I’ve been working on the new issue of the Gypsy Journal, which I will be sending off to the printer early next week, and we still had a few bundles of the November-December issue left. We needed to get them distributed so we’d have room for the new issue after it’s printed.

So yesterday, we spent the day dropping off sample bundles at RV parks along Interstate 4 between the Kissimmee area and Interstate 75, on the west side of the state.

It was interesting see how folks were bundled up, due to the cold snap that has hit the South. Everywhere we went, we saw people in jackets, scarves, hats, and even gloves! And they thought they were coming to Florida to spend the winter basking in the sunshine!

I was surprised by how many Carefree RV resorts we stopped at! They have a lot of RV parks in Florida! All of them were very nice, and I really appreciate the fact that Carefree Resorts also gives veterans a 50% discount on RV sites. That’s very nice, and I made it a point of telling their managers that, at the resorts where we stopped.

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One of the campgrounds where we stopped, Tampa East RV Resort in Dover, has a special weekly rate that is good until the end of December, so we may pop in there for a week between Christmas and New Years. It’s about a half hour away from my nephew Steve’s place in Pinellas Park, and might make a good place to stay while we visit Steve and the rest of the family in that area.

One place where we won’t be staying, or doing any business at all, is at Lazy Days, the mega-dealer just off Interstate 4 that has an RV dealership, campground, Camping World, and Cracker Barrel on the premises.

We stopped there to drop off a bundle of papers, and the manager on duty said no, because we had two ads for RVs for sale in the paper. One is a tiny little 1984 Mirage camper with an asking price of $4,000 up in northern Indiana, and the other is an eight year old Class A gas rig a couple have for sale in Texas.

The manager never actually gave me the courtesy of talking to me, the message relayed by the young lady at the counter was that since Lazy Days is a dealership, they don’t want to “encourage the competition.” Yeah, that sixteen year old $4,000 Mirage is sure some competition for the land yachts that Lazy Days sells!

I find it interesting that Lazy Days has contacted us in the past suggesting that we consider holding one of our Gypsy Gathering rallies there, and they have sent me press releases in the past when they want free publicity for something. But I guess that’s a one way street.

But that’s okay, we found another campground just down the road that was happy to get the papers, and whenever anybody is RV shopping and asks me my opinion of Lazy Days (and I get a lot of people asking for advice), I’ll be happy to share it. Did you ever notice that the little mom and pop places are so much nicer to deal with, and that the biggest outfits are the most chickensh..?

By the time we were done, we only had two or three bundles left, and I’ll get rid of them at a couple of places we’ll be stopping in the next few days. It was twilight by the time we were headed home, and I don’t see well after dark, so Miss Terry took the wheel. We stopped for dinner at the Sonny’s Barbecue in Clermont, and by the time we got back to the Thousand Trails, it was downright cold again! It sure felt good to get inside, turn up the thermostat, put on our Teepee Creepers slippers, and warm back up!

Bad Nick is no fool. He stayed inside where it was warm all day, pounding out another Bad Nick Blog titled I’m Sorry, I Just Don’t Get It. Check it out and leave a comment.

Thought For The Day – When you are dissatisfied and would like to go back to youth, think of Algebra.

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Wow, I go away for one afternoon and the whole world changes! What’s up with that?

I had to get up earlier than usual for me yesterday morning, because I needed to be wide awake for a 9 a.m. conference call. I’ve found that folks tend to get offended or lose confidence in you if you snore during a business call.

The call took about an hour, and then I spent some time answering e-mails and checking some blog comments that were waiting for moderation. (To fight spam, all blog comments are held for review the first time somebody makes one. After that, the software recognizes their e-mail address and comments post immediately).

I also called my friend Greg White to ask his opinion on a couple of technical issues. No matter what questions I throw at him, from computers to digital cameras to synthetic transmission fluids, Greg always has the answers for me. Either he’s really smart, or he just makes stuff up off the top of his head and gets lucky a lot, I’m not sure which. Thanks for your input, Greg.

About the time I finished up with all that, Dave Damon showed up to borrow my Beanstalk ladder so he could fix something on his rig. Dave also reminded me that his wife, Jean, wants to give Terry and I massages while we’re here. I can hardly wait!

We left the Thousand Trails campground a little after noon, and drove around the area, dropping off bundles of sample copies of the Gypsy Journal at the local RV parks. We also stopped at the Camping World in Orlando to drop off a bundle of papers, but since we didn’t have a display rack for them, the manager said no. This is one of only two or three Camping World stores to say no in over twelve years. I understand their space limitations, but it’s a big store. We just don’t have the room to carry display racks with us, and we could never get back to refill them with every new issue with our travel schedule.

Interestingly enough, the nice folks at a very small RV parts store called Camping Connection, just a few miles east, were happy to have the papers, and found a place to display them. I guess if I need anything while we’re in the Orlando/Clermont area, I know who will get my business.

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Once we were done dropping off sample newspapers, we drove to the Bass Pro Shop in Orlando to do some browsing. I love Cabela’s and Bass Pro Shop, because they are RV friendly, and most of their stores will let RVers park overnight, and because they have every kind of toy a grown up boy could want or need. Are you looking for a new shotgun, or a sleeping, bag, or a GPS, or a fishing rod? How about a pocket knife, a boat, or a tent? They’ve got it!  

Most of the employees I have met at these stores are very professional, but I ran into one dunderhead at the Orlando store. We plan to spend a week or so in the Florida Keys, and I wanted to buy a rod and reel to do some fishing. I was looking for an inexpensive rig that would do the job without breaking the bank, because experienced fishermen have told me that if you use a cheap reel for fishing salt water, you can pretty much expect to throw it away at the end of the season.

An employee in the fishing department asked if he could help me, and I told him what I was looking for. He shrugged and said “ You got a rod, you got a reel, you got some line and a hook. They all do the same thing.” I was tempted to pick up a cheap $10 kid’s rod and reel, and then one of their most expensive units (some selling for over $1,000) and seek out the manager and ask him why there was a difference in price, since they “all do the same thing.” Instead, I just took my money and left.

After stopping for dinner at a good Chinese buffet, we arrived back at the Thousand Trails preserve a little before 7 p.m., to find the place much busier than it had been before we left. I think everybody left Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana, and they all got here at the same time! When we left a few hours before, about a third of the RV sites in our loop were empty, including the ones next to and across from us. When we got home, those and just about every other site we passed in our loop was filled. I go away for one afternoon and the place fills up!

I guess the annual snowbird migration has begun. And it will only get busier over the next few weeks!

Thought For The Day – The greatest ignorance is to reject something you know nothing about.

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We woke up to gusty winds and scattered showers Sunday morning. Normally, we would roll over and go back to sleep on such a gloomy morning, but we had company coming, so we had to get in gear.

About 11 a.m. Mel and Charlene Schwartz arrived for a visit. I wrote about Mel and Charlene’s close call when a tree limb came through their windshield in an earlier blog post titled Life Is A Crapshoot. We were happy to see them safe and sound, and we had a very nice visit, talking about our mutual RV adventures. One of the best things about the RV lifestyle is the wonderful people we have met in our travels!

I guess my reputation for being a night owl has preceded me here to Pony Express RV Park,  because Mel said when they stopped at the office to find out what site we are in, the person at the desk said “Are you sure you won’t be waking him up?”

After Mel and Charlene left, Terry worked on a crochet project she has been busy with, and I tried to answer a backlog of e-mail that had piled up. Our internet service on our Verizon air card has been really flakey here. Sometimes it is very fast, and five minutes later it is about as slow as sludge. Since the park’s WiFi system is having problems of it’s own, communication is pretty spotty at times. So if you have written me and not received a reply, please be patient, and I’ll try to get to you as soon as possible.

By mid-afternoon the sky had cleared up, and it began to get pretty warm. We sure are pleased with the basement air conditioning in our Ultimate Advantage. Our first Class A motorhome, and our bus conversion, both had rooftop air conditioners, and we much prefer the basement unit. It is much quieter, and even on the 90+ degree days we have had here in Salt Lake City, it gets so cold inside the motorhome that we have to adjust the thermostat upward.

I had an interesting e-mail the other day from longtime readers Mary and Frank Maniaci, with a question for all of you. They wrote that they had issues with their Winegard satellite dish, contacted both Winegard and Camping World, and that the two companies coordinated to get their problems fixed.  They had just finished writing letters and emails commending both companies because in their words – “We will be the first to complain when something is wrong, but feel that obligates us to comment when things are right.  Are we  the rule or the exception when it comes to writing letters of commendation to those that deserve it?”

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I always try to compliment good service, whether it be in an RV repair shop, a store, or a restaurant. Having been a business owner much of my life, I sure have heard my share of complaints, and I can tell you that, in my experience anyway, while the complimentary  comments may not come as frequently, they are always very much appreciated. So how about you? Do you write letters, call, or e-mail to say thanks for a job well done?

Thought For The Day – A fair-weather friend is one who is always around when he needs you.

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I closed yesterday’s blog by telling you we had tire troubles. Here’s the story:

From the time we left Gilroy Tuesday morning, until the time we arrived at the the Emigrant Trail Museum in Truckee that afternoon, one of our inside dual tires had lost over 35 pounds of air. This is the same problem we have been having with the inside duals ever since Camping World installed them the end of February. Supposed they fixed it when we went back a few weeks ago, but evidently not.

At that time it was determined that the problem was the valve extensions, and it might still be. Especially since one look at the scratches and tool marks on it told us that the valve extension was not new, and was probably the one that gave us problems before.

Our motorhome has an onboard air compressor, and I have an air hose, but as it turns out, there is a problem in our auxiliary air system somewhere and we couldn’t get it to work. We found a gas station where we could fill the tire, and I left the valve extender and PressurePro sensor off, and checked the tire again before we set off yesterday and it was still holding pressure. So once we get into Salt Lake City, I’ll find a new extender to put on the tire.

Yesterday morning we left Boomtown Casino and followed Interstate 80 east across Nevada, Traffic was busy in Reno, but the rest of the day we didn’t have much to deal with. The first part of our route was pretty curvy as we followed the Truckee River, and then we came into a big valley with salt flats as far as the eye could see. We zipped past this barren landscape in no time at all, but it took the pioneers of the Donner Party six days to cross the salt flats.

Miss Terry was taking pictures out the window as we motored along, and she managed to capture this smiley face somebody made to welcome travelers.

Some of the mountains off in the distance still had snow on top of them, but down on the highway it was over 90 degrees!

Part of our route had some steep climbs and downhill grades, but nothing compared to crossing the Sierras the day before. Both days, the Winnebago had no problems, the big Cummins diesel engine never started to get too warm, and carried us over the top as fast as I wanted to go. After years of being passed by eighteen wheelers in our old bus on even small grades, it’s sure nice to pull over into the left lane and pass them by as they labor up the hills!

We stopped at the Flying J in Winnemucca for fuel, but their RV pumps were out of order, and there was a long line of trucks at the truck islands.  We continued on another 50 miles to Battle Mountain. I don’t think the Flying J there was a company store, but rather an affiliate, but it was easy to get in and out.

We saw some nice rock formations alongside the highway!

We arrived at Crossroads RV Park in Wells, Nevada about 4:30 p.m., with  346 miles under our belt for the day. Crossroads is a small Passport America park, nothing much but a gravel lot with 30 amp full hookup RV sites. But at just $10 a night, it’s a good bargain. We have four bars of high speed EVDO internet service, which is always nice.

One of our subscribers recommended Crossroads to us, and said the managers, Dennis and Irma Sayers, were wonderful people. When I checked the place out on RV Park Reviews, their friendliness was mentioned in the first three reviews I read. So I was looking forward to meeting this nice couple.

Sure enough, they were just as nice and helpful as could be; Irma checked us in and chatted for a while, then Dennis got us parked and made sure we were hooked up okay. I asked about restaurants, and Irma got right on the phone to call the shuttle van from a local casino to come and pick us up and take us to the restaurant. You don’t get that kind of service very often!

When we got back from dinner, Dennis and Irma stopped by to check on us, and Terry gave them a tour of our motorhome. I think Dennis was thinking about going RV shopping by the time they left!

We have about 180 miles to go today to reach Pony Express RV Resort in Salt Lake City, and then we’ll have a few days to relax, do some genealogy research, and we have a couple of technical issues on the motorhome that we need to look into. Nothing major, but apparently the gremlins have been at work.

Thought For The Day – A true friend is someone who sees the pain in your eyes while everyone else believes the fake smile.

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Today is Miss Terry’s birthday, but I got the present, because I get to spend the day with her! Terry is a very practical lady, so she thinks it’s just another day. But it’s pretty darned special to me.

Some women want jewelry or clothes for their birthday, but when I asked Terry what she wanted, she told me one of the new Dremel Trio power tools. I asked her why she wanted that, since we are done building a bus conversion, and she just looked at me, shook her head, and sighed “There’s always something.” I wonder what that meant?

Yesterday while we were in Flagstaff dropping off the new issue of the Gypsy Journal at the mail service, we stopped at Home Depot to get Terry her new toy, but they were sold out, it being the day after Father’s Day. So I promised Terry a rain check, then took her to one of her favorite places, Barnes & Noble bookstore. Okay, I confess, it’s one of my favorite places too. We can spend hours browsing, and usually spend more than we had planned to, but we justify it by telling ourselves that we don’t drink or smoke, or play golf, or gamble, so we deserve a treat now and then.

I know I have shown you pictures of forest fire smoke two days in a row, but just to put in in perspective, here is one more that Terry took in Flagstaff yesterday. It’s close enough to town that some folks we talked to were getting pretty nervous.

When we left Flagstaff, we stopped at the new Camping World in Bellemont to drop off a bundle of sample papers, then stopped at several RV parks around Williams doing the same. We got a chuckle out of this sign at the KOA. Somebody needs spelling lessons. But what can you expect from people who spell campground with a K?

So what does a charming husband like me do for his special lady on her birthday? He drives her across the Mojave Desert in 100+ degree temperatures! And if that were not enough, tonight I hope to be in Bakersfield, California, where she has her choice of dinner at the Flying J truck stop or the Jack in the Box restaurant next door! Hey, do I know how to treat a girl right or not?

I’m pretty much recovered from my bout with the flu, but my energy level still doesn’t feel quite up to par. It’s about 450 miles from here to Bakersfield, so we have a long day of driving ahead of us. And if we get tired or run into any delays, I have a couple of alternative stops in mind.

We have several readers in Bakersfield who have asked us to stop in for a visit, or invited us to dinner, but this is just a quick overnight stop, since we have to be at the Elks lodge in Oceano Wednesday by mid-day to claim an RV site before somebody else snags it out from under us.

We plan to be in the Oceano/Pismo Beach and Morro Bay area for a few days, then we’ll go up to the Thousand Trails preserve in Morgan Hill for a week or so, where we have arranged tours of a few places to write about for the next issue.

Happy birthday, Terry. I love you with all my heart, my darling.

Thought For The Day – One man all by himself is nothing.  Two people who belong together make a world.

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