Spending the day at the SKP CO-OP in Lakewood New Mexico. As requested I have updated the blog. Went to breakfast with the MEWS (what is that?) and as Marcy repacks her closet I am at the meeting room typing my fingers to the bone :-) This park has all the amenities except showers.


Marcy got to enjoy her first shower in the Casita. I guess it went OK as she certainly smelled good afterwords.

Spent the day in Deming New Mexico at an Escapees Rainbow RV park. Unlike the Escapees CO-OP this park is owned by Escapees Inc. They offer 5 year leases that can be renewed but no ownership. Most of the work around the park is done by workcampers hired by Escapees. They offer the same amities as a CO-OP, meeting room, laundry, showers and low nightly rates for Escapees members.

While Marcy did the laundry I patched the hole in the trailer with duck tape. I also replaced the two spigots for the fresh water tank as both of them leaked.

Tire Blowout

An adventure on the road. Our first blowout! Lucky we were able to pull completly off the road. The entire change took about an hour and we were back on the road. I must say Marcy and I really work as a team when it comes to crunch time. We had just left a rest area and I had checked the tires. Just as we were finishing up a New Mexico state worker stopped and offered to help. He was picking up treads off the freeway when he happened upon us. We called ahead to a tire store in Deming and when we arrived they got us in and two tires replaced in less than an hour. Below are pictures of the damage to the tire and the trailer. Should be no problem getting the trailer fixed either in Rice Texas, home of the Casita, or in Tulsa, land of thousands of fiberglass boats.

Left Casa Grande this morning and forgot to call ahead to our next stop in Benson AZ. When we arrived we discovered that they were on summer hours and the office was closed on Sunday. We found a spot to park in the boondock section. A very nice Escapee offered to take us around the park and show it off. This park is also a CO-OP and everyone takes great pride in their park. A member offered to take us for a tour in her golf cart and I must say they have a very beautiful park. Again the wait list to become a leaseholder is between five and seven years.

Marcy got to experience her first boondock camp this evening in over 35 years. Lets just say she prefers to camp with FHU :-)

We spent two nights in Casa Grande, another Escapees CO-OP RV park. This is a smaller park than Yuma and very friendly. We attended our first "social hour" and met lots of Escapees.

Picture of a birds nest in one of the cactus growing in the park.

Our first Escapees RV campground located in Yuma Arizona. This is a "CO-OP" park owned by the leaseholders. When the leaseholder is away from the park they may choose to put their lot in the rental pool for rent to traveling Escapees. The leaseholder normally spends about six months at this park and six months either at another park or back at their home, normally in the northern states. A few leaseholders may choose to live year round at the park. The waiting list is normally between five and seven years to become a leaseholder. The buy in is the original cost of building the park plus any annual assessments and lot improvements. Most of the work around the park is done by the leaseholders keeping the monthly fees very low. You may want to go to Escapees.com to get a better description than I can provide.

Yes, we really did bring along a couple of kayaks, two bikes and a set of walking sticks. This adventure is officially a "hike, bike and kayak" trip. Because it took us so long to get the house ready to lease out we will be making a relatively quick trip to the Midwest to get to Tulsa by May 13. The Escapees Escapade is May 24.

Well it really is time to leave. We have been in Mathew and Maureen's driveway for a week and a half and I believe we are beginning to wear a little thin. Just how long should the inlaws spend right outside your front door? The batteries in the camera were depleted so just imagine a gleefull daughter in law waving good by as we pull out of the driveway :-)

We were able to lease out the house for a year with a second year option so looks like life on the road is in Marcy's future ! All of our "treasures" are safely piled in a 10x20 storage unit just waiting for the boys to have to go thru when we go to the RV resort in the sky :-)

Our planned trip at this point is to hit all the Escapees RV parks between here and Livingston Texas. From there head north to Tulsa to see our son and his family. I wonder if Marcy has let our daughter in law know we will be spending some "quality time" with her? Once we have worn our welcome out there we head to Springfield MO to see Marcy's parents. Some where we have to fit in the Escapees Escapade in Sedalia MO. and a visit to the Escapees park in Branson MO. Our return route to San Diego will take us to Montana, over to Washington and Oregon and down California visiting three Escapees parks. We plan to be back in San Diego the end of October for the cul de sac Holloween party.

Looks like six and 1/2 months in a 16ft Casita. Any bets on our sanity when we return?

Just returned from a week at the Avi Casino Resort in Laughland Nevada. What a great place. A beach on the Colorado River, a swimming pool at the casino and only $150 for a week with FHU. We joined up with my sister with her trailer. She brought her daughter and her 3 grand children and we brought our two grand children from San Diego. We were so busy I forgot to bring my camera :-(

We spent one day at Oatman ghost town. Donkeys running wild and gunfights in the street. The grand kids had a blast. Lots of shopping for both young and old.

The kids discovered geodes and the world of rock hounding and went around the RV park selling treasures to unsuspecting snowbirds.

The only question we got from our grand children was "When are you getting a bigger trailer?" We get that question a lot and all we can say is "It was a much bigger trailer but we washed it in hot water and it shrunk!"