Larabee State Park, Washington

After our training and factory tour, we dipped back across the Canada/U.S. border right away, passed easily through customs, and headed for Larabee State Park in Washington, which is only about 40 miles from the Escape Factory. It was cool, damp, and very dark when we got to the campground, and the place was nearly empty. Since it was already late, we had no heart for unhooking or leveling, so we took a pull-through site and chose to just turn off our empty refrigerator rather than risk any damage to it while sitting on the fairly significant slope. Having used a pop-up camper for many years, it felt really good NOT to have to build our camper on the spot, and instead we just opened the Escape door, unstuffed the sleeping bags, and went to sleep.

We quickly came to love the ease of stopping for a night without unhooking. We didn’t need to put down the stabilizing jacks or use wheel chocks. The camper was stable enough just being hooked up to the car. It also didn't take long to start loving our little bathroom in the Escape. What a luxury! No more hiking 1-2-3 blocks in the dark and cold in the middle of the night! And to have our own little shower in the morning! Unbelievable! 

The famous Chuckanut Drive, near Larabee State Park

Factory Tour

Along with our training, Reace included a great tour of the factory. 

Fiberglass body molds

Fifth wheel body

Lower half of fifth wheel body in spray booth

Assembly line

Cabinet shop

Training

Every Escape buyer has the opportunity to pick up his purchase at the factory in Chilliwack and receive personalized training on the spot. We had fun getting our training directly from Rease. 

If you are a prospective Escape customer, and have any choice in the matter, definitely make the trip to Chilliwack to get your camper in person rather than having it shipped to you. It is a wonderful experience!

It’s time to list some things we learned from Rease during our training, obviously not an all-inclusive summary, but tidbits, however mundane, that we found interesting, and that other Escape owners or wannabees might appreciate:

• If you have the tandem axle it is hard to tell while driving that one of the tires is flat, and if it is, that overloads the other tire. So, make it a habit to kick all the tires every time you make a stop.

• Don’t put RV antifreeze in the potable water system when you winterize because it is almost impossible to get the taste out.

• If the camper is going to sit for very long, disconnect the positive battery cable because the light on the propane and CO2 detector will slowly drain the battery.

• If the canopy has been used, double-check that after you roll the canopy fabric back up, you lock the roller. Otherwise the canopy fabric could unroll on the highway, and be flapping around where you wouldn't see it, and destroy itself.

• The lowest part of the refrigerator door has a toothed plastic flap that is meant for holding cans upright.

• Rease recommends a refrigerator fan to distribute the temperature evenly.

• There is a condensate tray at the  back wall of the refrigerator that needs to be emptied periodically.

• When washing the camper, don’t shoot a bunch of water up into the refrigerator vent.

• Rease thinks that winter weather and even hail are not big concerns. Protecting your camper from ultra-violet damage from the sun is more important.

• For times when you don’t level the camper, a rule of thumb is that if the slope inside the camper is okay for people, it is also okay for the refrigerator. But don’t park your camper on your heavily sloped driveway and run the refrigerator.

• Tire pressure should be 40 psi.

• Every other year is about right for greasing the wheel bearings.

• Close the shower drain before towing to keep gray tank liquids from sloshing in.

• Some dripping from the kitchen faucet during travel is normal.

• Don’t store the rock guard pads on the camper. They could be damaged by UV. Also lubricate the snaps.

• When turning on the shower nozzle, cup your hand over it to protect yourself from a surprise blast of either hot or cold water.

• The toilet paper holder is now being installed vertically under the bathroom sink, as opposed to on the inside of the bathroom door. With it in this position, you can shower and the toilet paper doesn’t even get wet. 

First Impressions

Before ordering one, we never got to see an Escape 19 in person. Great Husband and I had similar expectations of how it would be when we first stepped into our 19. We had already discussed being prepared for the camper to feel disappointingly small inside, and we were also a bit fearful of whether we had chosen colors that would seem over the top compared to their impact as seen on little sample swatches.

Neither of these anticipated disappointments came to pass. The 19 immediately felt larger than anticipated and the fabric and formica choices were just right!  Our goal of achieving a cheerful, happy interior was a great success.

And we both agree--the Escape 19 is wonderfully small on the outside and wonderfully large on the inside.

We first meet our Escape 19 at the factory

Meeting the Celebrities

If you have been a long-distance fan of Escape trailers, or have been an avid follower of Escapes on escapeforum.org, then perhaps you have also grown fond of Tammy and Reace, owners of Escape Trailer Industries, even if you have never met them in person. At least that has been my feeling. 

When we were first introduced to Reace at the factory, little did he know that for me it was far better than meeting a famous actor or sports star. In fact, I already held Reace and Tammy in high esteem because of the way they have built their company from scratch, and the high quality products and service they provide their customers. Not being one myself, I really admire risk takers, which is what I think you have to be to start your own successful small business. Reace and Tammy had definitely earned my respect during the build process. 

So, when I first spoke to Tammy in person and blurted out, “I feel like I’m meeting a celebrity!” she just laughed. She probably had no idea what I was talking about.

Tammy and Reace with our Escape 19

Headed to BC

Our Escape 19 was finished in January 2012, the 516th Escape ever made. It awaited us at the factory in Chilliwack, British Columbia until April 2012, when we finally started our journey to pick her up. See Escapetrailer.com to see why we fell in love with Escape fiberglass trailers in the first place--light weight, clean design, and high quality construction, plus the rare opportunity to work directly with the manufacturer to customize our unit.

It took three days to drive from Nebraska to British Columbia, with overnights in Laramie, WY, Boise, ID, and Seattle, WA. This was the first big excursion for our new red-and-white Ford Flex, which left home with only about 850 miles on it. The Flex has fun features such as the built-in ability to calculate average mpg while rolling, and also to predict the number of miles to empty, based on your recent driving history. 

We were pleased to be getting 26.0 mpg at 75 mph, and this might have been even better if it hadn’t included rest and fuel stops and a certain amount of city driving. After all, who could be in Boise without making a visit to Boise State to see the campus? Checking out universities is one of Great Husband’s quirky habits which I’ve been adjusting to for 30 years. For those who may never see Boise State in person, we can report that the football turf is as insanely blue in person as it is on TV.

The Flex takes a break off I-80 at the Echo Information Center, Utah

What's in a Name?

Kibitka

Etymology

From Russian кибитка (kibítka).

Noun

kibitka (plural kibitkas)

1. A type of covered horse-drawn carriage from Russia, often used to transport prisoners
2. nomad's dwelling of some ethnic groups such as the Kalmyks and Kyrgyz

Kibitka definition one

Kibitka definition two

Kibitka. The word itself is simply charming. It sounds like a fondness that Grandmother whispered in your ear when you were sorely disappointed by life, as in, "Now, now, don't cry, my little Kibitka."


I came across "kibitka" for the first time in the thesaurus. I was searching under "vehicle," looking for some fun idea to name the new camper we had ordered from British Columbia. Naming a camper is not something that would normally occur to me, had it not been for the colorful folks on escapeforum.org., where I had become an avid fan of every detail about Escape campers. Our own Escape was due for completion in January 2012. Could it remain nameless?


So there it was, that charming word kibitka, and it took not much imagination to blend together the two definitions to predict how it would be for Great Husband and me with our new Escape, a small carriage of sorts, but not horse-drawn. And we would be nothing like prisoners! We would be living the ultimate freedom, practically the nomadic life of definition number two. Our new trailer would even have the gentle curves of the genuine kibitka hut.


But the name just didn't stick, even though I started this blog using the Kibitka title. And even though we have already found plenty of romance in our travels with our new camper, we simply call it, quite non-romantically, The Escape.