Friendly Strangers Invade Rockford Good Sam Recreational Vehicle Club Holds A Big Campout At Fairgrounds
Their heavy metal rolled into town last Thursday, the Highway 27 asphalt shuddering beneath.
There were about 200 partiers, two for each set of wheels. Each wore a vest covered with patches. Every year they pick a place to use as a campsite, and this time Rockford was it.
Townsfolk stopped to gawk while passing the Southeast Spokane County Fairgrounds. One brave soul actually went inside. He didn’t know better.
“Is this a trailer court now?” the man asked.
Nope. This was the Inland Northwest’s annual Good Sam recreational vehicle club campout. Retired couples driving RVs had descended on the fairgrounds, parking their 100 or so rigs bumper-to-bumper.
“Everyone slows down as they pass, eyeing us,” said Art Olson, Valley resident and treasurer of the Maverick Sams, a Good Sam chapter.
The chapters mostly came from Eastern Washington and North Idaho. Besides Mavericks, there were Spokane Valley Sams, Lilac City Sams, Friendly Sams, Post Falls Sams. There were Sams-O-Rama. By Saturday, they felt at home.
Al Hilfiker of Greenacres, a Maverick, sat beneath a tarp connected to his ‘75 Vogue RV.
“They don’t build ‘em like this anymore,” Hilfiker said of his gray, beached submarine. “It’s one the oldest here. It has 105,000 miles on it. The back tires are original.”
Hilfiker made the lawn chair underneath him, a picture of a horse head woven into the backrest. He was pretty comfy, save the fact he had to rough it wattage-wise.
The fairgrounds didn’t have enough power to keep all the RVs juiced up.
That was OK. Camaraderie lit the place up instead.
“Al? I haven’t seen you in years!” piped up a man wearing a light blue vest, the Spokane Valley Sams’ garb.
Hilfiker looked up, surprised. It had been 30 years, he told long-lost friends Gene and Gwen Tiede of Pasadena Park.
That’s what the Good Sams are all about. Running into old friends, making new ones, and playing washer board or pinochle with both.
A bunch of campers went in the fair exhibit building and sat at tables. One man started in, but retreated.
“It looks like a beehive in there,” he said.
Pinochle players were buzzing as they got ready for the card tourney. The stakes were low - just winner certificates, no cash - but the adrenaline ran high.
One lady explained the rulebook to another. “I know what it says,” said the listener. “But I’m not going to play it that way.”
They did other things, too. Thursday, they painted pine cones and listened to fiddle music. Friday, they played cribbage and set up a flea market. Saturday featured a magic show. Sunday, country music.
This camp meant another patch for Hilfiker’s vest. He showed it off, already adorned with patches reading “Good Sams Adopt-A-Highway,” “Dogs for the Deaf,” and “Over-the-Hill Sams.” They receive patches for each Samboree attended or good cause advanced.
George McPherson, 84, watched the whole thing with satisfaction. The longtime Rockford resident was in charge of fairgrounds publicity.
McPhereson mingled with the Sams, asking them if they had ever seen a spotted owl. Then he’d pull a four-inch speckled piece of wood out of a pocket in his overalls.
“See? It’s a spotted dowel,” he said.
What did he think of the strangers in town?
“They’ve all been nice, except for a few,” he said. “The rest have been real nice.”
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo