On The Road To Washington

We are at a KOA in Medford, Oregon tonight.  We spent 2 nights at the FamCamp on Kirtland AFB, Albuquerque, a night at Meteor Crater RV Park, Arizona, a night in Needles, Bakersfield and Dunnigan, California.  We should arrive in Bothell, Washington on Wednesday.  We will be staying there until the middle of January. The temperatures were cold until we arrived in Needles, CA.  Yesterday we ran into rain and it rained all night.  The RV Park was a little muddy this morning.  It continued to rain until we got to about Weed, California.  The roads were nice and dry through the Siskyou's which is what we wanted.  We didn't want to hit any snow or ice crossing the mountains.

Kirtland AFB, Albuquerque, NM

Meteor Crater RV Park, AZ 

 Northshore RV Resort, Needles, CA

 RV Park is on the Colorado River

This is the Pet Beach.  Larry enjoyed his private beach!

 Beautiful Mount Shasta

Sherman, Texas

We spent the weekend at an RV Park in Sherman, Texas to visit friends Bill & Carol Bartolomucci.  They live full-time in a 5th wheel also.  They have been traveling for 22 years as Ministers of Music, visiting churches all over the USA.  They have recorded 6 CD's.  Carol & I met at RAF Alconbury, England and graduated from Lakenheath High School together.  Carol met Bill in England.  Carol and I had fun remembering the good times we had in England.  Carol's mom lives nearby in Whitesboro so it was nice seeing her too.  Last time I saw her was in 1961.  Carol and I have seen each other a couple times through the years and we have always stayed in touch.  We went out for some good Texas Barbecue and Sunday night we went to Denton, Texas with them.  They were doing a church service at the Church of God.  Bill sang some beautiful music and Carol joined him on one song.  Was an interesting evening.  We left Monday morning and stopped in Amarillo Monday night.  It was 14 degrees that night.  Burrrrrr.

 Bill & Carol in their 5th wheel

 Sandy & Carol

Bill & Carol singing at church in Denton, TX

San Antonio, Texas - November 5-25

We enjoyed our three weeks at the Fort Sam Houston FamCamp in San Antonio and our visit with Jeff, Gennie, Isabella, Jaime and Gabriel.  It was fun being able to attend soccer game, school festival, have Isabella and Jaime each spend a night in the trailer with us and just spending time with them all.  Ray enjoyed playing Wii with the boys and he helped Jeff put up a new fence.  Ray & I went to Austin one day to visit the cemetery and put Christmas Flowers and Flags on Mom & Dad's grave.  We visited their old neighborhood and had lunch with their neighbor Will.  It was hard going to Austin and seeing their house and knowing we wouldn't see them.  Sure do miss them both.  We also visited the National Cemetery at Ft Sam Houston. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with Jeff, Gennie & kids.  Wonderful food and of course we ate too much.  The day after Thanksgiving we left San Antonio for Sherman, Texas.

Fort Sam Houston FamCamp

 Jaime' s Soccer Game

Gabriel watching his brother's team.

Photos of the National Cemetery

Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery

 Capital Memorial Cemetery, Austin

Mom & Dad's old house.  They lived here over 40 years.

Sandy & Will

 Ray's Birthday Cupcakes

 Gabriel

 Isabella and American Girl doll dressed alike and ready for church.

 Thanksgiving dinner.

Jaime and Gabriel love the olives!

Rainbow's End RV Park, Livingston, Texas

Mon night, 1 Nov, we stayed at KOA RV Park in Lafayette, Louisiana and it was a miserable night.  Thunder storms, heavy rain, wind, 18 wheelers speeding down I-10 and the weather station giving severe thunderstorm warning every 30 minutes kept Larry and I from getting much sleep.  A couple loud claps of thunder did wake up Ray. 
We arrived at the Escapees Rainbow's End RV Park on Tues afternoon.  We had some trouble with our bedroom slide so spent the rest of the afternoon working on the slide.  We discovered the problem pretty quickly...an envelope full of old papers had fallen done a crack and got jammed in the gears on the slide.  It took most of the afternoon to get the papers out of the gears.  Once we got all the paper out of the gears , the slide goes in and out smoothly. 
Rainbow's End RV Park is the home of the Escapees National Headquarters.  Rainbow’s End, became the Escapees headquarters in April 1984. Located in East Texas, it is six miles from Livingston and approximately 70 miles north of Houston. Rainbow’s End was the first park created, followed by seven more Rainbow Parks.  Also located at Rainbow's End is the Escapees Care Center (Continuing Assistance for Retired Escapees) Its mission is to provide a safe haven with professional assistance at affordable prices for members whose travels are permanently ended because of age or temporarily interrupted because of health problems. CARE is a place where you will receive professional help for the things you may no longer be able to do. It is not a nursing home. Its goal is to delay or eliminate the need for a nursing home. You can remain living in your RV.  It is a pretty neat program and the cost is very reasonable.  On Wed morning we took a tour of the Care Center and today we took the Welcome Wagon tour of the Mail Service and Headquarters building, ride on the red trolley through the Park with a stop at the home of Kay and Joe Peterson, founders of the Escapees RV Club.  They live at Rainbow's End and both are 83 years old.  They came out to welcome us and give us our hugs.  Nice to see them.  Tonight we went to the Activity Center for dinner, salad, meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans and apple & peach cobbler, plus tea and coffee.  Everything was yummy.  We really enjoyed our stay here and made some new friends.  Tomorrow we will be going to San Antonio.  We will be staying at the Ft Sam Houston FamCamp.  We will see Gennie and the grandchildren tomorrow evening.  Jeffrey is in Albuquerque so won't see him until next week.  Can't wait to see Isabella, Jaime and Gabriel. 

Manager's Office, Laundry, E-mail, Restrooms in the Oaks area, we are parked in this section.

Headquarter and Mail Service building.

We use the Escapees Mail Service.  It was interesting to see how our mail is handled.

The Red Trolley that took us on a tour of the RV Park.  Besides RV sites there are Deeded lots which are owned by Escapee Members.  Some lots have Park models, RV's or small houses on their lot. 

Inside trolley with our guide Ed and his wife driving trolley.

Kay & Joe Peterson's home on one of the lots.

Angie Carr, Executive Director's home

Sandy getting her hug from Kay

Kay and Joe Peterson, founders of the Escapees RV Club

Visit to Ray City, Georgia

We spent 2 nights at the Cecil Bay RV Park, north of Valdosta, Georgia just off I-75.  It is a large park in a pecan orchard, 100 pull-thru level sites. Not too many RV's here this weekend.  They say it does get busy during summer when people are traveling to Florida on I 75.  Friday after we got set up we went to Ray City to see Rays cousin, Joyce.  She has only lived in Ray City since February.  When we last came through she was living in a trailer out in the boonies.  Ray hated driving down the road to her trailer.  She is now living in a nice little house in town.  She is loving having neighbors and being in town. It is a really nice house for her.  Friday night we took her to Ray's Mill Pond Cafe for dinner. Ray had catfish and Joyce and I had Tilapia.  They serve sides family style....cheese grits, coleslaw, hush puppies and pickles.  Saturday Ray & I went out to Moody AFB before going back to Ray City.  Ray was stationed at Moody 1976-78 so had to go see how it has changed.  We spent the afternoon with Joyce and went out to see Edie & Scott. They have a really nice home.  Edie has a 9 week old puppy named Frank.  He wanted to follow our Larry around and Larry was so good with him.  We left Georgia on Sunday and drove to Milton, Florida.  We had planned to go to Dave's Catfish House for dinner, but found out it is closed on Sunday and Monday, so no catfish and cheese grits this trip.  Tonight we are in stormy Lafayette, Louisiana.  Tomorrow Escapees Rainbow Park, Livingston, Texas.



Cecil Bay RV Park (We never saw a Bay, but there is a swampy Lake)

Joyce's new home in Ray City, GA

Looking across street from Joyce.  Kids were out trick or treating on Saturday evening.

Ray's Millpond Cafe and Ray's Millpond

Larry and 9 week old Frank