The big Winnie roundup

Winnebago drivers back their rigs into extra-long campsites, grab the lawn chairs off the front rack and hook up to electricity links when they go camping. Open roads are their driveways; kitchen tables double as bunk beds; bathrooms are just a sideways sashay from the passenger’s seat. About 1,600 members of the Winnebago-Itasca Travelers Club have converged on Forest City, Iowa -- home of 200-acre Winnebago Industries -- for the 35th Grand National Rally that runs through Friday. The annual gathering, which began after the company’s first motor home rolled off the assembly line in 1966, transforms a massive field into Winnebago City with showers, food vendors, and electricity and water hookups. Winnie lovers can ogle the latest models and gear or test their skills in the backseat driver competition where one person steers blindfolded while a teammate outside the RV shouts orders. Solo competitors remove the blindfolds to whip the family Winnebago through winding obstacle courses. Winter Wonderland is the theme of this year’s gathering, and some ralliers, such as Bob Klienberg of New Jersey, are searching for a snow-making machine and trucking in inflatable snowmen. Klienberg, a municipal court judge before becoming a full-time motor home traveler, said he enjoyed meeting people and “playing bingo or just sitting in front of a coach.”

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-- Bonnie Obremski