Our Long Way Home: The Return of the Good Sam Rally

It started with the low rumble of an RV engine. That single rumble swiftly turned into the steady roar of diesel pushers, gas pullers and travel trailers. 

With me on my humble golf cart, I did my darndest to get this sea of RVers safely to their campsites. My team was with me too – all of us racing around to offer a soft landing to travelers coming in from far and wide. 

Somewhere between parking a Class A and a Super C, I looked up from my golf cart and realized we’d made it. The Good Sam RV Rally had officially returned. 

Looking back

Good Sam started over 60 years ago with a simple philosophy: the road works better when we show up for each other.

That idea turned into Samborees, gatherings where RVers swapped stories, shared experiences and created belonging.

Our team wanted to rekindle that spirit with an RV rally in Florida, Good Sam’s first in many years. While we were all excited by the idea, we were also somewhat terrified by it. 

Did we have enough time to pull this thing off? 

Would people come? 

Could we create something that honored our roots? 

We forged ahead because we knew our people were hungry for connection. The years since 2020 have brought a series of changes that have limited our in-person moments and fueled a distorted feeling of division. 

That’s why we felt the time was right to bring rallies back. So we built it, invited our Members and hosted our comeback at Tranquility Lakes RV Resort in Florida.

How the rally unfolded

I was at the gates of the resort in my golf cart when the first RVs started rolling in. Over 100 rigs would arrive in just a few hours. One couple even traveled all the way from Washington to Florida just to be with us. 

As an RVer myself, I was instantly drawn to the variety of campers filing in. You had people who’d been at this RVing thing for a while. You had newbies who were eager to learn from other veterans. And you had folks in between who lived nearby and just wanted to be with other travelers for a bit. 

The resort was one of the largest I’d ever seen. Oversized sites encircled a 90-acre lake that became our backdrop for sunset walks. The palm trees and picnic tables provided the perfect setting for impromptu gatherings and new friendships. 

We also converted several RV sites into waypoints for the rally. The Workshop zone straddled two sites where Camping World joined us to deliver a full slate of RV tech sessions. We learned practical skills like RV resealing and appliance troubleshooting.

Our Basecamp zone was the place where we all gathered to orient ourselves for the day. It felt like camp, complete with a bulletin board highlighting key events.

And then there was The Campfire zone. This was our main gathering area at the resort’s brand-new clubhouse. It was here that we met for meals, RV trivia (led by our very own DJ) and storytelling sessions sponsored by Thor.

Through it all, we were reminded why we get together on the road. Travel is life changing, but it can also be isolating. Freedom is fun, but it can’t function without community. The rally is where that community came to life.

Moments that stuck 

It was too dry in Florida for actual campfires, so we recreated campfire storytelling at our dinner tables by sharing the tales of trips we’d taken that should’ve gone wrong, but wound up creating our favorite memories. 

One couple told the story of how a broken transmission led to their all-time favorite campground. Their inability to shift gears steered them away from a mountain pass, instead leading them to a route (and a stop) that would stick in their memories forever. 

How many of us have discovered a new place by happy accident? 

And then there was the Kancamagus Highway. This is a route I’ll never forget, partly because I could never seem to pronounce it properly, but mainly because one couple shared a story of journeying over this New England byway and discovering its beauty for the first time. Kancamagus is now on my bucket list because of their story. 

How many times have you discovered a bucket-list route from someone you met at a campfire?

Last but not least, there was the pop-up pizza party. I’m an RVer. I go to other rallies and I know that people hang out after the official events have closed, so I got the go ahead from Good Sam to host a pizza party at my RV site for anyone staying over on Sunday. 

The result was a moment that’ll live with me for the long haul. It was a time like so many I’d experienced before where an impromptu moment becomes a cherished memory. Twenty of us gathered around the picnic table, reminisced about the rally and enjoyed our last lakeside sunset together.

The meaning of it all

We took some key discoveries from the rally:

• Stories connect us. From happy accidents to unexpected adventures, the tales we tell around the fire are what binds this community together.
• Pitstops are a good thing. Don’t let the journey get lonely. Take a beat to find your crew and link up with it in person.
• Shared meals are essential. Whether a catered dinner or pizza slices around a picnic table, breaking bread together is something central to our being.
• Unexpected moments are beautiful moments. Whenever you get frustrated by a fork in the road, remember that the journey is often defined by the unplanned.
• RVers know how to roll with the punches. RVing requires us to deal with our own crap (literally and figuratively). We’re proud to face it head on.

Looking ahead 

From the moment I heard the distant rumble of all those RVs, I knew we were in for something special. Our rally at Tranquility Lakes represented a long overdue moment for our community to get back together and remind ourselves why we journey… 

The broken transmissions, the mountain highways, the pizza parties that nobody planned – all of it reminds us that the best parts of this life aren’t found on a map. They’re found in the people we meet along the way and in the stories we bring home.

That’s why Good Sam exists – to create the moments that we carry forward. And Florida was only the beginning. Our next rally is happening August 16th-19th, 2026 in San Diego.