Sunday, July 21, 2013

Multiple Rallies Over, Back to Normal

The last few days of Escapade, now blurry in my memory as the rally ended on July 5, were fun. Here are a few representative pictures.

Cathie Carr and her cute grandson Gabe.IMG_4197

Judy Rinehimer representing the GeoCachers BOF on The Row.IMG_4204

Bev Webber representing the Boomers BOF on The Row.IMG_4207

Betty Ogden representing the SOLOs BOF on The Row.IMG_4209

Renita and Mark Brackin, fellow bloggers I met in person during the rally, showing their beautiful handmade jewelry at the craft show.IMG_4214

Frank and Gloria King are always fun, and we found a chance to go out for dinner with them.IMG_4223

Norm & Mary Scherer joined our table of Volunteer/Info/Lost-Found staff (including Leslie & W.C. Earnst and Frank & Gloria King) at the Birthday Bash Banquet, celebrating 35 years of the Escapees RV Club.IMG_4228

Catering staff set out dessert; some people visited this table first!IMG_4232

We didn’t have much chance to visit with our friends Nick & Terry Russell, Charles & Chris Yust, and Greg & Jan White. But it was great to see their smiling faces and get hugs from all!IMG_4233

Kay Rivoli is always so photogenic!IMG_4271

Dennis & Jean McEntire seemed happy to be the grand prize winners of an Adventure Caravans MegaRally (like the one we won last year). At least, Jean seemed happy…Dennis seemed to be thinking: Hurry up and take the darn picture! Juanita and Ron Kohn, owners of the tour company, are happy to be granting the prize.IMG_4279

Ms. Kay Peterson still enjoys taking part in Escapades, along with her great grandson Gabe and son-in-law Bud Carr. She gave a rousing speech at one session that had us all thinking she’s taken up a new career as Comedienne! What a wonderful lady!IMG_4284

Kay & Ron Rivoli entertained us with some of their favorite music.IMG_4295

And lots of us enjoyed a little dancing, including Brenda Neil, wearing her prize-winning Chili Cookoff apron, and dancing with Juanita since neither of their husbands wanted to do the Twist. (But they both danced to other music.)IMG_4308

After Escapade ended, we went to Sturgis, SD to gather with some fellow VCRs (Volunteer Club Representatives) for a workshop. But, of course, we had to involve food in the equation. The Mexican restaurant was prepared for us, and the food was pretty good.IMG_4333

Vic & Taree Schrubb, in the center, organized the workshop and we assisted.IMG_4334

We spent a day in training/orienting 4 new VCR couples in the meeting hall at our campground.IMG_4365

Then they were sworn in with their “parent” mentors in support.IMG_4338

Our ‘children’ are Bob & Sue Guthrie. Welcome to the VCR family!IMG_4357

Our next venture was to represent the RV Driving School at the National African American RV Association rally in Sedalia, MO, about 900 miles away. We stopped by our home base Hart Ranch for two nights and saw some friends, then hit the road again, singing the Willie Nelson song…

We’re very familiar with Sedalia, having been there for two Escapades in the past. Our exhibit booth was plenty spacious, since there were fewer than a dozen vendors in a huge room.IMG_4470

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I gave two seminars, Driving Your RV Safely and Women: You Can and Should Drive Your RV, and repeated them each, so every day for 4 days I was busy from 10 to 11 am. The seminars were all well-attended, in fact standing room only for 3 of them. But the rest of the time we didn’t have a lot of folks stopping by. We think we planted lots of seeds, however, and hope that some of them take root for future students to schedule lessons.

Now that our ‘rally season’ has come to a 2-month break, Don and I are free to travel on our own. We have a few small maintenance/repair issues to take care of on the motorhome, then we have some nice plans for the rest of the summer. Stay tuned for a report of our short visit yesterday to a place on our bucket list: Hannibal, MO.

1 comment:

  1. Wow, you have been so busy! I bet it sure makes the time go fast. Isn't little Gabe adorable? Thanks for all the photos! They made up for our not being able to come to Escapade.

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