Happy Camper Discount RV Camping News

RVers Can help other RVers by posting recipes! Find out how.

2006-11-09T14:58:00.000-05:00

Escapees CARE Center is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit (tax-exempt) corporation formed in 1992 and is under the guidance of a volunteer board of directors.

CARE answers the question, "What happens to full-time RVers when they cannot take care of their own or their spouse's needs following an illness, injury, surgery, or the progression of a long-term health situation?"

Friends may offer to help, not realizing that a "little help" will become a need for extensive help with no end in sight. Is it fair to put that burden on neighbors or relatives who have their own lives to live? There has to be a better alternative than depending on neighbors or trading your RV home for a land-based residence. There is!

It is located in Livingston, Texas, and it is called CARE (Continuing Assistance for Retired Escapees). Its mission is to provide a safe haven with professional assistance at affordable prices for members whose travels are permanently ended because of age or temporarily interrupted because of health problems.

CARE is a place where you will receive professional help for the things you may no longer be able to do. It is not a nursing home. Its goal is to delay or eliminate the need for a nursing home.

Help Escapees serve RVers with this special program... make a donation for a fellow RVer today!

Members of RVScrapbook.com are invited to help with a fundraising effort for CARE now. Post a recipe in our forum before the end of 2006, and we will include it in a special E-Recipe book - all proceeds will be donated to CARE on behalf of members of RVScrapbook!

Chuck Woodbury sounds off on discount camping clubs...

2006-03-08T21:21:00.000-05:00

Editor's Corner
By Chuck Woodbury

We are posting this issue earlier than normal this weekend due to downtime on our email server that would have held up our Sunday email alert until the afternoon.

The battle of the half price camping clubs has heated up with a new player from the Affinity Group, owners of the Good Sam Club, Trailer Life and Camping World. The latest "club" is CampClub USA, a clone of the Happy Camper Club and Passport America, established family-run organizations that offer 50 percent discounts at RV parks across North America for an annual membership fee of about $45 to $50.

I'm baffled at the need for the new club, when the other two do a fine job. We've had a close relationship with the Happy Camper Club ever since we began publishing on the Web and have grown to highly respect the organization. After Hurricane Katrina, owner Anne Pearson opened her own Louisiana RV parks to New Orleans refugees, hosting many families for months, some living in tiny travel trailers and even pop ups. She spearheaded a fund-raising effort that helped put food on the displaced RVers plates and buy clothing and other essentials for their children. The Happy Camper Club and Passport America have approximately 1,000 participating RV parks in their respective networks, and are responsible for saving RVers hundreds of thousands of dollars in overnight camping fees.

Read the rest of last Sunday's RV Travel Newsletter...

Escapees Club News - Grand Teton Music Festival HOP

2006-02-15T21:38:00.000-05:00

Escapees RV Club announces details on the upcoming Grand Teton Music Festival HOP...

Grand Teton Music Festival HOP

* When: August 10-13, 2006Where: Virginian RV Resort in Jackson Hole, Wyoming
* Hosts: Gabby and Janice Lasko #14104, and Chuck and Betty Mulcahy #76334.
* Register: You can register by sending an email to Stephanie Seek, Stephanie@escapees.com , or by calling her at 888-757-2582 or 936-327-8873.
(Some of the daytime activities have limited space, so be sure to register early.)
* Cost: One RV, two people $575.00 (each additional person is $175.00)One RV, one person $475.00
* The price includes:Three nights with full hookups Tickets for two evening classical music concerts Pre-concert talk by one of the musicians * Western show *Walking tour of Jackson Hole * A variety of area day tours * Chuckwagon dinner Catered dinner * Two catered hot breakfasts Farewell continental breakfast Related tipsBus to and from concertsSouvenir pins

* Tentative agenda:
Thursday, August 10: Catered dinner, evening classical music concert.
Friday, August 11: Hot catered breakfast, great daytime activities, Bar-J Chuckwagon dinner and Western show.
Saturday, August 12: Hot catered breakfast, great daytime activities, evening classical music concert. Andrew Litton conducts, William Wolfram on piano performing Liszt Piano Concerto #1 and Shostakovich Symphony #10.
Sunday, August 13: Hitch-up continental breakfast.

If you’re in the mood for breathtaking views combined with the classical strains of Liszt and Shostakovich, a toe-tapping western show, catered meals, sightseeing, nature walks, the Grand Teton Music Festival HOP was designed with you in mind!Jackson Hole, Wyoming, is the site of the Grand Teton Music Festival and a three-day Escapees HOP. The HOP staff is still confirming details, but just a few of the proposed activity choices for the agenda include a special presentation and VIP tour of the Visitor Center (one of the best of its kind), a walking tour of the town, a visit to an elk refuge, a trip to a fish hatchery, a nature walk, and more. If that’s not enough to whet your appetite, after dinner on the first night of the HOP one of the musicians from the symphony is presenting a “behind the scenes” look at the life of a professional musician. Jackson Hole offers something for everyone. Plan to arrive early and stay late. There’s a lot to do and see. The Jackson Hole Rodeo, with competition bull riding, team roping, barrel racing, and much more, happens every Wednesday and Saturday night from Memorial Day to Labor Day. There are eight resort spas in the area offering head-toe pampering. There’s also rafting, kayaking, back-packing, golfing, hang-gliding.

If you need assistance, please contact us at 888-757-2582 or email clubbusiness@escapees.com

Published in full at: http://www.camphalfprice.com/trackback.php/escapees_rv_club_grand_teton_festival

** Happy Camper Discount RV Club is not affiliated with Good Sam, Camp Club USA or Passport America. We provide 50% (half price) camping in every state, plus a free online trip planner.

Trailer Life Campgrounds gives "Thumbs Up" to new RV book by RV Living...

2006-02-14T19:38:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to John and Peggi of RV Living for a GREAT Book Review from Trailer Life Campgrounds Directory! We at Happy Camper have been privileged to work with RV Living for several years, and our members are referred to their site for assistance with all USA/Canada RV travel - they are the experts! For information on ordering this fantastic how-to book, see our order information below the book review.

This book is a must if you are thinking about buying an RV or if you already enjoy the wonders of RV living. After 20 years traveling with her husband John, the author Peggi McDonald shares her extensive RV knowledge and experience in RV Living in the 21st Century. Peggi gives advice and situational details that will enable you to build confidence and gain competence as an RVer.

If there was a manual as detailed as RV Living in the 21st Century, other aspects of your life might just run according to plan. Topics include: driving tips, set-up procedures, packing tips, how to live in a confined space, budgeting, dollar stretchers, low-cost camping, travel planning, maintenance schedules, and border crossing tips along with numerous problem solvers for everyday life on the move.

This book is written in a “tell-it-like-it-is” conversational style to be easy to understand, appreciate, and absorb. Don’t forget to pack it before you go – you might want to refer back to the chapter on ‘RVing Made Easy’ or ‘On the Road’. You’ll enjoy hours of reading pleasure and learn from the depth of insight that Peggi shares.

For information on ordering directly from the author, visit the book order page at RV Living.

** Happy Camper Discount RV Club is not affiliated with Good Sam, Camp Club USA or Passport America. We provide 50% (half price) camping in every state, plus a free online trip planner.

Gulf Coast RV Adventure Videos Planned

2006-02-10T23:03:00.000-05:00

Gulf Coast RV Adventure Videos Planned

Wednesday, January 25 2006 @ 10:06 PM EST
Contributed by: anneViews: 74

RV Adventure Videos travels to Gulf Coast region to report for RVers on tourism and progress after Hurricane Katrina. Read their latest newsletter...

December 1st found us at the Voyager RV Resort just outside of Tucson, AZ. Jodie took advantage of the park's activities by taking part in jazzercise, choir practice, bible study and began teaching a water aerobics class! She made new friends and socialized with the neighbors. I edited.

On Dec. 2nd we drove up to Sun City, AZ for two shows at the recreation center. On the way we stopped in Phoenix and had lunch with the first employer that ever hired me. Back in 1968, Ben Craine hired me to work in his photo studio in Dearborn, Michigan before I even graduated from high school. He got me my start in photography and I'll never forgive him! It was great to get together again. We talked about old times and what a perfect well mannered employee I was. Well, let's just say we talked about old times! While working for him I got to visit high schools all over the Detroit area and shoot different types of photos for their yearbooks (sports, proms, classes, etc.). It was wonderful training and I learned a great deal.

For the next week I edited day and night, sometimes up to twelve hours a day. By the end of the day, I was so burned out I couldn't even see the editing screen. I was making great progress, though, and was 98% finished with the Northeast Coast project. It looked like I would be done on or before my deadline. The morning of December 10th I sat down and fired up my editing system but nothing came up on the screen. My hard drive had crashed. Fortunately, I had backed up my storyboard to MiniDV tape a few days earlier. Unfortunately, that means everything (sound, fades, dissolves, etc.) would now be married together on the tape when I reinstalled it in a new hard drive, making it hard to make any changes or move things around. Weeks, maybe months of work were lost. I was very close to losing it myself.

That same afternoon I loaded my storyboard tape onto a new hard drive and got to work reinstalling 15 hours of footage so I could try and make the changes and final tweaks to the project before my deadline was up in two weeks. I felt like I was thinking, walking and working in quicksand. I also still had to put together the RV extras and write the 80 minute script. This would be a true test of my resolve. In the middle of all this I flew to Santa Barbara CA for a show.

While there, I got a chance to visit with fellow film producer (and professor) Rick Ray at Brooks Institute of Photography in Ventura, CA. It must be very rewarding working with young people trying to pursue their dreams of filmmaking. I spent the night at Rick and Sharon's house. They had just gotten married a few days earlier. After the show the next day, I flew back to Tucson and my problems. I worked day and night for the next ten days.

As so often happens in life, my earth shattering problems paled in comparison to what I saw when Jodie and I flew to New Orleans for Christmas. Jodie was directing a Group Workcamp of about 60 people who had given up their Christmas week to volunteer to help with the rebuilding efforts in New Orleans.

As soon as our plane touched down on the runway in New Orleans, I could smell the mold and mildew that permeated the disaster area. This was one news story that was worse than it looked on TV. We arrived at night and drove the dark streets to the church we would be staying in. Many traffic lights still were not functioning and the street lights were out. We were starving and there were no restaurants open. The only place you could find food was at gas station convenience stores. It was an eerie setting that is usually reserved for movie disasters. Unfortunately, this one was real. Trash and debris were piled high everywhere. We finally made it to the Catholic church we would call home for the next week. The priests had made us a snack. We grabbed some cots and tried to get some sleep.

The next morning Jodie began working with Tim and Jesse Kurth (staff members) to get the place ready for the volunteers' arrival later that day. I grabbed my camera, jumped in the rental car,' and headed to Mississippi. The damage there was different. In the New Orleans area it was flood damage. If the levees hadn't failed they would only have had a two week clean up to deal with. Their problems came when the water rushed in and flooded the neighborhoods. The houses were still standing, but destroyed on the inside. In Mississippi the homes were gone. The only thing left were the concrete pads where the houses once stood. In many places the front stairs to the homes were still there but they led to nothing.

I was now beginning to understand the scope of this disaster. In October I had filmed Port Authur TX (on the western border with Louisiana) and saw the devastation there. Now I was nearly 400 miles east of Port Authur and the damage was just as bad. The cleanup will take years. Driving and filming along the coast I saw people picking through what was left of their homes. They are trying to put their lives back together, but the task is overwhelming. A few of the neighborhoods I filmed had just opened back up for the first time since the storm. There is no way to describe the amount of damage.

The Group Workcamp people did a great job! Working tirelessly and eating small Red Cross meals, they gutted ten houses in the week they were there. With face masks, hazard suits, shovels and wheelbarrows, they went in and cleaned out everything - down to the bare studs. Along the way, they found marriage certificates, wedding rings and irreplaceable family photos. The look of gratitude on the faces of the home owners said it all. It was a great experience for everyone involved. If you would like to volunteer, contact Group Workcamp Foundation or one of the many other organizations that are helping out.

Jodie and I will return to the Gulf Coast this summer to film "Gulf Coast RV Adventure." We are also organizing a "Go to the Gulf" program for the RV industry. We are trying to get RV'ers and other tourists to head to the gulf for their next vacation and put a little money into the local economys who need it so badly. There are still miles of beautiful places to visit along the coast!

Jodie and I returned to Tucson on New Year's Eve, but were too tired to attend the party we had bought tickets for. My editing problems are still a nightmare I have to deal with, but have now been put into perspective with our trip to New Orleans. I hope everyone has a great new year!

See ya on the road,

John & Jodie

Why is editing like hitting yourself in the head with a hammer? Because it feels so good when you finish!!!!!!
©2005 John Holod Productions

* For Adventure Videos for RVers, visit their web site at http://www.rvadventurevideos.com

* See more articles at Happy Camper Club from other Circle of Trust RV Family Companies.