Dancing and Pooling in Evanston, Wyoming

        This was the first summer in nine years that Gary and I haven't worked managing campgrounds.  We enjoyed ourselves attending many things we were unable to, while working.   Evanston, Wyoming is a very active town and there were many local festivals we were able to attend on the weekends.  This included rodeos, Senior Center bar-b-ques at the park, a Brewfest, the Railroad Roundhouse Festival, Uinta County Fair activities, and parades. Of course there were also get-togethers with old friends.
        Most of our summer revolved around pool of some sort.  Gary enjoyed many mornings playing pool at the local Senior Center and several tournaments as well.  He had several 2nds and 3rds, along with a couple 1st places in singles and doubles.  While he was playing pool, I was in the pool most mornings.  The local Rec Center has a wonderful pool and hot tub.  There was a regular Senior Water Aerobics class on Mon, Wed, & Fri mornings and we spent a fun 4 weeks taking Water Yoga on Tue and Thur.  After our teacher left for the summer, we got permission for several of us to continue with self-guided water yoga sessions.  Being a small town, both the Senior Center and the Rec Center are located 1-2 miles from where we were parked at Riki's house.   All that time in the pool was great exercise and wonderful for my ankle.
          We didn't forsake the forest completely, as we met Gary's sister Pam and her family for a week of camping in our old campground both in July and August.  The late winter snows in Wyoming and Utah meant that the flooding in the campgrounds lasted into the middle of July.  Pam always reserves sites along the banks of the Bear River and these sites still had water sitting in them, so we all gathered in one of the great group sites.  By our week in August things were back to normal.  We watched for meteors, tried out new recipes, and just generally enjoyed relaxing in the Forest.  It was so nice with Gary not having to leave to check other campgrounds twice a day, and in case you were wondering, we didn't miss cleaning the restrooms or fire pits one little bit!
      We spent a couple weeks house and dog sitting this summer.  Gary and our daughter Riki's two oldest kids shoveled out and leveled an area on the side of their house, for us to park.  Now we're off the street, but have electricity and water.  We have to move to dump every two weeks, but with the Class C, that's easy to do and the whole moving and dumping process takes us less than an hour.  We've enjoyed being so close to their family with 3 of the grandkids.  The other 3 grandkids and our daughter-in-law, Anna live about three blocks away, so we're close by to both families.

           I was also able to take a Quilt class this summer and was even talked into teaching a class on a spiral table runner.  I also joined a group of quilters who get together and sew on some evenings or afternoons.  It was fun and I sure enjoyed getting to know another great group of gals.  Quilters have to be some of the friendliest people around, along with RVers of course.
           We were able to coordinate a family get-together with four of Gary's kids in Salt Lake this summer.  Our little miracle grandbaby, Bowdie, continues to grow and is a very busy two year old now.  It's hard to believe he was just over one pound when he was born.,  Here he is with a very proud dad.  It was the first time in many years that Gary's, daughter Sharee and her family were able to join us.  They relocated back to Salt Lake this Spring, after living in Alaska for about 20 years.  What fun seeing how all those grandchildren had grown and catching up with the kids.  Riki had a large family bar-b-que over Labor Day weekend (Cowboy Days in Evanston).  Except for Robert's oldest, Cory, being away at college already, it was fun having everyone together.

           Our other wonderful adventure this summer was attending the 51st Escapee Escapade in Gillette, WY.  We had missed the first one in WY, back in 2008, when we were working, so were excited to get to this one.  We stopped on the way to visit friends and spend the night in Bar Nunn, WY and then Gillette before we checked in.  We even got to root for Evanston at an away high school football game.  For those not familiar with Wyoming,  While two towns in the same state sound close, Evanston & Gillette are in opposite corners of the state, about 475 miles apart.  That means we got to see a lot of the state we love, while traveling.  We were on the "Row" for the Wash-Pan chapter (Eastern WA & Panhandle of ID) and promoted them and their upcoming rallies.  I also attended several seminars having to do with Geeky stuff on the internet and a couple craft classes, beading a bracelet and making earrings.  The nightly entertainment was great and of course visiting old friends and making new ones is always the best part.  There were quite a few Roosters there (folks from RoVer's Roost - our winter home), as you can see in this picture.

         Summer in Evanston concluded with Robert's name being added to the Bear River Memorial Grove in Evanston.   This is a serene area designed to memorialize individudals who have enjoyed, been active, or had an interest in outdoor recreation and the Evanston Community.   The Fire Department approached us early in the summer, asking permission to do this and of course, we said yes.  We also helped once again with the Demolition Derby, the major fund raiser for the Evanston Volunteer Fire Department.  We've continued to do this in Robert's name, as a way of carrying his legacy forward.  It's one of those things we know he would want us to do.

        Our plans as we get ready to leave include visiting Great Basin National Park, geocaching a portion of  the Extraterrestrial Highway in Nevada, visiting friends in Kingman, AZ, and a brief stay at North Ranch, outside Wickenburg, AZ .  Our littlest rolling house (Class C), has worked well for us this summer and we've enjoyed having the car for geocaching and day trips. Now as the nights in Wyoming get nippier (a touch of  frost a couple times), and daytime temps cool to the high 60's and low 70's, it's time to head further South.
      One of the things I learned in a Geeks seminar at Escapade was how to add the gadget that will let you sign up to be notified directly by email when I post a new blog.  It's at the top right side of the blog, so feel free to use this.  Eventually, I'll probably do away with separate email notifications.  Take care everyone and we hope to see you on down the road.
     Hugs, Katy and Gary,  (Rusty and Spicy too, of course)