Wow! I’m way behind in blogging! It’s been 2 weeks since my last post (sounds like a confession!)
We finished up our stay in Casa Grande on the fifteenth and made our way 90 miles south to the Pima County Fairgrounds in Tucson where we attended the 59th Escapade…a convergence of Escapee’s members (830 rigs in attendance).
We manned a booth Sunday through Wednesday and were crazy busy…not just because of this rally but also because we had a rally going on in Las Vegas (Grand Design owners) that we had a rep and installers at. And of course…we had all of our regular non-rally business going on. Let’s put it this way…we made our monthly sales goal by the 20th of the month!
The Escapade has an opening and closing ceremony plus entertainment most nights. We attended the opening ceremony and the entertainment that evening (an Irish band) and had plans to try and attend a few of the other nights but by the time we were done at the booth each day, visited customers trailers afterward, got home, cooked dinner, etc…we just wanted to relax at home.
Great dinner partners!
The day after we arrived there was a dinner for the vendors which we attended (as we did last year). We sat with two other couples and had a really enjoyable time getting to know them. It’s a small world when 3 couples sit at the same table (never met before) and all happen to have ties to another couple.
During our discussions we figured out that we all knew Dave & Tracy one way or another. We happen to house their RV Water Filter Store product in our warehouse, Jim & Kim happen to ‘base’ out of the same Escapees park in Jojoba Hills, CA and the other couple purchased their old trailer last year. Small world!
Go PTB!
PTB was one of the official sponsors of the Escapade this year and I think it turned out well for us. We sponsored the rally app which is used by hundreds during the rally to determine what events to attend, who to contact about what, what time and location events we at, etc. Our logo was on banners displayed around the rally hall as well as on the ‘big’ screen during slide shows. A very good opportunity for us.
Michael doing what he does best…
The Escapade officially ended on Friday but many people pulled out starting on Thursday…we stuck around until Saturday the 23rd.
We played catch up all day on Thursday and Friday morning. Friday Michael insisted that we run away and go see a movie (I didn’t fight too hard). We saw ‘Greta’…wow…eerie and kept us engrossed the whole time. Worth a watch.
Being Friday (Lent) we also stopped at Hana Tokyo (right outside the movie theater doors) for dinner. Michael ordered hibachi salmon and I had the hibachi shrimp and scallops. It was a great way to end a very busy week.
The following day was ‘moving day’. However…we only had 60ish miles to travel. Since we’d been in a 30 amp and water site for the previous 8 days we needed to dump before heading out. We were a bit worried that there would be a super long line at the dump station but we lucked out and there was only 1 vehicle ahead of us.
We waited about 10 minutes or so and then got our turn. In total it took us about 30 minutes and we were on our way….destination: Stronghold Ranch, Cochise, Arizona.
And that’s where I’ll stop…you’ll just have to wait for the next excerpt! 