Sedalia, MO

What a busy week we had here in Sedalia, MO while attending the Escapees RV rally.  This is ours, and for as far as the eye can see, all sizes, shapes and makes ... 

We arrived a couple of days early and set about exploring the town. It is especially interesting as it has the old train depot turned museum for the Katy Railroad which has since been turned into a rails-to-trails route. The town is a quaint mixture of the old and the new, a combination often found in many communities throughout North America. Pride in their heritage is abundantly seen through the maintained older edifices, homes as well as businesses. Add to this the newer section of town and what do you find - Wally World and Starbucks alongside various fast food restaurants that offer all manner of foods.   a good ol' fashion drive-in that adapted to the modern ways... served a peanut butter hamburger of all things. We found a fabulous little mediterranean restaurant where we could get awesome gyros and hummus. But most of all, a welcoming, warm, fuzzy feeling wherever you go. 


The rally offered up many different venues for volunteering as well. We chose to drive the golf carts around offering rides to whomever needed one. The campground was a fair ways away from the vendors and various seminars being offered and for many these rides were the only way that they could go from one to another. We met a lot of great people driving these things. We even met a couple who are from Perth, Australia.  They are here in the US for 10 months then go home for 6 months and then come back again. They will do this for 3 years and then go home permanently before heading to Europe to do the same thing. They bought a truck and 5th wheel which they will sell in year 3.

The main reason for our being at the rally was that we have joined the DOVEs group - this is a Disaster Response group within Escapees that works within the confines of the Red Cross Disaster volunteer program. In order to be able to respond in a disaster within the DOVE group you have to have various Red Cross trainings and 2 days of trainings were being offered here at the Escapade. We were also able to get one class online before the Escapade. With this one, we sat in the car in front of the hospitality building for 3 hours doing what is affectionately called a Webinar. Not a bad way to get a course actually but you sure need a good internet connection. If the hospitality free wifi hadn't been set up yet, we would have used Starbuck's free service. So now we are only missing one of the mandatory trainings before we can be assigned out on a disaster.

Towards the end of the rally Danny got out the BoB trailer and we took it out for a spin on the Katy Trail to see how it pulled and how we managed with it on the tandem. The trail is made of chipped limestone and is sharp. We wanted to ensure that our tires were ok for it. All worked out well and the trail is very nice to ride. We actually rode out in both directions so got in a few miles (i.e. 20 miles both ways). At the end of the training classes and a day of rest, we moved over to Clinton which will be the end of the trail for us, where the rv will take a small holiday while we ride the trail. A highlight of these rides was Sunday afternoon finding what we thought was a bike shop - you never know when you will need something.  Surprise surprise - a person came running out to us and asked if we wanted some breakfast. Yes, for free. Seems that the young couple were feeding their community members (i.e. those in need I am sure and we sure don't look like we are in need) as their "give back a little something to the community". Pancakes, scrambled eggs, juice and coffee was on the menu. Of course, we partook and with much conversation had an enjoyable interlude from riding. And then we found out that it was no longer a bike shop, it had moved to another location and the owner was allowing them to offer there service for free

And so another adventure was about to begin...