bobanddenisewanderlust

Saturday- We left our site at Lost Valley RV Park to head down to the entrance of the park. Due to the hills and curves, we did not hook up the car until we arrived at the bottom of the hill. We hooked up the car and started out of the park. Bob had to immediately pull over. Fortunately, there was a place to pull over on the entrance road, although it was on a hill. We had a low tire on the right front of the CRV. This is why we have tire monitors! I had not received a message showing a low tire on the car when I drove down the hill.  This was our site, # 763.

We disconnected the car and I drove it up next to the front of the motor home to add air to the tire.,since we were on a hill, we could not re-connect the car to the back of the motor home.  Now we had to find a relatively flat place to connect the car. Our drive took us over SR ZZ for 5 miles. Just before we arrived at SR 50, we just stopped on the country road and connected the car. It takes about three and a half minutes to do this, but there was no traffic on this back road, so we did not block any one else.

We continued our journey on SR 50 for a little over 100 miles to Sedalia MO, arriving just before 11 AM. As we were driving into Sedalia, we started to see other RV’s arriving for the Escapade and we followed another  Alfa See Ya into the Missouri State Fair Grounds.

Bob had to ‘hit the head’ so I ended up driving the motor home in and following the parking crews directions. We are in a FHU site, 30 amp. 30 amp means that we have to be careful not to run too many electric items at the same time. The weather remains cool, so we are not going to need to run the air conditioner.

We settled in a bit, then hopped on our bikes and rode over to the hospitality building. It is quite a ways, so we were glad we had ridden our bikes. We need the exercise anyway!

We immediately ran into Janie Stein and Marty Bates, members of the Class of 2010. We settled on having a get-together for lunch tomorrow, since our schedules are so busy.

We picked up our registration packets and returned to the motor home. Bob quickly walked the dogs. We had forgotten that we had used all of our sandwich meat yesterday, so we ran over to the local McDonalds for lunch. It was a very busy place, but not as busy as the Super Walmart. The Wally World was a circus, but we still did not spend a lot of time in line. This store was much better than the one in Laurel MD!

We returned to the motor home and put away the groceries. We laid down for a nap. Bob was able to sleep, but I could not. There is a dog in the motor home next to us who must be suffering from separation anxiety, as he was barking pitifully.

I could not find Tom and Debbie Abernethy’s phone number so we drove over to their motor home to see if they wanted to go out to dinner. They did, so we took off to a mediocre Mexican Restaurant, whose name I did not bother to remember. It was great catching up with our friends!

Sunday– We went to breakfast at the Hospitality building cooked by the Knights of Columbus. They had scrambled eggs, made to order omelets, hash browns, sausage, ham, bacon, pancakes, biscuits and gravy. What a feast! We sat with people we did not know, but knew people in common. Bud and Cathy Carr joined us. Bud and Cathy own the Escapees, as the organization was started by Cathy’s parents. Her mother, Kay Peterson, is here this year ( her father, Joe,  died two years ago). Kay was not able to attend last year’s Escapade due to health issues.

After breakfast, we returned to the motor home,  paid bills and updated our budget.  I worked on the blog and my speech for Tuesday. We returned to the Market, to wander through the booths. Then we wandered through the motor homes and one 5th wheel that a dealership has for sale. None compare, even remotely, to our Alfa! The manufacturers are saving money by not putting in windows and the floor plans are really not made for full-timing.  They are all dark inside and make me claustrophobic!

We returned to the motor home ( we are still riding our bikes, so we are getting lots  of  exercise) and putted around until just before lunch. We took our lunch over to the Hospitality Building to meet up with the Class of 2010. We met up with Paula and Norm Gray( no relation, they are from Australia, although Norm is sure we are related somehow), Janie  Stein and Marty Bates and Karen and Rick Bennett.

I left from there to go to the speakers seminar, which lasted all of 20 minutes. I received my volunteer patch

Both of us returned to the motor home. We popped dinner into the crock pot ( pork tenderloin) and ran back over to the main building for the official opening ceremony. We sat with the class of 2010. It started promptly at 3PM, after some joke telling by the resident smarty pants. He( the guy on the left) always has some silly (clean) jokes.

After the ceremony, they had ice cream sandwiches for everyone. They are really good at moving people through lines. They should be, this is the 52nd Escapade.

We returned to the motor home for dinner, then drove back over to the main building for the evening entertainment. We did not win any door prizes. The headliner was Yakov Smirnoff, the comedian. He was excellent. and had us laughing so hard!

 

After the show he stayed around talking to people, signing autographs, and selling CD’s. These older performers have discovered the RV’ing market. They do these shows and sell CD’s/DVD’s. Yakov has a theater in Branson, but is going on the road this year. He is a very interesting character. He went back to school at U of PA for a Masters in Psychology. When 911 occurred, he painted a huge red-white-blue heart (which he designed) overlooking the WTC site in NY. These entertainers also have their kids involved, in his case, his son, who introduced him and sells the CD’s. These entertainers also involve their audience, getting down into the audience and interacting with people. These performers do not do your usual show!

The Escapees flew him in from Branson. During the show, the plane took off without him, and the Escapees drove him back to Branson, about 152 miles. 

Monday- We left early and went over to the hospitality building. We both went to the Traveling Alaska seminar at 8:15, which gave us some good hints. It would have been nice if the speaker had spoken a little faster, as he only got through the first half of his presentation.

We went to the “Market,” as I wanted to speak with the Verizon guys. My phone is constantly out of memory. Turns out it cannot be upgraded, but we found out we could change plans, get a new phone upgrade, and use it as a WiFi site. So we are upgrading. I now have a phone with an upgrade. Bob’s new phone is coming tomorrow, and we are going to end up paying less per month. Great!

Here is a picture of Marty and Janie.

We went to speak with the Elks at the “Row”. We are staying over and going to their  post- rally get together, and have no information. No one could answer our questions, so who knows what is happening.

We returned to the motor home, I went to the Post Office, Walmart, and gas station.  Bob walked the dogs. AT 12:00 we biked back over to hospitality for lunch, served by the K of C. Brisket, green beans, baked potato, and bread. Yum, for $7. Once I finished, I went to meet up with Terilu to assist her with Sew Much Comfort. This is sewing adaptive clothing for injured vets.  I helped by cutting sides on shorts and ripping out seams. I stayed with her until almost 3, then met up with Bob at the Smart Phone seminar. The very best thing I got out of it was that there is an App for translation, Google Translator, free! Wow, can I use this when I am Case Managing! Plus we learned a lot of other helpful information.

We returned to the motor home, I cooked our pizza and Bob walked the dogs. Then we drove over to the SKP Genies ( the genealogy group) for the ‘ bring your own pizza’ dinner.  We were there with the group until almost 7, when we moved in to the auditorium for the evening entertainment. Still did not win any prizes. Oh well…

The silly jokes continued. The performer this evening was George Dyer. He was doing show tunes and was very loud, so we decided to call it a night. He is also from Branson.

We arrived back at the motor home to find that we had no electric. Bob went to find one of the security people and let him know that the electric in our section was out. He returned and started the generator. We watched TV until 10. We turned off the generator and went to bed. About 10:15, the electric came back on.

Tuesday- I got up and turned on the heat! It was in the 40’s! I ran through my speech one more time and made some changes to the Power Point presentation. This is my first time using Power Point, so it should be interesting.  We decided there was nothing we wanted to go to at 8:15.

We started laundry and I worked on cleaning out my computer. Yesterday one of the items I purchased at Walmart was a new flash drive. My one I use for pictures was full, so I needed another one! I guess I can keep about 2 years of pictures on one. So I moved a bunch of pictures off the laptop and deleted a bunch of files. Hopefully my computer will start to run a little faster.

We ran over  for the 9:45 presentation of “RV’ing in Mexico”, as it was listed with a different speaker. When we arrived, it was the same speaker as the Alaska seminar, so we passed.  We returned to the motor home.

At lunch time, we went back over to the Hospitality building and ate another K of C lunch, this time BBQ, Brisket, baked beans and coleslaw. We returned to the motor home and prepared for my speech.

We drove over to the main building. I was scheduled for the auditorium, where we meet as the large group( 500) in the evening. I had only asked for 30 copies of my handout. I had over 50 people.

The seminar went well. I was worried that I would not have enough info, but I was finished 5 minutes early,( that is before the 15 minutes for questions)  and we actually ran over with the questions. I was really pleased with the participants questions, as . people had good comments. I had a lot of positive feedback. I had taken an extra copy of the handout, so anyone who wants one, can pick it up at the office, tomorrow morning.  Note that Bob was my media guy!

We returned to the Verizon booth and picked up Bob’s phone. The guy connected my phone to the phone line. Sounds weird, but they are doing some crazy stuff to get us a good price. It will look like we have 4 lines, but we only have 2 that we are paying for, and we still save money. Interesting…  whatever!

Almost everything was closed by this time. We returned and printed off the rebate forms and walked the dogs. I ran over to the Farmers Market, but there was nothing I wanted there. I will have to go earlier on Friday! Those RV’ers wiped everyone out!

Terilu called and we are going out to dinner with them. We went to a nice little restaurant, where the food was good. It was your typical mid-west fare, beef, chicken, and catfish. Bob had fried catfish, Craig had baked catfish, Terilu and I had prime rib. Craig was not happy with his, but the rest of us had a nice dinner.  It is so great when we get a chance to catch up with our friends!

We returned to the motor home and watched TV.

Wednesday- We woke up at 7 AM, late for us, so we had to move swiftly to make the first seminar at 8:15. It was entitled Wings and Roots, A Full-timers Circle. Our second one was on the Genealogy, given by our SKP Genies BOF.

We returned to the motor home to relax for awhile. We ate lunch in, leftovers, then went to the “Row” to play the “Row” bingo. The Row is where all the BOF’s ( Birds of a Feather) and Chapters strut their stuff, and encourage you to join their clubs. The Rainbow and SKP Co-OP RV Parks are also there.  We had to have everything stamped on the bingo  card, proving that you had visited all the stalls,  to win a prize. Nothing for us again! Bob also took his phone for the final time to the Verizon booth to set it up and to move his info to the new phone.

This is Bob Ed and his wife Viva Lee manning the SKP Genies table.  Below are Peggy and Eugene manning the ELK BOF, Eugene is not the Wagon Master!

We did find out the plan for the Elks. The Rally had basically fallen through. The Wagon Master is pretty lousy, so we do not think anything was planned in advance.  Months ago Bob had rec’d an email with the info. We mailed a check and then never heard anything( the check was never cashed). So Bob had called the guy, and was told he would get back to us. Bob rec’d a phone call the last night before we arrived here, telling us to just tell the parking crew that we are with the ELK’s so that we could park with them. It does not work that way, so everyone is parked everywhere.

We think the Wagon Master  just assumed that the local Elks club would be able to accommodate us for dinner on Saturday night. Nope!  The Lodge is closed as everyone is at the State Rally. So they have set up dinner at a BBQ place. We also have a meeting on Friday, when we move. We were supposed to be staying right where we are, or move closer to the other ELKS, but again, the Wagon Master blew it. So he is going to return our check and we have to write him another one.

We could stay where we are, but it would cost us $10 more per night. We can move to the public parking, and it will cost us $10 less per night, and we will still have full hook-ups. So we are going to move Friday morning!

We returned to the motor home, skipping the rest of our planned seminars, and took a short nap. We needed it!

At 5 PM we went to the "Boomers BOF” for happy hour. That was fun! We met new friends. We had been going to join the Boomers the last two years, but just never got around to it. We definitely wanted to join this year so that we can meet up with this group in Quartzite in January for the rally.

We returned to the motor home and ate a light dinner, then we went over to the main building for the Ham-O-Rama. What is sounds like! Our friends Marty and Janie were the organizers, and  people audition to perform. It stared with a gal playing Ragtime on the piano. Most of the people were pretty good. There were a few that we awful.  It was fun when they played YMCA and two conga lines formed, so we danced around the place. At the end, they brought all the performers on stage and we all sang America the Beautiful. It was a fun evening.

Thursday – We had set the alarm for 6 AM. We got ready and raced over to the Hospitality Building, to be there, just before 7AM, as we were volunteers for the ‘doughnut’ table. We did not serve or collect the money. Bob was the mop guy, making sure to clean the floor under the coffee pots. He also had to take the empty boxes to the trash. I wiped down tables and at the end ran around announcing that the doughnut sales were almost over. All the money from the sales goes to CARE, the Escapees Assisted Living in Livingston Texas. So people throw money at the doughnut sellers. On Wednesday, they were actively soliciting money for CARE, and here is the amount raised, as of yesterday.

This did not count the extra $200 or so, earned today. As you can tell, Bob is frustrated getting his new phone set up! 

During our doughnut time, we had our flu shots for this years, as Walgreens had a booth set up on Wednesday and Thursday from 9-1. I turned in my baby hats that I had crochet over the past years. Only about 30, as I was busy doing other things this year. We are not going to be at the Escapade next year, as it is occurring 4th of July week and we will be in Alaska.

Just before 12:00, we dressed the dogs for the Pet Parade. We ran them over to the building, and participated. Here’s Bob and dogs waiting to get started.

The dogs getting their treats at the end of the parade. The lady in the hat is Chris Davis. She is a bit of a free spirit, but she does an awesome newsletter bi-monthly. Plus this took a lot of coordinating. As you can see, a lot of participants. The street was lined on both sides with people taking pictures. The dogs would stop and pose!

There was a Chili Cook Off at lunch, but we did not go due to Bob’s bell pepper allergy. We try to be very careful about that.

We took a short nap, then went to the closing ceremony. It was sad that the Escapade was ending, especially since we cannot go to next years. We still did not win anything. Oh well!

There was an after party, which we really enjoyed last year, but neither of us felt up to it. So we stayed in and watched TV.

Friday-  About 8:00 we went over to the Hospitality building for the good –bye. They served sausage biscuits, small cinnamon rolls, and small pumpkin muffins with assorted drinks. We said good-bye to some new friends and some old ones.

We returned to the motor home around 9 and packed up to move to the public RV park, right outside the rally RV park. We found a site and set up. I called Craig and Terilu to let them know where we were and left a voice mail message. We had driven by their motor home, but the shades were down, a way to let people know you are not receiving guests yet.

Then I called Tom and Debbie to check to see when they were moving over. Tom said that he had run into the Elks Wagon Master yesterday and found out that we were not to move and were supposed to have purchased our extra nights at the reservation desk with the Escapees, which is now closed and dismantled. Not what we had been told to do! Also, that the meeting was changed. I was really mad at this point. the Wagon Master had not let us know anything. We had no way to purchase a site! Although, we might have been able to purchase the one we were in at the fairground office, but I really did not want to run into the Wagon Master at this point! So Bob called and he told Bob that he had tried to contact us. Nope, nothing on Bob’s phone. So Bob told him to tear up our check and we were leaving.

I called and checked with the county park, where we were headed on Sunday, and they had a site, so we broke camp, again, and headed out. It is only 83 miles away.

We drove north on SR 65 to I-70 west. We went about 20 miles and stopped for lunch at the rest area. We continued on to I-470 and pulled into Blue Spring Lake Campground. This is a pretty nice place. We are in site 3, and  have 30 amp, FHU. We move Sunday to site 10, our reserved site, which is 50 amp, FHU, where we spend the rest of the week.

The wind was really blowing, which made quite a headwind driving west and we could not put out our awnings. Since it is Friday, the weekend campers are coming in to the park. The first thing they do is start a campfire, which with this wind is not a really smart thing to do!

We set up camp and put some chicken into the crock pot. After dinner we sat out reading. It became cool really fast this evening, so we moved inside and watched TV until bedtime.

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