In Arizona!

It has been awhile since I updated the blog, so, here goes.  We left our friends place in Dublin, TX and went to the Escapees Campground in Pecos, TX.  Nothing extraordinary there, so we moved on to the Escapee park in Deming, NM.  A very nice park where our friends from Livingston caught up with us.  They have a Volvo tractor that holds their Smart Car and pulls their 41' New Horizons 5th wheel.  Quite a rig. 

As you can see, this is really a nice set-up!
From Deming, NM we headed to Cotton Lane RV park in Goodyear, AZ.  Nice park, but we only stayed for 2 nights before we went into the Rally.

Then we went into the Rally at Phoenix International Raceway.  The venue was not conducive for the Rally.  The only entrance was the tunnel, and almost everyone was parked at turn 1, the other end of the track.  We will not go back there for any event, except maybe a race.  Although we had a good time at the Rally, it was NOT worth the drive from Florida for this event.

We did enjoy the entertainment they had there, and Debby and I renewed our wedding vows.  We are still in the homey moon phase!

When we left the Rally, we headed to Tucson, AZ to Voyager RV Resort.  This is a Really Nice Park.  They have just about everything you can imagine there.  I see why many folks purchase sites for their Park Models and live there full time.

The only complaint we had with this resort is the daily sites are VERY narrow.  When we arrived, we discovered that our underbelly cover was coming down.  I crawled under it and fixed it.  I was sick the entire time we were there.  Debby was kind to me and washed the rig and the truck.  She really did a great job.  From here we went into Escapade!  I don't know if you can tell from the photos, but the view is spectacular!!!!!!  The mountains look like they are painted into the sky!  We really enjoyed Escapade and plan on attending the one next year in Vermont!

This is what was behind our site at Escapade!  We backed up to "central park".  This was a nice venue even though it was a county fairgrounds!  We represented our Chapter on The Row!  Although this took more time than we would like, we did enjoy it.

The entertainment was GREAT!  Our friends Ron & Kay Rivoli entertained the first night and a mentalist entertained the second.  We really enjoyed them both.

It was really good to see Ron & Kay, the second time this year.  We also got to attend the Ham Radio brown bag luncheon, and checked into the "net" every morning.  We caught up with friends from Escapee rallies from the past, and it was GREAT to see them again.  We sure look forward to seeing them in the future.

Today we left the Pima County Fairgrounds, but before we did , we had the rig weighted.  Looks like we are in better shape than I thought we were.  Now we are checked into Ursery Mountain State Park for Chapter 44 rally.  We were  a little disappointed that we do not have sewer, as we needed to do laundry, but we went to a laundry mat and washed and are drying in the rig.  I'm sure we will enjoy this next week with Chapter 44 members.  We will head back to Tucson after this week.  We did go to the Commissary at the base in Tucson before we headed to Mesa, where we are now.  Looks like we will try to get into the base famcamp when we leave here.

Y'all travel safe, and I'll type more later!

At The Rally!

We went to Dublin, TX and visited with our friends Vic & Barba!  It was really good to see them after 12 years.  We left a day early as there was suppose to be freezing rain in Abolene, TX, and I did not want to drive thru that type of weather.  We made it to Pecos, TX. and spent 4 nights there rather than the 3 that we had planned.  If you did not loose anything in Pecos, and you do not need to go there, don't.  It appears to be very depressed.  We stayed at the Escapees park there, and found that most folks there are oil field workers, not RV'ers.  Very few spots for over nighters.   It wasn't a bad park, just very dusty.  We then drove to Deming, NM and stayed at the Escapee park there, Dream Catcher.  What  a nice park.  Our friends in the Volvo Truck towing the New Horizon 5th wheel caught up with us there.  We enjoyed the 4:00 PM socials every day we were there except our last evening there.  We just got ready to travel.  From there we drove to Cotton Lane RV Resort in Goodyear, AZ.  This was a long drive for us, 370 miles.  I usually do not like to drive that far in one day, but it really wasn't to bad.  Our friends, Bob & Sue caravaned with us so it was fun to travel with them.  Then on Tuesday, we arrived at the Rally with them. 
Here is a picture one of the villas at our friends park in Dublin.  Then the picture of the sign at the park.

Of course we can not forget the picture at the entrance with the speed limit on it!

The drive from Dublin to Pecos was interesting with lots of wind mills developing electricity.

Our site there was not that bad, but very dusty.

The drive to Deming was also interesting, and the views were Great!

The park, Dream Catcher was a nice park.  VERY friendly folks and we would go back if in this area or going this way.

The above picture is our friends "little" rig!  Volvo Truck, New Horizon 5th Wheel carrying a Smart Car.  A really nice set up! The next picture is the sunset from our site.  What a beautiful view!  The same view we had from our door!

This is Cotton Lane RV Resort.  It really is a nice place.  When we went to meet our friends for the trip to the Rally nine miles away, I saw this receiver hitch cover and just had to take a picture of it.  I thought it was really neat.

This is our rig parked at The Rally, and pictures of other rigs on our row.  Today we got together with the South Carolina State Directors Hollis and Regina.  It was good to see them again.  Tomorrow we get to renew our vows, so that should be exciting.  Shopping is open tomorrow,  Today we looked at a couple of rigs, but nothing called our name.
Y'all travel safe and I'll type more later.

Ready to Head to Dublin!

We have been at Rainbow's End for almost 2 weeks.  We enjoyed a tour of CARE (Continuing Assistance for Retried Escapees) and a tour of Escapees Headquarters.  It was very interesting.  Here are a couple of pictures.

We also enjoyed the folks who are in the park.  If nothing else, you can always expect a friendly group when with fellow Escapees!  Last evening we went to dinner at the local favorite eatery.  It is a gas station, that also has a pizza place and hamburger grill.  The food was really good.  We went to a meeting of the local residents before hand and met some more folks.  This was at the Activity Center

The tour of the headquarters includes a tour of the mail forwarding service, which is second to none!  You start by meeting at the Clubhouse, the tour headquarters followed by a trolly tour of the park.  It is really good to be able to talk about this place after actually being able to see it. 

If you have never been to Escapee Headquarters, it is worth the trip.  We have always planned on volunteering at CARE, but now we have submitted our paperwork for the needed back ground check so that it will be ready when we can get back this way.

Our continuing trip will be going to Dublin, TX to visit with some friends, then on to an Escapee park in Pecos, then another Escapee park in Deming, NM.  From there it is on to a campground just outside of the Rally site before we go in.  This has been an interesting trip for sure.
Y'all travel safe, and I'll type more later!

We Safely Arrived at Rainbow's End, Livingston, TX

We left Lake City, FL and headed to Rainbow's Plantation in Sumerdale, AL.  We had heard many good things about this Escapee Park, and were very pleased to say they were all true.  The park is well laid out and have nice sites, deeded lots and  a seperate E.R.P.U. area.  The staff was nice and we got the usual SKP  hug.  We traveled into Foely, AL to get fuel, as it was rather expensive in Sumerdale, and found Diesel fuel for $2.49 per gallon. Here are a couple of pictures of this wonderful Escapee Park.

We next headed to Henderson, LA.  Here we stayed at Cajun Palms RV Resort.  This resort had anything you could imagine for your entertainment.  They even had a theater!  This was more than we like to spend at $30 per night, but I asked about their regular rate during the peak season and it is $50.08.  That is way more that we would normally pay, but this is certainly a destination type resort.  They have 3 Tiki bars/resturants, a water park, 2 pools and a hot tub.  This is really a nice place to stay.  Here are a couple of pictures.

As you can see, we were said good bye by the resident ducks from one of the several ponds on the property.

We next headed to Rainbow's End in Livingston, TX.  There were no more rest areas in the last 121 miles in LA. so the first opportunity to stretch was at the Welcome center in Texas.  We thought this was a unique rest area.  It had a huge Texas star and an interesting warning sign.  It is built on Blue Elbow Swamp with an long deck walk way to enjoy the nature that is there.  Here are a couple of pictures of this rest area.

Q

We have not yet taken any pictures of the park , will be taking tours of C.A.R.E. and the national headquarters for Escapees while we are here.  We are planning on spending 2 weeks here before heading on west.

Y'all travel safe, and I'll type more later.

After the Tampa RV Super Show

Well, another Tampa RV Super Show has passed, and that was our last one!  We officially retired from working the Super Show, after working 8 of the past 11 years.  It was a good show, but to volunteer and work until you can hardly walk no longer makes any since.  It was to the point that we did not get to enjoy the show for many hours.  The experience has been very interesting and we met some great people.  I'm really glad we have had that experience.
Here are some pictures of the show.

We

We did get to enjoy some really good entertainment.  Sunday Drive was there, which Debby and I have gotten to see twice in the last 6 month.  The Friday evening entertainment was really good, but I did not catch their name, but they were a family.  Really good musicians.  and of course, Saturday night we got to enjoy Ron & Kay Ravoli.  We will get to enjoy them again at Escapade in March.

The rally associated with the show parked 787 rigs to camp at the show. 
Debby and I found a 5th wheel manufacturer that impressed me.  Luxe by Agusta.  I am really impressed with the construction.  May be our next coach.

We departed the show on Monday and drove to Lake City RV Park and will be here until Thursday, when we head west.  Got to be with the kids last night and enjoyed pizza with them.

The new fuel tank in the bed of the truck has really helped with our travels.  I filled up at NAS Jax before we left for the super show, and made it all the way back to NAS Jax to fill up again yesterday.  Over 700 miles!  Considering our max range before was only 300 miles, if we were lucky, this is really great.  Diesel at NAS Jax was $2.55.9 per gallon yesterday.  That is the cheapest we saw any where in the state.

Anyway, on the road again tomorrow.  Y'all travel safe and I'll type more later.