Co-op parks were originally designed for day traveling between parks. That is why Joe and Kay Peterson, founders of the Escapees RV Club, created RoVer's Roost as the first SKP Co-Op. For east-west travelers along the southern route from Florida to California, Casa Grande is on your way.
This is the story of how, in 1981, RoVer's Roost became the first co-op in the Escapees RV Co-op network — and how a little piece of desert with a dump station and a pole barn became something priceless.
It was an adventure. It was a leap of faith. Over one hundred of us sent our money to Kay and Joe Peterson.
What were we buying? We weren't sure, except that we saw a little piece of desert with a dump station and a pole barn — which we were to turn into a campground. And a dream.
Did we know each other? No. But we did know that caring and sharing were real, and we could make the park come true. So the guys formed work crews, and the women baked cookies to feed them. We bonded by achieving our goals together. We became family.
Kay wanted a clubhouse to host an Escapade. She knew how much money there was for it, and the clubhouse rose within those constraints. It did not have more than sheet rock on the outside walls for years, until the present stucco could be budgeted. We raised money any way we could. One of the novel ways was to buy chances on who would win the first flush when the bathrooms were completed.
Was our investment a good one? It was priceless — fun, fellowship, family. Who could ask for anything more?
Glimpses of how we used to tell our story — pages from the original RoVer's Roost website, lovingly preserved.
The desert lot grew into a community. The pole barn gave way to a proper clubhouse. The first flush turned into a fundraising legend. And the model Joe and Kay Peterson dreamed up — a co-op where residents lead, share, and care for one another — proved itself so well that ten more SKP Co-Ops followed across the country.
Today RoVer's Roost is still resident-owned, resident-run, and proud of it. The neighbors who first sent their money to Kay are part of the story we tell — and the legacy they built is the one we steward together every season.
Here's to the next 45 years.
Caring & Sharing — still our motto
Visit, volunteer, or come stay for a season. You'll see why our founders' dream still lives here.