RVing With a Purpose

United Rally 2026

March 14, 2026

On Saturday, February 14th we left South Carolina headed to the South Florida Fairgrounds in West Palm Beach to volunteer at the 2026 United Rally organized by Switch It Up and co-hosted by several other RV related YouTube channels. We arrived on Sunday and got set up and started meeting our neighbors. Monday was a set up day, making name tags and goodie bags etc, with hot dog and hamburger supper for the volunteers.

Anne and friends putting together name tags

Parking the guests on Tuesday was a challenge since the RV sites at the fairgrounds are very small and some of the RVs were not. We had a great group of volunteers who worked very hard to get everyone situated in their site. After helping with parking and making two trips to the airport for pickups we attended the Rally kick off with a barbeque dinner followed by a great concert by Ryan Harmon.

Co-host YouTube personalities opening the United Rally

Wednesday we were at work by 7:00am setting up our service project. This was in conjunction with Convoy for Hope who furnished us an 18 wheeler full of food. We assisted in getting the many pallets of food into the correct locations for our production lines. Once we got everything going, it took us about two hours to fill 3,700 bags of food and load them back into trucks for distribution by the local churches. So proud of all the hard work by all the United Rally attendees.

Volunteers setting up the lines for guests to load food bags

The Rally attendees packed over 3,700 food bags!

Thursday was a slower day for us and we were able to attend some of the seminars and visit with some of our friends. Thursday evening was a pizza party and worship service that was wonderful! Then the rally was over with lots of hugs and a few tears.

Worship night was the highlight of the Rally.

We stayed in West Palm for two more days just to rest and visit with friends. The weather was wonderfully warm as compared to the snow in South Carolina the previous week. Winter in south Florida is nice.

Ice and Snow in South Carolina

March 13, 2026

The Tampa Campout ended on January 19th. It was sad to say goodbye to everyone. We found out shortly before that that our planned volunteer project in North Fort Myers didn’t pan out. We also were aware of the winter weather that was forecast for the southeast so we decided to drive back to South Carolina from Tampa. While there we got to experience an ice storm and some snow, which are both unusual for that area. We all survived just fine. After the weather warmed up a little, we helped Randy and Debra with a few projects around the house. Of course it is always great to spend some extra time with Randy and Debra so the storms were a blessing in a strange sort of way.

We are not used to seeing the RV’s covered in snow.

Building the new frame on top of the old one

Anne and Debra preparing the porch for decking

We also helped Randy install a dedicated generator connection for the house.

Tampa Campout 2026

March 13, 2026

On January 5th, after another wonderful visit to Gulf State Park, we headed back to South Carolina to move into BB. On January 10th, we headed back to Tampa where some friends had asked us to volunteer at the 2026 Tampa Campout hosted by YouTube channels Finding Our Someday and Less Junk, More Journey. One of our favorite activities was the give back where the guests assembled birthday party kits for a local food bank. The kits are in high demand as they allow families to enjoy birthday parties when they could not otherwise afford them. Each kit includes a cake mix, a Sprite soda (to be used in place of milk), frosting, candles, a tablecloth and a hand written card. The volunteers set up the supplies and assisted the guests in assembling the kits.

Another favorite was the time we were able to spend with old friends and the new relationships we made over the course of the week. We were also blessed with a great group of volunteers to work along side. We are very grateful for the opportunity to serve with FOS and LJMJ – such sweet families.

Our first task at the Tampa Campout was to help with greeting and parking the incoming guests. This is the strangest arrangement we saw come in.

Setting up for birthday party kit supplies

There were two opportunities to make birthday party kits at the Campout …

We took a couple of days off during the Campout to go to the RV Supershow …

… where we visited with our friends at Sunshine State RVs.

December 2025 at Gulf State Park

January 29, 2026

As has become our tradition we spent the month of December, 2025 (and a few days in January, 2026) at Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores, Alabama. The weather was not a nice as it has been in other years but we still enjoyed our “sabbath month.” With lots of hiking, biking and geocaching on the miles of trails we had a great time. One of our favorite things to do in the park is to look for wildlife.

… a Great Blue Heron beside our campsite …

… Lefty – the famous Gulf State Park alligator …

We are sure there were eggs in the nest. After we left, people posted pictures of two eaglets.

As a special treat this year we were given the opportunity to help finish an outdoor raptor enclosure for the owls, hawk and kestrel kept at the nature center and used for educational programs.