An extended trip back to Oklahoma

After the Escapade we headed south to Douglas WY to visit a dear friend, Fronie Hendren.

She has just about finished with the remodeling of her new (old) house in town. It is very well done and we were happy to be able to help her get some of the unpacking done and organized. While we were there Tom set up a geocache, outside of the back fence, which Frone will take care of, if it gets in need of maintenance. Her dogs will also help watch over it.

Moving on, we went to Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. We had expected to stay the night in one of the campgrounds but they were all closed. Even though it was getting late we took the 35+ mile drive through the park and enjoyed many spectacular views and much wildlife. Sad to say, we didn't have time to take many pictures.

It was dark when we left the park, had pizza and parked at the bowling alley in Grand Lake.

Next on our agenda was Capulin Volcano National Monument in New Mexico.

We experienced engine problems due to low octane gas purchased in the mountains of Colorado, both on the way in and the way out of the park, so we spent the night in Capulin RV Park. On Monday morning the Chevy dealer, 60 miles down the road, read the engine codes and advised me to buy better gas from now on – no charge!

That afternoon we arrived at Palo Duro Canyon State Park near Canyon TX. This is America’s second largest canyon – over 100 miles long. I feel it is a better place to visit than the Grand Canyon because you can drive down into it and even spend the night in one of the campgrounds at the bottom.

While there we went to the musical extravaganza “Texas”. It was great – especially the special effects – fires, lightning, thunder and many horses and wagons in the outdoor canyon setting.

On the way to Cathy’s house in OK we saw a different kind of rest stop on Hwy 287 in the Texas panhandle. It is made in the form of 3 tornado shelters.

Now I will have to get my affairs caught up before I can move on - probably not for a couple of weeks.

Escapade 2008 - Escapees’ 30th Birthday– Gillette Wyoming

Hays KS, Denver, CO, and then we were on to Gillette. We made a morning coffee break in Douglas, WY, where we visited with Frone Hendren. We will go to her house to visit after the Escapade on Tuesday. When we arrived at the fairgrounds we had a full hookup site and the Vagabond had to learn again how to hook up his electricity and hoses.

Our job at the Escapade was the CARE quilts. The fairground provided a real nice room for Cathy to lay out all of the workstations, cutting table, and quilting materials.


Cathy directed the volunteer women, who did the quilting, and sometimes gopher Tom.

She was assisted by Nita Marsyla.

The women spent all day every day sewing quilts up until Thursday when they held their annual BOF (Birds Of a Feather) meeting.
Tom took on the job of running the Quilt Lovers BOF quilt raffle. The raffle netted $556, which will be used for the BOF’s supplies for making more quilts for the CARE Center (Continued Assistance for Retired Escapees) in Livingston.
Here is a picture of the raffle quilt and its winner at the closing ceremonies.

They typically make two quilts for CARE to raffle and several smaller quilts for the CARE participants. They also make charity quilts for the community in which the Escapade is held. Here is a picture of Cathy delivering the 18 quilts to the Yes House in Gillette.
On Friday the 23 quilts for the CARE Center were picked up by their representatives at the Escapade. Finally there is some room in the truck again!

Tom gave a talk on Materialistic Minimalism which was very well attended and had only positive evaluations. About 200 of the 2000 Escapade participants attended his talk.

After the Escapade we had a 30th birthday celebration with ice cream and cake. Next on the agenda was the city’s 4th of July fireworks. We had great viewing seats in our campground, which was right next to the field where the fireworks were being set off.

Saturday was a day of rest and geocaching. We stayed over the weekend so that Tom could instruct two Red Cross Logistics courses on Monday. Tuesday we head out to Frone’s for a few days and then on to the national and state parks. This blog probably won’t get updated until we are back in OK