Rally Photos

I finally got the photos from the Chapter 2 rally off the camera and into Picasa for changes. Remember, you can click on any of the collages to enlarge them. So this first collage is of our visit to Creede's Underground Fire Station. Creede didn't have the money to build a fire station, but they had a lot of miners who were working in the silver mines in Creede. So in the miners off hours they donated their talents to dig out a fire station from a mountain just outside of town. They started in 1976 and took six years to complete. The interesting thing is that they didn't just blast out a big room to house the fire trucks. Instead they blasted and dug out individual bays - one for each piece of equipment. Inside it stays a constant 55 degrees, so there is no need to heat or use air conditioning.
I really like the photo of all the bunker gear lined up on pegs! Everyone seemed to enjoy being able to get inside and see the interior.

The South Fork Campground has a double garage that has been fixed up as a club house of sorts. Many of their summer campers come for the entire summer and they have breakfasts and lots of potlucks. So there are two stoves, a refrigerator and a freezer. So we used the garage as our meeting place for all the rally activities from morning coffee, daily happy hours, dinners and evening activities. Judy and Chuck Derington did a fantastic job as rally hosts, especially organizing all the meals. They bought most of the food precooked at Costco in Denver. The heat-and-eat barbeque ribs and hot wings were marvelous as were the frozen cinnamon rolls. As with all Escapee rallies we ate very well and no one left hungry for sure.

One night after dinner we had karaoke provided by MJ and Bill. The guys did the singing and the ladies did the dancing. The group really enjoyed the entertainment. We laughed till we were sick!Another night we all sat outside and had a camp fire provided by a outdoor gas log setup. Can you see it there in one of the photos? It was great! No smoke wafting in your face and in your clothes. The Marvin Eggleston played his guitar and provided us with song sheets and we sang all the old-fashioned songs like "She'll be Coming Round the Mountain" and "Five Foot Two". Wow, we had a great time singing with each other and even harmonizing on some of the songs. It was a great fun evening!

With 21 rigs we had a good turn out. We signed up 11 new members to go along with the 16 new member at the June rally, so we are growing. We had guests from Oklahoma and Kansas who were in the area and heard about the rally. We had some Class of 2007 classmates , Dave and Kathy Bennett, also attending. We even had VCRs in attendance, Ed and Sandy Kruty, which was very special. They were very helpful in explaining things and helping with the business meeting.

Our next rally will be in mid-May with a fall rally again next September or October. We want to have rallies all over the state and are looking at having the May rally in Montrose.

Well, that's all the info on our Fall rally. Hope some of you can join us at future rallies of Chapter 2.

Remember - yes, you are loved!