Thursday, 27MAR, we drove straight from Houma, LA, to Livingston, TX, to check out the world headquarters of the Escapees RV Club. As members we call ourselves SKPs (which is pronounced “skips” or “escapees”; you say potaTOE, I say potaTA) and stands for Special Kinda People! There are many RV clubs in the USA (we belong to three others), and many are bigger than Escapees. But Escapees has three services that they feel set them apart:
1) They offer a mail forwarding service (as do others), and this is the reason that we originally joined them. But we feel no other service offers the personal and friendly service they offer. They will actually search for one piece of mail, open it, and read it to you over the phone; if you ask them to. End result is the largest mail forwarding operation in the USA employing 50 people, and their own zip code.
2) They have a small number of their own parks (called Rainbow Parks), which are extremely cheap, and where you are always guaranteed a space without reservations. See our Deming, NM, blog entry for 26OCT07, for our first experience at an Escapee Rainbow Park.
3) They have the only assisted living facility (called CARE) based on the RV lifestyle in the USA. This is very affordable facility where you are allowed to stay in your RV (in fact there are no beds in the facility) if you can make it from your RV the short distance to the CARE facility on your own, or you have a primary care giver to assist. Hopefully we will never need it!
Lastly, as we noted in our Deming, NM, blog, Rainbow Parks try to have many activities throughout the week. For example – one or two meals a week produced by volunteers (usually $4 or $6), ice cream social ($.75), cards, bingo, bonfire, movies, tai chi, line dancing lessons, etc.
http://www.escapees.com/
We also came to Livingston, TX, to see about becoming residents of Texas. Corrie has a license from Louisiana, Dan from Washington; one vehicle has Louisiana plates, and the other Florida; while our insurance papers say we are residents of Texas. About a year ago Dan got pulled over in Texas. You could tell the poor police officer was getting a headache looking at all the different paperwork. He finally shrugged his shoulders, gave Dan a warning, and pointed out that the law required we choose one state. So Friday we got the RV and the Toad inspected and then registered at the County Tax Office, no problems. Monday it was off to DMV for our licenses, again no problems. At both facilities they had big signs saying NO OUT OF COUNTY CHECKS; but once they found out we were SKPs, they took our out of state checks. So as the bumper sticker says – We weren’t born in Texas, but got here as fast as possible! (or something to that effect).
We had a very relaxing time at the Rainbow Park. We participated in some of the activities, Dan took tours of the CARE facility and the HQ, while Corrie helped finish off a couple of jigsaw puzzles. We took one day to drive to Huntsville, TX, for a little sightseeing. Huntsville is famous for being the last home and burial place for Sam Houston (the father of Texas); and the Texas HQ for the Texas State Prison System. In fact, there is even a driving tour so you can visit the six prison “units” in the Huntsville vicinity. We’ll save that for another day.
The real reason we came to Huntsville was to check out the New Zion Missionary Baptist Church BBQ. Apparently GQ magazine listed this small (and we mean small) establishment as worthy of flying to just for a meal? We had the ribs and the chopped beef; not sure about being worth flying to, but definitely worth driving to. Then it was off to King’s for some ice cream from a 1920’s soda fountain. And to top it off the Texas wild flowers are starting to bloom along the roadways, including the state flower, Blue Bonnets. The best viewing is supposed to be in the Hill Country and the high desert of the Big Bend, but this area has its fair share.
Trivia – 1) Sam Houston is only person to be Governor of two different states (Tennessee and Texas). Why was he removed from office in Texas in 1863?
2) Huntsville is County Seat of Walker County. Walker County has always been called Walker County, but was “re-named” for a different Walker in 1863. Why?
1) They offer a mail forwarding service (as do others), and this is the reason that we originally joined them. But we feel no other service offers the personal and friendly service they offer. They will actually search for one piece of mail, open it, and read it to you over the phone; if you ask them to. End result is the largest mail forwarding operation in the USA employing 50 people, and their own zip code.
2) They have a small number of their own parks (called Rainbow Parks), which are extremely cheap, and where you are always guaranteed a space without reservations. See our Deming, NM, blog entry for 26OCT07, for our first experience at an Escapee Rainbow Park.
3) They have the only assisted living facility (called CARE) based on the RV lifestyle in the USA. This is very affordable facility where you are allowed to stay in your RV (in fact there are no beds in the facility) if you can make it from your RV the short distance to the CARE facility on your own, or you have a primary care giver to assist. Hopefully we will never need it!
Lastly, as we noted in our Deming, NM, blog, Rainbow Parks try to have many activities throughout the week. For example – one or two meals a week produced by volunteers (usually $4 or $6), ice cream social ($.75), cards, bingo, bonfire, movies, tai chi, line dancing lessons, etc.
http://www.escapees.com/
We also came to Livingston, TX, to see about becoming residents of Texas. Corrie has a license from Louisiana, Dan from Washington; one vehicle has Louisiana plates, and the other Florida; while our insurance papers say we are residents of Texas. About a year ago Dan got pulled over in Texas. You could tell the poor police officer was getting a headache looking at all the different paperwork. He finally shrugged his shoulders, gave Dan a warning, and pointed out that the law required we choose one state. So Friday we got the RV and the Toad inspected and then registered at the County Tax Office, no problems. Monday it was off to DMV for our licenses, again no problems. At both facilities they had big signs saying NO OUT OF COUNTY CHECKS; but once they found out we were SKPs, they took our out of state checks. So as the bumper sticker says – We weren’t born in Texas, but got here as fast as possible! (or something to that effect).
We had a very relaxing time at the Rainbow Park. We participated in some of the activities, Dan took tours of the CARE facility and the HQ, while Corrie helped finish off a couple of jigsaw puzzles. We took one day to drive to Huntsville, TX, for a little sightseeing. Huntsville is famous for being the last home and burial place for Sam Houston (the father of Texas); and the Texas HQ for the Texas State Prison System. In fact, there is even a driving tour so you can visit the six prison “units” in the Huntsville vicinity. We’ll save that for another day.
The real reason we came to Huntsville was to check out the New Zion Missionary Baptist Church BBQ. Apparently GQ magazine listed this small (and we mean small) establishment as worthy of flying to just for a meal? We had the ribs and the chopped beef; not sure about being worth flying to, but definitely worth driving to. Then it was off to King’s for some ice cream from a 1920’s soda fountain. And to top it off the Texas wild flowers are starting to bloom along the roadways, including the state flower, Blue Bonnets. The best viewing is supposed to be in the Hill Country and the high desert of the Big Bend, but this area has its fair share.
Trivia – 1) Sam Houston is only person to be Governor of two different states (Tennessee and Texas). Why was he removed from office in Texas in 1863?
2) Huntsville is County Seat of Walker County. Walker County has always been called Walker County, but was “re-named” for a different Walker in 1863. Why?
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