Winning!

First, I must apologize for failing to publish posts to my blog for almost a month. We enjoyed helping Don’s sis-in-law Susan Del Rosario celebrate her 70th birthday, along with visiting her family living nearby around Watsonville and Aptos, CA. Niece Laura flew out from Massachusetts and it was great to see her again, as well as niece Lisa and her hubby Sergio Nell, along with beautiful and delightful daughters Carolina (4) and Olivia (1), and his parents, plus various friends, all of whom shared meals, cookouts and fun conversations for several days.

Next, we briefly visited Modesto, intending to spend time with Don’s late wife’s parents, Dottie & Frank Azlin. However, we were both nursing colds, and I was still really sick, so Don spent only about an hour with them. We plan to return soon.

We continued to suffer when we went to Santa Rosa to visit Don’s Aunt Della. Because she was recently hospitalized and still somewhat weak, we didn’t want to share our germs with her either. A brief visit with her and her daughter Svea was all we could manage there.

We went to Beale AFB FamCamp for about a week and finally got well, but both still have a bit of a cough – probably due to allergies by now. We got together with good friends Frank & Gloria King as they did the final move out of their home in Folsom which they sold. They’re now full-time RVers (again) with the lot near us in Cochise Terrace as their only anchor, where they’re currently headed.

This week we’re enjoying the WARE (Western Area Rally for Escapees) Rally in Yuba City, CA. This is the 6th annual rally – we started the rally in 2012, with lots of help from a great crew – and the first time we’ve attended since we got it going 5 years ago. We were recognized by Caryl Mutti (the “voice of the WARE”) at the opening session on Sunday afternoon. Thanks for the recognition, Caryl!

Caryl is an excellent event leader, very animated and clever with every announcement and presentation, and a seemingly unending amount of energy.

There was a parade of banners from regional chapters and BoFs (Birds of a Feather interest groups) represented.

Jan didn’t have a banner for Chapter 45, but she printed out a picture of it and made the most of her small representation. She gets a high grade for enthusiasm!

A King and Queen were selected and royally adorned for the theme of the rally “Fruits and Nuts.”

Awards for crazy hats are given each day. Here are the first day’s winners.

And the second day.

Lots of gifts have been presented for all kinds of things, and Don was the recipient of two of them! The first was in recognition of his military service. In fact, all the men and women who served their country and were wearing a military hat were given a gift.

Inside the bag were a bottle of gin (for me), an apron (for his BBQ cooking) and a certificate for a free 3-night stay at the SKP Kofa Ko-Op in Yuma, AZ, good for a year. Nice!

At the 4 pm gathering today, we had a great group of friends at our table, with “heavy appetizers” as our evening meal. You’ll recognize some of these folks, with Don looking the other way, Bill, our newest friends Tracy & Jeff with Bud & Susie to Jeff’s right, Jan (wearing my bunny ears headband) and Lisa. Jim was helping deliver door prizes.

It was a winning event for all of us at this table, hence the title of this blog post. Every couple at our table won a prize! Jim turned theirs down, since they are Escapees employees. Tracy & Jeff won a set of serving bowls.

They barely got their gift open when Bud & Susie won a bottle of Vodka.

Jan & Bill won a pair of lobster beach towels.

There were two large gift baskets remaining to be given out. The first one was for the day’s winning hat, and was presented by the King of the Rally.

By then we knew we were the only ones at our table without a prize and Jan was saying “You’re next.” When the King drew a name and started reading it “Don… uh, Don…” we knew he was trying to figure out how to pronounce our last name. Last and by no means least, this prize basket was so big and heavy Jim had trouble carrying it to us.

We couldn’t believe how much was stuffed into it!

Here’s what it contained:

Finally, Caryl got a chance to sit down and eat a bite.

One of the best parts of every RV gathering is spending time with friends. We’re so glad the weather cleared enough for our good friends Bill & Jan Mains to make it over Donner Pass from their tour of Nevada.

And it’s always great to see Jim & Lisa Koca, who are on the Escapees RV Club staff and have become personal friends.

Stay tuned for more from our continuing adventures!