A day at the escapee's rally

We both had the day of so we drove over to Gillette WY. It's was only about a 3hour trip, but what's 3 hours when you get to spend some time with friends.while John went shopping in vendor row I was busy seeing old friends. I ran into my escapee dad.(when you join escapees at a rally they have you adopted by someone or couple and they help you learn the ropes so to speak)anyway here it was 7 years latter and their was John. It was fun to let them know all the things we have been doing and to thank them again for all their help. We decided to attEnd the Geeks on Tour seminar on blogging just to see them and to get the full treatment. I'm telling you if you need to know anything about starting you own blog these are the people to get in contact with. They sell dvd's that explain just how to do it, and in Easy to understand terms. If I can do this everyone can. What a great way to keep everyone up to date. Unfortunately we had to get home to Charlie so we could't stay to long. But next year it will be a little later in the season so we are going. It will be in Sediona Mo. Around the 16th of Sept. Well, I will close for now. Love all Kathy.

We go to the Escapade

Today we traveled a scenic and easy 140 miles to Gillette, WY for the 51st edition of the Escapees RV Club annual rally called Escapade. Our own Carey Keith, manager of Hart Ranch, was there promoting the park in the vendor area, along with about 50 other vendors of everything RV. From sewer hoses to RV Insurance, it was all there. I recently acquired a Blue OX Aventa II Tow Bar from a friend, but I needed the connector pins and an adapter for our Roadmaster base plate. Wouldn't you know but both companies were there and had exactly what I needed. This saved me from mail order and shipping chargers. After a good look around, we moved on to "The Row". This is an area where Escapees Chapters, Parks, and special interest groups or BOF (Birds of a feather) groups have tables with information about their organization. Lots of good information to be had here. Then it was on to a Geeks on Tour seminar on blogging. As a result, I learned about putting in a feature where you, our readers can follow us by e-mail. I always learn from those guys! After that it was time to return to Rapid City and walk Charley who had been patiently waiting for several hours. Such a good boy! We'll talk more about Escapade on our next Podcast edition of Living the RV Dream.

A Milestone birthday

Over the years, I've spent a lot of time thinking about getting old and I figured at 65, someone must be pretty old.......NOT!! I feel younger than most of the folks here at Hart Ranch who come here to veg out for the summer. Since we got Charley, I have walked more than in the last two years and we hike on our outings. So I guess what I'm saying is that 65 isn't the end of anything, just the beginning of Medicare. Tomorrow, we both have the day off and we will be heading for Gillette, WY to spend a day at the Escapees Escapade Rally at the Camplex there. Hopefully we'll renew some old friendships and meet some new folks. We will probably spend some time at our booth for Hart Ranch as well.
Rained almost all day here at Hart Ranch and we closed the pool for lack of interest. Lots of empty spaces here until Friday. We're supposed to be fully booked for the holiday weekend and then it will drop off and we will start closing parts of the park down for the Winter. Kind of a sad time, but quiet and peaceful as well.

Finally, a day off together

We had some fun today by looking for Agate beds that have Fairburn Agates. These beautiful stones are getting quite scarce and therefor valuable. Unfortunately, we aren't sure exactly what the raw stones look like. We have a few friends who do, so we'll get educated this week before our next trip across dirt roads and through creeks and ruts that challenge our 2 wheel drive Santa Fe. It was a lot of fun though and we took Charley with us. Then we went to Custer, SD to have some awesome fresh fruit pie at the Purple Pie Company. With Blue Bunny ice cream!! Too good!
This was our first Saturday off together in quite some time and we made the most of it. We're about five weeks away from leaving Hart Ranch and heading South to Benson, AZ via Amarillo, TX. Oh, we do have Hitch Itch!

Happy Friday

Hope everyone has had a good week. I'm really ready to get moving again. There is just so much to see. We met the goals we wanted to this summer and it feels great. We both have the day off tomorrow and are trying to decide, what to do. I want to go find Fairburn agates. The only place to find them is here in western SD. There is also an agate call Tee Pee and it can only be found in one canyon here in the Black Hills. I'll let you if we find anything. Till later.

Hot, Hot, Hot in South Dakota

Today we hit 100 degrees +. The wind is blowing outside and it's like a blowtorch. Even the swimming pool water was hot. Perhaps we get a storm to-nite to cool things off. We will post a new Living the RV Dream podcast tomorrow which will include our interview of Chris and Jim Guld, The Geeks on Tour. This is the weekend of the end-of-Summer Board of Directors meeting here at Hart Ranch, so I'm sure some more folks will come in for that, otherwise, we have a lot of empty sites in the park. Well, that's all for now, check out our show tomorrow.

Hanging with the Geeks

We did a great interview yesterday evening with Chris and Jim Guld, The Geeks on Tour. They will have been here at Hart Ranch for about a week and they did two of their seminars. They convinced us to start blogging, so here it is! Things are winding down here with the Labor Day Holiday as the last big weekend of the year. We will stay on until the end of September to attend the Custer State Park buffalo round-up on the 26th of Sept. Then it's on to Benson, AZ via Amarillo, TX. We hope to see all our Arizona friends this Winter.

Gathering of friends

Today was a day of heat, boy did it get hot about 97% but the air conditioning was working just great. We got together with several couples who are vendors at rallies. Of course Geeks on tour, Chris and Jim Guld, (we spent last night learning how to blog) a couple who sell jewelry, inflatable boats, and Rv vacume cleaners. It was interesting learning the pros and cons of being a vender and living in a Rv. These folks work really hard. If you are thinking of becoming a vendor on the road make sure you talk with those who do this in is not easy but they are successful, and they all seem to enjoy what they do. Have a great day.

John's first post

Well, we have finally started a blog. I will try to post several times per week, time permitting. We have a beautiful day here at Hart Ranch near Rapid City, SD and the temp may get as high as 95. We were able to open the pool after a major mechanical breakdown yesterday. Wow! Dodged a bullet this time. Chris and Jim Guld held a Google Earth class this afternoon. What a great program, but it demands a high speed Internet connection. I hope they will return next year and teach some more classes. Well, time to head out for happy hour. We have a lot of Escapees here getting ready to head for Escapade in Gillette, WY next week.
Till next time, I'm John and I'm living the RV dream!

Hello Happy Campers!!!!

Hi everyone, we are moving into the blogging world. Life here is great and we are having a great time with the Geeks on Tour. Our good friends Chris and Jim Guld.. Check them out at Geeks on Tour.com they are helping me get going so look for move the this blog every now and then.