Livingston seems like a nice small Texas town. But we aren’t here to see the town; we are here to see Rainbow’s End, home park of the Escapees RV Club, a.k.a. SKP (get it?). This park is open to the public, but clearly caters to Escapees members. The club itself does not promote Rainbow’s End, or any of its other 7 “Rainbow parks” – campgrounds owned by the club – but independent reviews are available (e.g. here and here). The reviews are not all complimentary and I can see why. Compared to some of our other campgrounds, the facilities were second-rate: a gravel pad (instead of concrete) on our pull-through, no showers or restrooms nearby, an older laundry room, no cable TV, no WiFi in our area, no camp store, a smallish dog park and minimal landscaping.
Patience resting at Rainbow’s End
The laundry
The pool
We loved it.
Why? A deep sense of community, of everyone pulling together for the common good, suffuses the place. Everyone we met – from the instant I walked in the office door and found the manager hugging a departing camper – was friendly, helpful and supportive. Social events dotted the calendar. The community supports Livingston charities as well – we helped load trucks with the tables and chairs from the community center that were being loaned to the SPCA for the day for a fundraising event and the annual bake sale in support of the Livingston volunteer fire department (which has provided funding for two trucks and other equipment over the past 20 years) is one of next week’s highlights. Last night we went to an all-you-can eat spaghetti dinner SPCA fundraiser at the local Methodist church and were surprised (though we shouldn’t have been) to find that half the people there were Escapees. We sat with some of them and felt like we belonged.
Next week is “TexFest”, this year’s name for the annual week-long Octoberfest party. Members are arriving from all over the country to attend. One gets the sense that members use these events as good excuses to get together to renew friendships. We are sorry that we have to leave before the festivities begin.
Adding to the sense of community is the fact that there are many “permanent” residents of Rainbow’s End. This group includes some long-term residents living in their RVs, but also includes a large number of people who own deeded sites, most of which include a small cottage and a large hanger-like garage for their RV. These people might spend most of their time on the road, but have a place to come home to.
Cottage with hanger
Some live in one RV and use another to travel.
A 2-RV resident
There are 128 daily use campsites at Rainbow’s End, but almost 200 deeded sites.
What else makes Rainbow’s End unique? I have already mentioned SmartWeigh. It is also our mail-forwarding service (yes, we picked up our mail so to our creditors who are reading this: the check is in the mail). Most unique of all, though, is the Care facility. This is basically a nursing facility for aging or disabled RVers. The Care facility (which houses medical facilities as well as an adult daycare room and a larger multi-function room) is surrounded by 38 campsites reserved for RVers needing assistance. If necessary, meals are delivered to them in their RVs. Cost for daily support, including the 3 meals and adult daycare? $650 per month. That works out to about $20 per day for meals and a variety of other non-medical assistance (shopping, etc), provided by volunteers. I assume that medical care is covered separately, mostly under Medicare and I think the RV site has some rent as well, but not much.
The Care facility
We had breakfast at the Care facility yesterday ($4 for eggs, hashbrowns, grits, biscuits and gravy, bacon, sausage and toast) and met some of the elderly RVers receiving care there. Jett and I agreed that it was the most cheerful assisted living facility we have ever seen.
The Escapees RV Club is one of those organizations – like my fraternity – where everyone has a memorized number. During social hour a speaker invariably begins by introducing himself or herself as “I am Jane Doe, 12345”. Jett was impressed when we were asked to introduce ourselves the first night and I could recite our number: 110057. One of the speakers was Kathy, number 3, daughter of the founder. Over 110,000 people have joined since the founding, it seems.
The Escapees RV Club is also affiliated – loosely – with 11 SKP Co-op parks. These are parks owned and operated by the people – all Escapees – who individually own the sites in the park. Basically, campground condos. The sites are used by the owners when they are there but are available, very inexpensively, to other SKP members when they are elsewhere. I think this is a rather unique arrangement and I hope to try one out sometime, just to see how they work.
We wish we could have stayed at Rainbow’s End longer, but we must leave today. As we leave we will give everyone the closing that is used at every Rainbow’s End social: “Have a Rainbow day!”