Okay, I'm semi-clueless. What's this Class thing about and what is the criteria? LOL Is it when you start RVing? Full-timing? Finish an RV Boot Camp??

The class forum began back when Angie Carr was the internet admin person and there was a big push to get all of the new fulltimers to join a gathering of dry-campers out on the desert at Quartzsite each January. At that time the class year was the year you first attended that gathering. The group back in 2007 included a lot of Escapee members who went on to be very deeply involved in the club, among then the Penner's who were Escapade directors for 5 or so use. Since that time it has evolved to include pretty much everyone based on the year that they consider the fulltime life to have begun. 

There has been a gathering called Escapees Happy Hour out there each year and that event continues to this day. I suspect that may have been part of the origin of the class gatherings but since I was not involved in that, I am only guessing about that part. 

So it began based on what year you first went to that gathering and has nothing to do with when you began the full time life style?

We are part of the Class of 2006 (yes a few of us are still around).  That meant that we all began fulltiming during 2006 and met up for our "graduation" at Q in January 2007.   It was so much fun to finally meet in person people we were communicating with during 2006 who were going through the same problems, joys, frustrations, etc. as we were at the time.   Dave and I still proudly wear our Class of 2006 t-shirts!

I'm tellin' ya'.....gonna need a dictionary to learn all this RV lingo. LOL

So it's kind of a 'soft qualification'.....around the time when one goes full-time and shows up for a gathering at Quartzsite.

  On 11/20/2018 at 1:50 AM, Allentc2 said:

So it's kind of a 'soft qualification'.....around the time when one goes full-time and shows up for a gathering at Quartzsite.

I don't know that there are any actual rules, at least there aren't any from Escapees. They started a BOF and it is still listed as existing and to be part of that you are required to be a member of Escapees RV Club but as far as I know, there is nobody checking any rules or publishing any. Since we went fulltime in 2000 before the class thing began, I only know what I read or hear from members.

  On 11/20/2018 at 1:50 AM, Allentc2 said:

I'm tellin' ya'.....gonna need a dictionary to learn all this RV lingo. LOL

RV Dictionary

The class of '08 were people who started fulltiming in 2008 and attended a graduation party at Q in January of 2009. We were a smaller group than we wanted to be so we invited the Class of 2009 to join us the following January thus becoming the class of '08-'09. Then we started accepting members of other years who attended our annual reunion in Q in January until we eventually became the Classless Class. But the class of '08-'09 still maintains their own forum in addition to the Classless one.

Linda Sand, original member of the class of '08

So, even though we started full-timing in 2014, since we haven't gotten to Q yet, we still don't have a class?

  On 11/24/2018 at 9:20 AM, kb0zke said:

So, even though we started full-timing in 2014, since we haven't gotten to Q yet, we still don't have a class?

Some of us have "class" without sitting out there in the desert!    ?

  On 11/24/2018 at 9:20 AM, kb0zke said:

So, even though we started full-timing in 2014, since we haven't gotten to Q yet, we still don't have a class?

Each Class makes its own rules. Not all require a meet in Q. Most simply say you are a member of the class of the year you started fulltiming. The Class of '08 chose to make the Q rule so we would recognize one another when unplanned meetups happened all over the country. At one time we even had a class map for people to register their locations to facilitate meetups but we didn't want it to be overwhelmed by people we didn't know thus the rule about attending a meet in Q. Now, as we age, many of our class members are setting down into a home base with most still part-timing and the map program wanted money so we let it die.

Linda Sand

  On 11/24/2018 at 9:20 AM, kb0zke said:

... we started full-timing in 2014, ...

Good enough for me!!  We started in 2010, and that is what I tell people. This "Class of..." business is a construct of a few folks on these forums. Most RV'ers have no idea what that means, but would assume it is the year you started. 

When I read things like "Each Class makes it own rules" I just slowly back away...

I really don't understand the hostility that is apparent in some posts about the "Graduating Class" idea.

It was always  a fun thing to do, for people to engage on-line with those going through the same experiences that first year to compare notes/strategies/problems/failures/successes and then to meet up, if they could, in Q to put faces to names and celebrate having gotten out onto the road.    I'll always be thankful that we 'joined' the Class of '06 - we still try and get together with our 'Class" members whenever we can because those strangers we conversed with online became very good friends over the years.   

  On 11/25/2018 at 10:58 PM, mptjelgin said:

When I read things like "Each Class makes it own rules" I just slowly back away...

As I said before, the Escapees do not have any rules about the "class of" forums and who can belong. On these forums, you are welcome to claim any class you wish or none at all. The forums are owned by the Escapees organization and they make the only rules. As to the gatherings at Quartzsite, the BLM doesn't care who parks where and the Escapee happy hour event is open to all Escapee members and their guests and/or potential members. What you comment about is one of the reasons that we have not attempted to join any class, along with the fact that we went fulltime before there were any classes on the forum and as far as I know they didn't exist in Quartzsite either. As Barb points out, some of the class groups in Quartzsite welcome nomads like us while others do not. Since my wife has breathing difficulties in dusty conditions, we don't do desert dry camping anyway. We did walk into the Escapee happy hour once when we happened to be passing through that area and we were made very welcome. 

I here with declare   I Have No Class.