One of the great things about the RV lifestyle is having the opportunity to eat so many different kinds of food in so many different places. Whenever we can, we pass up the chain restaurants in favor of the local fare. Let’s face it, a Grand Slam breakfast is going to taste the same, whether you order it at a Denny’s in Pittsburgh, Palo Alto, or Paducah.

But in the local restaurants, you find great dishes like the Especial, the world famous hot dog/cheeseburger combo at Lute’s Casino in Yuma; or the Five Cheese burger at Burgers & Beer, also here in Yuma. I’ve had both, and they beat the heck out of anything you’ll ever find at McDonald’s or Burger King.

Move over Long John Silvers and Red Lobster! For real seafood, you need to go to places like Moondog Seaside Eatery in Rockport, Texas, pictured here, or Keys Fisheries on Marathon Key in the Florida Keys. Yeah, you may have to wave away the seagulls when they try to steal your food at an outside table, but once you have had a blackened grouper sandwich at either place, you’ll be spoiled for any of the chain eateries.     

Regional food is another treat for travelers. I had never heard of a Cuban sandwich, which is a delicious combination of ham, roast pork, pulled pork, cheese, and a pickle, served on Cuban bread, until I first tried one in Florida a few years ago. I was immediately hooked. My two favorite places to order a Cuban are at El Siboney in Key West, and Mykonos, in Brooksville, Florida.

For a real taste of local food, you need to find a place like the Boiling Pot in Rockport, Texas, where they bring you a Cajun boil of shrimp, crawfish, sausage, new potatoes, and corn, pour the entire concoction out on butcher paper, and tell you to dig in! No frills, no silverware, just good food you’ll never forget! 

I love pizza, and I’ve had delicious pizzas everyplace form New York City to Chicago to Seattle. But I don’t think you can beat the brick oven pizzas we had at several different places around Berlin, New Jersey. Those folks know how to make pizza!

We’ve been busy sampling the local restaurants here in the Yuma area, and yesterday we joined Tom and Barbara Westerfield, along with David and Lynn Cross, at the above mentioned Lute’s Casino in Old Town Yuma. The place isn’t really a casino, but rather a funky little restaurant with all kinds of antiques, artifacts, and junk hanging from the ceilings and decorating the walls. Did you ever notice that food always tastes better when you dine out with good friends?

Fortunately, we have plenty of friends here in Yuma, and plenty of local restaurants to try out yet. I can’t wait to see where we eat tonight!

Bad Nick must be on a diet, because while I was out chowing down, he was busy posting a new Bad Nick Blog titled I Don’t Get It. Check it out and leave a comment.

Thought For The Day – Everything is funny if you wait long enough.  

Register Now For Our Arizona Gypsy Gathering Rally

Okay, we all stuffed ourselves yesterday and defeated a year’s worth of dieting, but don’t beat yourself up over it. The way I see things, God made me this way, and who am I to try to change His creation?

Yeah, I know, that was probably sacrilegious, and truth be told, the Burger King and Ronald McDonald are the ones who helped make me the man I am today. But it’s the holiday season, and I officially don’t care until January 1^st. Bring on the pecan pie.

Every year at this time, I make myself a promise not to darken the door of WalMart until at least two days after Christmas. It’s crowded enough the rest of the year, but I just can’t handle dealing with the mobs of Christmas shoppers, who are usually all in such a bad mood.

Fulltime RVers and snowbirds celebrate the holidays in many different ways. We know many fulltimers who return to their old hometowns to spend the holiday season with family members, and a lot of snowbirds delay the start of their winter travels until after the holidays. We spent our first two Thanksgivings and Christmases on the road at Escapees parks, and it really gave us a sense of being with family.

Most RV parks have a potluck dinner, with the park furnishing the turkey and everybody bringing a dish. Miss Terry’s pies are always a big hit at such events. Some people don’t feel comfortable in such large groups, and they have a quiet dinner with just one or two other couples. Since cooking a large meal in an RV can be a challenge, and is a lot of work too, sometimes we have just gone out to a nice buffet dinner. To me, this makes the most sense. Everything is prepared for you, and there is no mess to clean up afterward. I always thought Thanksgiving was really unfair to the ladies, because they spend hours cooking, everybody comes to the table and stuffs themselves, and then the guys go watch TV while the ladies wash dishes.

We have reached the point where we don’t usually give each other Christmas gifts, because we have pretty much everything we want already, and if not, we don’t have to wait for a special day to go get it. We do enjoy spoiling the grandkids a little bit at Christmas. Though we have not been there for Christmas, we have fun shopping for them. Of course, we know that whatever we buy them, they will probably have more fun playing with the boxes than what’s inside anyway.

Thought For The Day – If your heart is not in agreement with your mind, you will be stuck.

Register Now For Our Arizona Gypsy Gathering Rally

Well, another Gypsy Gathering rally has come and gone. Except for coffee and donuts, and lots of goodbye hugs this morning, the rally is over. In fact, quite a few people left yesterday after the last seminars ended. But those who stuck around enjoyed the final door prize drawings, and a lot of us enjoyed dancing to the music of One More Time. But I think we must all have been pretty worn out, because by 9 p.m. we were all headed back to our RVs.

Congratulations to Dan and Karen Silverwood, who won our Grand Prize, a free admission to any future Gypsy Gathering rally. And thanks once again to all of the folks who attended, and especially to all of our volunteers who work so hard to make these rallies a success.

It’s been a long week, and we’re worn out. To be honest, it’s one of the few times when my brain is just too foggy to write much. So instead, I thought I’d just share some candid rally photos my buddy Carey McGleish and some other folks provided, so those of you who weren’t at the rally can see all the fun you missed.

Here are our good friends, Bob and Molly Pinner, who sold the 50/50 drawing tickets at the rally. We had two 50/50 drawings, and both times the winners took home well over $200. Thanks for all your help, Bob and Molly.

We had a good lineup of vendors, including Dennis Haddix from Makarios RV and ChatRV.com. If you have not checked out Chat RV, it’s kind of like a Facebook for the RV world. Sign up today, its fun and it’s free!

Our dear friends Tom Owens, Diane Rojewski, and Alice Kyle, from the Final Exit Plan are faithful vendors and loyal supporters of the Gypsy Journal and our rallies.

This was the first time Pete Peterson from TrailerMate fifth wheel hitches attended one of our rallies as a vendor, but he said they had a good time and plan to come back again.

We had an unexpected VIP visitor yesterday when the Burger King dropped by to check out the RV really. Here he is with vendor Dave Damon, who sells 303 products, and whose wife Jean, is an excellent masseuse.

We got a lot of very good feedback on the computer boot camp and the six seminars presented by Jim and Chris Guld, the Geeks on Tour.

I never pass up an opportunity to hug a pretty lady. Here I am with Melissa Beahm, one half of the musical duo One More Time.

Speaking of pretty ladies, here are Nancy Beck, Edie Cox, and Linda Cheyfitz, who helped serve morning coffee and donuts.

Seeing old friends and making new ones are always the best parts of an RV rally. Here are Tina Allen and Carey McGleish enjoying each other’s company at our Wednesday night pizza party.

And here I am with another pretty lady, Miss Molly Pinner. There’s nothing better than a good looking woman with a handful of money!

As you can see, the pizza party drew quite a crowd, and everybody had plenty to eat.

And here I am with the prettiest lady of them all, my very own Miss Terry! Somebody said I looked grumpy in this photo. No, I’m just tired.

As you can see, there was a lot going on, and from a quick read of the rally feedback forms, it looks like most people were pretty pleased with the rally. If you were here with us, thanks for coming. And if you didn’t make it to this rally, hopefully we’ll see you at our Western Gypsy Gathering rally in Yuma, Arizona March 8-12.

Thought For The Day – A good friend is like a good bra. Hard to find, supportive, comfortable, and always close to your heart!