off I75 at exit 218 for Hampton which is about 30 miles south of Atlanta we pleasantly spotted a grocery store with access for our size so we made a quick stop to replenish our Corona supply and a few food items.  Ten miles up the road we came to the signs to follow right into the Atlanta Speedway parking lot.  870 acres...... wow!   

Atlanta Motor Speedway Map

 

Atlanta Speedway in the distance.... What is waiting around the corner?

Coming to the gate we could see some campers already setup - Wow when did they get here??? We came in on an early bird day thinking we would be avoiding the crowd.  Ha Ha so that means all these campers came in on Tuesday or Wednesday morning....  Keeners!

First lot of campers we came upon

 
The volunteers were so well organized and they just kept signalling us with flags to move.  On the inside  front of our window we placed a large barcode and color coded entry form. 

Volunteer guiding us to our spot

 They had us pulled right up to the Speedway wall lot and hooked up to 30amp power in about 10 minutes.  No water or sewers but we did pay extra for the 30amp power, $240 for 5 nights (price includes all seminars, events, entertainment, camping).  By the time we put out our slides and looked around we were swallowed up by the coaches and trailers!  We had never been to any parking for a concert or game event that was so well controlled.

The Bourne's Rig setup in front row of parking lot with power

We put out our chairs and had a refreshment to congratulate ourselves on getting here, getting setup, and enjoying the excitement of camping with 2,600 other campers:)

Front of our site

Before the end of the afternoon we caught a shuttle to the Registration hut inside the track.  There we picked up our goodie bag and name badge lanyards that must be worn around our neck for the entire Rally to get in all the events.