Hey, give me a break! You try coming up with clever blog post headlines every day! It’s hard work!

After reading yesterday’s blog, some readers wanted to know if the new high back seat from Sea Eagle was any improvement for my bad back. Yes, after paddling 90 minutes on Saturday afternoon, I had no back pain at all, and felt great!

Somebody else wrote to ask why we keep deflating the kayak after paddling it, and then re-inflating it the next time we go out, and was it because the Sea Eagle PaddleSki was too heavy to carry inflated in our van. No, the boat only weighs about 40 pounds, and as this photo shows, I can easily drag it out of the water and stand it upright.

The problem is that our van is too tall for Terry and I to get it up there without using a ladder, and the inflated boat is over 14 feet long, so it won’t fit inside our van. Not counting the fact that our two hard kayaks are inside the van, as well as all of the newspapers we carry, and two Trek bicycles. It’s not all that much hassle to inflate and deflate the Sea Eagle, and it will be even less when I order the electric pump from Inflatable Boats 4 Less.

Yesterday morning, Dave Damon, who sells 303 products at RV rallies, came by to visit for a while, and we had a good time swapping lies. Then Terry and I had some running around to do, and drove down to Winter Haven, about 30 miles south of the Thousand Trails campground. 

Check Out Our Holiday Subscription Special Offer!

I have to be honest, I have never been enamored with Florida, but lately I have been thinking that with all of the water around here, and how much we love paddling and fishing, maybe we should switch our legal domicile to Florida. I could save some money on the cost of a resident fishing license over the much higher fees for a non-resident license. And getting back to Florida to renew our licenses would be easier than South Dakota, given our usual travel routes. 

There are three RV friendly states that seem to be home to most fulltime RVers – Texas, South Dakota, and Florida. There is an excellent mail forwarding service in Green Cove Springs, and the Good Sam Club has a mail forwarding service in Pensacola.

However, while talking to my car insurance company yesterday about another matter, I happened to mention changing domiciles, and was told that the higher cost of car and motorhome insurance in Florida would more than offset any savings on fishing licenses. We saved about a $1,000 a year on insurance when we switched from Texas to South Dakota, and I guess maybe we’ll stay right where we are.

Back at the motorhome, I had a long list of e-mails to answer, and an even longer list of forwarded junk, myths, and garbage that I just deleted without opening. I don’t mind a good joke now and then, and I’m guilty of forwarding one from time to time to a select group of twisted, sick people on my e-mail list.

But I really get tired of all of the stupid dire warnings of doom, the warm fuzzy stuff that is supposed to bring tears to my eyes, and the nonsense that anybody with half a brain cell could glance at and know is pure BS. I’m about to ban four or five folks from my inbox because they send me the same old junk over and over. I don’t need it, I don’t want it, and I don’t have time for it.

I also had an e-mail from a couple who have a fifteen year old gas powered Class C motorhome that they want to try fulltiming in this winter, before they spend big bucks on their dream rig. But they had heard from a couple of “experts” that “most” RV parks won’t let you in if your RV is more than 10 years old. These same experts had warned them that if they showed up anywhere in a rig that old, nobody would want to associate with them. They were worried that it was going to be a long, lonely winter.

I would be willing to bet that these “experts” are either RV salespeople trying to hustle them into a purchase, or else elitist jerks whom we could all do well without. For years we traveled in a 1976 homebuilt bus conversion, and we were never turned away anywhere we went, and we have never had a shortage of friendly neighbors in any campground from border to border and coast to coast.

Yes, there are a few RV “resorts” that have, and exercise, the ten year rule, but those are usually not the kind of places where I’d want to hang out anyway.  And as for being shunned due to the age of their RV, it just doesn’t happen most places. Sure, there is the occasional snob, just like anywhere in life. But overall, fulltime and extended travel RVers are some of the friendliest, most open and accepting people you’ll find anywhere. They don’t care what you drive, or what you do or did for a living. All they care about is if you’re friendly, if you have a couple of good campfire stories to tell, and if you want to ride along with them to the nearest buffet, or do you want them to ride with you!

Thought For The Day -  A friend knows the song in my heart and sings it to me when memory fails.

Register Now For Our Arizona Gypsy Gathering Rally

Did you ever have one of those days where you remember waking up and getting out of bed, and the next thing you know, you’re falling asleep and wondering where the day went? That sums up yesterday for me.

Josh Leach, from Bradd & Hall,  was knocking on our door before we were up yesterday morning, having come by to drop off some company brochures and a check to cover their sponsorship of Tuesday morning’s coffee and donuts at our Eastern Gypsy Gathering rally. We jumped into some clothes and visited with Josh for a while, and by the time he left, somebody else was here asking about the rally schedule.

From there, the day was just a blur of fielding telephone calls, answering e-mails, greeting folks who arrived early at Elkhart Campground for the rally, and getting last minute chores done. Red and Beth from Too Crazy Ladies arrived in the late morning, and I spent some time helping them select a site for their motorhome and vending trailer.

About the time I was finished with that, a potential vendor showed up asking if we had any indoor booths left. I told him no, but that we could get him into an outdoor space, which he declined. A short time later, one of our vendors who had reserved a double booth came by to tell us that due to a medical issue, he had to cancel at the last minute. I sure wish I had known that an hour earlier, when I turned away the other vendor

Our close friends, and stalwart rally volunteers, Mike and Elaine Loscher arrived and got settled in, and we had a nice little visit with them in our Winnebago. Then Terry and I took off to get some things done away from the campground, including picking up the rally T-shirts from the screen printer, stopping at the bank, post office, and to fill our van’s gas tank.

Then we went by Heartland Recreational Vehicles to pick up brochures to distribute at the rally. Heartland has also agreed to be a sponsor for our coffee and donuts, on Wednesday morning. For those who are staying on at Elkhart Campground after the rally, rather than traveling on the busy Labor Day weekend, Heartland is holding a special factory tour just for our rally attendees, at 10:30 a.m. on Friday morning. It will be a great opportunity to see how the fastest growing RV company in the industry does things.

Back at the campground, a large crowd had gathered for a happy hour under the tent we rented for the rally. The crowd included several folks who are staying in Goshen working on the upcoming Escapees RV Club Escapade rally, and included Escapees head honchos Bud and Cathie Carr. We had dinner plans, but we told everybody to have fun, and they seemed to have a pretty good handle on doing just that.

Terry and I, Greg White, Mike and Elaine Loscher, and Stu and Donna McNichol had a nice dinner at North Garden Chinese Buffet, and a lot of fun joking around and enjoying the company of good friends. If there has ever been any encounter of three or more fulltime RVers that did not include food, I’ve never heard about it!

By the time we got back from dinner, visited with our friends Russ and Debbie Davis, who had arrived while we were out and were parked right behind us in their beautiful truck conversion, talked to a few other people, and Miss Terry got her bike ride and walk around the campground done, it was getting late. I wrote my blog and it was bedtime. Where did the day go?

I may not know where the day went, but Bad Nick spent part of it writing a new Bad Nick Blog post titled Stuck In The Dark Ages. Check it out and leave a comment.

Thought For The Day – If you are traveling just for the fun of it, how can you be late getting anywhere?

Click Here To Register For Our Eastern Gypsy Gathering Rally!

Yesterday was a horrible day for me, because I had to get up at 5 a.m. so we could be dressed, and have the motorhome ready to roll when the factory techs came to get it a 6 a.m. Anybody who knows me knows that I hate getting up early in the morning.

I do most of my writing at night, and don’t post the blog until midnight. With the terrible internet connection we have on our Verizon air card here in Forest City, it took me well over an hour to get yesterday’s blog uploaded. (My desktop computer doesn’t have a WiFi card, and I have not loaded my blogging program on my laptop, so I couldn’t use Winnebago’s WiFi signal.) So by the time I got my shower and got into bed, I managed about four hours sleep.

Now, I’d never be so bold as to tell anybody how to run their business, but I’m telling you something, the folks here at Winnebago are missing the boat on an opportunity to double or triple the revenue from their service department. All they have to do is rent cots or hammocks to those of us who have to be up so early to have our RVs worked on, and I’m convinced their bottom line would skyrocket.

I tried to nap in the front seat of our van, since the back end is filled with bikes, kayaks, and a few thousand copies of the Gypsy Journal, but that just wasn’t happening. You’d be surprised how rude people are when you knock on the door of their RV and ask if you can take a nap on their couch! Is that any way to treat a perfect stranger? (Okay, an imperfect stranger, in my case!).  

We have toured several RV factories in our time, and since we now own a Winnebago Ultimate Advantage motorhome, and since we are here in Forest City, Iowa, the home of Winnebago Industries, it just seemed like a good thing to do yesterday while our motorhome was in the shop.

First we looked at a small display on company history in the Visitor Center, including this vintage motorhome. It was one of the first Winnebago motorhomes to come off the assembly line.

Then we boarded a bus for the factory tour. It was interesting to see how Winnebago makes Class A and C motorhomes, but, unfortunately, our tour guide wasn’t all that great. He was a nice guy, but he didn’t seem to grasp the concept of using a microphone and bullhorn. He kept letting the thing hang at his side instead of holding it up where the sound would project. If you were standing right next to him, you could hear what he was saying, but five feet away, you couldn’t.

Winnebago was the first RV company to use an assembly line, which revolutionized the industry. They have it down to a science, and while other RV manufacturers have closed their doors in the last couple of years, Winnebago keeps right on chugging along. They have cut their work force to deal with a lower volume of sales, but they are still producing top quality motorhomes every day.

It is interesting to stand on the viewing platforms, high above the factory floor, and watch their skilled employees bring a raw frame in and turn it into a home on wheels.

Today we have a bit of a reprieve, since they won’t be taking our coach into the shop until 7 a.m. Whatever will I do to fill that empty hour in my life? Hmmm… snoring sounds like a good idea!

We are having quite a bit of work done, all the result of a lack of maintenance on the part of the former owner of our motorhome. The list includes new seals on both slide rooms, re-caulking the fiberglass roof, and new springs on all four of our HWH leveling jacks. It’s not going to be cheap, but we got the motorhome at such a good price, that we feel we still got a great deal.

The techs working on our coach say they hope to have the job done today, and if they do, we’ll be hitting the road Wednesday morning. If not, we’ll just hang out here at Camp Winnebago another day.

Thought For The Day – There is a difference between being broke and being poor.

Click Here To Register For Our Eastern Gypsy Gathering Rally!

Terry and I did a lot of exploring along the central coast yesterday, but rather than post one super long blog, I’ll break it up into two or three shorter blogs over the next few days, since the weather is turning colder here, and we probably won’t be out playing as much.

One of our favorite places in the world is Morro Bay, California. I first discovered this charming little town back in the mid-1970s, and I said then that if it wasn’t in California, I’d move there. Even with the state’s drawbacks (flakey politics, taxes, over-population), I’ve still seriously considered it a time or two. When Miss Terry and I got married thirteen years ago, I brought her to Morro Bay for our honeymoon, and she was just as taken by the place as I was. I think Terry said it best yesterday when she said her soul is at peace here.

The town takes its name from its famous landmark, Morro Rock, a 576 foot high volcanic plug that stands at the entrance to the harbor. Morro Rock was named by Spanish adventurer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, when he explored the coast during the 16th Century.

Morro Bay is a working fishing village, and you can watch commercial fishing boats unloading their catches at the docks along the Embarcadero every day. The town is also a tourist destination, with dozens of shops and restaurants lining the waterfront and extending up the hill from the harbor.

In spite of the current cold snap we are experiencing, overall Morro Bay has mild weather all year long. Terry and I commented yesterday that we had better weather during our honeymoon, which was in January, than during this late June visit.

Besides shopping and dining, you can book a charter fishing trip, take a whale watching expedition, a boat tour of the harbor, or rent a kayak and explore on your own.

Terry and I wandered up and down the waterfront, poking our heads into the shops, admiring some of the crafts on sale, and watching harbor seals swimming along and bobbing their heads out of the water.

Now, while Morro Bay has not changed much over time, I do have to say that I noticed one major difference. I used to love to go to Crills II Bakery for their cinnamon rolls, and sitting at one of the outdoor tables along the waterfront, eating one and watching harbor life go by, was always a treat. But, after all these years of eating the wonderful cinnamon rolls that Miss Terry makes, Crills just didn’t hold up yesterday. That lady has spoiled me in more than a few ways!

It was a weird day yesterday – for much of the day a heavy cloud cover obscured parts of Morro Rock, then it would suddenly clear up for a while to give us a nice view, and then just as quickly the shroud would drop back down.

After a while, it became a little too cold to be comfortable on the waterfront. We visited a few RV parks in Morro Bay, dropping off bundles of sample copies of the Gypsy Journal, and then we drove up the coast to check out some other places.

We returned to Morro Bay for dinner at The Galley, an upscale seafood restaurant with a wall of large windows overlooking the bay and Morro Rock. Terry had the sautéed scallops, while I chose the fried prawns. Both were good, but the place is out of our price range for frequent visits, and we’ve had better meals for less money.

When we got back to the Elks lodge campground in Oceano, we discovered that a small Class C had arrived and was parked on the other side of us from the RV that came in the day before. Our new neighbors have a couple of young boys with them, and at 10:30 p.m. they were still outside making a lot of noise. I don’t think we’ve ever had any neighbors with kids at an Elks lodge before. We don’t mind kids; heck, we used to be kids ourselves once. But now we’ve become grouchy old farts, and we’re not thrilled with people who allow their kids or pets to disturb others. 

Thought For The Day – By the time a man is wise enough to watch his step, he’s too old to go anywhere.

Click Here To Register For Our Eastern Gypsy Gathering Rally!

We can tell it’s a holiday weekend, because the traffic is terrible in this little mountain community as people escape the heat of the desert and come up here to cool off. Up until now, besides the campground host, we have usually been sharing the Elks campground with only  one or two other RVs.

But beginning yesterday, we have seen one RV after another pulling into the campground. We have a Class C Grayhawk parked two sites over from us, a beautiful new Newmar diesel pusher is behind us, another motorhome and a big fifth wheel are a few sites down on the other side, and there are a few others scattered around.

Compared to commercial RV parks, we still have lots of room and privacy, but it has been interesting to see so many new arrivals. I don’t know how many are here for extended stays, and how many are just here for the holiday weekend, but since they all seem to be retired, I don’t think they have to be anywhere in a hurry.

I seem to find a way to get into mischief everywhere I go. Case in point, Friday I went up to the Elks lodge to extend our stay. As with every other lodge we have been to, registration is done at the bar, and there was an older lady there registering for a campsite at the same time. I have never met a stranger, so while they were completing our paperwork, I said hello and asked where she was coming in from. She said Tucson, and I mentioned that it must be getting pretty hot down there by now. She must have thought I was trying to pick her up, despite the 15 or 20 year age difference between us, because she said “Look, I’m married, okay?”

Ouch! And here I thought I had my very own cougar! When I got back to our Winnebago and told Terry and my daughter about the incident, they both had a good laugh at my expense.

Hoping to avoid all of the holiday traffic, yesterday we hung around the motorhome all day. I dumped our black tank, and spent most of the day doing genealogical research online. I was surprised to learn about a daredevil in my family tree. On the Genealogy Bank website, I discovered an 1889 newspaper article reporting that my grandfather, Joseph Russell, then a 16 year old boy, had jumped 110 feet into the Ohio River from a railroad bridge in Cincinnati, on a bet. The story said he was uninjured, and I had to laugh as I remembered my mom saying things like “If so and so jumped off a bridge, would you do it too?” If I had known this back then, I could have shot back “Why not, Grandpa did!” On second thought, maybe not. My mom was little, but she was feisty. She may have thrown me off a bridge for smarting off to her!

While I was goofing off, Miss Terry was hard at work, hanging this Levolor blind in the window over her workstation. The three windows in the front of the motorhome are much larger than the ones she already did in the bedroom and bathroom, and the first one was a learning experience. Hanging the blinds is not as easy as the folks at Lowes would have you believe.

But Terry loves a challenge, and she’s so darned stubborn that she never gives up. So even though she had to do some physical contortions to get to everything, and she had to back up and attack the problem from a different angle a time or two, the result came out great, don’t you think?

We are really pleased with the new look they give our Winnebago. Terry has two more windows to go, and she said the lessons she learned on this one will make those a little easier. 

I may not have accomplished much yesterday, but Bad Nick was working just as hard as Terry, pounding out a new Bad Nick Blog titled It Wasn’t About Slavery. Check it out and leave a comment.

Thought For The Day – Rehab is for quitters!

Click Here To Register For Our Eastern Gypsy Gathering Rally!