Wrapping up at the Escapade

We are not your typical Escapade attendees, at least not anymore. We used to be, back when we still had a lot to learn. Neither of us attended any seminars this time around. I had hoped to go to Chris & Jim Guld's (GeeksOnTour) blogging seminar but ended up sticking around the rig while our new awnings were being put up.

But we did do one thing typical of most attendees - spend money! In our case, quite a bit of money. First was new awnings all the way around as well as new slide toppers. We also added two new window awnings over the garage windows, something Stu wished he had done originally.

We used the folks at Shade Pro RV Awnings (800-328-5100). Ken Thompson did an amazing job! Professional job and we are really pleased. Oh, and our original awnings were brown but had faded to a tacky green color. I love having the brown back!

The next was a tire pressure monitoring system. Based on personal recommendations and previous experience with the vendor we chose, Stu bought a Tire Traker system with sensors for each tire as well as an extender (due to our extreme length). Daryl & Cheri Lawrence know their stuff, stand behind it and encourage you to call anytime if you have issues. That's how they've taken care of our Progressive on-board EMS system, too.

We also had a tech out to get our automatic Directv (rooftop) dish working. We haven't been able to use it since we upgraded to the Genie last September. Poor Stu had to set up a portable dish at every stop. Now I have to remember to power it up and down. LOL!

The final expense was for a CCW (concealed carry weapon) class for Stu. All that is left for him to do is get his fingerprints taken and mail the application, photo (taken in the class), fingerprint card and money to the state of Florida for his non-resident CCW. When we get back to FL, he will do some shooting and purchase his handgun.

What else have we done? Well, we are getting ready for our fourth dinner out with friends. The first night, Monday, we ate with Bill & Dottie (Stu's old partner and his wife). We last saw them in Gettysburg for breakfast. We each drove an hour or so to Montpelier for dinner at Sarducci's. Great Italian restaurant and I got to take some nice flower photos.

We also had a peek-through view of the capital building.

Tuesday we went to dinner with friends Steve & Peri who we first met in Ecuador. They planned to stay forever but health issues forced them back to the US. They bought an RV and headed north to the Escapade, our gain. We had a great dinner chatting about everything, just getting to know each other better.

Then Wednesday we went Italian again, having dinner with our friends Charles & Chris Yust. Tonight we are back to Texas Roadhouse (steak is always good) with our good friends, Chris & Jim Guld.

We also got in a nice motorcycle ride on Sunday, a day off for me since I planned to write as much as possible during the week days. All I wanted was ice cream...and the GPS obliged, dumping us right at Ben & Jerry's. Yum!!!

We've attended one social gathering with the Full-Time Class of 2007. I first met these folks in 2007 at the Goshen, IN Escapade that year. We've decreased in numbers due to death, health and going off the road, but that hasn't slowed our enthusiasm when we're together (especially when food is involved).

No idea what Bridget & John Hatch were doing - playing hide & seek?

Co-director of the Escapades, Bob Pinner with Norah Glover on the right, enjoying the food.

Linda Fleeger addressing the group.

The weather has been good other than a big storm on Sunday late and another about an hour ago. Nice enough that I've been able to grab two nice sunset photos.

Today may be closing day here, but we're not done. Tomorrow we go on a HOP (Head Out Program). Our day will consist of maple syrup, cruising Lake Champlain and ice cream. Yum!! Saturday is our rest day before we head back to Twin Ells campground on Sunday.

Life is good!

Ciao for now!

Quick Overview of Escapade Arrival

A quiet night  Saturday and Sunday morning we headed over shortly after nine to check out the vendors. Stu wanted to get our awning replacements set up ASAP. We need the two big awnings, all three window awnings and all three slide toppers replaced. Talking to the Ken Thompson of Shade Pro RV Awnings (800-328-5100), we also decided to get window awnings for the two garage windows. Sometimes we'd love to leave the windows open during a light rain and now we can.

Next stop was talking to the satellite TV guys. There were two vendors - I went to one and Stu went to the other. We haven't been able to use our automatic dish since we upgraded to the Genie last September. We hope this will be a minor fix.

Final stop for Stu was Daryl Lawrence's booth to buy a new tire monitoring system. Our current one is the one I bought from now retired Mike & Pat McFall back in March 2008. It has served us well but it's dying and the technology has improved dramatically. We had chatted with Daryl when we had dinner with him and Cheri back in FL (oh yeah, Nick & Terry Russell as well as Charles & Chris Yust were there, too). We talked about the tire monitoring system Daryl sold and found out that was the one Nick was using and recommending.

Daryl is the one who sold us (and installed) our Progressive EMS system at one of the Gypsy Journal Rallies that Nick & Terry used to host. It has saved us time and time again from electrical disaster (we highly recommend getting an on-board electrical management system).

We also managed to get in some hugs from Charles & Chris Yust who were busy with insurance questions & quotes as well as Chris & Jim Guld, our good "Geeks on Tour" friends (who also scuba dive).

A final walk down the Chapter and BOF tables and we headed back for the night. Here are a few photos...













Will post more on Thursday, last day of the rally. All our purchasing should be done, most meet & greets done, too. Friday we are on a HOP to visit some local things - an all day event. Saturday will be a full rest day!!

Oh, so far I have gotten just under 2000 words written in Almost a Touch (book three in my Klondike Mysteries) - no more done today since I've been helping a friend with some blog issues. ;)

Ciao for now!

We made it to the Escapade!

We managed to get out of Twin Ells park by 10:30, only 30 minutes after our target time. The drive was scenic and took us through some pretty little towns. Two bridges to get across Lake Champlain and then we were on the interstate. A fuel stop, that just "happened" to have a Dunkin' Donuts attached, and we arrived in Essex Junction between 12:30-1:00ish.

The parking crew was amazing! What a great job they did, got us parked where we could easily unload the bike. It was quite warm as we set up, but shortly after two we walked over to the registration area. Registration was quick and easy, we got our badges and what we need for our HOP at the end of the Escapade. 

We met several friends along the way; John Hatch, Jan & Bill Mains as well as Barb & Tom Westerfield. We are greatly missing Nick & Terry Russell, Jan & Greg White, JC & Bev Webber, Jim & Ellie Meacham, Renee & Dave Zittel, Mike & Elaine Loscher and many more who couldn't make it here this time. We hope to see all of them again as we travel the next couple of years. 

I took a lot of great photos along the way, not sure if I can get them to load in this app (I'm writing this on my iPad Mini). If not, they will be in a later post. 

Well that seemed work...here is a scary bridge. No height markings but we cleared it. Phew! 

As we walked outside after registration and chatting with friends, this was the sight in front of us. Yikes!

We made it back before it hit...here is a composite photo. 

Well, time to relax for the evening. Tomorrow we will check out the vendors and meet more friends, both old and new!

Ciao for now!

On the road, southwest USA in our sights

We finally got on the road late morning on Wednesday. Our route was easy, north on I-75 to I-10 and then west until we hit Quartzsite, AZ....LOL! Don't think we'll get lost.

Our first stop was at Camping World in Tallahassee. We had several items we wanted to pick up. We have two wonderful Fantastic Fans with rain sensors...that means they close automatically when it rains. We finally decided to get MaxxAir vent covers for them to eliminate that issue. We were thrilled to find them on sale.

We picked up several other small items and got permission to use their "first come, first serve" hookup sites. Yup, got a night of free parking WITH power. Nice!! Thank you to CW for continuing this wonderful service in these hard economic times.

We got on the road by 9:00 and headed west. We made a stop at Sam's Club in Pensacola and then found a VERY busy Wal-Mart Supercenter for the last few grocery items. Nice to not have to rush through the day...we easily made it to the Rainbow Plantation in Summderdale, AL where we planned to spend a couple of days.

We love the Escapee Parks that we have stayed in but have to admit that our last two check-in (Bushnell and Summerdale) seemed very impersonal. No offer of hugs, no mentions of social gatherings, no real welcoming feeling. Guess everyone feels stressed? We did find the social calendar in the clubhouse in Bushnell, thus we made it to the Christmas Pot Luck. No mention was made of anything here last night so we just relaxed in the RV.

Today is a veg day...I did get the laundry done and some online catch-up reading done as well. It's supposed to go down below freezing tonight and from what we can tell, all the south is pretty much the same. Our next stop will be at Cabela's in Gonzales, LA. Not sure where we will spend the night, if they have hookups and if one is open, we'll stay there. Otherwise we'll look for a Passport American campground.

We had originally planned on spending a couple of days around New Orleans but the current temps are discouraging us. We would normally ride the bikes (or at least the trike) and rain & cold are not our favorite riding conditions. Most of TX looks cold as well unless you go down towards the Rio Grand Valley area where we spent last winter.

So, we will meander onward on I-10 west, stopping when & where we feel like it. We have two weeks before the big show starts in Q. No rush, and that's a good thing.

On a side note, our New Year's Eve was quiet. We decided that we will try at least one new beer as our new tradition. Stu found some Red Stripe at Wal-mart. You might remember his disappointment at not finding it during our Jamaica excursion. Then we find it at a Wally World in Pensacola, FL. LOL! Anyway, we tried it and both liked it (I think I liked it a little more than he did). We watched a discount Blu-Ray movie - Æon Flux. Neither of us had ever heard of it but figured it was worth grabbing at $10 (less than going to the movies). It turned out to be a pretty good SciFi movie and we really love the Blu-Ray....especially now that Stu has all the surround sound up and working.

Finally, a thanks to all our readers who have put up with a very sporadic year of posting. It's been an extremely busy year with a lot of highs and lows. Here's to a 2010 with more highs than lows, for all our family & friends! You deserve it...

Till next time - keep on rollin',
Donna & Stu

Sometimes you win and sometimes you don't

The Escapees Class of 2007 had a small reunion of sorts today. About 20+/- members met at a local eatery called Pepes on the River. It was a cool setting, under a grass thatch roof, open to the air with a view to Mexico over the Rio Grand River. As Donna and I rode in we both thought it was probably very popular with bikers. Sure enough, there were about a dozen bikes parked around the side. The beer was cold and the Bar service efficient. There was even a small band playing the kind of music you would expect here...a little country, some Texas Two step stuff and some oldies here and there. We had lots of conversations about traveling, our rigs and some of the usual RV banter you might expect from a crowd like this. [more pics at SmugMug]



That's where it ended. Everyone arrived at about noon and we were seated about 12:30 after some meet and greets etc. Our lunch order was taken and we continued our conversations. The menu was short, but to be expected as this place was set up for large groups and quantity servings. Donna and I ordered a quesadilla each and the waitress went around the table getting all the other orders. I went for my second beer. More chatting and a third beer. A trip to the bathroom and finally some of the food had arrived, it was now around 1;45. The bathroom trip did not appease the food gods for about 6 of us. I went for beer number 4.

Finally the waitress returned and asked if we had received our food, answer: no. She retook the order and disappeared to the kitchen. At about 2:30 she returned and gave us some lame excuses for the delay...the kitchen lost the order...blah blah blah... Donna asked when it would be ready. Answer: there are 2 tables ahead of you so I'm not sure. Could she move our order to the top since we'd been waiting almost 2 hours? No, she wasn't going to fight the kitchen. We said good bye. No explanation or apologies were offered and no sign of a manager or a supervisor. We felt as if they really didn't care.

It's too bad, because the atmosphere was terrific and it seemed like the place could be a lot of fun. There certainly was a crowd there for mid-week. I got the idea that this was business as usual for the place. Oh well, we left and found a great little diner in the center of town and got our fill of good Mexican food. More on that in the next posting.

Keep rolling...we will...
Stu

In Texas...FINALLY!

Yup, we made it to TX yesterday....I missed a night blogging mainly because we were cold, tired, in a crappy park with poor power that kept going off. On Saturday we left Alabama, crossed Mississippi and landed in Monre, LA for the night. We made it to the Harley dealer there by 4:00...but they closed at 3:00. Figures....LOL!

There was a Sam's Club but with lows forecast in the upper 20's we thought we'd grab a campground and there was a Coast to Coast park, Shiloh RV & Travel Resort on the same street as Harley & Sam's. So we grabbed a spot for the night....$10. Well, we should have read the reviews at rvparkreviews.com first. Sigh....

The roads were terrible, lots of mud (too close a reminder to our night at South of the Border), a power pedestal sitting in a pool of water with no breaker and covered by a little piece of carpet. We shoulda known....off & on all night the power flickered. Since we use a power surge protector, that meant 5 or so minutes before everything came back up...each time. We were on antenna so that helped (we barely fit in the spot with a foot or two overhang on either end so trying the move forward/back to get the dish to find a signal wasn't an option). Stu sent a note to Coast to Coast and entered a poor review at rvparkreviews.com. One more park OFF our list...

Note - the water cartridge was already there.

We had to use Linx levelers to keep the connection out of the water - it was 6" deep!

Don't you just love the nicely graveled road? That's what their website showed...

We headed out early, finished getting through LA and crossed into TX. An uneventful day of driving, we arrived at the Rainbows End Escapees Park in Livingston, TX around 4:00. This was allowed plenty of time to get setup and attend the 6:30 ice cream social! By the time we walked back the temperature was 35...we were really glad to be in a park with good, clean power. When we woke up this morning it was 27. Good thing Stu unhooked the water last night.

Oh, at the ice cream social we met up with Hank & Patti Landry. I had met them a couple of times before but have to admit to being REALLY bad at remembering people...so everyone who has met me is FOREWARNED! LOL! Great folks, we chatted about traveling and hope to see them again in the Mission area.

We will be picking up a month's worth of mail this afternoon, not sure when we will be leaving but could be on Wednesday. We have an issue with our gas heat (either the regulator or the thermostat...again) and looks like the KZ dealer that can work on the rig is kind of on our way.

As we've said before...we'll hit Mission eventually!

Till next time - keep on rollin',
Donna & Stu

Gillette WY Updates - Escapade, SOLOS & Motorcycle Ride

July 4th - The day was perfect....lots of sunshine, little wind and no humidity. The Escapees SOLOS BOF was having a hot dog picnic, sort of a pot luck and grill-out. My new SOLOS friend and fellow motorcyclist, Stu, asked me if I wanted a ride over. He carted two chairs on the back as well as his and my pot luck contributions.




It was a great success...there were many SOLOS there that I hadn't met before and the food was plentiful. Stu was asked if he could give one of our SOLOS ladies a ride on the trike, I think her name was Lila but I could be wrong. Anyway, I think she enjoyed it...here the are returning.




As the night darkened we prepared, we thought, for the fireworks. At 10pm the parking lot lights were dimmed and we had a perfect view. I don't know how long the display went on but it was at least 30 minutes of non-stop action. We all felt it was the best fireworks display any of us had seen in a long time...many felt it was the best they had ever seen (I'm one of those). I wished I had brought my better camera but here are a couple of shots from my little camera. Very hard to see the explosive colors and amazing display of lights.




At the picnic we met a local rider, Russ, who invited Stu on a local sightseeing trip the following day. I was "persuaded" to come along (yeah, my arm still hurts.....LOL!).

The next morning we went to breakfast at Lulu Belle's...great start to the day. Stu had gone exploring and thought he knew the location of the gas station where we were to meet up with Russ. We got there 5 minutes after the meet point...no one there. Fortunately they had exchanged phone numbers and we soon located the right station. Russ, and his little MinPin, had brought along a lady rider friend, Diana. We made quick introductions and headed off.

The trip was from Gillette up to Sheridan, through the Big Horn Mountains, down to Worland and Ten Sleep before hitting Buffalo and going back to Gillette. It ended up being an over 400 mile day. I took so many photos but I will try to pick a few for flavor and you can see the some of the rest (maybe 30% of what I took) in my SmugMug album.

The day was amazing....we went through little historic towns, up through the Big Horn Mountains, through canyons, tossed snowballs at each other, watched a hang glider prepare for the "right wind" for his first solo ride (we waited over 30 minutes and finally gave up), past wildflowers of all colors and odors, sighed over waterfalls hidden behind a construction area and so much more. As I said, an amazing day! But the highlight was near the end when we, okay Russ, spotted two moose down below us. Hard to capture with the little camera but there were there. Finally...a real moose sighting. LOL!




Till next time - keep on rollin',
Froggi/Donna