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!

With the FMCA rally over, we took in just about enough to cover our expenses getting into the event, and make a small wage for ourselves, if we had been children working in a Chinese sweat shop someplace. Financially, it was just about our worst rally ever, even though there were thousands of RVers in attendance.

The good news is that we made some contacts that may pay off down the road in terms of future business. The bad news is that every negative thing we have ever felt about the FMCA was reinforced tenfold; from the snob attitude so very many of the members exhibit, to the way they run the rally.

Terry and I have been family members of the FMCA for ten years, but we had to also purchase a commercial membership just to qualify to come here and pay them to vend. And they still expect us to maintain our family membership too! What’s up with that! I think when it comes time to renew, we’ll just tell them where to stick both memberships.

For me, the final straw was when a member of the FMCA Governing Board came by our booth and wanted to purchase about $140 worth of our products for $50, because as a Governing Board member, he felt he should get some special consideration. I asked him where the consideration was for the vendors that had to pay double duty just to get into their rally, and sent him on his way.

I think the only people who had to put up with more bulls#&% than the vendors here was longtime Gypsy Journal subscriber Greg Vederoff, who sent me this photograph of his rig after parking at a Flying J. Greg said when they pulled in they parked next to a school bus towing a car, which left and was later replaced by a cattle truck that left him this present. What a mess! 

Okay, enough of that, let’s talk about a fun rally, namely our upcoming Gypsy Gathering rally in Celina, Ohio in late September. I’ve got some good news for you; the folks from Recreational Vehicle Safety Education Foundation (RVSEF) will be at the rally giving a couple of great seminars, and weighing RVs. If you have not had your rig weighed, that’s something you really need to get done.

An overloaded RV can be a very dangerous thing, and cost you not only in terms of premature equipment failure, but also in your very safety. Check out the RVSEF website to learn a lot about weight issues in your RV, and while you’re at it, go ahead and register for their RV Lifestyle Safety and Education Clinic too!

My pal Henry Gartner, aka Flakey the Clown, will also put in an appearance at the rally. If you don’t know this wonderful, gentle man, you’re in for a real treat! I profiled Henry in my Today’s Hero Blog a while back. Read Henry’s story and the comments by so many people who love him, and I think you’ll be impressed. Henry has promised to teach us all some easy magic tricks we can use to amaze and delight our grandkids. I’m looking forward to it.

Before I sign off, I want you to check out a brand new free website called ChatRV.com, which was unveiled at the FMCA rally. The owners tell me it’s sort of a Facebook just for RVers. Since our Verizon air card signal has been so poor here, I have not had the opportunity to spend much time looking it over. It’s got a long way to go, but could this be the next new rage for RVers? Tell me what you think.

Thought For The Day – When in doubt, just take the next small step.

Register Now For Our Ohio Gypsy Gathering Rally