The Escapees RV Club Escapade started yesterday afternoon and ends on Friday afternoon, so Wednesday evening is the middle of the event. Many attendees arrived on Sunday, and many others, including us, on Saturday. Most of the event staff, and many of the volunteers, arrived even before that so today probably felt like we were well into the event even though it just started yesterday.
Curtis Coleman, RVillage Founder and CEO.
Yesterday we crossed paths briefly with Curtis Coleman, the founder and CEO of RVillage, at one of the seminars. Although I had communicated with him in the past via RVillage messaging, e-mail, and telephone, it was the first time we had met in person. We were all on our way to somewhere else and agreed to meet up at the Paul Evert’s RV Country social at 4:00 PM.
Linda and I continued our work as volunteer event photographers while also trying to attend a couple of seminars that interested us. Kelly Hogan, founder/president of WiFi Ranger, gave an excellent talk on mobile connectivity. Chris and Jim Guld, better known as the Geeks On Tour, did a nice overview of technology tools for travelers.
Chris and Jim Guld, the Geeks On Tour, presenting a seminar.
We take a stroll through the vendor area and ordered a new regen tube and end caps for our portable water softener. We bought the softener from A-1 Water Treatment of Michigan at one of the RV rallies in Gillette, Wyoming last summer. The owner sold A-1 but retained the portable RV softener business and now operates as RV-Water-Treatment.
Nick and Terry Russell of the Gypsy Journal in the vendor booth.
We had hoped to meet up with Curtis at the Paul Evert’s RV Country social at 4:00 PM, but we had to leave for the Photography BOF social before he arrived. BOF stands for “Birds Of a Feather,” the name the Escapees RV Club uses for special interest groups. BOFs are distinct from Chapters which are geographic in scope. We had a dozen folks show up for the Photography social. Most of us had never met, so we spent some time sharing our photography background and interests. By the time the social ended the weather had turned.
The gathering storm. It’s been strange weather lately.
Dinner? What’s that? We went early to the evening entertainment to see the slide show Lou had put together from our previous day’s effort. Once again we failed to win a door prize. The Homestead Pickers, a bluegrass trio, gave an excellent, high energy performance. Linda wasn’t feeling quite right and left early. I stopped at Lou and Val’s 5th Wheel after the concert so Lou could transfer my photos from today to his computer for inclusion in an upcoming slide show. It doesn’t sound like much, but it was a long, full day.
The Homestead PIckers in concert.