Moving on to Cody, Buffalo, and Gillette, WY

We had a great stay in Island Park, ID but is was getting time to move on after a month. We packed up and left about 9am on Thursday August 18th with Chuck & Kathy following us. We hadn’t gone far when Mac noticed that they were not behind us any longer. We were on the highway that goes through Yellowstone so we tried to find a place to pull over and wait on them. After about 30 minutes, we turned around and went back to find them thinking that they must have had trouble….Sure enough, they had had a blow-out. We sat and waited with them for the Emergency Roadside Service to come and get them all fixed up…and then we were off again…..

The trip was un-eventful after that…beautiful scenery….

We arrived at Yellowstone Valley RV Campground and got all set up for our week stay. Several of our friends had already arrived and were waiting on us. Kevin & Arlene, Bob & Barb, Roger & Barb, and new friends Don & Susie. We were still waiting on John & Bridget to arrive.

Friday, we went to the Buffalo Bill Dam…..

and the Trading Post Museum….beautiful Dioramas and a lot of American Indian & Military & Civilian displays also.

After all that we went back to the park and had dinner together.

One day Mac & I and John & Bridget went to the Silver Dollar Bar for dinner….they had great Hamburgers, Fries & Onion Rings.

No photos, sorry.

I didn’t do too much after that as I was having some medical issues and went to Urgent Care on Sunday and every day after until we left to go to Gillette. I’m not going to get in to it on the blog, but needless to say I had a real pain in the butt…..lol

We left Cody on Wednesday, August 24th for an overnight in Buffalo, WY at Deer Park RV. We have to be in Gillette, WY on the 25th by noon for a Staff meeting for the Escapees Escapade Rally. Mac & I went out to a Mexican Restaurant for dinner.

if you look real close, you can see our RV reflected in their back window…LOL

The next morning as we were getting hooked up, we saw several Turkey’s wandering around….

 

Kevin & Arlene left early, but Mac & I and Chuck & Kathy traveled together again…didn’t want any more break-down’s on the way. We made it to Gillette and the CAM-PLEX about 10:30am and got all set up in our sites. Kevin & Arlene next to us, and Chuck & Kathy right down the road.

We went to our Staff meeting and got our assignments for the week….we are doing Hospitality & Popcorn Booth with Kevin & Arlene, plus a bunch of Volunteers.

We had our Staff Dinner on Friday, August 26th. They had it catered in…there was Smoked Beef, Potatoes, Green Beans, Salad, and Cheesecake for desert. It was all very good!

Saturday & Sunday we manned the Popcorn Booth with Kevin & Arlene since we weren’t going to have any volunteers until Monday. We also were responsible for the Hospitality area to make sure it stayed looking nice. That evening several of us went out to Las Margarita’s for dinner as it was a free night with not other activities going on. We had a great time with our friends.

Sunday afternoon we had Opening Ceremonies for the official start of the Escapade. There were 679 RV’s there, I think for the Rally. Now, that’s a lot of people.

Tuesday, there was a Happy Hour with the Class of 2007. There was so much food and a lot of people showed up. The Class adopted 8 more people into the class that night. Also that night my name was drawn for one of the door prizes at the evening’s activities. 3 Gift Certificates, 2 Insulated Mugs, Truck Oil, Chemical, and some Toilet Tissue. It was a great box of stuff!

Thursday, we had Closing Ceremonies for the Escapade…..this is the last official full day. There were more prizes given away and I was lucky to have my name drawn from a raffle…I won the Grand Prize Quilt from CARE. They drew names every day for different quilted items throughout the Escapade. I was so surprised!!

Mac was also Initiated into the Elks Lodge 2825 in Gillette, WY with about 49 others….very large group. They made some exceptions so that the spouses could attend.

Friday, several of friends that were staying through the weekend got together for a Baked Potato Dinner…we took our own baked Potato and a topping for it. There were so many toppings it was hard to decide what to eat…lol After dinner, the games came out…Ladder Golf, and a game called Corn Hole(kinda like Washers)

Saturday, we got together again for another dinner….Taco Soup, Beans & Cornbread…and so much more. Afterwards there was games again….we didn’t stay long as Mac wasn’t feeling very well. He was having problems with one of his teeth.

Sunday, we got together for Happy Hour…it was like a Buffet…LOL…again games afterwards.

Monday was our last day in Gillette and there was a surprise Birthday Party planned for Marcia since they wouldn’t be around anyone on her big 5-0. We all bought a Gag gift and met at a Chinese Buffet Restaurant to surprise her. Someone provided a birthday cake. Her husband brought her in and I think that she was very surprised!! A little teary eyed even. It was great fun after we had all had dinner…she had a song sang to her, opened her gag gifts, and cake was passed around.

Then it was time to say goodbye as some people were leaving early on Tuesday before we would be up.

Tuesday, we were up and hooked up and headed to Rapid City, SD to stay at Hart Ranch RV Resort for a week….more on that in my next blog…LOL