It still seems a bit like a dream, but we are here and it is happening! Only ten years for us to get to attend our first one.
At 2pm the first official event was an orientation for first time attendees. That was followed by an opening ceremony and introduction of guests at 3pm and the Escapade is now underway. The evening entertainment was outstanding! A three person group from Branson called New Odyssey entertained with music and commody. A really great start.
We actually arrived herre at Escapade! And it only took four tries to get here too. We are now set up and ready for action. We have not yet done any exploring, but are just about to start so this post will be pretty brief. So far the weather has been great with only a few sprinkles this morning, stopping before we began the trip up here. More to come!
We are on the road to Sedalia and Escapade at this time. On Thursday we left East Fork Park at about 8:30am and traveled our usual distance of 219 miles, stopping in Muskogee, OK at about 2pm. We had not visited Muskogee in some years so we roved about a bit, then went to bed early(9pm). At Muskogee we stayed at the Meadowbrook RV Park. This has to be one of the best bargains in RV parks still around! This park is right on US65 and is just on the outskirts of the city. The park is very clean, attractive and well cared for. Neighbors are mostly long term with a few mobilehomes, but it looks as though it may be converting from a mobilehome park to an RV park. Several of the neighbors stopped by while we were out, to welcome us and to admire Muffie. This is not a Passport America park but full price for one night is only $15! The sites are level, concrete pads, that are large enough for the RV and a nice patio. Each site has full hook-ups with 50A power and very easy access. While most are not shady in the overnight section, there is plenty of power for air conditioning. The park is medium in size and they normally put the overnight visitors in a pull-through site. Ours was amply long for the longest of RV and towd/tow truck combinations. This was truely a remarkable bargain in this age!
We are currently in a KOA at Springfield, MO. We traveled another 205 miles today and arrived here just before 3pm. Stopped for lunch at the Missouri Welcome Center. This park is nice, but like most KOA parks the sites are small and can be a challenge to get into. Our site is very nice and shaded, but even though a pull-through site, I had to disconnect the CR-V in order to get into it and I fill it from street to street. By contrast, this site is costing us $34.75.
We have chosen to take this afternoon and evening easy since tomorrow we will arrive at Escapade. We figure that with Pam's ankle, we should take advantage of the time to rest. We should arrive in Sedalia before noon tomorrow.
The day has finally come. We leave this morning to attend our very first Escapade!
Pam & I have been members of Escapees RV Club now from more than ten years. Over those years there have been many times when we were just too far away and committed to some work-camper position to be able to get there. Most of those years there have been two Escapades. On four previous occasions we made plans to attend an Escapade because we were relitavely close, and our schedule allowed for it, when some other thing came up. Two times just as we thought we would attend, one of our sons announced the pending arrival of a new grandchild and our attendance was requested. Yet another time, we had plans to attend when another son announced his wedding would be taking place on the second day or Escapade! And on another occasion we were not all that far away but the work site asked us to help with a special event which they needed our help and so we felt that we could not let them down.
We will be arriving at Escapade on May 23 and leaving on May 29, so anyone who is going to join us, please do look us up and allow us to meet you!
It has been a while since I have made any new posts, mostly due to the hectic schedule that we have been keeping of late. As previously mentioned, Pam had an ankle injury last winter which was in need of surgery to repair it. The past two weeks it seems that we have spent most of our time chasing about from one doctor to the next. While I suppose that it is probably good that Pam's surgeon asked for the input of her primary physician, it has lead to a very hectic week with much lab work and several image center visits. Might it be that they share information about how much of that our health care plan will pay for?
In any case, the surgery went well and she is recooperating slowly. Some pain but the meds help and it is begining to subside. The big day was Thursday, May 7. She will be on crutches for a month and then another in a walking boot, but progress is finally being made!
This week we spend one day in building a fence of safety netting to keep park visitors away from an area where the bank has been crumbling away and causing a retaining wall to collaps. Hopefully one day the parks will again get larger budgets sucn that we will be able to remove the old wall, and possible construct one alternative that will last longer. The existing wall has probably been there since the 70's. This was one of the larger projects that we have been involved in since our return.
As part of our agreement to help around the park I spent the day today operating a Toro zero turn, lawn mower. Another volunteer and I have now mowed around the campsites of the three parks which have RV sites. We also mowed around the picnic areas. The Corps normally has contract mowing crews that come in to do this, but with our government still operating on a "continuing resolution" because the budget to start last November has still not been passed, such things are on hold in our parks. With only two of us and no really large mowing equipment, we just mow an area around each site, and make that do. Perhpas some day our Congress will actually do something and pass a budget, maybe even before the budget year is over?
Tomorrow we will be working with a few of the Corps staff on installing a safety fence along an area where the lake has washed out a retaining wall. These guys are just so short staffed it is amazing that they do as well as they do. Pam helps out in the lake office some afternoons.