Rally Rally Really

Oktoberfest was a big success. I won a couple of raffles (nothing I needed) and first prize in the egg throwing contest. We all ate more than was needed. I helped serve and clean up at the BBQ dinner. Here are some pictures from Oktoberfest.

22 of us cooked up our favorite soups and sold them for 1 meal. We donated the proceeds, almost $500 to CARE. My selection was Vagabond Stew/Soup. It's what I eat about 1/3 of the time and was one of the most popular of all the soups. It disappeared really fast - and I was afraid of having too many left-overs to put in my freezer!

Immediately following the hitch up breakfast, I went to the Chapter 30 rally in Gun Barrel City. I ate some more and geocached a little – it was a good time. More pictures of my rallying there.

Between rallies I went to Dallas Chapter of the ARC and serviced the mobile kitchen. All was quiet and uneventful there.

Chapter 10 Rally in Belleville was with a lot of old friends and boy are we ever getting old. None of the old active games were played just board and card games and, of course, more food. It was a good time though, with lots of free time to share.

At the rallies there were meetings and auctions - the proceeds going to a good cause - more food and things for the future.

I took a side trip to Steven F Austin State Park and checked it out. It is a nice park, but I wouldn’t want to host there. They expect their hosts to be “on duty” 24 hours a day and I know that the other parks don’t think that way. I plan to check out some other parks in the next few weeks. On the way to S.F.A. S.P. I found 7 geocaches.

After the Ch 10 rally I checked out Huntsville State Park and it sounds a lot better. I think that I will try to take a tour there in April or May, if it fits into my schedule..

Really Ready to Rally

It’s been a busy week at Rainbow’s End Escapee Park. Frank Williams (my temporary landlord) and I painted parking stripes in the CARE Center vehicle lot on a very warm and humid day. That is the first time this year that the heat has really gotten to me. I guess I’m showing my age. Of course Frank is still just a young man at 92, so it didn’t bother him.

The stage is set for the Oktoberfest that starts tomorrow. I am going to make and serve Vagabond Stew for Tuesday’s Soups for CARE. Different soups will be served and the proceeds all are donated to CARE. There will be a big BBQ dinner and lots of food all through the week. It seems that that is the main theme of most Escapee events – we don’t go hungry.

After a week of fun in Livingston I will go to Gun Barrel City for the Chapter 30 Rally and then a few days later head to the Chapter 10 Rally in Bellville.

With all of the rally traveling and also because my van is now 6 years old, I figured that I ought to get my wheels checked out and up to date. Joel West in Livingston has been doing mechanic work for the Escapees for years, so I took it to him. Service work sure has gone up since I had my service station in 1957! But on the bright side, I now have a good feeling going down the road that my home on wheels isn’t likely to give me any problems.

Another new thing in my life is a rear view camera! I made it up so that I can install it on either the van or the trailer and see what I am backing into – or what is following me too close. I feel it will make life a lot easier when I arrive in a crowded campground – or parking lot.

Last Sunday I went geocaching after church and got stuck in a ditch when I pulled “just a little bit” too far to the right on a 1 lane road. A few minutes later a nice young couple in a jeep came along and rescued me, so another bad moment turned good! There are a lot of new caches in the Livingston area, but I am saving them for the time between the rallies and my cardiologist appointment on the 30th. After that I may even head to OK for a while.

I’ll try to remember to get some pictures to show you all of the fun things as I “Rally around Texas!”