The title of this blog is what a Gypsy Gathering rally is all about. We do a lot of laughing and having fun, we learn more about the RV lifestyle, and we love being with our huge extended family of nomads.

I really started the day off with some laughter, and it wasn’t intended at all. Just as I was starting my new Cemetery Stories seminar, the little remote control I use to advance the PowerPoint slideshow stopped working. I checked the switch to be sure it was on, pushed the forward and back buttons a time or two, and said to the audience “Please bear with me, my little thingie isn’t working this morning for some reason.”

Now, I don’t have a dirty mind, but apparently everybody else in the room did, because it erupted in laughter! About then I realized what I had said, and they tell me my face turned about six shades of red. But the show still has to go on, so I grabbed my Blackberry and called Barbara Westerfield, who handles our technical equipment. I was holding the phone up to my ear with my left hand, and I had the microphone I use for my seminars in my right hand. When Barbara answered, I dropped my left hand away from my ear, put the microphone to my mouth and said “Barbara, I need you to come to my seminar room and fix my computer.” That brought another round of laughter from the crowd, because Barbara couldn’t hear me two buildings away over the microphone.

When I began developing our rallies, I wanted them to be a combination of fun and fellowship, mixed with some pretty serious educational seminars. Sort of a hybrid between a regular RV rally and Life on Wheels, and I think we have accomplished that. We had an excellent lineup of seminars here, including many by our vendors. Mac McCoy, who was also a Life on Wheels instructor, has been to every one of our rallies, presenting his excellent fire safety seminar.

Chris Yust, from Good Sam insurance, did a great seminar on the Pros & Cons Of RV Extended Warranties, and several attendees told me they learned a lot in her seminar yesterday.

 Daryl Lawrence, from Lawrence RV Accessories, is an expert on RV electrical systems, and he has has educated a lot of RVers on how their electrical systems are designed and how to get the most out of them. If you combine all of the knowledge and experience of our vendors and instructors, I don’t thnk there is any aspect of RVing and the RV lifestyle that they don’t know about. 

Socializing is always an important part of any RV rally, and everywhere you looked on the fairgrounds this week, there were small groups of friends old and new visiting, swapping lies, and planning their next RV adventures.

Yesterday Kellie Gunn had a birthday, and there was quite a party  for her. I’ve never had 300 people sing Happy Birthday to me, but Kellie sure seemed to enjoy it!

Of course, any time you put a bunch of RVers together, food is always going to be a priority, and last night’s pizza party was no exception. RVers were at their tables with hungry appetites, Miss Terry’s crew of dedicated servers were lined up and ready, Domino’s delivered two truckloads of piping hot pizza,  and we all stuffed ourselves.

I have no idea how she does it, but Miss Terry is able to organize things so well that her crew served hundreds of people in less than ten minutes! Did I ever tell you how much my wife amazes me?  

After everybody had finished eating, country singer Michael Hargis took to the stage for a fantastic concert that had everybody applauding. RV rallies are hard work, whether you’re the one organizing them, one of the volunteers who help make it all happen, or an attendee who is on the go every minute attending seminars, shopping the vendors, and meeting up with old friends. But even though everybody was tired by the end of the day, Michael’s show was so good that he had a lot of couples up and dancing. Thanks for the great show, Michael!

Today is the last full day of the rally, and we still have a lot of great seminars left to offer, and a lot of fun too! If you couldn’t make it to this rally, I hope we see you at one of our events soon.

Thought For The Day – Celebrate something today. Anything!

It has been raining so hard here at the fairgrounds in Sedalia, Missouri that some RVs are either going to have to be towed out, or else sit in the same spot until it eventually dries out.

We started out vending outside, which is usually our preference, but the rain was making it impossible to do business. Even under our canopy, our books were getting ruined and nobody was going to stop and stand in the rain to visit. To make matters worse, as I was doing my nightly ritual of painting Miss Terry’s toenails as she soaked in a bath of warm milk and eucalyptus oil, I noticed that she was beginning to grow webs between her toes.

Something had to be done, and my good buddies Jack and Doreen Ingle from PoliSeek Insurance (formerly AON) sprang to the rescue. They had reserved two indoor vending spaces, and only needed one, so yesterday morning Jack arranged for us to move inside next to them. Thanks Jack and Doreen, we really appreciate your generosity.

There are a lot of great vendors at Escapade. My friend Orv Hazelton told me that he and Nancy had discovered a crack on the cover to their seven year old Fantastic Vent on the way to the Escapade. Orv mentioned this to Jim Wood, the vendor for Fantastic Fans, here in the Indoor Market, and Jim said that he’d take a look at the unit yesterday. Orv said when he and Nancy got back to their coach after being out wandering around, they discovered that Jim had installed a new vent motor, cover, and fan blade! This clearly wasn’t a warranty issue, just superb customer service from Fantastic Fan and Jim Wood. 

Even though we have four bars of EVDO service on our Verizon cell phones here at the fairgrounds, we are experiencing very slow internet service until late at night. I guess the cell towers are swamped with so many RVers here, until everybody goes to bed.

Speaking of Verizon cell phones, my contract allows me to get a new phone every two years, and I am about due. I really like the looks of the Blackberry Storm, and the idea of getting my e-mail even when I’m away from my computer appeals to me. The other Blackberry models don’t have the touch screen, and my fat little fingers have a problem with the tiny buttons on them. Do any of you readers have a Blackberry Storm? If so, I’d like to hear your feedback on it.

I played with somebody’s iPhone yesterday and really liked it, but they are not available on the Verizon network and won’t be for a year or so, if then.

Okay, I guess the score is Bureaucrats 1, Common Sense 0. A year or so ago I wrote about Ray & Kathleen Robinson, who have built a railroad on their 40 acres in Oregon as a hobby, and how the local bean counters were trying to force them to close it down. According to a blog post titled Last Chance At A Railroad, Dan Chance writes that after a prolonged battle, the Robinson’s have had to concede defeat. Read all about this miscarriage of justice on Dan’s blog. Did I ever mention how much I dislike bureaucrats?

Thought For The Day – You’re getting old when getting lucky means you can find your car in the WalMart parking lot.

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