We had a great time yesterday, but I sure am sore this morning!

Yesterday Terry and I, along with Ron and Brenda Speidel, floated the St. Joseph River from Mottville, Michigan to Bristol, Indiana, a distance of about 7 or 8 miles on the water. I said float, but the water was so calm that we paddled for much of the trip.

You may recall that I sold my first kayak and replaced it with a different model, from Fluid Fun in Bristol, and that after one paddling excursion that lasted about an hour, I quickly realized that I had chosen the wrong boat. The good folks at Fluid Fun are very dedicated to their customers and to the sport, so they allowed me to trade it in on a different model that fit me much better. This was the inaugural trip in the new boat.

The launch in Mottville is very nice, and the river was flowing along nicely, allowing us to just dip our paddle blades into the water now and then to keep the front of our boats pointed straight. In no time at all we were paddling under the historic Mottville Bridge. Built in 1922, the bridge is the longest concrete camelback bridge in the United States.

I think the St. Joseph River must have one of the largest populations of turtles in the world. We saw then everywhere. Sunning on logs, swimming along, and slipping off the bank into the water as we passed by. This log held eleven, and we saw even more on other logs during our trip! There were also plenty of birds; Canadian geese, swans, blue heron, and ducks.

In some places the river was very wide, and in others it narrowed down, as shown in this view from Miss Terry’s perspective. The river is pretty shallow, not more than a couple of feet deep most of the way, and so shallow in some places that I got grounded on the gravel bottom and Terry had to grab the front of my kayak and give it a couple of strung tugs to get me moving again. (On dry land, she sometimes accomplishes this with a couple of strong kicks to my hind end.)

We put in at 2:30 p.m. and the trip took us just over three hours. The current that had carried us along early in our float died out, and we spent most of the trip paddling. I sure felt it in my back and shoulders by the time we arrived at our take out point in Bristol! I bet if I did that two or three times a week, I’d probably fit in my kayak better, and maybe not get stuck in shallow water so often!

On another topic, several blog readers have asked me to repeat the information on the veteran’s discount offered by Verizon Wireless. Take your DD 214 (discharge) to any Verizon company store (not a franchise store), and ask for discount code #117818. You will get a 15% discount off your Verizon bill, before taxes. I submitted my paperwork in June, and the discount started showing up in my next month’s bill.

Another company that treats veteran’s right is Lowes. Somebody had told me a while back that they offer a 10% veteran’s discount, and last week when we purchased the handles for our new desk/workstations, I remembered it as we were checking out. The young lady at the counter took a quick peek at my V.A. medical card and I got my discount! How very nice! You can bet I’ll do my shopping at Lowes anytime I can in the future!

Thought For The Day – Mankind must remember that peace is not God’s gift to us; peace is our gift to each other.

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Yesterday was one of those days where it didn’t seem to me that we were all that busy, but looking back, I guess we were!

In the morning I printed off several of our booklets to fill orders that came in with our last mail delivery, which was waiting for us when we returned here yesterday, and Terry got them all packaged. Then we ran to the post office to mail them out, and stopped at the bank to make a deposit.

With those chores behind us, we drove ten miles or so to the small town of Bristol, where we stopped at Fluid Fun, a canoe and kayak dealer that stocks the most impressive line of boats we’ve seen anywhere in the country. I want to replace my Ocean Kayak Angler model with a different boat. It’s a great kayak, and I’ve only had it in the water a few times, but it just doesn’t fit me well. I found a couple of models that are better suited to my needs, and will probably stick my boat out in front of the bus today and see if anybody here in the RV park is looking for a good fishing kayak.

While we were in the area, we stopped and checked out a couple of public launch sites on the St. Joseph River for our next paddling outing. One was at a small park right in Bristol, with a good parking area and not one, but two, boat ramps.

When we left Bristol, we stopped at Phoenix Commercial Paint to visit with owner Michelle Henry. She had a Class C motorhome in the shop that she was in the process of stripping down for a new paint job. Michelle gave us a tour of the place, and explained how paint is mixed to create custom colors for the beautiful full body paint jobs she produces.

It is amazing how a custom paint job can transform a dated looking RV into a rolling work of art, and even more amazing that Michelle can turn out such quality work for half of what some places charge.

What’s the secret? Hard work, being willing to do a lot of the work herself instead of hiring expensive help, and a love of what she is doing. You can bet when we find the right coach to replace our bus, we’ll be talking to Michelle about a paint job!

Back at the bus, I actually did some work! A company called Pineapple Publications contacted me a while back and wanted to use some of the material from my Publishing4Profit website for a new book on self-publishing they are bringing out this summer. That led to an interview with the author, Christy Pinheiro, which in turn led to an offer to be listed as co-author of the book.

Christy sent me a copy of the final manuscript and asked me to give it a final proofing before it goes to print. So I spent the rest of the day and most of the evening doing that. The Step-By-Step Guide to Self-Publishing for Profit! will be available in just a few weeks, and I’m looking forward to seeing the book when it is published.

Speaking of books and publishing, several readers have written to ask me what I think of my Amazon Kindle, now that I’ve had it a while. Well, there’s good news and there’s bad news. I love the concept of the Kindle. It’s a great product, especially for RVers who have to consider the weight of books if they do a lot of reading. You can store hundreds of books digitally and carry a complete library in your Kindle. And having seen the new model Kindles, I’m glad I have the first generation model. It just feels better to me. But to be honest, I hardly use it.

Part of that is because just about the time I got the Kindle, Terry’s cousin, Carolyn Henley, who is about to become a fulltime RVer, gave us several big boxes of once read books that we have been working our way through in the last few months. With that much reading material, there just wasn’t much reason to buy anything.

Also, as convenient as it is to order a book online and download it to the Kindle, we just love prowling around both new and used bookstores. Terry and I can spend hours in a bookstore. Sometimes we buy a lot of books, and just as many times, we don’t buy a thing. Either way, we still have a good time, and we look forward to finding new bookstores to explore wherever we travel.

Thought For The Day – I wish the buck stopped here. I could use a few.

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Yesterday our friend Al Hesselbart from the RV Hall of Fame Museum called to tell me that several vintage RVs from the Tin Can Tourists were visiting the museum and that I was missing a great photo opportunity. So I grabbed my camera and headed over to check things out.

The Tin Can Tourists are a club for owners and fans of vintage trailers and motor coaches. The units on display at the museum included everything from a neat old Travco motorhome to classic travel trailers, and even a couple of really neat homebuilt campers. I really liked this homebuilt camper, with cedar shingles and a back porch, and the old truck pulling it was pretty cool too. I’d have loved to see the inside of it.
Another neat homebuilt is called simply The Shack. Built by John and Dot Flis, the camper built on their 1940 International truck was made from 90% recycled stuff they collected here and there. Don’t let the old truck’s outward appearance fool you, John replaced the original engine with a powerful 350 Chevrolet V-8 engine and beefed up the suspension and drive train to handle the weight of The Shack.

They designed their neat camper to look like a miniature farmhouse, complete with galvanized roof, and tail lights made from old kerosene lanterns. Inside, The Shack has all the comforts of home, including a sink, small refrigerator, microwave, and porta-potty. The Shack has been featured on the Discovery Channel’s RV Crazy episode.

I also liked this beautiful 1950 Spartan trailer, owned by Michael Greene of nearby Bristol, Indiana. As it turns out, Michael is the cousin of our pal Trina Ambris, who runs RV Surplus Salvage, here in Elkhart. Michael told me that he found the 32 foot long trailer decaying in a field one day and tracked down the owner.

The old trailer was in terrible shape, and most sane people probably would not have taken on the task of resurrecting it. But Michael and his wife own a company called Sierra Custom Interiors that builds custom living quarters in horse trailers, and they also build neat retro looking camper trailers called Campfire Campers. Judging by what I saw inside the old Spartan John restored, I think there are some horses that are really traveling in style!

Back at the bus, Michele Henry from Phoenix Commercial Paint stopped over to visit. Both Al Hesselbart from the RV Hall of Fame Museum, and Bob and Gita Patel, owners of Elkhart Campground, had high praise for Michele and her work, and we were glad to get to know her.

For years Michele’s company has painted RVs for some of the local manufacturers, including Four Winds, Forest River, and Phoenix. But with the downturn in the RV industry, Michele, like many companies that support the RV manufacturers, is scrambling to stay alive.

She has painted quite a few coaches for private owners, and it is amazing how much she can transform a dated looking motorhome or fifth wheel. Click on some of the tabs at the top of her webpage, and then click on the individual pictures, and I think you’ll be just as impressed as Terry and I were.

Michele said she much prefers working with individual owners over the big companies, who want to dictate terms and are more concerned with saving a dollar by cutting quality, than the final job.

Michele is a sharp lady, and she has a good business model. Instead of trying to get top dollar from every customer, she charges much less than the competition, and turns out what I feel is work far superior work to some of the other shops. By running a lean operation, and concentrating on quality, she is able to turn out beautiful custom work for around $200 a lineal foot. So if you thought you needed to spend $12,000 to $15,000 for a custom paint job on your RV, think again. Instead of buying a new coach, you can save thousands by refurbishing your present rig inside and out. Check out Michele’s website, she’s good people and she does good work. When Terry and I buy a coach to replace our bus conversion, you can bet we’ll be seeing Michele for a paint job.

Thought For The Day – A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.

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