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Nick's Blog Sunday, November 30, 2008 After several days of sightseeing, we spent most of yesterday at home, catching up on paperwork and logging in a bunch of orders that came in the mail Friday. It was gray and overcast most of the day, but though the weather report had indicated scattered thunderstorms, we got a total of about fifteen raindrops.
Our group
included Terry and myself, Padraic and Willie, Wes and Jan When they
served her gumbo, Willie started to add As I wrote
in Wednesday’s blog, shrimp, red potatoes, Boudin sausage, blue crab,
crawfish, and other goodies are While the main course was fantastic, we all decided that the Key Lime tarts they served for dessert were definitely a one time thing. Tart is the right word for them, because they had no sweetener in them at all. I looked over at Jo, sitting beside me, and the expression on her face was priceless. “Darn, Jo, I remember back when you had lips,” I told her, and that really broke her up. We all had a good laugh at her expense, but Jo is always a good sport and took the teasing in stride. It was great having a little reunion with some our RVing friends. We have met Wes and Jan a few times in the past, but always at an rally or RV event where there is too much going on to really have the time to socialize like we enjoy. It has been nice spending time with them and getting to know them better. They have been coming to the Texas Gulf coast for decades and know the region well, so we have been learning a lot about the area from them. Thought For The Day –
It is choice, not chance, that determines your destiny. Register Now For Our Arizona Gypsy Gathering Rally Saturday, November 29, 2008 There’s a reason they don’t trust me with power tools. For years I carried a neat little Buck pocketknife with about a two inch long blade and black plastic handle to cut the plastic straps on bundles of newspapers. It disappeared a while back, and I’ve been looking for a replacement ever since.
Wednesday I
was poking around a neat sporting good store in Rockport called Tackle
The more time we spend here, the more we like it. We’re not even close to settling down and hanging up the keys, and I hope we never are. But I could be very happy here if that day ever comes. Our pals Earl and Sami Aeverman have an extra full hookup RV site available for rent at a reasonable price, if anyone is headed this way. When we picked up our mail at the post office yesterday, included was a card from the Escapees RV Club telling us that with receipt of the recent membership application of some new Escapees, we have now referred 21 new members since January, 2001. The last I heard, we had referred more new members than anyone else in the club. We’re rather proud of that. We always tell people that while we belong to FMCA, Bus Nuts, and a couple of other RV groups, we are Escapees. Poor Miss Terry, I promised her some down time while we were here so she could finish some projects inside the bus, but every day there is so much to see and do that I’m dragging her all over the place. Usually it doesn’t take me long to get bored at a new location and I start to get hitch itch and want to head on down the road, but I think we’ll be here a while. Since we don’t have to leave Arizona early in the spring to get back east for Life on Wheels like we have in the past, we may stay around here until it’s time to head west for our Gypsy Gathering rally in Casa Grande in February, and then stay in Arizona longer afterward to spend time with our family there. Thought For The Day –
A smile is a passport that will take you anywhere you want to go. Register Now For Our Arizona Gypsy Gathering Rally Friday, November 28, 2008 Am I the only one avoiding the bathroom scales this morning? Miss Terry made us a delicious Thanksgiving dinner yesterday, and then about 5 p.m. we went over to visit with Wes and Jan Chilson, Jim and Jo Gass, and some other folks, and had dessert. By the time we got home, I needed to punch another hole in my belt! It’s always fun to get together with a bunch of RVers and trade war stories from the road. It is amazing how much mischief supposedly responsible adults can get into when left to their own devices. Wes and Jan shared a story about a time they tried to avoid the interstate highway and travel on a two lane road, only to find themselves at an underpass that was a good foot lower than their fifth wheel trailer is tall, and the contortions they needed to do to get out of that mess! Jim responded with a tale of his own, telling us about the time he fell off his stepladder at a campground in South Dakota, and ended up laying on his back with the ladder on top of him. He called for Jo to come outside and help him, and meanwhile a lady stopped, not to offer assistance, but rather to ask directions! I
couldn’t resist telling two stories that happened to us in our
travels. One night we pulled into the parking lot behind the Elks lodge
in Just as we were about to drift off to sleep, we heard a train whistle blowing, which is a familiar sound to all RVers. Then the ground began to vibrate, and suddenly our bedroom was lit up like daylight by the locomotive’s headlight. Terry and I sat bolt upright in bed and looked out the window to see a huge train bearing down on us. “Did we park on the tracks?” Terry screamed. “I don’t know,” I screamed back. The train was now no more than 30 feet away, and we knew we were doomed. What can you do in a situation like that? There was no time to escape. We just held hands, and at the same time said “I love you.” Then miraculously the train followed a curve in the tracks at the last minute and was rattling along parallel to us, and was soon out of sight. We had covered over 450 miles that day, but we were suddenly wide awake and had enough adrenalin pumping through us that we could have driven all the way to New York City without ever blinking! Another
time we were rolling west on Interstate 10 in And disappeared. I hadn’t noticed that there was a ten foot drop-off at the edge of the shoulder, and slid downhill on my butt! Back in the bus, Terry saw me suddenly vanish and called out “Nick? Where’d you go?” I was laughing so hard that I only managed to claw my way about halfway back up before I slid all the way back down and had to start all over again. Every seasoned RVer has stories like this, and sitting around sharing them makes this lifestyle all the more fun. Thought For The Day –
There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action. Register Now For Our Arizona Gypsy Gathering Rally Thursday, November 27, 2008 Happy Thanksgiving! I hope wherever you are reading this, you are content and surrounded by love, whether your home has a foundation or wheels under it. Now, I have to be honest here, Thanksgiving is about my least favorite holiday. It’s a day to gather with family, eat turkey, and watch the big football games. With a few exceptions, I try to avoid most of my family, I don’t much care for turkey, and I don’t watch professional sports. So what does the day have to offer me? Thanksgiving is a real rip off, especially for turkeys, women, and Native Americans. If you’re a turkey, the day is an obvious downer for you and your friends. Women end up working hard all day, then everybody sits down, devours everything in a few minutes, then the men head for the living room to loosen their belts and watch the ballgame, and guess who gets stuck with cleanup duties? And as for the Native Americans, I bet they look back now and wish their ancestors had minded their own business and let those darned Pilgrims starve. Look how their generosity came back to bite them on the butt! But Thanksgiving really is about remembering all that we have to be thankful for, and I sure have a lot. Our health is good, my grandkids are growing up strong and happy, I have people that love me, I’m married to my best friend, and my work, if you can call it that, is what most people do on vacation. What more could I ask for? We’ve had some offers for Thanksgiving dinner, but Terry and I plan on a quiet day with just the two of us, which is just how we like it. We’ll have our own small dinner here at home, and later on in the afternoon, our friends Wes and Jan Chilson have invited us over for pie. There will be some other fulltimers we know there but have not crossed paths with in a while, so it will be a bit of a reunion too.
You can buy fresh shrimp right off the boats,
or charter a fishing boat to When we
were in the Florida Keys a couple of weeks ago, we had to drive about 40
miles from Thought For
The Day – Old age is always 15
years older than I am. Register Now For Our Arizona Gypsy Gathering Rally Wednesday, November 26, 2008 Terry and I had fun yesterday exploring and playing. We got a late start to the day, because it was one of those mornings where the bed just felt so cozy and perfect for snuggling. But we finally greeted the world, and decided to drop off some sample bundles of the Gypsy Journal at a couple of the local RV parks. I’ve
mentioned before that the Fulton/Rockport and To give you an example of the bargains available, here are a couple of RV parks we stopped at: Ransom Road RV Park is very close (about one block) to the Intercoastal Waterway. The interior roads and RV sites are all paved, the grass is well manicured, and it has a club house and laundry. Overall, a very nice RV park. Daily Rates are $30, weekly rates are $130, and monthly rates are $245 to $320. Just across
the road and down a short distance is ICW RV Park. The place is not
fancy at all, just back in sites with paved RV pads, paved interior
roads, and grass. Some sites actually back up to the water and if we
were staying there, we could launch our kayaks from our site. Some sites
have wooden patios that look in need of paint, at the least. Daily rates
are $22 for a basic RV site, or $28 for waterfront sites. Weekly rates
are $120 for a basic site, or a waterfront site is $175. Monthly rates
are $205 for a basic site to $280 for a waterfront site. Electric is
extra. The park has a 360 foot lighted private fishing pier, bath house,
and laundry. Compared to almost anyplace in While we
were checking out ICW RV park, Terry spotted a beautiful red Volvo heavy
duty truck, and remarked that it looked like Jim and Jo Gass’ truck.
We knew they were in the area, and sure enough, we were right in front
of their fifth wheel! As it turns out, Jim and Jo were out on Terry and I
then drove the causeway across
What better way to end a great day than with great food? We drove to Rockport and had dinner at the Boiling Pot, a wonderful Cajun restaurant we discovered when we were here last year. The menu includes such goodies as shrimp, crawdads, Boudin sausage, red potatoes, and oysters. The food is prepared in a Cajun boil, then they spread butcher paper across the table, bring it out and dump it in a steaming, delicious pile in front of you. Add some spicy red beans and rice, tie a bib around my neck, and stand back! Yummy! Thought For The Day – Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life. Register Now For Our Arizona Gypsy Gathering Rally Tuesday, November 25, 2008 Can you believe that Christmas is just one month from today? Where did the year go? I think it’s true, time really does speed up as you get older. Sometimes I just wish it would slow down. As fulltime RVers, a lot of times family members are at a loss as to what to give us for Christmas. What do you give a guy who got rid of almost everything he owned to go live in an RV? We’d prefer that people don’t give us anything. Contrary to what the folks at the big box stores and shopping malls would like you to believe, the holiday is not about spending money none of us can afford to buy presents for someone who really does not need, or usually want, what we buy them. But we have to, because if we don’t, and then they buy us something we don’t need or want, how embarrassing will that be? I used to suggest that if you insist on buying a present for the fulltime RVers on your shopping list, a gift card to a nationwide store or restaurant was a good choice. It still is, as long as the store stays in business long enough for them to redeem it. Every time I turn on the television news, I hear of some other big merchant going under. Of course, if you really twist my arm, I guess I could suggest a gift subscription to the Gypsy Journal for your RVing friends. J Yesterday
we left the Thousand Trails preserve in Columbus, Texas, and drove about
185 miles to Aransas Pass, Texas, where our longtime friends Earl and
Sami Aeverman have given us the use of their RV lot for a while they are
in California. Last year we fell in love with the When I announced that we were headed this way, one of the blog readers sent me an e-mail to tell me about a great restaurant in neighboring Rockport called the China A Super Buffet. We had not eaten all day, so once we were parked and hooked up, we drove to the nearest car wash to get several hundred miles of Detroit Diesel oil and road grime off of our van, then checked out the restaurant. Folks, this one is a keeper. In fact, I rate it as one of the top two or three Chinese buffets we have found anywhere in the country. The buffet menu is huge, and they also have a sushi bar and steaks grilled to order, all included in the very reasonable buffet price. If you get down here to the Texas Coastal Bend, be sure to check it out. I guarantee you’ll like it. Over the past months, many readers have written to ask how our dear friend Sandy Baleria is doing. All of us who knew and loved Dave have been terribly hurt by his sudden passing earlier this year, but no one as much as Sandy, of course. Terry keeps
in close contact with Dave and
Sandy devoted much of their lives to making a difference in the world,
and What a
wonderful tribute to a man who those of us who knew him will ever
forget. Sandy, I love you and I’m so proud of you, and I know Dave is too. I know
he is right there beside you as you begin this new project, with that
mile wide grin of his, saying "Damn, Thought For The Day –
Life without love is like a tree without blossom and fruit. Register Now For Our Arizona Gypsy Gathering Rally Monday, November 24, 2008
The only negative is that a lot of the electrical boxes on the RV sites are covered with plastic bags, and now we know why. We are in the D loop down by the river, and in the last three days our Progressive Industries Electrical Management System (EMS) has shut down incoming power seven or eight times because the voltage gets up to 132 volts. Saturday I called the campground office and they sent over a worker who changed the outlet in the box, but it hasn't solved the problem. We were
told we could move to another site, but I see too many with electric
boxes covered up to think that would do us any good. So I think we'll
cut our visit short and go on to In his RV Dreams Journal blog yesterday, Howard Payne wrote that sometimes fulltime RVers feel guilty because we need a break from hiking, sightseeing, and exploring new places, and just want to spend a day vegging out in front of the TV or playing around online. There is so much to see and do that it seems a shame to waste a day. But Howard explained that traveling and playing every day becomes both exhausting and expensive. To an outsider, the fulltime lifestyle does indeed look like a permanent vacation. After all, we get to go wherever we want to go and do whatever we want to do, anytime we want. Well, yes and no. The laundry still needs done, even people living in an RV manage to mess it up enough to occasionally have do some housework, dishes need washed, and we haven’t met any grocery fairies yet, so we have to do some shopping now and then. Since we are not retired and we operate our business on the road, Terry and I also spend a lot of our time working; writing my blog and articles for the Gypsy Journal, writing books, filling orders that come by mail or e-mail, updating our websites, bookkeeping, planning our rallies, speaking and vending at RV events, and visiting all of the places we write about. We do the same things that people who live in apartments, condos, houses, and mobile homes do. Sometimes we quarrel, but the making up is so much fun. Sometimes we have a case of the sniffles or a sore throat. Sometimes we go for walks, or ride our bikes. Sometimes we throw burgers on the grill for dinner, and sometimes we invite friends over and have a more formal meal. There are days when we worry about our kids or Terry’s parents’ health. There are days when we see a beautiful rainbow, or a sunset that takes our breath away. There are even days when we are bored, believe it or not! Fortunately, they are few and far between. Our life is just like yours. As John Denver sang, “Some days are diamonds, and some days are stones.” The only difference is that we can change our back yard on a whim, move to a new town whenever we feel like it, and if we don’t like the neighbors, we can leave. Thought For The Day –
Failure is only the opportunity to more intelligently begin again. Register Now For Our Arizona Gypsy Gathering Rally Sunday, November 23, 2008
I called
the company’s tech support in Emporia, I’m a big
believer in an auxiliary brake for towed vehicles. For a long time, we
didn’t have one, but I learned a lesson about just how important they
are a few years back. I had to make a panic stop, and we didn’t have
an auxiliary brake in the If I do have to purchase a new unit, I’m not sure if I’ll go back to an inertia system like the Brake Buddy, or try something else. What type of braking system do you use, and what has been your experience with it? To me it’s a no-brainer. Not only can a braking system help prevent an accident, but if you do have one, it may keep you from losing the lawsuit that will probably follow if some ambulance chaser can convince a jury that you may not have hit the fool who made an illegal U-turn in front of you if you would have had a braking system on your towed car. These days it seems like everybody is just running around looking for someone to sue, and there legions of shyster lawyers just waiting to help them do so. It’s gotten so bad that we even had a federal judge who sued a dry cleaners a couple of years ago for millions of dollars because they ruined his suit. And these are the guys passing judgment when these cases come to trial? It’s gotten so bad that now another idiot is suing McDonald’s. No, he didn’t spill hot coffee in his wacky place while he was driving; this clown left his cell phone at a McDonald’s in Fayetteville, and he happened to have nude photos of his wife on said telephone. Someone picked up the phone, and the photos ended up on the internet. Now the husband wants $3 million in damages from McDonald’s for his suffering and embarrassment! Give me a break! Here's a link to a story about the lawsuit. I guess the lesson here is, if you feel you must take nude photos of your beloved, don’t keep them in your cell phone! And if you do, don’t lose the darned thing! If you do, and your wife’s image appears in cyberspace, I think you deserve every bit of suffering she can lay on you. Thought For The Day –
The gene pool could use a little chlorine. Register Now For Our Arizona Gypsy Gathering Rally Saturday, November 22, 2008 Yesterday
we were playing telephone tag with our friends Mike and Pat McFall, who
are PressurePro
vendors. They were about thirty minutes ahead of us headed west on Interstate 10. Pat
called to tell us that there was a major traffic jam caused by an
accident on the east side of the metropolitan As we got closer, truckers on the CB radio were suggesting getting off and following the frontage road to try to get past the backup. I exited the highway, went a mile or so, and the darned frontage road ended at a railroad track! We wandered down a few surface streets and eventually found ourselves back at the interstate. There was a Flying J at the corner, and above us the highway was at a dead stop. It was almost noon,
so I told Miss Terry there was no reason to sit still in traffic when we
could sit still and have a leisurely lunch. We pulled into the truck stop, and by the
time we had finished eating an hour or so later, the traffic was moving
again. We got back on the highway, made our way through heavy traffic
all the way across
Some days it’s like I’m damned if I do, and damned if I don’t. In
yesterday’s blog I wrote about a close call we had in One reader wrote: “Your decision to move to the left into an occupied lane was selfish and stupid. You endangered the driver of the SUV to save yourself, which tells me a lot about your character. I hope I never share the roadway with you.” Another reader wrote: “Nick, I think it was very inconsiderate of you to take a chance on wrecking another driver who had nothing to do with the situation you were in. In your place, I would have hit the guardrail, or, worst come to worst, I’d have hit the trailer in front rather than put an innocent person’s life in danger to save my own.” While it all happened very fast, in my mind it seemed at the time like the lesser of two evils, and I remember making what I felt was a rational decision. If I would have hit the SUV, it would have been a sideswipe and he had an empty lane next to him where he would have hopefully ended up. If I had hit the trailer in front of us, there is no question in my mind that Terry and I would have been killed. Hitting the guardrail would not have stopped us, only sent us into a spin, and who knows how many people our big old bus would have wiped out in the process? So I did what I did, nobody got hurt, and that’s all that matters. While it is noble to say that one would sacrifice themselves to save someone else, real life isn’t a country music song or a movie. None of us know what we will do until faced with a given situation. I never claimed to be anyone’s hero. On the subject of things that can happen to us on the road, my pal Sharon Del Rosario sent me a link to a website I had not seen before called RV Safely Down The Road, which has a lot of good information on everything from traffic safety to pre-trip checklists, fire safety, road rage, tire safety, and more. Check it out at www.rvsafely.com. Another good website you should check out is RVing Blogs, where you can learn about creating your own RV blog, and can submit your blog to be listed in their directory for free. It’s a great way to get the word out about your blog, or to discover new ones to read and learn from. Thought For The Day –
Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain, and most fools do. Register Now For Our Arizona Gypsy Gathering Rally Friday, November 21, 2008 Even though we were exhausted when we went to bed, neither of us slept well, and we were out of bed by 7:30 A.M. yesterday, which is really early for us night owls. After Terry had her morning coffee and I had a bowl of cereal, and we had checked our e-mail, I went outside and began getting the bus ready for traveling. I was
disappointed to see that we have another oil leak, on the same side of
the engine we did a couple of weeks ago. I definitely need to get that
checked out once we get settled in We pulled
out of Eagle’s Landing just after 9 a.m. and rolled west across the
Panhandle of Florida, then across We had a
very close call in Up ahead I noticed an eighteen wheeler on the shoulder, and about the time we were bearing down on him, he suddenly pulled onto the highway directly in front of me! One minute I had a clear roadway ahead, and the next all we could see was the back end of his trailer getting bigger by the nanosecond. Terry screamed, and I knew I had two choices, ram the trailer and probably kill us, or swerve left and hope the SUV driver either woke up and got out of my way, or that the accident would do less damage when I sideswiped him than crashing into the rear of the trailer. I laid on
the horn, jerked the wheel to the left, missing the trailer by inches,
and miraculously the SUV moved out of the way in the nick of time. When
he sped past me, he was still talking on his cell phone! We were still
shaking when we crossed the state line into We stopped
for fuel in Gulfport, paying $2.52 a gallon and remembering that three months ago we paid
over $4 a gallon for diesel in Crossing
into Louisiana, we took Interstate 12 around the north end of Lake Pontchartrain to
avoid the New Orleans
traffic, and rejoined Interstate 10 in Baton Rogue, where we crossed the
mighty A lot of
people cuss Interstate 10 across
We went inside the casino, and when I saw the price for their buffet, almost walked back out. I’m glad we didn’t! They had a huge selection, including four kinds of shrimp, prime rib, roast beef, steak, and several exotic things, like fried alligator, fried oysters, fried crawfish (can you tell we’re in the South?), and several Cajun dishes. Everything was hot and delicious. Back at the
bus, we answered a few e-mails and called it a night. Today we have a
short run of about 225 miles to the Thousand Trails campground in Thought For The Day –
The reason some people get lost in thought is because it’s unfamiliar
territory. Register Now For Our Arizona Gypsy Gathering Rally Thursday, November 20, 2008 It seems like every day there is more bad news for
the RV industry, Yesterday it was announced that In another news release, Truck Camper Magazine reported that Bigfoot Industries, makers of quality truck campers, has closed its doors after 31 years in business. www.truckcampermagazine.com/ According to the article, the company’s major lending bank forced the closure, and there are no plans to reopen. Word is also circulating that GE Capital, which is a major source for RV financing, is pulling out of the market and will no longer accept applications for RV loans. Folks, if you’re thinking about a new RV, there are some great deals to be had. It’s a buyer’s market right now, if you can get financed. While we were in Of course, the plan is to never be where it’s
that cold, but we can’t always control the weather. Even here in Yesterday after I had unhooked everything and Miss
Terry had buttoned down things inside the bus, I plugged in my
PressurePro tire monitoring system to make sure my tires were all up, and we said our
goodbyes to everybody at the Escapees RV park in North of Lake City we got on Interstate 10 and pointed the nose of the bus west, and I reflected that we’ll be pretty much on this same highway all the way to Arizona, even though we won’t be getting there anytime soon. We stopped at the Flying J in Quincy, near We pulled in to Eagle’s Landing RV Park in Holt just as the sun was getting low in the sky, and took a 30 amp pull-thru site for the night. We had covered 385 miles, which is a lot of miles for some folks, but on a good driving day, we can eat that up easily in our bus. Because it was supposed to be so darned cold, and because we had a full tank of fresh water and an empty waste tank, I didn’t bother with hooking up the water or sewer, I just plugged in the electric, plugged in the block heater to let it run overnight, and put a small light bulb in an aluminum reflector on in our water bay to keep things toasty in there. Eagle’s Landing is owned by Dick and Judie
Riblett, who also own Recreation USA Discount Camping Club www.campingandcampgrounds.com.
It’s been several years since we’ve been able to stop in for a
visit, so we chatted for a while before retiring to the bus for the
night. If all goes well today, we’ll be somewhere in western Thought For The Day –
Life is a great canvas, and you should throw all the paint on it you
can. Register Now For Our Arizona Gypsy Gathering Rally Wednesday, November 19, 2008 Word comes
out of These days I think I’d feel more secure if I were a mouse in a room full of rattlesnakes than an RV salesman or dealer. Although, when you think about it, a lot of RV dealers are pretty much like a room full of rattlesnakes. Longtime reader Bob Plaskon sent me an e-mail asking about the residential refrigerator we use in our bus conversion, and how we power it when boondocking or on the road. Bob felt that other RVers might have the same question. When we built our bus, one goal was to get away from as many of the RV components as we could. The Dometic refrigerator in our previous motorhome was a constant problem for Terry. It had limited capacity, the freezer never worked like it should, and we spent a lot of time having to defrost the darned thing to get it to work at all. We installed an 18.4 cubic foot Maytag house style refrigerator in the bus and it has served us well for seven years. The refrigerator is on 24 hours a day, whether we are in an RV park, going down the highway, or boondocking out in the middle of nowhere.
Most RVs charge the house battery bank off the engine when driving, but we do not. Our bus is a 24 volt system, and the house battery bank is 12 volts. There are several ways that we could rig something up to charge the house batteries, but we have not found that to be necessary. We have five solar panels on our roof, which can provide up to 540 watts of charging power from the sun. Under most circumstances, this will serve us well when underway, and when boondocking, the solar system supplies the battery bank with enough power to keep things charged up for a day or more. However, we are power pigs. I live the same way when we are boondocking as I do plugged into shore power. Terry makes her coffee in the morning, I work on the computer, use my internet connection, we watch TV, etc. Because we consume a lot of power, we also need to make a lot of power. When we have cloudy days and the solar system is not able to keep up, I will fire our generator up and give the battery bank an extra boost. When we are boondocking for several days at a time, we usually run the generator for a half hour or so every morning while Terry is making coffee. That takes some strain off the battery bank and gives it a quick boost to get it off to a good start until the sun is overhead. All in all, it’s a simple system, and it allows us to live comfortably wherever we happen to be in this great land of ours. Thought For The Day –
Only a mediocre person is always at his best. Register Now For Our Arizona Gypsy Gathering Rally Tuesday, November 18, 2008 Yesterday Terry and I were up and out fairly early, driving the short distance to Webster for the huge flea market. You have to show up early, because it takes hours to see it all, and by 1 p.m. a lot of the dealers are already packing up and getting ready to depart. Living in an RV, we don’t have much room for non-essential items, but it is still fun to wander the aisles and look at all of the trash and treasures on display. Back in our old life, Miss Terry had a nice collection of antiques, and she still enjoys looking at some of the old stuff offered for sale, like oil lamps, kitchen items, and the occasional piece of furniture. As for me, people watching is more than enough to keep me occupied. You will see some, pretty strange specimens wandering around a southern flea market. Apparently there is a shortage of dental care in this region, but I’m proud to report that the supply of tattoo ink seems to be unlimited. J We passed
on a wide assortment of sunglasses, used DVDs, some adorable puppies,
bags of boiled peanuts, and T-shirts with risqué slogans, but Terry did
pick up some fresh produce at the flea market. Our shopping day done, we A while back we picked up a nifty Orion Cooker, which cooks by a combination of convection, steam and smoke, and Terry has been eager to try it out. So yesterday evening we had Paul and Connie Anderson and Joe and Marcia Jones over for dinner. Terry cooked up three huge racks of ribs, Marcia brought potato salad, and Connie brought a pie, and did we ever pig out! I’m happy to report that the Orion works great; the ribs were moist, tender, and delicious.
One of the
great things about the fulltime RV lifestyle is that our schedule is
often written in Jello. Terry and I had planned to take off today and
begin our journey Our destination is Aransas Pass, Texas, on the Thought For The Day –
Confidence is half the victory Register Now For Our Arizona Gypsy Gathering Rally Monday, November 17, 2008 Brrr! It has turned chilly here in central Florida! A few days ago we were enjoying the sunshine, and now we’re wearing sweatshirts. I highly disapprove! L I guess it’s payback for gloating in yesterday’s blog about our nice weather. I’m always amazed at the diversity of people we meet in the RV lifestyle. Here in Sumter Oaks we have met a Canadian RVer who plays the bagpipes, a retired Navy submarine officer, and crossed paths with our pal Paul Anderson, who is a former professional chimney sweep. I have not had the opportunity to meet him yet, but there is a gentleman here named Marvin Panch, who was a famous NASCAR race car driver back in the 1950s and 1960s. Marvin’s record includes winning seventeen NASCAR Cup Series races, and taking the checkered flag at the 1961 Daytona 500. How cool is that? Yesterday I posted a photograph of our friends Joe and Marcia Jones in the blog, and today Joe showed me he’s not just another pretty face by sharing a valuable link to a website that can help all of us save some money. www.salescircular.com lists all kinds of items on sale at major retailers nationwide, organized by product and state. I spent a few minutes looking it over and found some good deals on laptop computers, GPS units, and digital cameras, to name just a few. The website also lists products that are free, after a mail in rebate. Who knew anything was still free? Well, actually, if you are a veteran, dinner is free today at Golden Corral restaurants nationwide. Every year Golden Corral honors our nation’s veterans by offering them a free meal. You can learn more about this great program at www.goldencorral.com/military. Even if you’re not a vet, I think we should all support companies that honor the men and women who have served our country. I’ve always enjoyed dinner at Golden Corral, and now I appreciate them even more. It would seem that the delays in delivery of the current issue of the Gypsy Journal are regionally based, which tells me that the commercial mail service we used did their job right, and the problem is within the U.S. Postal Service. The delivery pattern makes no sense. After
asking people to let me know when they received their papers in
yesterday’s blog, I got e-mails from folks in Texas, Arizona, Thought For The Day – You will be judged by your actions, not by your intentions. Register Now For Our Arizona Gypsy Gathering Rally Sunday, November 16, 2008 A while back I ruffled some feathers when I reported on our
visit to the Escapees Raccoon Valley RV Park in I’m happy to report that our visit here to the Escapees Sumter Oaks RV Park in
As I sit here in What is not good right now is the slow movement of the current issue of the Gypsy Journal through the mail. We use different commercial mail services around the country to handle our mailing, depending on where we are traveling at the time, and this issue somehow has encountered a roadblock. The papers were mailed out the end of October from Valdosta, Georgia, and as of yet, many subscribers have not received them. The pattern is strange - a reader in Kingman, Arizona has received his, but another subscriber in northern Florida has not. I talked to the head guy at the mail service today, who assured me that they delivered them to the post office on time, and their contact at the post office said they went out without a problem. But something definitely has slowed things down. Overall, the U.S. Postal Service does a good job, but every once in a while, a gremlin gets into the system. If you get your paper by regular mail (not through a mail service like Escapees or Alternative Resources, or with a first class upgrade) and have received it already, would you please send me a quick e-mail at editor@gypsyjournal.net to let me know? It will help in tracking down where things got misdirected. Yesterday Terry and I took a short road trip in the van, dropping off sample bundles of the Gypsy Journal at RV parks in the Clermont area. One stop was at the Thousand Trails preserve, which we had never visited before. This is a huge place, with 850 full hookup RV sites. This time of year the park was busy, but there were still plenty of open spaces. It won’t be that way for long, because from about mid-November through March, the preserve is usually filled with snowbirds. Terry and I have enjoyed playing snowbird here in Florida, but I think we'll be moving along soon. I'm looking forward to getting over to the Texas Gulf Coast and doing some kayaking there. I may even try to catch a fish or two while we're there. Thought For The Day – It
is better to fail with honor than to succeed by fraud. Register Now For Our Arizona Gypsy Gathering Rally Saturday, November 15, 2008 I’ve been working on the seminar schedule for our upcoming Arizona Gypsy Gathering rally, which will be February 9-13 at the Pinal County Fairgrounds in Casa Grande, and things are coming together very well. Planning a successful rally involves a balancing act – offering seminars that will meet the needs of a variety of RVers with differing experience and interests. We have had very good feedback on the seminars we’ve had at our previous rallies, but we can’t get complacent and just keep offering the same things over and over again. People would quickly get tired of that. So I keep looking for new seminars to offer. If you plan on attending the rally and have an idea for a seminar you’d like to present, e-mail me at editor@gypsyjournal.net and we’ll discuss it. Of course, some seminars are so important that they bear repeating, such as Mac McCoy’s www.macthefireguy.com excellent Fire Safety program. We have had two fires in our bus, so it is very important to us that all RVers be prepared for such an emergency. One popular seminar we have had very good feedback on is our RV Quick Tips, a panel discussion where the audience can ask questions about the RV lifestyle and technical issues, and get answers from a select panel of experts. We will be expanding this concept this year, with separate panels on lifestyle and technical issues, as well as a panel discussion for women RVers to share their experiences and ask questions from experienced lady RVers. I also am trying to put together a Solos Panel Discussion for single RVers. Several people have written to ask if we will have day passes available for those who are wintering in the Casa Grande area and want to just come in for a day. Yes, we will have day passes, at $5 per person, which includes all rally activities. Whether you come for the full rally experience, or just visit on a day pass, I hope you’ll join us in Casa Grande, and be a part of the fun and educational opportunities we have to offer.
It runs out
very well, and I was amazed at the difference in power between its 8V92
turbo engine and our 8V71 naturally aspirated motor. The bus also
handles very well. I loved driving it. It has about 100K miles on the
rebuilt engine and 50K on the automatic transmission, with documentation
of the work done. That’s hardly broken in for a
The only way that we could make it work for us would be to first sell our bus and then buy the Prevost. Given the current market, that probably would not happen in a timely manner. But for a bit over $50,000 somebody who doesn’t mind using some elbow grease is going to get a good deal. I have no financial interest in this bus and am not connected with the seller in any way. Thought For The Day – A critic is someone who knows the route to take, but can’t drive the car. Register Now For Our Arizona Gypsy Gathering Rally Friday, November 14, 2008 I think our
bus is haunted. Three times now we have had a very strange thing happen,
the last time being last night when we arrived home from our vacation in
Before we left, I used my key to lock the deadbolt on our door. I then gave the door a tug to be sure it had engaged. Miss Terry and our friend Paul Anderson were both standing there when I did it, and both agree that the door was indeed locked. But when we got here last night the door was unlocked and slightly ajar. Nothing was disturbed in the bus, it was just unlocked. We had asked Paul to check on the bus while we were gone, and he had walked around it earlier in the day and nothing was wrong. But, by the time we arrived, it was unlocked. Now there
could be some reasonable explanation for why this happened. Maybe I
didn’t actually lock it, and maybe Terry and Paul are both incorrect
in their belief that they saw me do so. Bu the very same thing happened
last summer when we left the bus in Indiana
and drove to Idaho
for a week to teach at Life on Wheels. It also happened when we left the
bus in This has never occurred when we have locked the bus and been gone all day, or even for a couple of days on short trips. Only after we’ve been gone a week or so. Why? Does it just really miss us and is trying to welcome us home with open doors, since it doesn’t have arms? Very strange. But it could be worse, we could still be in the Motorhome From Hell, the Pace Arrow Vision we started our fulltiming life in. In that rig, the doors may not have come unlocked, they would have just fallen off by now, like the TV antenna, microwave frame, light fixtures, and other parts that gave in to gravity while we were in it.
There seems
to be more changes happening in the RV world. While I don't have
official confirmation yet, I’ve had several e-mails
from people telling me that the Camping World RV tech school in
Police speculate that somebody somewhere fired a gun into the air, and you know what they say – what goes up must come down. Every year hundreds of people are killed or injured when some fool pops a few rounds off into the air celebrating New Years, the Fourth of July, or discovering he has opposable thumbs. It can be a deadly action. I had a
good friend in the Army who served his full term in Folks, remember that guns are tools, not toys. Used responsibly they will not cause a problem, but when someone gets careless or irresponsible, things like this or worse can result. Register Now For Our Arizona Gypsy Gathering Rally Thursday, November 13, 2008 Most people
know about the big tourist attractions in
Located in
the Truman Annex area, the Highlights include a
simulation of the Aquarius underwater research
We spent a
couple of hours checking out the different habitat exhibits, learning
about the threats mankind poses for the natural world, and admiring the
fish in the Center’s impressive salt water aquarium. Admission to the
Center is free, and it is one of the few places in Well, all good things must come to an end, and so it was with our vacation in paradise. While our hosts, Tom and Diane, assured us we could use their houseboat as long as we wanted to, and even arranged another week’s parking permit for us at the City Marina, we needed to get back to our real life, which is pretty much a vacation anyway. We were in
serious danger of contracting Keys Disease, the malady that slips up on
visitors to the We stopped
in Islamorada to check out the Bass Pro Shop’s World Wide Sportsman
store, which displays a beautiful 40 foot cabin cruiser that is a sister
boat to the Pilar, which
Ernest Hemingway used to fish, from the Florida Keys to A few miles
further north at We took the
Florida Turnpike north then west across the state and hooked up with
Interstate 75, running in scattered rain most of the way. After more
than a week away, it sure was good to get back to our old bus. We loved
our time in Thought For The Day – The best way to escape a problem is to solve it. Register Now For Our Arizona Gypsy Gathering Rally Wednesday, November 12, 2008 Well, I have failed miserably as a snorkeler. L Miss Terry
spent three years living in This fear dates back to when I was about thirteen and was in the Boy Scouts. We were on a winter camping trip and were hiking across a frozen lake when the ice broke and I fell through. When I bobbed back up, I was under the ice and the opening I fell through was maybe twenty or thirty feet away. I remember it being so incredibly cold, and clawing with my fingers until I got back to the opening and was pulled out, coughing and gagging. Ever since then, getting into water more than waist deep scares me to death. Here at Poor Miss
Terry was more than willing to call it a day and go do something else,
but I didn’t want to cheat her out of When Terry came back to the beach, the smile on her face was just wonderful to see. She reported seeing a small barracuda, along with several other varieties of tropical fish, and I know she can’t wait to get back out there again. We love old
cemeteries, and the cemetery here in
Thought For The Day –
Success is when your name is in everything but the phone book. Register Now For Our Arizona Gypsy Gathering Rally Tuesday, November 11, 2008 Happy Veterans Day to all of my fellow veterans. Whether you were a foot soldier in World War II or Korea, a grunt in Vietnam, a helicopter crewman in the Gulf, a sailor guarding our shipping lanes, or a truck driver at Fort Dix, New Jersey, you stepped up to the plate and answered your country’s call to duty, and I salute you. I love to
tell you about all of the fun places to explore in this great land of
ours, but I never forget the sacrifices our men and women in uniform
made to give us this freedom to travel wherever we want to, whenever we
wish. I’ve been to the Wall in Yesterday
we visited a proud old veteran, The fort’s massive cannon, with a range of three miles,
held several blockade runners in port, while keeping the Confederate
navy at bay, preventing them from seizing
We talked to a couple of men who had been out snorkeling, and they said there were a tremendous number of fish to be seen near some rock formations just off the beach. We want to give it a try before we leave here. (Yeah, I know all of the jokes you’re thinking right now. I’ve already told them on myself. Can you imagine some little tropical fish looking up and seeing me splash by overhead in a mask, snorkel, and swim fins and saying “What the hell was that?”) Miss Terry and I are always looking for good places to eat, and our friend Gene Holcomb called the other day to tell us about a great Cuban restaurant the locals love called El Siboney www.elsiboneyrestaurant.com. On our way back to the houseboat we stopped to try it out and Gene was right, the food was delicious! This is one of those little places tucked away back on a side street that you have to be looking for to find, but it’s well worth the effort. Another
fantastic restaurant we have discovered is Keys Fisheries Market & Marina
www.keysfisheries.com/restaurant.html,
a hidden gem located on a back street in Thought For The Day – Anyone with a new idea is a crank, until the idea succeeds. Then he becomes a visionary. Monday, November 10, 2008 We had planned to go kayaking yesterday with Dennis and Cindy Henderson, but we were awakened early in the morning when the wind kicked up, a side effect of Hurricane Paloma. The storm had slammed into Cuba the day before, and though it was expected to head northeast away from the Florida Keys, we were keeping an eye on the weather, just in case. About mid-morning the wind had slackened, so I called Dennis and Cindy to see if they were still interested. Of course, these dedicated kayakers are always ready to get out on the water, so we drove down to Bahia Honda State Park, where they are staying. We were delighted to find the water nice and calm, and a beautiful aqua color.
We launched our kayaks and had a wonderful time paddling a couple of miles north along the Atlantic side of Bahia Honda Key. At one point, we paddled under a small bridge and a short distance up a narrow river into a mangrove swamp, watching several small snapper darting away from our boats.
We continued our paddle, spotting several small flying fish skipping along the top of the water, and Cindy also saw a couple of manta rays. When we turned to start heading back toward the launch site, I had a hard time keeping my kayak pointed straight, because the current had picked up and was pushing me toward shore. At first, I though I was doing something wrong, but Terry and Cindy told me they were having the same problem. We were out on the water for over four hours, and by the time we got back to the beach, all of us were feeling it in our arms and backs. Kayaking is great exercise, and anytime you can have that much fun and do your body good in the process, it’s a great combination. Thought For The
Day – There is no right way to
do the wrong thing. Register Now For Our Arizona Gypsy Gathering Rally Sunday, November 9, 2008 I’m a huge
Jimmy Buffett fan, and love his songs about the good life in the
tropics. He paints a picture of a laidback place where the girls are all
pretty, the drinks are always cold, and the fish are always biting.
Jimmy got his start here in As I wrote in an
earlier post, traffic is terrible everywhere. The streets are narrow and
parking is almost nonexistent. Still, there is
plenty to keep us busy on this little speck of land sandwiched between
the Atlantic Ocean and the
Yesterday we
toured the Little White House www.trumanlittlewhitehouse.com,
learning more about President Truman and his time in office, and the
role This was not just a vacation place for President Truman. He drafted several important pieces of government legislation at the Little White House, including the Civil Rights Executive Order that required federal contractors to hire minorities, and the Key West Accord, which resulted in the creation of the Department of Defense and the U.S. Air Force. The home has been carefully preserved as it was during President Truman’s time here, and many pieces of furniture used by Truman are on display in the rooms. Truman was not
the only Thought For The Day –
Many succeed because they don’t have sense enough to quit when they
should have. Register Now For Our Arizona Gypsy Gathering Rally Saturday, November 8, 2008 We did it! We made our first paddle yesterday, and had a wonderful time! You would think
that on an island, finding a place to paddle a kayak would not be too
hard. After all, an island, by its very description is surrounded by
water. The problem in Actually we could have launched from either Higgs or Smathers beach, but both places had a lot of people when we visited them the other day, and to be honest, we were both a little hesitant to make fools of ourselves in front of a crowd of people the first time we tried to launch on our own. On our drive back from the Dolphin Research Center on Thursday we had noticed a small beach on the Atlantic side of Little Duck Key at the south end of the Seven Mile Bridge and pulled in to check it out. There was a restroom, some picnic shelters, and nobody around. We decided that it would be worth the drive back to have the place all to ourselves for our first paddle. Of course, when we arrived there were a half dozen cars there, including a family with some kids playing in the water, and a couple unloading a pair of kayaks. “Well, look at it this way,” I told Miss Terry, “At least nobody knows us here, so when I fall out of the boat and make a fool of myself, it will be in front of strangers.” No sooner had those words left my lips then the lady unloading her kayak looked at us and said to her husband “That’s Nick Russell!” It was Gypsy Journal and blog readers Cindy and Dennis Henderson, fulltime RVers we had met several years ago at the Encore RV park at Crystal River, Florida. As it turns out, Cindy and Dennis are avid kayakers, with five years of paddling under their belts. Dennis is also a dedicated fisherman and he had a couple of rods with him.
What a wonderful
experience! The water was warm, crystal clear, and pretty smooth. We
quickly and easily paddled out into the ocean and caught up with our
friends, then sat there gently bobbing up and down in the water as we
talked. Most of the water just offshore of the Florida Keys is pretty
shallow, and even a quarter mile or so from shore it wasn’t more than
three or four feet deep in most places. This being our first paddling experience in open water, we were hesitant to take a camera with us, in case we did fall out or something, but Cindy is an old pro at this stuff, and she took a bunch of photos that she later e-mailed me for the blog.
Terry, Cindy, and
I decided to give him some room, so we paddled up to the The channel that
runs under the bridge, connecting the Atlantic with the Meanwhile, back in the ocean, Dennis was having an adventure of his own. When we paddled back to where he was fishing, he told us that he had hooked a foot long needlefish, and as he was reeling it in, a six foot long shark began following his catch to his kayak. Dennis, being a wise fisherman and kayaker, decided that just was not a good thing, and cut the line. The needlefish darted away, the shark close behind. We were on the water a couple of hours and had a blast every minute of it. By the time we beached our kayaks, we were already talking about our next outing. Of course, no adventure would be complete without me doing something wrong, so I managed to dump myself out of my kayak and land on my butt in the water, instead of climbing out gracefully like Terry and our companions. Hey, it’s all part of the adventure, right? J Thought For The Day –
Once you have learned to love, you will have learned to live. Register Now For Our Arizona Gypsy Gathering Rally Friday, November 7, 2008 We had a magical day yesterday, one that we won’t soon forget. We drove to Grassy Key, about 55 miles from Key West, and spent the day at the Dolphin Research Center, where we got up close and personal with several of the nineteen bottlenose dolphins who live at this wonderful facility. Since 1958, the
not-for-profit Throughout the
day the Adult bottlenose dolphins can reach eight feet in length and weigh over 600 pounds. Yet, these powerful animals can launch themselves out of the water with ease, stand on their tails and dance backwards, and perform other acrobatic tricks that seem unbelievable. It is obvious
that this isn’t just a job for the staff at the
Not only can
visitors watch the dolphins perform their tricks, they can Thought For The Day – The price of quitting is always wondering "what could have been." Register Now For Our Arizona Gypsy Gathering Rally Thursday, November 6, 2008 Hello from paradise! Folks, it’s a long, slow drive from the mainland, RV parks are few and darned expensive when you can find them, but if you have never been to Key West, you really have to come and visit sometime. Everywhere you look there is a sight to take your breath away, and something new to do.
Terry and I spent
yesterday exploring
Terry and I are
not drinkers, but for the party crowd, hitting the open air bars along While you can
certainly find your share of watering spots along either street, Duval
is much cleaner, and seems much more relaxed. When we’ve visited
We rode back to the marina, along back streets to avoid as much traffic as possible, and made a promise to ourselves to get some lights for the front and back of our bikes before we ride them after dark again. Getting run over can really ruin a vacation in a hurry. L Thought For The Day –
I have yet to be bored by someone paying me a compliment. Register Now For Our Arizona Gypsy Gathering Rally Wednesday, November 5, 2008 Yesterday we made
the 130 mile drive down the We began our day
in
Locations in the
Keys are identified by their mile markers on Highway 1, and just past
mile marker 78 we stopped at Robbie’s
Many
of you know that I don’t like driving over bridges. Did you know that
there are 42 bridges between the mainland and We
arrived in I’ve always wanted to see the sunset ceremony at Mallory Square, but by the time we unloaded the van and walked the two miles to the Square, it was already dark and most of the activity was already over. We’ll get there earlier next time. We walked back to the marina, found a place to eat, and got settled in for the night. By then we were both really tired and more than ready for bed. There’s a lot to see and do here, and we’re going to be busy, so stay tuned. Thought For The Day –
The man who pays for a pound of popularity gets badly cheated. Tuesday, November 4, 2008 Being a poor boy, I’ve never had any money to invest in the stock market, so the recent upheavals on Wall Street have not affected us, but we know a lot of folks who are feeling the pinch. Now, I’ll admit I'm pretty unsophisticated when it comes to the world of high finance, so maybe somebody will indulge me here and explain something to me. I know several people who have taken some pretty solid hits on their investments tell me that they are going to stay put and not travel for a while until things stabilize. One couple I know is even talking about selling their RV and renting a home someplace. When we were talking about it, they mentioned that they are both retired and have not touched their investments to finance their RV lifestyle, choosing instead to let their interest compound. So if they are not using their portfolio to finance their travels, why stop doing something they love because the market took a dive? Do they want to use their retirement money to put back into the market? Why would someone do that when they have already lost a small fortune? My Daddy would have called that throwing good money after bad. Why not just keep on enjoying the fulltime RV lifestyle as they have been doing, using the same retirement funds they have been using to pay for it, and let whatever investments they have left do whatever they will do? Like I said, I’m pretty dumb about all of this, but I have heard several people talking the same way and I just don’t get it. Besides, I can live much better on the road than I could in a sticks and bricks house for the same amount of money. I’m glad I’m a poor boy. It makes life so much less confusing. I had a dozen or more e-mails Monday morning telling me that the big birds in the blog were Sandhill Cranes. Thanks to all of you RVing ornithologists who taught me something new. We left Sumter Oaks yesterday morning and drove south to Lakeland, then connected with U.S. Highway 27 and followed it down the middle of the state, passing through Sebring, famous for its sports car racing, and a series of other small towns, skirted the edge of Lake Okeechobee, and eventually found ourselves in Homestead, where we spent the night in a motel. Along the way we saw gasoline prices ranging from a low of $2.19 a gallon near Bushnell to $2.59 a gallon in Moore Haven. Our pals Howard
and Ellen Best had told us about a great place called Larry and A Today we’ll continue on to the Keys, in search of sunshine, pirates, tropical beaches, and new adventures. Thought For The Day –
Age is a very high price to pay for maturity. Monday, November 3, 2008
Yesterday was a
day for hanging around the bus getting a lot of chores done before our
trip to the I also managed to deal with some technical issues. Last year we purchased a Select Comfort Sleep Number bed, and ever since we got it. Terry’s side has lost pressure every day and she has to add an extra 20 pounds or so of air every night at bedtime. Saturday night we discovered that the pump had stopped working. Every time we pushed the button on the remote control, we heard a single click from the pump and the remote went dead. Yesterday I called Select Comfort’s customer service number, and was amazed when someone who spoke English answered on a Sunday! I explained the problem, and the young lady promised to send out a replacement pump by overnight UPS. Since we will be gone when it arrives, I arranged for our friends Joe and Marcia Jones to hang on to it for us until we get back to the bus. In yesterday’s blog I had reported that I could not tune in our Dish Network TV dish, and my pal Terry Pace sent me an e-mail suggesting I do a hard reset on the system. Terry said to hold the power button on the receiver down for 90 seconds and see if that helped. Sure enough, I had the dish pointed and was watching television within minutes! Thanks for the tip, Terry! I also discovered something that a lot of you RVing computer users probably already knew. My Verizon air card is plugged into a Cradlepoint wireless router, which is in turn hardwired to my desktop computer. This allows Terry to pick up the router’s WiFi signal to get online. When we go on a trip away from the bus, I have been taking just the air card, and we took turns using it in our two laptops. As it turns out, I can just unplug the router and take it with us, and we can both use it as our WiFi hotspot.
As Terry was finishing up with me, Mac McClellan stopped by to say hello. Mac and his wife Chris are fulltimers, and he operates the Casino Camper website www.casinocamper.com, where you can learn all about casinos that welcome RVers to park overnight, as well as information on gambling and casino parking etiquette. It’s been several years since we have seen Mac, so it was nice to have a chance to visit. Today we’ll
leave the bus here at Sumter Oaks and head south. It’s 440 miles to Key West, and we don’t want to do that in one day. Besides, I want to be able
to see the Keys as we drive there, so we’ll spend the night somewhere
around Thought For The Day –
If we are what we eat, then I’m cheap, fast, and easy. Sunday, November 2, 2008 Sometime I just have to bite my tongue to keep myself out of trouble. Most of you know about Bad Nick, that little imp that lives inside of me and has been known to overstep the bounds of propriety. He almost got out again! Yesterday morning we were getting ready to leave Lee’s Country Campground in White Springs, and as I was going through my normal routine of checking fluids in the bus, giving it and the van a pre-trip inspection, and unhooking our utilities, one of our neighbors came over to ask a couple of questions about our kayaks. Now, for RVers, this is a serious no-no. I try to never bother someone when they are setting up in a campsite or breaking camp, because it is all too easy to get distracted and forget something. When someone interrupts my routine, I have learned to just stop what I am doing, chat for a couple of minutes, and then excuse myself and get back to work. Because if I try to work and talk at the same time, I guarantee I’ll forget something and try to drive away still plugged into the electric pedestal, or leave a pair of pliers behind or worse. Once, early in our fulltiming days, I actually pulled out of a campground with all of our window awnings still out. Several folks waved to get my attention, and I waved right back, never getting the message until I got out to the highway and looked in my side mirrors. By then there was no way I was going to stop and let all of those folks see me go out and close the awnings, so I made Miss Terry hang out the windows and do it on the move! Yesterday after
the neighbor asked about the kayaks and made small talk for a minute or
two, he noticed the large screw on “My God, that is so cool,” he said. “A guy would have to be an idiot to drive any kind of an RV without one of those things. Why don’t I have one?” That’s when I forcibly stuffed Bad Nick way down deep inside of me, bit my tongue, excused myself, and went back inside the bus before I ended up with a black eye or a fat lip. J We pulled out of
the campground, drove about 60 miles south on Interstate 75 to the
Payne’s Prairie rest area near They arrived soon after us, along with Pete’s mother and father, and we spent an hour or so explaining how we had converted our bus, the work involved, and pointing out some of the advantages we see in a bus over a production motorhome. I hope we gave them some food for thought. Back on the road, in another hour or so we arrived at Sumter Oaks RV Park, near Bushnell, selected a site and got settled in. Our friends Joe and Marcia Jones were on hand to greet us, and once we got hooked up, Joe came by to try to help me get our Dish network tripod satellite aligned. I wasn’t able to get a signal in White Springs, and we were unsuccessful here too, even with the help of my signal finder and a high tech aiming device one of the neighbors brought over. I can hit the 110 satellite every time around, but not the 119, which we are on with just the basic Dish programming. We finally gave up in frustration, had dinner, and called it a night. While we were messing with the satellite, another friend, Paul Anderson, stopped to say hello. We had not seen Paul and his wife Connie since we were in Arizona in February, and we hope to get an opportunity to visit with them while we’re here. Thought For The Day –
You can make anything happen if you choose a goal and stick to it. Saturday, November 1, 2008 Yesterday Terry completed the last of the mailing and we got everything sent out. It’s a heck of a big job, but she has it down to a science and I am always amazed at how quickly it goes. I think she’s glad we only publish six times a year, because it takes a lot of work to get everything mailed out. With that done,
we drove into the nearby town of Things were not
always so quite here. From the mid-1800s to the early 1900s, people from all
over the country came here to soak in the local mineral waters, which were believed to have curative powers. In the late 1800s, there
were fourteen luxury hotels in White Springs, along with a dozen or more
boarding houses, catering to the visitors who came by special excursion
trains from distant points. This was also a busy working town, with
turpentine mills and cotton gins. Today things move at a much slower
pace, to match the meandering
We stopped at a
boat ramp on the banks of the river, which is stained brown from the Today we plan to
drive about 130 miles south to the Escapees Sumter Oaks RV Park
near We’ll probably only spend a night or two at
Sumter Oaks, then we’re going to leave the bus there for a while
because we’re going on vacation! Yes, a vacation from our permanent
vacation. Our good friends Tom Owens and Diane Rojewski have offered us
the use of their houseboat in While in the Keys, we plan to make good use of our
new kayaks, Terry wants to try snorkeling, and we have several stories
set up, including a day at the Thought For The Day –
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Our
friends Padraic and Willie Ley were in town, and we hadn’t seen them
in a couple of years, so several of us got together for dinner at the
Boiling Pot in Rockport, our favorite Cajun restaurant in the country.
This place may not look fancy, but the food they serve up is something
you’ll never forget.
Chilson, and Jim and Jo Gass. The others had not been to the Boiling Pot
before, so it was fun introducing them to the place.
prepared
in a spicy boil, then they spread butcher paper across the table, and
dump it in a pile in front of you. Doesn’t this look like a great
feast?
While we
were out exploring yesterday, Terry and I drove out to Copano
I’ve
mentioned before how much we love this area of the Texas
go chase trophy game fish. In fact, in
several places we have seen folks wade fishing in the shallow waters
that are full of perch, sea trout, and redfish.
Back
in 
This
is our second visit to the Colorado River 
As
I wrote before, there are huge numbers of deer here, and they have no
fear of humans. We have also seen armadillo, lots of birds, and
yesterday this fat squirrel came by to visit and feed on the pecans
laying around everywhere.
While we
were traveling to 
We
arrived at the Thousand Trails Colorado River preserve near 
watching the huge herds of deer who live here. In one group I counted 34
animals, and there were many groups of 10 to 20. They have absolutely no
fear of people, coming right up to the RVs, and several watched me aim
my satellite TV dish.
We
also saw this big armadillo, and had a good laugh when a frolicking deer
jumped over it, which startled the armadillo so much he jumped too!
The
casino has a few rather short pull-thru RV sites with electric only for
$10 a night in their parking lot, but we opted to dry camp in the
dirt lot just north of the parking lot for free. There was a lot of road
noise, because we were almost under the I-10 bridge, but we had covered
414 miles and I was ready to stop for the night.
We
have a 
headed back to the RV park, making a quick stop at the post office on
the way to pick up our mail.
Last Friday
night the Space Shuttle launched from nearby Kennedy Space Center. We didn’t get the chance to drive over and check it out, but reader
Charles Robinson sent me some fantastic photos. All I can say
is wow! What a sight!
west, but Connie has promised a lasagna dinner, and
when it comes to free food, I’m all over that. So we’ll wait until
tomorrow to hit the road.
Yesterday
evening I wandered up to the Rec Hall, where they were just finishing a
spaghetti dinner, and a DJ was entertaining the crowd. I ran into our
pals Joe and Marcia Jones, who were dressed up and looking good. Marcia
is always gorgeous, but my buddy Joe cleans up real well, doesn’t
he? A white sport coat and a pink carnation. Can’t you just hear Marty
Robbins singing now?
A while
back I mentioned that we were going to look at a 1990 Prevost while here
in 
But, it needs a lot of refurbishing on the inside.
Nothing that we or anyone with some basic skills could not handle. For
the bus to work for us, we would need to replace the carpeting, two
sofas, driver and passenger seats, and mattress. All of the cabinets are
in need of refinishing, we’d want to replace the RV refrigerator with
a house style like we have now, and rip out the cook top and install a
stove with oven.
Some RVers
are very vocal about the problems they have had with
their rigs. We have
one of them parked next to us. This Winnebago owner has lemons painted
on the sides, and this sign on the back end, telling the world what he
thinks of his motorhome. We’ve seen this in a couple of other places,
including this Fleetwood and a 
Hey, I
guess if you can’t drive them and you can’t get them fixed, shooting
them is one option. Our friends Ken and Susan Iverson are parked
somewhere here in 
One hidden
gem we discovered was the 
habitat, complete with sights and
sounds experienced by the aquanauts who live and work in it beneath the
sea, and a high-definition theater featuring a video about the Florida
Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
Visitors
can peer through an underwater camera to watch coral spawning, learn
about the plants and animals that call this region home, or take a
journey through the natural habitats of south Florida, from the 
the experience, so I retreated
to a picnic table on the beach while she spent about 90 minutes
exploring the delights under the surface. There were plenty of other
swimmers and snorkelers out there with her, so I knew she was safe. I
spent the time admiring the girls in their skimpy swimsuits, as well as
three huge cruise ships out in the water.
awesome, with above ground crypts, some as much as four tiers high.
We spent an hour or so wandering around the old burying ground, where
many of the original pioneers who settled the island are buried. The
cemetery also has a monument to the sailors who died on the USS
Maine when it exploded in 
You just
have to figure that in a laid back party town like 
the historic fort began shortly after 
fort remained under Union control even though 
desalination plant which
produced drinking water from the sea. While the fort was never attacked,
some 450 men died here, mostly from disease, and some of the folks who
work here tell us that the old place is haunted. I can believe it. The 
In addition
to the fort itself, 
Located
at mile marker 37 on the Overseas Highway, the beautiful tropical park has 80 campsites for tents and RVs, kayak
rentals, scheduled snorkeling trips, and some of the most beautiful
beaches in
the Keys. Dennis and Cindy’s campsite is right on the water, with a
beautiful view of the old 
Dennis
is quite the fisherman, and the waters here are teeming with everything
from snapper to barracuda. Occasionally he would stop paddling and make
a few casts, hooking several needlefish. These guys put up one heck of a
fight, and once you do get them to the boat, you still have to deal with
a mouthful of sharp teeth. I had been thinking about getting a short
term nonresident fishing license, but didn’t get around to it.
Watching all of the fun Dennis was having, I really regretted that
decision.
One regular
former visitor to 
We chatted for a
while, they gave us a couple of tips on getting into
our boats with a
minimum of hassle, and then went ahead and launched. We were not far
behind, and by emulating their actions, had our kayaks in the water and
climbed aboard effortlessly.
Even in this
shallow water, there are all kinds of fish and other aquatic animals,
including Portuguese Man of War, which look like plastic baggies or
deflated balloons but can really mess up your day if you touch one.
Dennis quickly hooked and lost a small barracuda, and then a needlefish.
enough of a chop that at one point a wave
broke over the side of my boat, but we paddled under the bridge and into
the Gulf, just to be able to say that we had done so.
intelligent dolphins are and their love of interacting with humans. It
is amazing what
these animals can do, from leaping high out of the water
to perform spins and back flips, to playing ball, obeying an
unbelievable number of commands, and even creating artwork! We actually
saw dolphins painting t-shirts with paint brushes held in their teeth!
Each animal has
its own personality. Some are natural hams, some are more outgoing than
others. Each one has its own bag of tricks and, each has his or her own
dolphin “buddies” that they prefer to hang out with. Until you have
seen a pair of dolphins leaping high into the air in synchronization, or
dancing backward and upright, you just cannot appreciate their
abilities.
actually take
part in several programs that allow them to interact with the animals.
Designed for all age groups, the Dolphin Encounter programs include
opportunities to meet the dolphins one on one, to play ball with them,
and even to actually get into the water and swim with these amazing
animals! It is a one of a kind experience that you will remember all of
your life! For more information on the Dolphin
You
can snorkel, scuba dive, charter a fishing boat, shop an eclectic mix of
stores
along Duval Street, dine on everything from seafood so fresh it almost
wiggles to four star cuisine, relax on beautiful white sand beaches, or
join in the daily Sunset Celebration at Mallory Square. If you are bored
here, have somebody grab a shovel and bury you, because you must be
dead!
We
didn’t ride the Conch Train yet, but it is an excellent way to get
acquainted with the town. The tour guides take visitors through the
downtown area and nearby neighborhoods, pointing out historic buildings
and telling them about the old days when this island was home to pirates
and ship wreckers.
The
island is only about four miles long and two miles wide, traffic is
heavy, and parking, when you can find it, is very expensive. Most people
find it much easier to get around on foot, by bicycle, or by renting a
scooter.
We
rode our bikes to 
evening hundreds of people come to the square to watch street performers
ranging from jugglers to fire eaters to mimes, listening to music, and
getting a head start on the night’s party. While I was checking out
the local bikini bunnies, Miss Terry spotted this beautiful sailing ship
cruising just offshore, and I managed to get a couple of photos.
Sitting
in a cradle at a small marina next to the Holiday Inn in 
African Queen, the small
wooden boat made famous in the Humphrey Bogart movie of the same name.
The sign at the dilapidated boat said it could be reserved for cruises,
but it must an old sign, because the thing looks like it’s just
waiting for the next heavy rainstorm to fall completely apart.
Poor
Miss Terry; since I am the self-designated photographer
(especially when the job requires things like feeding large, aggressive
fish by hand), guess who got to help make this photo opportunity happen?
But, Terry’s a trooper, and she stretched out on that dock and in no
time at all she was coaxing those big critters halfway out of the water
for their treats.
Now,
this kind of work is not without its occupational hazards. Though tarpon
may not have teeth, the insides of their mouths are like sandpaper, and
one nailed Terry pretty good. She said it didn’t hurt, but we stopped at
a pharmacy and picked up some peroxide and antibiotic ointment to clean it
up, just in case.
When
we woke up yesterday morning, Terry looked out the window and spotted
two huge birds here in the RV park. I’m not a bird watcher, so I’m
not sure if they are cranes, herons, or what, but they sure were big
critters!
With all of that
out of the way, we lugged a folding chair outside and Terry
gave me a
haircut, because I was beginning to look like a short, pudgy version of
Bigfoot. It was a bit of an overcast day, but this campground is so
pretty, with the Spanish moss hanging off of the oak trees that it was
pleasant just sitting there.
caps on our tire valve stems that are the sensors for our 
The biggest local
attraction is the 
tannin in the trees that line its banks. The water is clean, it just
looks like tea. A couple were having a lazy day fishing, and we watched
as the man pulled in a small catfish, and wished we had
the time to try out our kayaks on this historic river. I think we’ll
have to return sometime and do just that.