Rally #4–Still having fun

We have arrived in Sedalia, Missouri, for the Escapee Escapade.  We had a little trouble finding our way to the parking area; a couple more signs off the main street would have helped.  We found out the gates to the main area of the fairgrounds should have been locked and we were not the only RV driving through the fairgrounds before arriving in the right parking lot.  We then took our paperwork to the office only to find that Friday they were doing ‘dry runs’ to get ready for the ‘real registration’ tomorrow.  Tom said the big FMCA rally is beginning to look pretty good.  After all, this is just the early arrival day and it is sure to get more organized as the rally progresses. 

The staff at Escapade are really friendly and accommodating and that makes the hiccups in organization and lack of signage very tolerable. 

It has taken us 3 days to drive from Celina, OH, to get here.  We traveled only about 250 easy miles a day, most of it on I-70.  Our first night we stayed at a campground in Enon, Enon Beach.  It was marginal with some long term residents camping in tents, station wagons, and campers.  Tom had only just stepped out of the RV to hook up when this little 5  year old engaged him in a conversation.  He was pretty lonely, but very smart and precocious.  We visited Dayton Historical Carillon Park. We were absolutely amazed at the number of inventions and patents that came out of Dayton, OH.  Probably the biggest was the all the technology that came out of the NCR company.  I didn’t know that IBM was developed by former employees of the National Cash Register company.

Then the Wright Brothers, Orville and Wilber, worked on the plane that flew at Kittyhawk and perfected the propeller and design of the airplane over the next 4 years. This was the 3rd career of the Wright Bros; they owned a print shop, and a bicycle shop before becoming aviators.

We drove back to Enon and had a delicious homemade dinner of Chicken and Noodles for me and Salisbury steak with mushrooms and mashed potatoes for Tom.  We pulled out the next day on our way to Sedalia.

I even rode a carousel with characters developed in Dayton like Iams dog food, a box derby car and the first steam engine that used no fuel. It used steam from the electrical generator that powered the NCR company.

Our next stop was at a wonderful Good Sam Campground, Camp Lakewood, in Effingham, IL.  This campground had everything an RV park should have, pristine roomy sites, good views, a big laundry, and friendly staff that guides you to your site.  We will have to come back and stay there again sometime.

Last night we drove to the Boone County Fairgrounds in Columbia, MO.  This weekend was the horse and mule sale at the fairgrounds.  We had quite a show watching 2 guys trying to load a mare and her foal into a big truck.  They just could not get her to walk up the ramp; the board on the side of the ramp kept falling down, the mare would jump off the ramp, and the little foal was galloping all around.  Finally, an experienced and humane horseman came over after about 20 minutes and led the foal into the truck and with a little pulling and one minute later the mare walked up the ramp.  We were also treated to the Amish men driving sulkies and the Amish children in little wagons driven by ponies. 

That’s all the excitement for now.  Hope we have a good time at this our first Escapade.