THURSDAY. We were at La Mesa RV at 8 AM with the rig for repairs… the slideout and one jack.
We returned to the Escapade to help out with the donuts/coffee.
Then it was Chili Cook Off time. I prepared a large container of very special chili along with 17 other entries. We had all sorts of chili and one even had chocolate in it. We had many many people tasting all the chili. That part was fun. People would taste the chili and would make a donation for CARE based on how they liked that particular chili. Well, their were cheaters. It wasn’t really a chili cook off. It was more like who had the most friends that would donate the most money. Some donations were given and they weren’t even there nor even seen or tasted the chili. To me that is not a chili cook off. It reminded me of a game they play on TV’s Celerity Apprentice. The winner was the one who had the richest friends. Several contestants in the chili cook off told me they would would never enter their chili again and felt they wasted their time and energy that they put into their chili. Disappointed was the word I heard. Might have well as opened a couple of cans in a pot and called it chili. Amen. I will never enter my chili again that’s for sure. Maybe they need to change it to a real chili cook off and do for fun rather than money….
Later that day at the closing ceremony the coffee/donut team got to announce some numbers. 500 gallons of coffee were made, 2,450 donuts were given out and on the donate day for CARE $6,470 was collected. It broke all records and will stand for quite some time. Over $11,000 was collected for CARE. Being in a public place a lot (coffee/donuts) I asked the newbies what they thought about the Escapade. I had several newbies say they thought there was a lot of emphasis on donating money and didn’t care for it.
We picked up our RV from La Mesa at 5 PM. All work was done… no charge this time.
Thursday evening we went out with Sharon & Don for dinner. By the way, they won the Grand Prize of the Escapade of a trip with Adventure Caravan. This is the second time they have won a grand trip with Adventure Caravan. Maybe play the lottery.
FRIDAY. It was up and at work early (6:30 AM) at the coffee station. This time we had prepackaged food stuff for people. Being the last morning and people departing they call it the Hitch Up Breakfast wilt rolls and coffee. Come about 7:30 Gary & Mary said we could leave since they had a lot of help and we had a lot of miles to do. Thanks guys it helped a lot.
Got ready to leave and I did my usual walk around of the RV. I found a rear inside dual had NO AIR in it. I called Coach Net. Waiting for them I tried and eventually got the tire to hold air. The tire service people arrived and took the tires off. Several people supervised like Sharon & Don.. 
It turned out to be a very slow leak on the factory valve stem extension. The man tighten it up with a wrench and put it all back together. No charge but a tip was given. So we got on the road about 9:30 AM I think. Here’s our train in double towing…. cho cho…
Someone else had tire problems. I prefer mine.
It was 92 degrees going thru Palm Springs at 5 PM.
If you look close, there is snow on them there mountains.
We did about 475 miles to the Thousand Trails Park in Menifee, CA. It’s a big park. We arrived about 7 PM to a full park. We drove around and drove around and found a spot all the way in the back. It’s a big site and could even put the motorcycle trailer on it with no problem. We lucked out for sure even though it was Friday the 13th and the day started off with a flat! Nice way to end a day.
See ya………..
