I've been an Escapees member since 2014. I've been to rallies, I've parked at Rainbow's End, I've talked about what it means to belong to something bigger than your travels. But nothing quite prepared



me for what I felt the afternoon I walked into the Escapees CARE Center in Livingston, Texas and sat down for fifteen minutes with a woman named Carol.

That visit changed something in me & I think it might change something in you, too.

Wait — What Did You Escape From?

If you've ever introduced yourself as an Escapees member at a rally and watched someone's face go sideways — you know exactly what comes next. "Escapees? What did you escape from?"

It's practically a rite of passage. And honestly, it's a fair question.

Here's the story: Escapees RV Club was founded on July 4th, 1978 — fitting — by Joe and Kay Peterson. They were full-time RVers raising a family on the road at a time when the world thought they were a little crazy for it. They started a five-page newsletter, hand-cranked from a portable printer, and sent it to 164 friends.

That little newsletter became one of the largest and most recognized RV clubs in the country.

But the name itself? That came from fellow members Harry and Peggy Lewis, who submitted "Escapees" — and also created the abbreviation SKP, from eScaPees, which you'll still see on bumper stickers and badges today.

The motto the club settled into almost immediately: Sharing

and Caring. Two words that, as you're about to see, were never just talk.

"When you see an Escapees sticker, you know you've found a friend."

So what did they escape from?

The ordinary, maybe. The expected path. The idea that you had to

live in one place to have a real life.  Sound familiar? If you're reading this, you probably escaped the same thing.

Now — What Is Escapees CARE?

CARE stands for Caring Affordable Respite Experience, and it is the ONLY program of it's kind in the United States. It was born out of a question most full-timers quietly ask themselves eventually: what happens if I can't do this anymore?

What happens after a surgery, after an illness, when age asks for a little more help than your neighbors can reasonably give?

CARE is not an assisted living facility — let's be clear about that. It's more of a partnership. A community-based model where residents keep their own RV parked on-site, return to their own home each evening, and access professional support during the day through a skilled program nurse and trained staff.

Three meals are prepared and served daily. Transportation to doctor

appointments. A full activity calendar — live country and western jam sessions on Thursdays, bingo three days a week, root beer floats on Fridays, Sunday services, Walmart runs by bus on Tuesdays.

The atmosphere, as CARE itself puts it, is like an RV rally. Its goal is to delay or eliminate the need for a nursing home — to let RVers age in place, in their own rig, surrounded by their own people.

CARE has been doing exactly that since 1992.

When  I visited CARE, we didn't just walk through — we sat down with Crystal, for a podcast interview.

She is warm, knowledgeable, and clearly loves what she does. She answered every question we had with the kind of calm confidence that only comes from truly believing in the work.

Crystal is maintaining the reins from Dave Condit, the longtime Director of CARE, who hasbuilt so much of what CARE is today. Dave is still on-site. Still smiling. And in one of those quietly beautiful moments that says everything about what CARE really is.

The man who spent years caring for this community is now being cared for by it too.



But Wait — CARE Isn't Just for Retirees

Before we go further, let's talk about Xscapers — because if you're not one, you probably know one. And if you are one, you already know this next part applies directly to you.

In 2015, Travis Carr — grandson of Escapees founders Kay and Joe Peterson, and former President and co-CEO of Escapees RV Club — kept running into younger RVers on the road. He'd chat them up about Escapees and get the same response every time: "That's not really for me. That's a club for retirees, right?"

Those conversations lit a fire. Travis and his wife Melanie co-founded Xscapers in 2015 — a lifestyle group built inside Escapees specifically for working-age RVers. Not a separate club. A second door into the same house.

Xscapers debuted at the 55th Escapade in Tucson, with Kay Peterson's own endorsement during the opening ceremony. The grandmother blessing the grandchild's creation. Full circle.

Xscapers are people who chose to escape the traditional life pattern — the career, the house, the accumulation of things — in favor of a nomadic lifestyle that collects experiences instead.

They often work from their rigs. They raise kids on the road. They show up to Convergences after work hours and keep the fun going well past midnight. It's less about age and more about attitude. A little younger. A little wilder. Still 100% Escapees.

And here's the thing a lot of people don't realize, CARE is for them too.

Not someday. Right now. If life throws a curveball — a surgery, a health setback, a season where you simply cannot drive yourself around — the Respite Care program at CARE doesn't check your age. It just asks if you're an Escapees member and if you need help.

We saw this firsthand on our visit. Right there in the CARE Center, we ran into a fellow Xscaper — working-age, not at the end of any road — just mending. He'd had surgery and couldn't drive himself. CARE had him covered with meals, support, transportation, and the one thing that's harder to find than any of those: community. People who speak the language of the life he chose.

CARE isn't just a safety net for later. It's a net that catches you right now, too.

CARE Needs Us — And the Math Will Surprise You

Here's what I want you to understand before we go any further.

CARE is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that runs almost entirely on donations and volunteers. Member donations makes up only roughly 20% of their operating budget.

The original CARE Center building was funded entirely by Escapees

members — built without a single loan. Over 40,000 meals are served there every year, kept affordable because this community shows up.

Now here's the part where I need you to do a little math with me.

If 100 people from the Learn to RV community committing just $10 a month = $1,000 every single month = $12,000 a year flowing into CARE — from people who don't even have to be Escapees members to give.

That's right. You do not need to be an Escapees member to donate to CARE.

Anyone who believes in what this place does can give — and every dollar goes directly toward keeping this community alive and affordable for the people who need it.

Volunteering on-site is a different story.

To serve at CARE — to be one of those hands in the dining room, one of those drivers taking a resident to their appointment — you do need to be an Escapees member. That membership is what makes the volunteer community accountable and connected.

It's a small thing to ask for the privilege of being part of something this good.

apply through the volunteer coordinator at www.escapeescare.org

You commit to a full month. Show up. No medical training required.

We also had the pleasure of chatting with Dan, a volunteer whose warmth and dedication speaks to exactly why CARE runs the way it does. Volunteers don't just help here — they become family.

If you want to hear Dan's story in his own words, we cover it on the podcast this week.

And CARE needs those volunteers especially in June, July, and August. When Texas reminds everyone exactly why snowbirds exist, the volunteer roster thins.

If you're an Escapees member with a free summer and a servant's heart — this may be your calling.

The Thrift 'n Gift: A Treasure Hunt That Keeps the Lights On

Right on-site at 155 Care Center Drive is one of the most purposeful thrift stores you'll ever walk into. The Thrift 'n Gift Resale shop was born from a simple idea by a couple of CARE residents: instead of two big sales a year, why not keep a resale shop open year-round and let it work for CARE every week?

That idea took root. The original building was funded by the Art and Marion Bourke Estate — former CARE residents who loved this place so much they left it something lasting.

In 2022, a new, larger building opened, funded by the Sandy Elkins Estate. Today the shop is an integral part of what keeps CARE affordable for its residents, run entirely by volunteers, stocked with new items daily.

Open Thursday through Saturday, 9am to 2pm. There's a white donation box in the parking lot for when the shop is closed — adult clothing, shoes, linens, and non-breakable items welcome any time.

And Then There Was Carol

I want to tell you about the moment that made all of this real for me.

Many of the residents were gathered in the dining area for lunch — the kind of easy, unhurried midday meal where conversation flows and nobody's in a rush. I was taking it all in, feeling the warmth of the place, when I met Carol.

She took about fifteen minutes to chat with me — and I mean really chat. Carol is in her nineties.

She was a news reporter. Let that sink in for a second.

A female news reporter — which means, if you do the math, she was doing her work right in the thick of an era when women in journalism were still kicking down doors to get into the rooms where the news was made. She feels exactly like that kind of woman. Spunky. Sharp. Funny. '

The kind of person who has stories you could listen to for hours.

"She still drives herself to the casino at least once a week. At

90-something. In Texas."

Here's what really got me: Carol doesn't have to be at CARE. She's well enough to live on her own in her RV. She pays to be there — and she chooses it every single day because of what it gives her. Three meals prepared and waiting. Friends to share them with. A volunteer who'll drive her to her doctor appointment. A community that feels like home.

"It's my home," she told me. "I love it here."

I took a selfie with her before I left.

The Real Truth: CARE Gives Back

CARE is not just a community that receives support from Livingston — it actively gives back to the town that hosts it.

$200,000+ has been contributed to the Livingston Volunteer Fire Department by Escapees members since 1996 through CARE's annual fall fundraiser.

Every fall, CARE hosts its CARE Fest — an Oktoberfest-style fundraiser featuring a dessert auction that has been a beloved community tradition for decades.

A portion of every dollar raised goes directly to the Livingston Volunteer Fire Department — the volunteers who protect the very community CARE calls home. That money buys protective equipment and gear for the firefighters who show up when it matters most.

Let that sink in. A nonprofit that depends on community donations is simultaneously donating to the community around it. That is not a charity asking for a handout. That is a neighbor being a neighbor.

And the giving doesn't stop there. Every year at Escapade & Xscapers BASH — annual gatherings of Escapees members — the community rallies for CARE.

In 2026, Escapade is heading to Maine, & members will once again raise money for CARE in ways both big and small.

If you're going, you already know what to do. The cuture of Escapade is tons of fun but gives back in BIG ways to CARE.

I've thought about that photo with Carol more than once since that day. There's something in Carol's face that captures everything CARE is trying to be: independence, dignity, community, and a whole lot of

life still being lived on your own terms.

This Is What a Community Looks Like

Kay Peterson started Escapees because she believed in Sharing and Caring. Dave Condit has spent years running CARE. Crystal is there too helping to carry this amazing organization forward. Dan shows up every few months to serve.

This is what a community looks like when it actually shows up for its own.

Ten dollars a month could make a very big difference.