28 May 2025 - Day 1 of the Rally in the Books

 

Wow, what a day!  The Alliance 2026 Rally commenced, starting with a full breakfast and then the Alliance Team Welcome and Rally Kickoff.  Rachel Ellis and our FamAlly Cares board presented two $1000 scholarships. 

Rachel Ellis explains the scholarship history 

with the board president Ralph Lowther.

 

Elijah Page winner of the $1000 Jim Caldwell Memorial Scholarship

Ava Leslie winner of the $1000 FamAlly Cares Scholarship

The Alliance leadership team answered questions and provided information about their company and the brand.  Alliance has 910 team members.  They have 250 dealers in North America and they have sold over 20,000 coaches to date and over 700 across North America so far just this month.  The 2024 Rally had 320 coaches and this year they are up to 360.  

Coley and Ryan Brady, co-founders of Alliance RV

Bill Martin, Vice President of Customer Service

Joe Mehl, Vice President of Marketing

Many of the Alliance Team

After the Rally kickoff, there were all kinds of events going on, but the weather did not cooperate so well as the rain slowed things down a bit.  Doreen and I took the opportunity to get a few things done including making a grocery store run to replenish the fridge and pantry.  Thursday night is the Rally Potluck and Doreen got the supplies she needed to prepare.  I spent too much time on the phone with Western Digital and Netgear trying to resolve and issue I am having with a new cloud drive.  

This evening we attended an Alliance-provided dinner and then everyone gathered for the annual Rally group photo using a drone.  I do not have a copy of it yet, but I'm sure it will be awesome!

After the photo we headed to the Event Hall to look over the silent auction items and the raffle items. As mentioned before, this year the auction is on-line and it is live now.  Anyone can bid and if they win the items will be shipped to them no charge (except alcohol - in-person only). All proceeds go towards FamAlly Cares. To register, view and bid, text FamAlly to 843-606-5995

Then we sampled some wine in an event that paralleled last night's bourbon tasting.  

We brought the night to a close around the campfire with friends and a sampling of bourbon!  Many others stopped by as they cruised around on their golf carts.    

We have a full day again tomorrow as we open day 2 of the 2025 Alliance RV Rally!