Summary of the 53rd Escapees Escapade

Gillette, WY

There must be food inside!

The 53rd Escapade concluded on Thursday evening with the closing ceremony which included a birthday dinner (35th year of the Escapees RV Club). As is normal at anything "RV", when the activity includes food, the people come out early.  The ceremony actually began at 5:30PM, but the doors opened at 5:00PM.  As a result folks were standing in line waiting to get in.

Once inside, folks again got a chance to visit with old and new friends before the ceremony began.  I can't over emphasize the friendliness of the folks at this rally.  We met new friends every day of the week.

From (L): Cathie Carr, Kay Peterson (partially hidden),
Wallace and Wanda Lewis, Molly and Bob Pinner

Before dinner, several addresses were given by the current and future Escapade directors, and because this was a special birthday anniversary for the Escapees RV Club, Cathie Carr (Escapees President), also reflected on the early days of the club.

Ron and Juanita Kohn

The Grand Prize door prize for the Escapade was a free future "Mega Rally" given by Adventure Caravans.  The prize drawing was conducted by Ron and Juanita Kohn, founders and owners of Adventure Caravans.  Unfortunately, we did not win.

The dinner followed and was sponsored by Paul Evert's RV Country.  Their company also brought a large number of MHs, 5th wheels, and trailers to the Escapade for folks to examine (and hopefully purchase).

Thursday evening concluded with a fireworks display put on by the city of Gillette at the Camplex facility for the citizens of Gillette (and the Escapees since we had "ring side seats" in our rally campground at the Camplex).  Unlike the FMCA Rally held a few weeks ago, we had not had a drop of rain all week.   That is, until it was time for the fireworks display.  They were due to begin between 9:30-10:00 PM, but the rain and winds started just before that time. Apparently, the Gillette fireworks had to be cancelled in 2012 due to the dry conditions, so this year's show was to be even bigger than normal.  This year the fireworks went off as scheduled.  After watching for a few minutes, we "wimped out" and went back inside the MH due to the rain.  The show was very good and lasted almost 30 minutes.

A bit of review for the week:  We attended several seminars each day throughout the Escapade.  Subjects ran the gamut from "RVing to Alaska" to "Buying LED Lighting" to "Realities of the Fulltime Lifestyle". We enjoyed all of them and learned many new things.

From (L): Scott and Karen Bonis, Sorry, name unknown

Each evening we gathered again in the main event hall and were treated to some type of evening entertainment.  The entertainment was preceded by the nightly drawing of door prizes donated by local and national companies.  There was a large number of door prizes given away.  We were fortunate to win two of these.  Scott and Karen Bonis were in charge of the door prize giveaway each evening and to provide a bit of "comedy" in the process.

A very fun event was "Ham-O-Rama" (talent show) held on Wednesday evening. It was amazing how much talent the group has. Talents ranged from a puppeteer, to guitar players, to singers, to duos singing and playing.

I almost forgot to speak about the campground facilities at the rally.  We've been to several rallies held by different groups throughout the years.  The facilities here at the Camplex are quite good. The campsites are laid out in a logical fashion.  Parking in the Boxelder section is on grass with gravel roads running down the rows of rigs.  Hookups are solid with 30 amp electric with good voltage, good water pressure, and sewer at each site.

Sites are usually close to your neighbor due to the nature of the event, but we were lucky to get an end side which afforded us a nice place to park the Honda and to unfurl the awning and sit outside.

If it sounds like we had a good time, you'd be correct!  We learned new things, met new friends, caught up with some friends we'd met in the past, bought a few items which we just had to have from the vendors and had a really "fun" time.

If you ever get a chance to attend an Escapees Escapade I'd highly recommend it.  You'll be warmly received and welcomed even if you've never attended one before.  We are already planning on attending the 54th Escapade which will be held in Goshen, IN May 12-17, 2014.

Thanks for stopping by to take a look!

2013 Escapees Escapade in Gillette, WY

Gillette, WY

(Photo Courtesy of Facebook)

Early Sunday morning we pulled up jacks and headed west on Interstate 90 approximately 160 miles to Gillette, WY.  We are attending the Escapees RV Club's 53rd Escapade which starts on Sunday and closes on Thursday.  The Escapade is being held at the Cam-Plex in Gillette, WY. We came in a day early to get settled in and get our bearings in the area.

We are Lifetime Escapees Members and will be attending our 3rd Escapade (which is a national Rally held annually by the Escapees RV Club). It's both a fun and educational event. Seminars are held throughout the day and usually begin at 8:30 AM and end at 4:00 PM. You can attend as many, or as few, seminars as you'd like each day.  We always find new and enjoyable subjects relating to RVing, fulltiming, and technical areas of interest.

The opening ceremony for the rally occurred on Sunday afternoon.  If you ever been to a large RVing rally it's pretty much similar to others.  The rally directors introduce their staff and welcome the attendees, the schedule for the rally is revealed, and general "house keeping" items are covered.  A special person attended the opening program this evening, however.  Kay Peterson, who along with her husband Joe Peterson (now deceased), started the Escapees RV Club on July 4, 1978. This Escapade is also a birthday celebration of 35 years for the Club.  I will say with certainty that Mrs. Peterson (also known as Miss K) is still certainly very alert, and downright funny.

If you've never been to the Cam-Plex for any rallies in Gillette, WY, it is a very large complex.  The parking area for the RVs are some distance from the buildings used to house the activities.  Although golf cart shuttles are available between these two areas, many folks either walk, drive their own vehicles, or bicycle over.  We've been using our fold-up bicycles here and their functionality is at their best for this.

Each evening thus far, the majority of folks have returned to the main exhibit hall for the evening's entertainment and pre-event which consists of door prizes drawn by Scott and Karen Bonis.  Scott "warms up the crowd" by telling a series of jokes which are usually silly enough to be funny.

Sunday evening's entertainment was provided by an husband and wife team named "The Rivoli Revue". They performed a comedy and music show with a strong emphasis on patriotism and America.  The show was very well received by those in attendance.

Monday was a very "lucky" day for Karen and I.  We attended a seminar put on by vendors of a product called Wash Wax All.  It is a waterless cleaning product which can be used to clean the MH and Honda in campgrounds where washing is not allowed. (We've found that very few campgrounds actually allow full washing of our rigs, so I've been looking for an alternative for awhile now.) We sat in on their seminar and I won a gift certificate in their raffle drawing.  Let me tell you, I don't win a lot of anything like this!

Long story short, I purchased their product and started using a bit of it this evening before our evening entertainment.  I've only done one side so far, but am very pleased thus far.  If you have any questions on this, drop me an email.  (gonebyrv   at   gmail.com)    End of advertisement.

Monday evening we returned to the main arena to watch Patty Davidson, a comedic ventriloquist, but before the show door prizes were once again drawn.  Back to our "lucky story" here.  I won an LED 12-volt tester and a $50 debit card given by one of the vendors. Not 5 minutes later, Karen's number was drawn and she won a pretty rug runner and a $25 gift certificate to a local restaurant.  It was a good day.

Patty Davidson was very funny and the first part of her show included dummies Dan and Lucy.  She invited Bob Pinner to the stage to "assist" in her act.  Bob, along with his wife Mollie, are the directors of this Escapade.

The closing portion of Patty Davidson's show again brought two folks from the audience.  "Smitty" of Coil 'N Wrap and Jim Guld (with the yellow locks) of "The Geeks on Tour", both vendors at the Rally, "played all" and were hilarious.

We enjoy the seminars and entertainment at rallies, but we certainly enjoy seeing old friends again and meeting new ones.  There is a very large group of "first timers" at this rally.  Enough for this evening.

Oh, I almost forgot.  Today is the end of our 6 month of fulltiming for us.   LOVING IT!


Thanks again for stopping by to take a look!