A new community of motor homes and travel trailers has sprouted over the weekend in the Hilton Coliseum and Richardson Court Association parking lots.

The 33rd annual International Rally for the Holiday Rambler Recreational Vehicle Club set up shop Monday with more than 900 recreational vehicles.

The rally is the group’s largest yearly get-together.

Ramblers from everywhere from Canada to Georgia set out on the open highway every year to meet for the rally. Destinations are decided on by the HRRVC’s Board of Directors and coordinators.

Last year’s rally met in West Springfield, Mass.

The motoring metropolis is set up with an emergency center, a communications department, a daily newspaper and even postal service. The rally includes 24-hour security for the RV neighborhood.

Members said Ames has been very accommodating and friendly since the first rigs rolled in on July 1. “You hear a lot about southern hospitality, but they have it here, too” said Lynn Collins of Jackson, Ga. Collins and her husband Willie are in their third year as member of the club.

Collins and her husband, who own their own businesses, left their shops behind to aim their new RV toward Ames. Collins said she enjoys the drives to the rallies because, “you get to see the country, you get to meet the people.”

Sue Cobbs and her husband Jim of St. Peters, Mo., both of whom are assistant rally coordinators, have been in the club since they bought their Holiday Rambler in 1983. “We do have a house, but we don’t see it very often,” Cobbs said.

Many members of the group have been riggin’ it across the country since the first Holiday Rambler was built in Indiana by the Klinger family in 1954. Retired nursing instructor Lorraine Rankin of Ankeny has had her motor home since 1959.

“We have five kids, and they grew up around this.” Rankin said. “Traveling around the country was fun for them and us, too.”

Rankin said she and her husband travel to the rallies and in HRRVC caravans in the winter months as well. “We’re what you call snowbirds; we’re gone for up to three months in the winter.”

Although Rankin admits most ralliers are retired, she said the group is starting to see some young couples coming in. “We saw a lot of young people at the rallies in the 70s; it’s just a new generation now.”

Next summer’s international rally will be held in Pueblo, Colo.