We have been having a lot of fun here in Muskegon, Michigan with Berni and Rocky Frees. It is amazing how we can be apart from those two for a year, and the minute we get back together, the fun picks back up right where we left off.

Yesterday they both had to work, so Terry and I hung around the motorhome most of the day, filling a couple of orders, doing paperwork, and answering e-mails. With our Eastern Gypsy Gathering rally coming up fast, we are getting a lot of registrations in.  There is still plenty of time to get yours in too, if you want to come and join in all the fun.

In the afternoon I laid down on the couch for a short nap, and Terry woke me up a little after 5 so we could go over to Rocky and Berni’s. It’s the weekend, and Fisherman’s Landing Campground is starting to get busy. We noticed several RVs that had pulled in during the day, as well as a group of tent campers down at the far end of our lane. Hopefully they won’t be as loud and obnoxious as the tent campers who have partied here on the weekends during our past visits.

We left the van at Rocky and Berni’s and took their car to a great restaurant called Hobo’s Tavern.  We ate there once before, on a previous trip to Muskegon, and it was just as great as we remembered. I had an exceptionally tender and delicious New York strip streak, while Terry had a burrito plate with red chili sauce. We both really enjoyed our meals, and from the comments Berni made about her steak, and Rocky his half rack of ribs, they were pleased too.

Back at their place, we introduced them to a fun game we learned at our Eastern rally in Celina, Ohio last fall, called Pegs and Jokers. We had looked all over for a game of our own, and couldn’t find one, so our pal Ron Speidel made us one in the craft shop at the RV park where they stayed in Mission, Texas last winter. And then our good friends Mike and Elaine Loscher also gave us a second game, so now we have two, when we once had none! Isn’t it great having good friends who are also generous, and love you too?

On the two previous nights we had played Mexican Train, with me winning one game and Berni the other, so we needed to break that tie. Unfortunately, Rocky had to get up very early Friday morning, so by 10:30 or so, he was really beginning to droop. We stopped the game, and will probably have to pick it up tonight, just because Berni was ahead by a good margin at that point. I suggested that maybe we should start a brand new game from scratch today, but poor Berni has so few victories in her life that she insisted we continue the one we already had going. Boy, some people!

Back at the campground, even more RVs and tents had arrived, and campfire smoke filled the air. When we left, the sites on either side of us were empty, and when we returned, there was a motorhome on one side, and a popup tent trailer on the other.

We’re not sure if we’ll leave here Sunday to go on down to Elkhart, or wait until Monday morning. We’re having a lot of fun, but we also have a lot of work to get done.

Thought For The Day – When in doubt, mumble.

Click Here To Register For Our Eastern Gypsy Gathering Rally!

After reading in the blog about the frustrations I was having trying to do research at the Family History Library, Roger Marble sent me some website links to articles on getting the most out of a visit to the Family History Library. I spent a couple of hours Sunday reading those articles, and then getting my notes better organized. It really made a difference.

Yesterday I went back to the library for a couple of hours, and I think I may be getting the hang of how things are laid out there. I found a lot of very good information, including the dates and newspapers that several family members’ obituaries were in, as well as their last addresses before they died. I also found some information on my older brother, who was murdered back in 1968. It was quite a breakthrough, and I feel like I accomplished a lot. I want to go back again today for a while, since our visit here in Salt Lake City is almost over. I definitely plan to come back here again!

Roger presented a couple of seminars on genealogy at our rally in Celina, Ohio last year, and the response was so good that he will be doing them again at our upcoming Eastern Gypsy Gathering Rally in Elkhart, Indiana August 30 – September 3.

Blog reader Ray Warner and his wife Cindy live in Riverton, Utah, a little south of Salt Lake City, and when he read that we were going to be in the area, Ray invited us to dinner. Never one to pass up the chance to make a new friend, or a free meal, I was happy to take Ray up on his offer.

We met at the Chuck-A-Rama buffet, where Terry and I had dinner Friday evening, and it was just as good this time around, too. Ray and Cindy are a very nice couple, who have a fifth wheel, and are looking forward to doing some extended traveling once Cindy retires in a couple of years.

We always enjoy talking with folks about the RV lifestyle, and sharing what we have learned in our time on the road. Cindy had questions about things like how do we get our mail on the road, and what happens if you have a major illness or accident when far away from home. We explained to them about mail forwarding services, and medical evacuation services such as Sky Med and MASA.

I also stressed to both Cindy and Ray how important I feel it is for both of them to know how to handle all of the dumping chores, how hook up and unhook their rig, and how to drive the RV, even if one is the primary driver and the other seldom gets behind the wheel. We have seen too many situations where a husband gets sick or injured, and the wife has no idea of how to get someplace safe until the situation is resolved. We have also known couples where the wife does most of the driving, and the husband would be really challenged if he had to take the wheel.

Some husbands (or wives) can teach their spouses how to drive an RV, but for many couples, it just doesn’t work. If you fall into that category, or if you are a new RVer, male or female, I have good news for you.

Dennis Hill from the RV Driving School will be presenting driving seminars at our Elkhart rally, as well as giving private lessons behind the wheel of the students’ rigs. I really hope folks take advantage of this opportunity to get lessons from the pros. The small fee for the class is worth every penny. It will make you a better, safer, and more confidant RVer. And if you do take the class, you’ll probably qualify for a discount on your insurance too!

Bad Nick is back on his soapbox, and he has a brand new Bad Nick Blog titled Talk About Cajones that may just open your eyes to how much money we are giving to criminals every month. Check it out and leave a comment.

Thought For The Day – Money can’t buy happiness, but it can sure make misery much more comfortable.

Click Here To Register For Our Eastern Gypsy Gathering Rally!

I spent most of yesterday working on the new issue of the Gypsy Journal, making and receiving telephone calls about our upcoming Eastern Gypsy Gathering rally, and making plans for future rallies.

I had hoped to be almost done with the new issue by now, but I got lazy and didn’t keep on top of things, so now I have to push a little harder to make our deadline. It’s no big deal, we’re not behind schedule, I just have to knuckle down for a few days.

One call I got was from the manager of the Mercer County Fairgrounds in Celina, Ohio, to discuss the dates for our 2011 Eastern rally. That’s a long time from now, but it takes a lot of planning to get things arranged, and venues large enough to handle our size group book well in advance. We didn’t lock anything in yet, but right now we’re looking at either the third or last week of September.

We don’t want to go back to the same place over and over, but it’s not easy to find a venue that has the facilities that we need and that will work within our budget. We had a commitment with the good folks in Celina for three rallies, and we are looking forward to going back to the friendly little town. It’s a very nice fairgrounds, and they really bend over backwards to accommodate our needs. We have never found anybody we can work with as easily.

I also talked for a bit with Daryl Lawrence from Lawrence RV Accessories, and I already have his commitment to be a vendor at the 2011 Eastern rally. We are pleased that so many of our vendors return again and again. That tells us that we must be doing something right.

Daryl and I lamented the fact that it is very hard for vendors to make long range plans, because some RV clubs and organizations don’t seem to be willing to communicate with each other about rally plans, even after they have the dates and locations locked in. I’ve never been able to figure out that thinking. If everybody knows what everybody else is planning, we can work together, rather than planning events with conflicting schedules that only reduce the numbers of attendees and vendors, who can’t be in two places at once. It’s hard enough for vendors to make a profit in this economy as it is, but having to play silly waiting games to find out where and when some of the rallies are going to be held makes it almost impossible.

I also got a telephone call from my daughter Tiffany, to tell me that she and hubby Jim had stopped to check out some Indian petroglyphs on the banks of a dry wash about halfway between Snowflake and Holbrook, some 35 miles north of Show Low. They came around a bend in the wash and spotted a mountain lion feeding on something up ahead. The cougar quickly ran off, but Tiffany said its paw prints were as big as the palm of Jim’s hand up to the second knuckle. And that young man has big hands! They took their clue from the cat and took their leave too, in the opposite direction. Yes folks, some places remain where the West is still wild!

About 4:30 I escaped from my desk long enough for us to drive to Pinetop with Greg and Jan for dinner at the Chuck Wagon Steakhouse, which was a favorite of mine when we lived here. The restaurant is very rustic looking, with an Old West theme that includes an impressive bar, saddles, mounted big game heads, and a chandelier made from elk antlers.  

Greg and I had rib eye steaks, while Miss Terry and Jan choose the petite sirloins. I was pleased to learn that the food and service were both just as good as I remembered.  Greg, Jan, and Terry were all very happy with their meals also. When the waitress came by to inquire if we wanted dessert, we were all too full to say yes.

Back at the Elks campground, I worked some more on the new issue of the paper and then just before dark we decided that dessert wasn’t such a bad idea after all. So we all piled back in Greg and Jan’s truck and went to Dairy Queen!

Thought For The Day – When you harbor bitterness, happiness will dock elsewhere.

Click Here To Register For Our Eastern Gypsy Gathering Rally!

We had a long day yesterday. We left Apache Junction about 9 a.m. and drove to the fairgrounds in Yuma to check out the buildings we’ll be using for our RV rally in March.

Instead of taking Interstate 10 south all the way to Interstate 8, and than taking I-8 west to Yuma, we usually take State Route 347 through the small but growing community of Maricopa, hook up with State Route 84 for a couple of miles, and then hit Interstate 8 at Exit 151. This saves about 30 miles of driving, and except for a few miles of divided four lane roadway, the rest is a nice two lane road without much traffic.

We have noticed another possible route, State Route 238, which goes west from Maricopa to connect with Interstate 8 at Gila Bend, but we had never taken it before. Since we were in the van yesterday, we decided to give it a try. The first half of the two lane road was pretty bumpy, and the second half was a series of dips and sharp curves. We shaved ten miles off our trip, but because the road isn’t nearly as nice, it took us almost exactly as long as going our regular way. If you like drives in the country and have a smaller RV, it would probably be okay, but I don’t think I’d take my 40 foot motorhome through some of those dips.

We stopped at Augies Quail Trail RV Park in Gila Bend to drop off a sample bundle of papers. The Escapees had their Boot Camp for newbie RVers there earlier in the week, and we were hoping to run into anybody we knew, but in driving through the campground, we didn’t see any rigs that looked familiar. We know a lot of folks that stay at Augie’s when passing through this area, and it looked like a nice, clean little park.

When we pulled into the fairgrounds in Yuma, Gypsy Journal subscribers Ed and Stevi Hackenbruch greeted us. We met this nice couple several years ago, and have seen them a few times since then. They winter in Yuma, and were at the fairgrounds getting their table set up for a craft show this weekend. Running into them was a nice surprise.

We spent a couple of hours at the fairgrounds, making notes on the buildings, looking over the areas where we’ll be parking RVs, and going over some final rally details with the fairgrounds staff.

Then we stopped at the local Domino’s Pizza to talk to them about ordering over 100 pizzas for our traditional Wednesday evening pizza party. The price they quoted us was about 60% more than the Domino’s in Casa Grande or Celina, Ohio have charged us at previous rallies, and they’ll have to sharpen their pencil if they want to earn our business.

With all of that done, we drove around dropping off bundles of sample newspapers at some of the RV parks in Yuma. As we were pulling into one RV park, I told Terry that our friends Smokey and Pam Ridgely are workamping in Yuma this winter, and the name of this park sounded familiar. Just then Terry spotted Smokey’s beautiful Peterbilt truck coming out of the park. I stopped, jumped out, and waved Smokey down. He turned around and led us back to their fifth wheel, where we spent an hour or so visiting with Smokey and Pam. We have not seen them since they made a brief stop at our rally in Ohio in October, and we were glad we had the chance to visit for a while.

By then it was getting late and the sun was sinking low. We drove back eastward on Interstate 8, stopping to take a couple of pictures of the mountains near Wellton glowing in the last of the sun’s rays. That is not a natural lake you see in the foreground, just evidence of the how much water came down in last week’s storms.

On our way home, we passed by the Harrah’s Ak-Chin Casino near Maricopa, spotting 15 or 20 RVs dry camping in the parking lot, and made a mental note for future use if we’re nearby and need a safe, level place to park overnight.

It was chilly and sprinkling when we left our motorhome in the morning, but the weather was beautiful while we were in Yuma. Coming back, we ran in a downpour about five miles from home, and from the amount of standing water on the roads, I suspect it rained most of the day.

We got home about 10:30 p.m., having covered about 450 miles, and I sure was ready to get out of that van and back in our motorhome!

Thought For The Day – Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first.

Register Now For Our Arizona Gypsy Gathering Rally

Getting to know other RVers is one of the best parts of this lifestyle!

For the last few days, Bruce and Linda Fay have been parked next to us at Elkhart Campground in their nice looking older Itasca Sunrise motorhome. Yesterday before they left to go back home to Michigan, they stopped over to say goodbye. Bruce and Linda were at our recent Gypsy Gathering rally in Celina, Ohio, but we were so busy there that we didn’t really have time to talk, so it was nice to have a few minutes to visit.

Later in the afternoon, Greg White invited us to go to dinner with he and his wife Jan, to celebrate Jan’s birthday. We first met Greg and Jan at one of our rallies in Arizona, where Greg managed to get his diesel pusher stuck pulling out of the Casa Grande Fairgrounds, and I teased him in the blog about it. Greg has a great sense of humor, and took it in stride.

They were also at our rally in Celina, and then came back here to Elkhart. We have enjoyed getting to know them better in the last couple of weeks, and Greg has helped me out with several projects. In fact, today we have a couple more planned that I know I could not tackle on my own.

On the topic of rallies, I have added an Early Bird Registration link to our Arizona Gypsy Gathering rally in Yuma March 8-12. Originally it was my understanding that because the fairgrounds are having a Good Sam rally just before our event, we would not be able to have our regular early bird arrival. But I talked to the folks at the fairgrounds Friday, and they tell me the Good Sam group will be leaving the fairgrounds on Sunday, March 7. Early birds coming in for our rally can arrive anytime after noon on the 7^th. If you have been to one of our rallies before, you know how much fun they are, and if you haven’t had the chance yet, I hope you’ll join us in Yuma.

Hardworking Miss Terry finally finished all of the mailing and the new issue is on its way to subscribers all over the country. It’s always a relief when the last envelopes get to the post office and we can breathe a big sigh of relief until next time around.

A couple of our readers e-mailed me during the weekend to give me their winter addresses. Unfortunately, the papers were already stuffed into envelopes and in the system, so I was not able to pull them out and change the addresses. If your paper does not get forwarded to you, please let me know. And if you are getting ready to head for your favorite snowbird roost, be sure to let us know your winter address for next issue.

While Miss Terry was working hard on the mailing, Bad Nick posted a new Bad Nick Blog called AT&T Salutes Vets With One Finger. Check it out and leave a comment.

Thought For The Day – People always talk about the importance of cleaning their homes but they rarely talk about cleaning their minds and souls.  What unwanted stuff are you carrying within you?

Register Now For Our Arizona Gypsy Gathering Rally