Another Winner! And Return To Modesto

After winning a prize for wearing his military cap and a huge gift basket as a door prize, Don and I were eagerly awaiting the final evening of the WARE rally to see if we won another prize. This time it wasn’t entirely free, as we had to buy raffle tickets to qualify. If you’ve ever participated in a penny raffle, you may know how great a fund raiser it is. The goal of the raffle was to donate $1,000 dollars to Escapees CARE and to provide a cash prize as well as three nice gifts. There were 600 tickets to be sold. The price of each ticket was determined by the last three digits in the ticket number. In other words, if you pulled a ticket with the number 281005, you would pay $.05 for the ticket. If your ticket number was 281599, your price would be $5.99. The lucky winner whose ticket was drawn would win $500. This raffle had another wrinkle: if you bought 5 tickets at once, you were given a bonus ticket. You would drop this ticket (keeping your half) into a bucket next to one of 3 nice prizes: an Amazon Echo, a rolling picnic cooler bag, or a propane fire ring. Since we sold our fire ring a couple of years ago when we thought we needed space for dialysis supplies (no longer an issue) we have missed it. I bought 5 raffle tickets and put my bonus ticket in the fire ring bucket. To increase his odds, Don bought 25 raffle tickets and put all 5 of his bonus tickets in the fire ring bucket! And guess who won!

He even got a hug from the Queen of the WARE!

The rally was one of the most fun RV events we’ve attended, and we are so pleased to see our first efforts to create this event for the western members of the Escapees RV Club continue and thrive. We know how many hands it requires to be a success, and we thank all the volunteers who made it so great!

Life is not all fun and games, however. When we got ready to pull out of the fairgrounds the next morning, the saturated ground was so soft we got stuck in the mud and had to use our Coach-Net road service to call for a tow truck. Don tried unsuccessfully to get some traction by stuffing a couple of rugs under the front of the wheel, using an extension pole. You can see what happened to the rugs and the pole!

In fact, the pole was left behind for good.

The tow truck finally arrived. It didn’t take Joel long to figure out how to attach a chain and very carefully and slowly pull the motorhome out.

I got a cheer from the onlookers when I was able to drive up on the pavement. We left some serious ruts behind.

We are now in Modesto, parked at the Elks Lodge. We had to boondock the first night because the hookup sites were full. We were preparing to move to an RV park in another town when Don discovered that a site was becoming available. As the 5th wheel driver drove out past us, I was starting up our engine to move right in. This location is ideal for visiting Don’s late wife’s parents, Dottie & Frank Azlin. We spent some time with them today and enjoyed going out for pizza. We plan to visit some more tomorrow before moving on down the road on Sunday.

Dottie is struggling to get around as she was put in a rigid brace for her hip that popped out after hip replacement surgery. We’re amazed that she’s taking it in stride (pun intended) and getting around really well! You can tell by her smile that she approaches every challenge with a great positive attitude.

Frank also seems cheerful, and he’s getting around and doing pretty well, too.

Gigi and Bella had no trouble getting acquainted outside when we first arrived, then after Gigi had a chance to explore the entire home, the two of them settled down and shared Bella’s pillow on the sofa beside Don. I wish I had a better picture of Bella – her color, face and ear markings make her look like a slightly larger Gigi!

In closing, I have to post a picture of Bill Mains petting Gigi during the WARE rally. She was totally mesmerized. The only problem is that It had rained during the night, and although I warned him the step might be wet, he sat there anyway and let Jan sit in the folding chair next to me. For the rest of the story, go to Jan’s blog from Tuesday. I guarantee a good smile and maybe even a laugh. It’s a good thing Bill is a good sport!