Organ Pipe National Park

Organ Pipe National Park

About Me

I purchased "Sadie''s House On Wheels "in late 2007 and loved traveling in a motor home so much that I went on the road full time in late 2008. I started writing this blog to help me remember all the wonder places I have been and it allows me to share those places with my family and friends. Summer of 2013 I decided to hang up the keys for a while and moved back into my stick house. After nearly two years, I am on the road again.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Sedalia, MO Part I

Sedalia is an old historic town in the middle of Missouri.  My drive from Big Springs NP was uneventful and the Garmin did not lead me astray this time.  I'm here to attend the Escapee Escapade. The Escapade is a national gathering of all the members of the Escapee RV club.  Its quite the deal for some RVers.  There are activities planned everyday from seminars on such mundane things as how to clean your rig to talks on what routes to travel in the North West or Alaska.  

I came here specifically to attend Boot Camp.  Yes, Boot Camp.  Boot Camp is a 2 1/2 day overview of everything you would ever want to know about RVing put on by the Escapees.  Its like a primer to beginning RVing with and emphasis on safety, proper tire inflation, proper weight distribution, proper towing of your vehicle ,proper.... Yawn.  Actually parts were quite informative but the majority was old stuff.  I had signed up thinking that I had a lot more to learn about the plumbing system, electrical system, sewer systems etc and realized I know a lot more than I thought.  In reality you learn more by just talking with other RVers.  

The Escapade this time is held at the Missouri State Fairgrounds.  This place is huge, I mean huge.  There is a sea of rigs as far as the eye can see parked on a huge massive grassy field.   Not my kind of camping but its a necessity for this kind of thing.  Some folks are dry camping and some have full hook ups (i.e. electrical, water, and sewer hooks ups).  I chose to dry camp, after all I have Solar and really don't need electricity except for the Air Conditioner, hair dryer, and microwave.  I have a generator for the aforementioned appliances.  At the last minute I realized that with 85 degree temperatures and humidity about the same there might be a slight problem leaving Sadie in the rig all day. I asked if I couldn't be put somewhere where I could run the generator if necessary so as not to fry Sadie.  I was promptly escorted to the very back of the facility and assigned a space between two very large big rigs.  The big rigs provided a real advantage for me...shade.  I also figured out that since they guys might be using their generators more space was allowed between rigs.  A real plus.  The other guys with the full hook ups were so close to each other they couldn't put their awnings out!

We have had a few days of very warm hot muggy nasty weather.  I'm really a woose when it come to the humidity and was really grumbling, but the air conditioned class rooms helped me keep my "cool" sort to speak.  After the heat then came the rain, and more rain, and did I say rain? So guess what came next.  You have a sea of big rigs parked all on a huge grassy field with tow cars going back and forth to the main areas creating mud and ruts.  So now there is mud, ruts and big 40,ooo pounds rigs that  need to leave the grass on departure day.  Hmmmm.  Sounds like a windfall for AAA and the big rig tow trucks. .  I needed to take my rig over to the main area and have it weighed  (part of the safety thing) It was a little sloppy getting out and I felt pretty confident.  After all, I'm a little guy I only weigh 14,000 pounds  and I have mud and snow tires on the rig.  When I returned I wasn't as confident about getting back into my spot.  Things were pretty sloppy, but I managed and then took off to attend another seminar.  When I returned my rig had sunk down to the hub caps and my heart sunk as well.  I had planned to leave in the morning and there was no way the field was going to get dried out...more rain was predicted for the day and night. 

Well, I handed over  my $100.00 to the tow truck who had to pull me out of the mud . (I was told my AAA Plus didn't have the proper RV endorsement for towing an RVand my RV insurance does have towing but I have to pay first).   It was quite a show with the tow truck and my rig attached to 100 feet or so of cable and the tow truck slowly winching me towards solid ground. The guys with the big rigs all stood around shaking their heads commenting that they hoped things dried out soon because there may not be enough tow trucks to pull everyone out by Friday.  One gentlemen took it upon him self  to shout out steering commands while I was being pulled in reverse to dry land.  I'm glad I'm not his wife.  The guy really didn't know what he was doing but he meant well. The parking detail promptly escorted me to higher ground parking and it promptly started to rain again.  I saw at least three other big rig tow trucks working the area.  Glad I'm not sticking around. 

 I'll be heading to Alley Springs, Mo tomorrow morning to catch up with the WIN group for some more Kayaking...I hope.  With all of the rain, the river may close.  I'll be back to Sedalia in a week to attend the Scott Joplin festival.  However, I'm going to try and avoid the big grassy field.  

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