At the 2007 Oregon Rally we looked into a number of RV organizations including the Good Sam Club, Escapees and FMCA. We joined both Good Sam and Escapees, FMCA membership is open to owners of motor homes only so we subscribed to their magazine but didn't qualify to join the club. When looking ahead to our next RV adventure, the 2008 Good Sam Rally was scheduled for Perry Georgia in May... far from home and potentially hot and muggy. The Escapees 2008 Rally was scheduled for Gillette, Wyoming in June. We'd never been to Wyoming and we wanted to check out the Escapees, but I confess the journey would have been too daunting for us to take on our own if not for our good friends Art and Gerri agreeing to meet us there.
Our 1st 2 rental experiences were both in class A's so we wanted to try something different for our 2008 journey. Back on the internet I narrowed our options to 2: a class C from Salt Lake City or a 26' travel trailer in Cheyenne. Well, we have a pickup truck capable of towing a travel trailer, Art and Gerri have a travel trailer, and the road between Cheyenne and Gillette appeared to be 250 miles of fairly flat road, so we booked the travel trailer.
We met Art and Gerri in Cheyenne and caravanned the 250 miles to Gillette. I confess on this trip Steve did all the towing, and based on his white knuckles at times I'm glad. We arrived too late to check in at the fair grounds so spent the night at the local Wal-Mart along with at least 50 other rigs. Spending the night at Wal-Mart was no big deal for Art, Gerri or the other 48 rigs, but OMG it was huge for us and proved to be as fun as I'd always envisioned!!!!
The most traumatic part of towing a trailer occurred the next morning on the trip from Wal-Mart to the fair grounds. We were following Art and Gerri down the main street in Gillette (which, by the way, was under construction & filled with cones and blocked lanes) when Gerri came on the radio and announced we'd missed our turn and would be making a U turn!!! Despite our terror we watched them pull it off in front of us no problem, so... Steve took a chance and followed suit. We survived, but Steve's got a few more grey hairs :)
Our 1st 2 rental experiences were both in class A's so we wanted to try something different for our 2008 journey. Back on the internet I narrowed our options to 2: a class C from Salt Lake City or a 26' travel trailer in Cheyenne. Well, we have a pickup truck capable of towing a travel trailer, Art and Gerri have a travel trailer, and the road between Cheyenne and Gillette appeared to be 250 miles of fairly flat road, so we booked the travel trailer.
We met Art and Gerri in Cheyenne and caravanned the 250 miles to Gillette. I confess on this trip Steve did all the towing, and based on his white knuckles at times I'm glad. We arrived too late to check in at the fair grounds so spent the night at the local Wal-Mart along with at least 50 other rigs. Spending the night at Wal-Mart was no big deal for Art, Gerri or the other 48 rigs, but OMG it was huge for us and proved to be as fun as I'd always envisioned!!!!
The most traumatic part of towing a trailer occurred the next morning on the trip from Wal-Mart to the fair grounds. We were following Art and Gerri down the main street in Gillette (which, by the way, was under construction & filled with cones and blocked lanes) when Gerri came on the radio and announced we'd missed our turn and would be making a U turn!!! Despite our terror we watched them pull it off in front of us no problem, so... Steve took a chance and followed suit. We survived, but Steve's got a few more grey hairs :)
We parked side by side at the Rally site and spent the rest of the day setting up our home for the next week. In contrast to our prior adventures the Gillette Rally offered full hookups, a definite plus since the rental trailer did not come with a generator. Having unlimited power and water was nice, I certainly used more water when washing dishes and brushing my teeth than dry camping but when it came to taking showers we discovered we still had to keep it brief due to the small water heater. Note to self: minimum 10 gallon hot water tank, ideally one of those tank less heaters if it's available.
The 1st 3 days in Gillette were spent at the Escapees Boot camp, a terrific training I strongly recommend. There were about 100 attendees and not only were the presentations professional and educational but the feedback and questions from attendees were frequently helpful too. Although the rally itself did not issue name tags, the majority of attendees wore permanent ones and it was amazing how knowing someone's name and where they were from encouraged chatting with "strangers".
Overall the Escapees Rally was substantially smaller than the Good Sam Rally. There was one partial room of vendor booths, a single food vendor and only one RV dealer present. That said there were as many if not more seminars than the larger rally and we certainly enjoyed ourselves equally as much. As usual the rally had a nightly entertainment and a talent show, and as usual I was unable to convince Steve to enter the talent show with me (one of these years!!!). The Rally did offer an excellent day care program for kids thanks in part to Gerri's long hours of volunteering.
4th of July in Wyoming was another unique experience. There was an excellent community fireworks display, but even before the official show started the skies were lit on all sides by individual's home fireworks displays. Unlike the smokers and snakes we're limited to buying in California, Wyoming sells a wide assortment of sky rockets and artillery shells to the general public. As a result every local block party put on a fantastic light show for everyone miles around.
Overall the week was absolutely wonderful and did absolutely nothing to dispel our dreams of full timing. We stay in touch with Art and Gerri via email and will be seeing them again in Quartzsite in 2009...
The 1st 3 days in Gillette were spent at the Escapees Boot camp, a terrific training I strongly recommend. There were about 100 attendees and not only were the presentations professional and educational but the feedback and questions from attendees were frequently helpful too. Although the rally itself did not issue name tags, the majority of attendees wore permanent ones and it was amazing how knowing someone's name and where they were from encouraged chatting with "strangers".
Overall the Escapees Rally was substantially smaller than the Good Sam Rally. There was one partial room of vendor booths, a single food vendor and only one RV dealer present. That said there were as many if not more seminars than the larger rally and we certainly enjoyed ourselves equally as much. As usual the rally had a nightly entertainment and a talent show, and as usual I was unable to convince Steve to enter the talent show with me (one of these years!!!). The Rally did offer an excellent day care program for kids thanks in part to Gerri's long hours of volunteering.
4th of July in Wyoming was another unique experience. There was an excellent community fireworks display, but even before the official show started the skies were lit on all sides by individual's home fireworks displays. Unlike the smokers and snakes we're limited to buying in California, Wyoming sells a wide assortment of sky rockets and artillery shells to the general public. As a result every local block party put on a fantastic light show for everyone miles around.
Overall the week was absolutely wonderful and did absolutely nothing to dispel our dreams of full timing. We stay in touch with Art and Gerri via email and will be seeing them again in Quartzsite in 2009...