June 16-24; Escapee’s Boot Camp and Escapade

June 16-24; Escapee's Boot Camp and Escapade

It’s been a few weeks since we blogged; that’s because we have been busy learning new things (at RV Boot Camp) and making some cool new friends.

Sharon and I have spent the last week and half in Lebanon, Tennessee as part of the Escapees RV Club. What is the Escapees you ask?? Well I will tell you.

Back in 1978, Joe and Kay Peterson were traveling with their children full-time in an RV and wanted to keep in touch with others like them. Postal mail and landline telephones–the primary means of communication at the time–were difficult to navigate for full-timers. To fill this need, Joe and Kay founded Escapees. A short time later founding members of Escapees RV Club gathered for the first Escapade in Bakersfield, CA in 1978, to celebrate their newfound sense of community.

Forty years later…

…that tiny organization has grown into one of the largest and most active RVing communities in the world, with more than 60,000 members, about 100 employees, and thousands of volunteers. Our members  participate in the Escapees community in person at our annual Escapade, local chapter rallies and events, organized regional gatherings, Xscapers ConvergencesHead-Out Programs (HOPs), and Birds-of-a-Feather group activities. And between these events, members often make it a point to meet up during their travels and to keep in touch with each other through our social media properties and online forums.

To learn more about the Escapees RV Group, click the link below…
escapees.com

Our Gang
Door Prizes in the evenings before the nightly entertainment.
RV Country Happy Hour at their RV’s that were on display and for sale.
An educational seminar on RV refrigerators put on by The Dometic Corporation. This seminar was one of twenty different seminars
that were hosted by industry educators and vendors
throughout the week.
Miss Pearl, one of our new friends.
More of our new “Road Gang”
Thought this was appropriate for our new life. It was a slide within a Power Point presentation at on of the many education seminars.
We were one of 460 RV’s at the Escapade. Our’s is the one with the red truck parked in front of it.
We took over the Tennessee State Fairgrounds for over a week. Well over a thousand folks attended.
Not mention all of the RV industry folks!!!
Red Jim…
Orange Jim…
Green Jim…
Blue Jim…He was our Emcee for the talent contest on Thursday night.
He is also the lead instructor for all of the “Boot Camp” educational seminars he and his Team put on.
Mel and The Girls…Linda, Sharon and Jane.
Sharon struting her stuff.
One of the many bands that performed in the evenings after our class day was done.
My New Life!!!!!!!!

This the final post from our 3 month trip around America. We will be back in St Augustine in two days to start the process of selling our home and going “Full Time” RVing. We will be back on the “Blog Scene” as soon as that is complete. Thanks to everyone that has shared our trip. It has been an awesome journey and we can’t wait to create more memories form the road.

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